Breast Cancer Rates/Recurrence and Vitamin D

http://AskDrYou.com/BreastCancerSurvival There's mounting evidence that vitamin D from sunlight and fish oil may actually reduce the incidence of certain cancers, such as breast cancer. Today, I'll give you highlights from three major studies released over the past 2 and a half years.

The first is was published in 2009 by Carcinogenisis, a medical journal. It concluded that the anti-cancer properties of vitamin D might be rooted in the fact the vitamin D influences cell growth, cell differentiation and the normal cycles of cell death. It also recognized that the anti-cancer properties of vitamin D may be due to its ability to counteract the growth-promoting effect of estrogens.

The largest amount of vitamin D is produced by our own body, with the help of the sun. Unfortunately, many North Americans do not get enough exposure to sunlight for optimum health.

A second study was conducted by researchers from the University of South Carolina. This group measured vitamin D levels in 107 women who had survived breast cancer up to the 5 year mark. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be widespread among the participants. They also noted a significant correlation with triple-negative breast cancer. In fact, triple-negative breast cancer was eight times more common in women with vitamin D deficiency than women with adequate levels of Vitamin D.

The third major study on Vitamin D and cancer was a significantly larger study conducted in France. INSERM (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale) studied 67,721 post-menopausal French women for over a decade. The results showed undeniable evidence that while taking higher amounts of Vitamin D through food and supplements does play a role in reducing the risk of breast cancer, it is the addition of adequate and regular direct exposure to the sun that substantially lowers the risk even more.

They noted that women living in the sunniest parts of southern France, such as Provence, demonstrated approximately half the risk of breast cancer as women who lived in less sunny areas, such as Paris. Even in women with low vitamin D intake, if they got lots of sunshine, they had a 32 percent lower risk of breast cancer than women living in less sunny areas. They also correlated that women with the highest vitamin D in their diets plus had regular, generous sun exposure had the most protection from developing breast cancer.

Their research paper, which was just published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, summed up the study by saying that a minimum threshold of vitamin D obtained from both sunshine and food sources is "required to prevent breast cancer and this threshold is particularly difficult to reach in postmenopausal women at northern latitudes where quality of sunlight is too poor for adequate vitamin D production."

Here is my conclusion from all this: We revolve around the sun for a reason. It is the source of all life on earth. So why would we deny any new revelation about its connection to our biological processes for survival. l would suspect that if there were a way to test every woman across North America that we'd see a widespread deficiency in Vitamin D, especially in northern climes just as in the recent French study. I have this sudden urge for a spoonful of that cod liver oil my Mom used to give to me as a kid. It could become the taste that women, and men, love to hate.

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[hammadshams]

Thanks for sharing information to which a common person does not usually have access to for find it difficult to absorb. I would like to point out presence of sharks in society who prey on human needs will do every thing to make money. I read about a brand of milk that had added vitamin D. The flyer only described potential benifits that will brain wash a common person to buy this four times expenive milk. Added vitamin D in milk increases the risk of heart attack in some people espcially