Vitamin D may not just be good for you, it may help save your life.
Recent research from Johns Hopkins University suggests that higher amounts of vitamin D in your diet decreases your likelihood of dying. Studies found that a vitamin D deficiency increases your risk of death by 26 percent, and vitamin D decreases the mortality rate from almost every type of cancer including breast, colon and prostate. Research also suggests that vitamin D helps prevent diabetes, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease.
What can high-vitamin D foods do for you?
* Help prevent a growing list of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, osteoporisis, breast cancer, colon cancer, and ovarian cancer
* Help keep your bones and teeth strong and healthy
* Regulate the growth and activity of your cells
* Reduce inflammation
What events can indicate a need for more foods rich in vitamin D?
* Bone pain and/or soft bones
* Frequent bone fractures
* Bone deformities or growth retardation in children
Benefits of Vitamin D Supplementation
Joel M. Kauffman, Ph.D.
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
Volume 14 Number 2 - Summer 2009
Clinical trials show that vitamin D supplementation at higher
levels than previously recommended is beneficial for many
conditions. It decreases the frequency of falls and fractures, helps
prevent cardiovascular disease, and reduces symptoms of colds or
influenza. Benefits are also seen in diabetes mellitus, multiple
sclerosis, Crohn disease, pain, depression, and possibly autism.
Sunlight does not cause an overdose of vitamin D production,
and toxicity from supplementation is rare. Dose recommendations
are increasing, but appear to be lagging the favorable trial results. A
number of common drugs deplete vitamin D levels, and others may
limit its biosynthesis from sunlight.
People with adequate levels from sun exposure will not benefit
from supplementation. While dietary intake is helpful,
supplementation is better able to raise serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D ,
the major circulating metabolite, to the level now thought adequate,
30-50 ng/mL.
Where there is inadequate daily sun exposure, oral doses of
1,000-2,000 IU/d are now considered routine, with much higher
doses (up to 50,000 IU) for rapid repletion now considered safe.
sunlightD.org
Grassroots Health and ZRT Labs are working together to help us all make sure we have enough vitamin D. Participate in understanding vitamin D. Visit grassrootshealth.net and join the research project. You'll get your D tested twice a year for five years. The cost is just $40 a test, $80 a year, more than reasonable for accurate D testing, and you'll help provide real answers, for yourself and for us all, about how much D we get and how much we need. Join now. Do commit to the full 5 years if you decide to sign on. If not joining for the full test period please use the testing links below.
"If you're running low on vitamin D - as an estimated 70 percent of the U.S. population is - your immune system may not be functioning as well as it should. As a result, you may be more vulnerable to infectious diseases than you would if your vitamin D levels were optimal. Worse, you could be at higher than normal risk of a long list of diseases including heart disease and several kinds of cancer. A report recently published journal, Future Microbiology, highlighted research at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, which has shown that vitamin D induces expression of an antimicrobial peptide gene called cathelicidin that is the "first line of defense" in the immune system's response to minor wounds, cuts and bacterial and viral infections. The regulation of cathelicidin by vitamin D could help explain its vital role in immune function. The report noted that vitamin D is a key cofactor in reducing inflammation, in blood pressure control and helping to protect against heart disease. Author Adrian Gombart explains that there is still much to explore about D's mechanisms of action, the potential use of synthetic analogs of it in new treatments, and its duty in fighting infection."
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%.
Environmental risk factors for autism: Do they help cause de novo genetic mutations that contribute to the disorder?
Kinney DK, Barch DH, Chayka B, Napoleon S, Munir KM.
Med Hypotheses. 2009 Aug 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19699591
October 6th, 2008
A study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests that use of oral Vitamin D supplements bolsters production of a protective chemical normally found in the skin, and may help prevent skin infections that are a common result of atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema.
Is the MP Treatment for Sarcoidosis Helpful for Other Chronic Diseases?
MP's Vitamin D Theories Are Not Supported by Lab Studies.
Updated July 2, 2008
"The MP treatment plan was originally designed to treat an inflammatory condition known as sarcoidosis. The treatment consists of using the drug Benicar, combined with the avoidance of all sources of vitamin D, and eventually adding various antibiotics, especially minocycline. After being used by sarcoidosis patients for some years, it was then theorized and claimed that the treatment could treat other inflammatory conditions. Eventually it was also claimed that it could treat fibromyalgia and CFS, conditions which are not recognized by the medical literature as being inflammatory in nature. "
Intake of vitamin D and risk of type 1 diabetes: a birth-cohort study.
Hyppönen E, Läärä E, Reunanen A, Järvelin MR, Virtanen SM.
Lancet. 2001 Nov 3;358(9292):1500-3.
PMID: 11705562
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)06580-1
INTERPRETATION: Dietary vitamin D supplementation is associated with reduced risk of type 1 diabetes. Ensuring adequate vitamin D supplementation for infants could help to reverse the increasing trend in the incidence of type 1 diabetes.
Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes: are we ready for a prevention trial?
Scragg R.
Diabetes. 2008 Oct;57(10):2565-6.
