Vitamin D appears to boost health from head to toe, according to the September issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. But, so far, there's no consensus on what level of vitamin D is optimal for good health.
This is an announcement to alert readers to a crucial email I received from a physician who has evidence vitamin D is protective against H1N1. I ask you, the reader, to contact your representatives in Washington to help protect Americans, especially children, from H1N1 before winter comes.
Vitamin D supplementation and total mortality: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Autier P, Gandini S.
Arch Intern Med. 2007 Sep 10;167(16):1730-7. Review.
PMID: 17846391
Conclusions Intake of ordinary doses of vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases in total mortality rates. The relationship between baseline vitamin D status, dose of vitamin D supplements, and total mortality rates remains to be investigated. Population-based, placebo-controlled randomized trials with total mortality as the main end point should be organized for confirming these findings.
On 29th September, Dr Michael Holick appeared on the "Coast to Coast" radio show, hosted by George Noory:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/holick-dr-michael/41323
As many of you can't afford a subscription to listen to the whole show, I have edited the broadcast into an MP3 file of short snippets, so that we can (intelligently) discuss what was said. There is a "beep tone" to separate each snippet of info.
You can download it from:
http://MarshallProtocol.com/video/Holick.mp3
First is the introduction, setting out Dr Holick's overview of Vit D.
"This is an announcement to alert readers to a crucial email I received from a physician who has evidence vitamin D is protective against H1N1. I ask you, the reader, to contact your representatives in Washington to help protect Americans, especially children, from H1N1 before winter comes."
The Author
The author of this site is the British writer, John Davidson.
Please note that the author is neither a doctor, nor a qualified health practitioner. Every cancer patient should always consult his or her medical practitioner with regard to the use of complementary remedies or treatments, and nothing on this site should be construed in any way as medical or therapeutic advice. It is simply the result of one person's search for solutions. Please read our disclaimer.
About This Site
Internet searches trawl up vast amounts of information about cancer, from a broad spectrum of viewpoints. The information and internet links on this site are for those seeking to augment the treatment offered by their hospital oncology (cancer) unit. Of course, a great many other internet sites concerning cancer can be found by keying the requisite search words into any of the major search engines.
The content of this site was initially prepared, at the request of medical and nursing staff and others, some weeks after I had had an emergency operation for the removal of a colon cancer, and while undergoing chemotherapy in case any cancer cells had gone AWOL. There had been some escape of cancer cells into associated lymph nodes (3 out of 17, including the most distal), but no other tumours had been picked up by a CT scan.
When I returned home from hospital in September 2005, with the help of friends, I started doing some research on cancer. I was amazed to discover that despite the billions of pounds/euros/dollars etc. spent on cancer research, and the many advances in understanding the numerous variants of the disease, the standard treatment for my stage of colon cancer is still a drug (fluorouracil, also called 5FU) that has been in use for more than forty years, has uncomfortable side effects, and which only increases the chances of survival after five years by 5 to 10%.
Comparison of daily, weekly, and monthly vitamin D3 in ethanol dosing protocols for two months in elderly hip fracture patients.
Ish-Shalom S, Segal E, Salganik T, Raz B, Bromberg IL, Vieth R.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Sep;93(9):3430-5. Epub 2008 Jun 10.
PMID: 18544622
doi:10.1210/jc.2008-0241
CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with vitamin D can be achieved equally well with daily, weekly, or monthly dosing frequencies. Therefore, the choice of dose frequency can be based on whichever approach will optimize an individual's adherence with long-term vitamin D supplementation.
Nutrients, endpoints, and the problem of proof.
Heaney RP.
2008 W. O. Atwater Memorial Lecture
J Nutr. 2008 Sep;138(9):1591-5.
PMID: 18716155
To sum up, I think that there would be general agreement to the effect that nutrition is important, despite the fact that the still growing number of failed trials of individual nutrients might suggest that no nutrient actually made much of a difference, a conclusion that is absurd on its face and ought to have alerted us to the possibility that there was something wrong with how we were investigating the matter. To provide the proof needed to sustain revised intake recommendations, we shall have to find a design better suited to nutrients than the randomized controlled trial as currently implemented, and we need to develop a series of global indices, nutrient by nutrient, which better capture the polyvalent nature of most nutrients. Perhaps it would be useful for the ASN, in collaboration with concerned governmental entities such as the USDA, to convene a workshop to address these structural issues. Such deliberation may well be arduous and frustrating, but it is terribly important and, in my view, well worth the effort.
Vitamin D intake is low and hypovitaminosis D common in healthy 9- to 15-year-old Finnish girls.
Lehtonen-Veromaa M, Möttönen T, Irjala K, Kärkkäinen M, Lamberg-Allardt C, Hakola P, Viikari J.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999 Sep;53(9):746-51.
PMID: 10509773
CONCLUSION: Hypovitaminosis D is fairly common in growing Finnish girls in the wintertime, and three months of vitamin D supplementation with 10 microg/d was insufficient in preventing hypovitaminosis D. The daily dietary vitamin D intake was insufficient (< 5 microg/d) in the majority of participants, while the calcium intake was usually sufficient.
