Three out of four women develop benign uterine fibroid tumors. While only some fibroids cause symptoms or need treatment, millions of women suffer their effects. Drugs may shrink the tumors, but effective, worry-free, non-surgical treatments have proven elusive. So it’s encouraging to hear that vitamin D shrank uterine fibroids in rats dramatically … albeit animals genetically predisposed to developing fibroids.
Although rats and people share much in biomedical terms, they don’t always react to nutrients and drugs the same way. Accordingly, the results of a new study concerning benign – but potentially painful, life-hindering – uterine fibroid tumors must be repeated in human trials.
In prior research from Nashville’s Meharry Medical College, vitamin D inhibited the growth of human fibroid cells in the test tube. The new rodent experiment was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and provides a promising new lead in the search for a non-surgical treatment for fibroids, a painful and costly condition.
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