PMID: 18820212
doi: 10.2337/db08-0879
Despite evidence from the current article (3) and the Finnish study (17), doubts still remain about whether low vitamin status is a cause of type 2 diabetes. Further cohort studies are required, assessing baseline vitamin D status using blood 25(OH)D to be sure that the Ely and Finnish studies are not false-positive results. Glucose clamp studies are also required because we are still not sure of the mechanism influenced by vitamin D-whether it is insulin resistance, secretion, or both. But most importantly, given that nearly three decades have passed since the first studies linking vitamin D with insulin metabolism (6,7), well-designed clinical trials of the effect of vitamin D supplementation on glycemia status and diabetes risk are urgently required to settle this question. And they need to prevent past mistakes. In particular, the vitamin D dose given in such trials needs to be high enough-above 2,000 IU per day (19)-to raise blood 25(OH)D levels above 80 nmol/l because diabetes risk is lowest at this level (9,20). If well-designed trials are carried out and confirm a protective effect from vitamin D, it could be used by the general population as a simple and cheap solution to help prevent the diabetes epidemic.
Current impediments to acceptance of the ultraviolet-B-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis.
Grant WB, Boucher BJ.
Anticancer Res. 2009 Sep;29(9):3597-604.
PMID: 19667154
The ultraviolet-B (UVB)-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis was proposed in 1980. There have been numerous ecological, observational and other studies of the hypothesis. There are about 14 types of cancer for which it seems to apply: bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, gallbladder, gastric, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, renal and vulvar cancer and both Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Nonetheless, the hypothesis has not yet been accepted by public health agencies. Some of the reasons for this include a distrust of ecological studies, some mistrust of observational studies, and the existence of just one positive randomized controlled trial, an analysis of a vitamin D and calcium supplementation study involving post-menopausal women in Nebraska. Paradigm shifts such as this generally take time, in part due to opposition from those content with the status quo. In this paper, results of ecological studies in the United States using summertime solar UVB as the index of vitamin D production, which is highly asymmetrical with respect to latitude, and indices for other cancer risk-modifying factors (air pollution, alcohol consumption, dietary iron and zinc, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, smoking and urban/rural residence) are discussed in terms of supporting the hypothesis. These studies were not considered while other ecological studies were examined in recent critiques of the hypothesis. While additional randomized controlled trials would, of course, be helpful, the current evidence seems to satisfy the criteria for causality as outlined by A. Bradford Hill.
Ecological studies of ultraviolet B, vitamin D and cancer since 2000.
Grant WB, Mohr SB.
Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Jul;19(7):446-54. Epub 2009 Mar 9.
PMID: 19269856
CONCLUSION: These findings provide strong evidence that vitamin D status plays an important role in controlling the outcome of cancer. Support for the UVB-vitamin D-cancer theory is now scientifically strong enough to warrant use of vitamin D in cancer prevention, and as a component of treatment. More research studies would help to explore whether there are benefits beyond the substantial effects that have been observed.
Improved cholecalciferol nutrition in rats is noncalcemic, suppresses parathyroid hormone and increases responsiveness to 1, 25-dihydroxycholecalciferol.
Vieth R, Milojevic S, Peltekova V.
J Nutr. 2000 Mar;130(3):578-84.
PMID: 10702588
We conclude suppression of 1,25(OH)(2)D and PTH, and higher renal VDR mRNA and 24-hydroxylase did not involve higher free 1,25(OH)(2)D concentration or a first pass effect at the gut. Thus, 25(OH)D or a metabolite other than 1,25(OH)(2)D is a physiological, transcriptionally and biochemically active, noncalcemic vitamin D metabolite.
When viewed from a perspective that starts with higher vitamin D nutrition, the results indicate that low vitamin D nutrition may bring about a form of resistance to 1,25(OH)2D. This situation would explain why, in humans, nutritional rickets and osteomalacia are commonly associated with normal or increased levels of 1,25(OH)2D (Chesney et al. 1981Citation , Eastwood et al. 1979Citation , Garabedian et al. 1983Citation ,Rasmussen et al. 1980Citation )-these are not like the low hormone levels associated with any other endocrine-deficiency disorder. A connection between lower vitamin D nutrition and vitamin D resistance helps to explain why the supposedly inactive compound 25(OH)D is more relevant in diagnosing nutritional rickets than is the active hormone 1,25(OH)2D.
If the features of improved vitamin D nutrition shown here were demonstrated for any newly synthesized compound, the compound would be classified as a noncalcemic 1,25(OH)2D analogue (Brown et al. 1989Citation , Finch et al. 1999Citation , Goff et al. 1993Citation , Koshizuka et al. 1999Citation ). Thus, we contend that 25(OH)D or a metabolite of it other than 1,25(OH)2D exists as a physiological and biologically-active noncalcemic vitamin D metabolite whose effects require further examination, particularly in relationship to studies involving the synthetic analogs of 1,25(OH)2D.
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's days of obscurity seem pretty much over. Once just an afterthought to most people-relegated to the sides of milk cartons and the pages of medical texts-it's now on the cusp of becoming a full-fledged disease prevention star. Although vitamin D has long been known as an important factor in bone health, a quickly growing body of evidence now shows that it may also help lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and even premature death.[1], [2] Not surprisingly, scientists and the public have started to take note, particularly of vitamin D's potential to protect against cancer
This web site is dedicated to vitamin D and cancer. This is because exciting new research indicates that vitamin D-whether produced in the skin as a result of exposure to ultraviolet radiation (from sunlight or sun lamps) or obtained from supplementation with cholecalciferol (vitamin D3)-may help cancer patients. However, the research is far from complete.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research suggests that low vitamin D levels in the body are associated with thinking or "cognitive" impairments in older men, but whether vitamin D supplements can help is not yet known.
In the study, an investigation of European men, subjects with low levels of vitamin D scored worse on a standard test of cognitive ability than did their peers with normal levels, Dr. David M. Lee, from the University of Manchester, UK, and co-researchers found. Although, the authors emphasize, the difference in scores was not that great.