# Vitamin D Supplements and Prevention of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-manson-n-engl-j-med/  
OnCo record `paper-manson-n-engl-j-med` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one trial page and one technology page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 30415629 and published in New England Journal of Medicine; the citing pages link this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Background: It is unclear whether supplementation with vitamin D reduces the risk of cancer or cardiovascular disease, and data from randomized trials are limited.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, with a two-by-two factorial design, of vitamin D 3 (cholecalciferol) at a dose of 2000 IU per day and marine n-3 (also called omega-3) fatty acids at a dose of 1 g per day for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease among men 50 years of age or older and women 55 years of age or older in the United States. Primary end points were invasive cancer of any type and major cardiovascular events (a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes). Secondary end points included site-specific cancers, death from cancer, and additional cardiovascular events. This article reports the results of the comparison of vitamin D with placebo.

Results: A total of 25,871 participants, including 5106 black participants, underwent randomization. Supplementation with vitamin D was not associated with a lower risk of either of the primary end points. During a median follow-up of 5.3 years, cancer was diagnosed in 1617 participants (793 in the vitamin D group and 824 in the placebo group; hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88 to 1.06; P=0.47). A major cardiovascular event occurred in 805 participants (396 in the vitamin D group and 409 in the placebo group; hazard ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.12; P=0.69). In the analyses of secondary end points, the hazard ratios were as follows: for death from cancer (341 deaths), 0.83 (95% CI, 0.67 to 1.02); for breast cancer, 1.02 (95% CI, 0.79 to 1.31); for prostate cancer, 0.88 (95% CI, 0.72 to 1.07); for colorectal cancer, 1.09 (95% CI, 0.73 to 1.62); for the expanded composite end point of major cardiovascular events plus coronary revascularization, 0.96 (95% CI, 0.86 to 1.08); for myocardial infarction, 0.96 (95% CI, 0.78 to 1.19); for stroke, 0.95 (95% CI, 0.76 to 1.20); and for death from cardiovascular causes, 1.11 (95% CI, 0.88 to 1.40). In the analysis of death from any cause (978 deaths), the hazard ratio was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.87 to 1.12). No excess risks of hypercalcemia or other adverse events were identified.

Conclusions: Supplementation with vitamin D did not result in a lower incidence of invasive cancer or cardiovascular events than placebo. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others; VITAL ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01169259.).

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 30415629 (DOI 10.1056/nejmoa1809944). Matched by DOI alone: one trial page and one technology page cite this DOI among their external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
- Year: 2019
- DOI: 10.1056/nejmoa1809944
- Authors: Manson JE, Cook NR, Lee IM, et al.
- What it means: One trial page and one technology page on OnCo cite this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing pages listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- N Engl J Med 2019: https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa1809944
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30415629/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/30415629

## Connected records

- technologies: [Vitamin D and omega-3 supplementation](https://onco.cc/technologies/vitamin-d-omega3-supplementation/)
- trials: [VITAL (VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL)](https://onco.cc/trials/vital/)
- journals: [New England Journal of Medicine](https://onco.cc/journals/nejm/)

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