A simple vitamin D supply can help prolong life of cancer patients, according to a study conducted by cancer specialists. Available in any local chemist's shop, the vitamin pills can reduce significantly government’s costs of health care.

The vitamin D is the only vitamin that is produced by the human organism itself when ultraviolet rays from sunlight reach the skin and starts vitamin D synthesis. It is also obtained from food, sun exposure and supplements. It is essential for the health especially of skin and bones.

A research held by doctors at St. George's Hospital with patients with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, showed that the majority of the patients had low Vitamin D. Other researches show that also calcium supplies (combined with vitamin D) dramatically improve the survival of cancer patients too. In this case, the finding was unexpected, since the originally study was started to proof the effects of the supplements on osteoporosis. Other studies have been showing results of the effect of vitamin D in the treatment against on adenocarcinoma and bowel cancer.

People with pale skin and who spend too little time in the sun throughout the year commonly suffer from skin cancer, mainly because they frequently get severely sunburn once is summer. Statistics show that people who suffered severe sunburn before the age of 15 are at the greatest risk of developing melanoma.