New Discoveries Demand A Greater Medical Awareness

Vitamin that cuts risk of cancer

Two studies had been presented in the USA and both showed that women with the highest levels of vitamin D were up to 50 per cent less likely to develop breast cancer. One study involved St. Georges Hospital Medical School in London and US researchers at Harvard and University of California; the other was carried out by Canadian researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Both were presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington. The doctors in the research concluded, Women with high exposure to the sun as teenagers may be protected against breast cancer in later life, and Boosting levels of vitamin D could be beneficial at a time when breast cells are developing. So much for the charities who have been warning us against sun exposure!
New research on Cancer Prevention is coming thick and fast:

• Moores Cancer Centre at UCSD, San Diego concluded from a mega study of previous research that up to half the cases of breast cancer, and two thirds of the cases of colorectal cancer in the USA could have been prevented if people had had adequate blood levels of vitamin D.

- The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology reviewed two studies concluding that women with the highest blood levels had the lowest risk of breast cancer 15 to 30 minutes in the sun every day, or 2000 IUs of supplement were recommended. One study showed that the lower blood levels of vitamin D, the more dense (and dangerous) the breast tissue.
- The American Journal of Preventative medicine cross-related 5 studies over a 25 year period to conclude that taking a 2000 IU supplement of vitamin D3 daily would cut colorectal cancer by two thirds.

• Science Daily (Sept 12 2006) covers two large scale research projects of 125,000 men and women, concluding that just 400IUs could reduce pancreatic cancer risk by 86 per cent.
• A UK study covering 1.1 million men and women concluded that higher levels of blood vitamin D meant fewer deaths from cancer.
• In the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Jan 20, 2005) men with the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood were half as likely to develop prostate cancer, as those with poor amounts. Research has shown that vitamin D inhibits prostate cancer cell growth. The provider of the vitamin in the research? Sunshine!
• St Georges Hospital showed that the provision of 400IUs of vitamin D reduced pancreatic cancer by 34 per cent.
• Sunshine reduces risk of Hodgkins by 40 per cent (Karolinska Institute)