There is currently no firm evidence that vitamin D supplementation decreases or increases cancer occurrence in predominantly elderly community-dwelling women .
Vitamin D₃ supplementation  decreased cancer mortality  and vitamin D supplementation  decreased all-cause mortality , but these estimates are at risk of type I errors due to the fact that too few participants were examined , and to risks of attrition bias originating from substantial dropout of participants .
Combined vitamin D₃ and calcium supplements  increased nephrolithiasis , whereas it remains unclear from the included trials whether vitamin D₃ , calcium , or both were responsible for this effect .
BACKGROUND The evidence on whether vitamin D supplementation is effective in decreasing cancers is contradictory .
OBJECTIVES To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of vitamin D supplementation for prevention of cancer in adults .
Effect of hormone therapy and calcitriol on serum lipid profile in postmenopausal older women: association with estrogen receptor-&agr; genotypes
Objective : The aim of this study was to examine the effect of conjugated equine estrogens alone ( ET ) , conjugated equine estrogens + medroxyprogesterone ( EPT ) , calcitriol alone , calcitriol + EPT/ET , or placebo on serum lipid profile and analyze the interaction with estrogen receptor-&agr ; gene single nucleotide polymorphisms ( ESR-&agr ; SNPs ) on the response to therapy . Methods : A total of 489 postmenopausal women older than 65 years were enrolled into a 3-year double-blind , placebo-controlled clinical trial . Results : In both intent-to-treat and complier ( > 80 % adherent ) analysis , there was a significant increase in serum high-density lipoproteins and a significant decrease in serum low-density lipoproteins ( LDLs ) and the LDL/high-density lipoprotein ratio in all hormone treatment groups compared with placebo ( P < 0.05 ) . However , serum triglycerides and very low-density lipoproteins increased in the EPT and ET + calcitriol groups versus placebo ( P < 0.05 ) . ESR-&agr ; SNPs PvuII and XbaI seemed to have a significant effect on the response to treatment . Genotypes containing the p allele showed a significantly greater decrease in serum cholesterol and very low-density lipoprotein than those having the P allele in the ET + calcitriol group ( P < 0.05 ) , and those with the x allele had a significantly greater decrease in serum cholesterol in the hormone therapy + calcitriol group at the end of 3 years versus the X allele , and a greater decrease in serum LDL in alleles x versus the X in the ET + calcitriol group ( P < 0.05 ) . Conclusions : ET with or without progesterone had a favorable effect on lipid profile  in postmenopausal older women , and this was dependent on estrogen receptor SNPs-PvuII and XbaI. However , this interaction with ESR-&agr ; SNPs needs to be confirmed in larger studies
There is currently no firm evidence that vitamin D supplementation decreases or increases cancer occurrence in predominantly elderly community-dwelling women .
Vitamin D₃ supplementation  decreased cancer mortality  and vitamin D supplementation  decreased all-cause mortality , but these estimates are at risk of type I errors due to the fact that too few participants were examined , and to risks of attrition bias originating from substantial dropout of participants .
Combined vitamin D₃ and calcium supplements  increased nephrolithiasis , whereas it remains unclear from the included trials whether vitamin D₃ , calcium , or both were responsible for this effect .
BACKGROUND The evidence on whether vitamin D supplementation is effective in decreasing cancers is contradictory .
OBJECTIVES To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of vitamin D supplementation for prevention of cancer in adults .