Geographic variation of prostate cancer mortality rates in the United States: Implications for prostate cancer risk related to vitamin D.
Grant WB.
Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;111(3):470-1; author reply 472. No abstract available.
PMID: 15221981
10.1002/ijc.20220
The implications of our results and those of Tuohimaa et al.[1] include the following. Vitamin D supplementation should be undertaken in wintertime, a period when it is impossible to produce vitamin D by solar UVB exposure in northeastern states.[13] Given these new results, the optimal vitamin D intake and production and serum 25(OH)-vitamin D3 levels for prostate cancer appear to be lower than for other cancers. However, when developing guidelines for vitamin D fortification, many factors should be included in the analysis, including all of the potential health benefits and possible risks of vitamin D, as well as age, sex, residence, child-bearing status, etc.[14] Also, the suggestion that daily vitamin D3 supplement doses of 100 g (4,000 IU)/day are safe[15] should be reexamined. Finally, in terms of preventing prostate cancer, more attention should be given to diet, which has the greatest environmental impact on risk of prostate cancer, with animal products being important risk factors and vegetable products, especially onions and other allium family members, being important risk-reduction factors.[16]
Serum vitamin D and subsequent occurrence of type 2 diabetes.
Knekt P, Laaksonen M, Mattila C, Härkänen T, Marniemi J, Heliövaara M, Rissanen H, Montonen J, Reunanen A.
Epidemiology. 2008 Sep;19(5):666-71.
PMID: 18496468
doi: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e318176b8ad
Conclusions: The results support the hypothesis that high vitamin D status provides protection against type 2 diabetes. Residual confounding may contribute to this association.
SSeason of diagnosis is a prognostic factor in Hodgkin's lymphoma: a possible role of sun-induced vitamin D.
Porojnicu AC, Robsahm TE, Ree AH, Moan J.
Br J Cancer. 2005 Sep 5;93(5):571-4.
PMID: 16136030
doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6602722
Epidemiological data for this period indicate that season of diagnosis is a strong prognostic factor for Hodgkin's lymphoma, with approximately 20% lower case fatality for patients diagnosed during autumn vs winter diagnosis (RR = 0.783, 95% CI,-0.62 to 0.99; P = 0.041). Notably, the improved autumnal survival rate was higher than 60% (RR = 0.364, 95% CI, -0.15 to 0.87; P = 0.025) for patients younger than 30 years. This finding may be related to higher endogenous levels of vitamin D in autumn, with a favourable influence on the conventional therapy.
In conclusion, we have found that the prognosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma is significantly correlated with the season of diagnosis, particularly for patients younger than 30 years. This seasonal effect is presumably due to the vitamin D3 synthesis in skin during sun exposure. The present findings should encourage further investigations of the possible adjuvant role of vitamin D derivatives in cancer therapy
Rise in prostate-specific antigen in men with untreated low-grade prostate cancer is slower during spring-summer.
Vieth R, Choo R, Deboer L, Danjoux C, Morton GC, Klotz L.
Am J Ther. 2006 Sep-Oct;13(5):394-9.
PMID: 16988533
doi: 10.1097/01.mjt.0000174346.36307.02
Enzyme kinetics hypothesis to explain the U-shaped risk curve for prostate cancer vs. 25-hydroxyvitamin D in nordic countries.
Vieth R.
Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;111(3):468; author reply 469.
PMID: 15221979
DOI: 10.1002/ijc.20218
Low vitamin d levels predict stroke in patients referred to coronary angiography.
Pilz S, Dobnig H, Fischer JE, Wellnitz B, Seelhorst U, Boehm BO, März W.
Stroke. 2008 Sep;39(9):2611-3. Epub 2008 Jul 17.
PMID: 18635847
doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.107.513655
Conclusions- Low levels of 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D are independently predictive for fatal strokes, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation is a promising approach in the prevention of strokes.
The dependency of vitamin D status on body mass index, gender, age and season.
Lagunova Z, Porojnicu AC, Lindberg F, Hexeberg S, Moan J.
Anticancer Res. 2009 Sep;29(9):3713-20.
PMID: 19667169
CONCLUSION: The 25(OH)D3 level, as well as its seasonal variation and the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, are all dependent on BMI, and age separately. The results of the study suggest that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men with BMI > or = 40 are vitamin D deficient.
Sunlight and vitamin D: both good for cardiovascular health.
Holick MF.
J Gen Intern Med. 2002 Sep;17(9):733-5.
PMID: 12220371
doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2002.20731.x.
Vitamin D and disease prevention with special reference to cardiovascular disease.
Zittermann A.
Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2006 Sep;92(1):39-48. Epub 2006 Feb 28. Review.
PMID: 1660034
Vitamin D metabolites as clinical markers in autoimmune and chronic disease.
Blaney GP, Albert PJ, Proal AD.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Sep;1173:384-90.
PMID: 19758177
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04875.x