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This month, the authoritative International Agency for Research into Cancer (IARC) have weighed in on the issue. By gathering a group of expert scientists, they have looked at all the available evidence and published a detailed report on vitamin D and cancer. The massive tome weighs in at 465 pages, but we'll take a look at the key points in the first of two posts looking at the vitamin D debate. It is impossible for us to get more than about five percent of the vitamin D we need from our diet - unless, like Eskimos, we eat oily fish three times a day.

In the last post, we talked about the new report on vitamin D and cancer from the International Agency for Research into Cancer (IARC). In this one, we'll summarise what the report has to say on the balance between getting enough vitamin D through sun exposure and reducing the risk of skin cancer by being SunSmart. IARC calls for more trials to really pin down the effects of vitamin D supplements - either positive or negative - depending on how much vitamin D people already have in their system. Until then, they feel that there is no solid basis for changing any existing recommendations about vitamin D.