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Why do you report the latest vitamin D trial from Finland in such an uninformed, unscientific way: “no benefit”? (1) Of course there will be no benefit from a supplement if the study group isn’t deficient of that supplement. The participants in this trial had adequate vitamin D blood levels (75 nmol/l) (2). In the UK, on the other hand, such a trial would most likely have shown a significant benefit for many diseases, especially where vitamin D-blood levels are particularly low, as in cancer. Cancer survival was significantly improved in RCTs with supplements (3,4).
The average Scot has blood level of 37 nmol/l (5), the average Finn 65 nmol/l. This is due to 15 years of effective food fortification, a wise preventative action by Finnish public health services. (6)
(By-the-way, Finland also has excellent Covid survival figures. (7))
If not deficient, no benefit from supplements
Dear Minerva
Why do you report the latest vitamin D trial from Finland in such an uninformed, unscientific way: “no benefit”? (1) Of course there will be no benefit from a supplement if the study group isn’t deficient of that supplement. The participants in this trial had adequate vitamin D blood levels (75 nmol/l) (2). In the UK, on the other hand, such a trial would most likely have shown a significant benefit for many diseases, especially where vitamin D-blood levels are particularly low, as in cancer. Cancer survival was significantly improved in RCTs with supplements (3,4).
The average Scot has blood level of 37 nmol/l (5), the average Finn 65 nmol/l. This is due to 15 years of effective food fortification, a wise preventative action by Finnish public health services. (6)
(By-the-way, Finland also has excellent Covid survival figures. (7))
(1) BMJ 2022/;376:o77
(2) https://www.healtheuropa.eu/vitamin-d-tablets-usage-does-not-affect-inci...
(3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31733345/
(4) https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.2019.37.15_suppl.1534
(5) https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/downloads/Report_Final.pdf
(6) https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/27/2/268/2670162
(7) https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps/
Competing interests: No competing interests