The Wonder Vitamin: Vitamin D

Alex Comments:  Vitamin D is a key anticancer nutrient and whole lot more. Most of us know we need vitamin D for strong bones. Now it appears that this nutrient, or rather a lack of it, may play a role in asthma, cancer, depression, heart disease, diabetes, even weight gain.It is a rising star of nutritional supplements along with Omega 3 fats.

  

Every cancer patient should absolutely have their Vitamin D levels checked.  The studies on the use of Vitamin D3 to prevent cancer and prevent metastasis are impressive.  

Low vitamin D may worsen the prognosis for women with breast cancer. In one study, women deficient in vitamin D when they were diagnosed had a 94% greater chance of the cancer spreading. They also had a 73% greater chance of dying over the next 10 years. Other studies suggest that vitamin D may even offer protection against developing breast cancer.  Other cancers may benefit from Vitamin D as well. 

Serial testing of vitamin D levels is important. It takes a long time to raise levels and one can find themselves with vitamin D toxicity if supplementing at high levels over a long period of time.  Ideal levels of Vitamin D3 should be for a cancer patient between 70-100.  My issues with the slide show are that the recommended dosages are too low.  And they do not give recommendations about limited sun exposure without sunscreen which is important for Vitamin D production. 

Another reason to test is that Vitamin D absorption rates are tremendously variable from person to person not only based on skin color, sun exposure and latitude but also by genetic polymorphism.  In other words there is genetic variability in how well a person absorbs Vitamin D.  

If you are taking Vitamin D in dosages 2,000 IU's a day or higher it is important to take a supplement that combines Vitamin D with Vitamin K.  I sell a product in 2,00 and 5,000 IU dosages in my office that contains a balance of vitmin K.  

Increasing the amount of vitamin D, via supplementation, in the presence of inadequate levels of vitamin K, can increase the risk of calcium deposition in arteries and soft tissue and have a very negative effect on artery elasticity.

I personally take 5,000 IU's/ day.  Two years before my cancer diagnosis I had my D3 levels checked in September.  One would think that my D.  levels would be the highest they would be all year at that time.  Mine were in the low 20's at that time.  I am still working on getting it up to the 70's

To watch the slideshow click here.

Vitamin D May Help Patients Survive Cancer

New Report Suggests Sunshine Vitamin May Have Significant Cancer Benefits

By JOHN McKENZIE
Jun 19, 2008

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When Joanna Fuchs was diagnosed with colon cancer last year, a blood test revealed she was severely deficient in vitamin D.

Natural sunlight is one way you can get vitamin D.

(Jean Desy/First Light/Getty Images)

"I was obviously very concerned and very worried," Fuchs said.

So, too, was her husband, Dr. Charles Fuchs of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who is the senior author of a study published today that found colon cancer patients deficient in vitamin D were almost twice as likely to die over a 10-year period than patients with healthy levels of the nutrient.

"These findings make considerable sense," Dr. Fuchs said, "because in the laboratory we find that vitamin D reduces the growth of colon cancer cells, prevents its spread to other organs, and actually reduces the growth of blood vessels to these tumors."

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Vitamin D Could Cut Cancer Risk

Low Vitamin D May Worsen Breast Cancer

Kids' Low Vitamin D Worries Doctors

Fuchs' work is just the latest in a wave of new studies on vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a greater risk of autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. It has also been linked to a doubling of heart attack risk among men, a 73 percent greater risk of dying from breast cancer, and more frequent asthma attacks among children.

"Vitamin D seems to be very helpful in making your immune system do what it is supposed to do," Dr. Tanya Edwards, director of Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

The government recommends getting 200 to 600 international units of vitamin D a day. But those levels were set 11 years ago, primarily to keep bones healthy. To prevent other diseases, many researchers now say more is needed.

Alex's comment: I recommend 2000 IU's and if you have an autoimmune disease 5,000 Iu's. It is a cheap add on to a blood test and well worth getting checked out.

Vitamin D and Cancer

Scientists have long noticed that people who live in northerly regions of the world like Buffalo have higher cancer rates than those in places with more sunshine.

A growing amount of research now indicates why: vitamin D.

The “sunshine vitamin” — because our skin produces it when exposed to sunlight — is known for building healthy bones. But, otherwise, the nutrient has never received much attention. That’s likely to change.

Dozens of laboratory and geographical studies in recent years suggest that vitamin D deficiency is common and that the risk of cancer, as well as other illnesses, is higher among individuals with low vitamin D levels....