Cancers in rich countries isn’t caused mainly by pollutants but by a vitamin D deficiency, research suggests.

Researchers are linking low vitamin D status to a host of other serious ailments, including multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, influenza, osteoporosis and bone fractures among the elderly.

A four-year clinical trial involving 1,200 women found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn’t take it, according to Creighton University researchers.