A new study has found that people with high levels of vitamin D are at a lesser risk of developing colorectal cancer.

"People with high levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream have a lower overall risk of developing colorectal cancer," Shuji Ogino, of the Dana-Farber, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital, said.

The senior study author continues, "Laboratory research suggests that vitamin D boosts immune system function by activating T-cells that recognize and attack cancer cells. In this study, we wanted to determine if these two phenomena are related: Does vitamin D's role in the immune system account for the lower rates of colorectal cancer in people with high circulating levels of the vitamin?"

The researchers collected data from two-long term research projects related to health tracking - the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the Nurse?s Health Study -which followed around 170,000 individuals.

The researchers added that out of the 170,000 involved, 318 patients had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 624 patients were not having any record of cancer. The researchers also collected blood samples from all of the participants, testing them for a substance derived from vitamin D that is produced in the liver, called 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

The study revealed that people with high levels of the vitamin-D derived chemical, had lower risk for developing colorectal cancer. "This vindicates basic laboratory discoveries that vitamin D can interact with the immune system to raise the body's defenses against cancer," Ogino noted.

"This is the first study to show evidence of the effect of vitamin D on anti-cancer immune function in actual patients, and vindicates basic laboratory discoveries that vitamin D can interact with the immune system to raise the body's defenses against cancer," Ogino added.