Month: May 2014

Low vitamin D levels may increase the odds of developing aggressive prostate cancer, especially for black men, a new study finds. The study included 667 men. All of them were having their first prostate biopsy after an abnormal prostate exam or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. Researchers tested the men’s blood for vitamin D. Normal levels are 30 to 80 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). Most of the men, both white and black, had vitamin D deficiency. Black men with the lowest levels, less than 12 ng/ml, were 5 times as likely to have aggressive prostate cancer as those with normal levels. White men with the lowest vitamin D levels were 4 times as likely to have aggressive disease. Black men also were more than twice as likely to have any type of prostate cancer if their vitamin D levels were 20 ng/ml or lower.