Vitamin D and Your HealthCancer
Vitamin D3 and Cancer
This web site is dedicated to vitamin D and cancer. This is because exciting new research indicates that vitamin D, produced when skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation (whether from the sun or sun lamps) as well as from supplementation with cholecalciferol, may help cancer patients. However, the research is far from complete.
Articles about vitamin D are beginning to appear everywhere. For years, most of us wrongly assumed we'd be fine if we drank a little milk and took a multivitamin pill. Now, studies are reporting most of us are vitamin D deficient and those deficiencies may well be causing numerous illnesses, especially cancer.
Recent medical research indicates human daily requirements for vitamin D may be up to ten times more than what is currently recommended. Proper vitamin D supplementation gives one a much better chance of preventing many major illnesses such as: Heart Disease, Hypertension, Arthritis, Chronic Pain, Depression, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Obesity, Premenstrual Syndrome, Muscular Weakness, Fibromyalgia, Crohns Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Autoimmune Illness, as well as cancer. And more are being added to this list almost daily.
Vitamin D As Prevention
How much vitamin D one should take daily to prevent cancer is still unknown. It is a question more complicated than it at first appears, for we get most of our vitamin D from the sun. Even a little sun will make some vitamin D, if it is the right time of day, the right latitude, and the right season of the year.
We get a little in our diet, almost all of it from milk or fish, but none of us get enough from our diet. We also get some in multivitamins, but multivitamins only contain 400 units, about 10% of the body's daily needs. It appears to us that the best thing to do is be conservative and maintain natural vitamin D blood levels year around, by receiving sunlight in the summer and supplementation in the winter. In this case, "natural" means calcidiol blood levels similar to humans living in a natural relationship with the sun, such as farmers in Puerto Rico or lifeguards in the United States. Both groups have calcidiol levels above 50 ng/mL.
So the amount an individual would need to prevent cancer really depends on how much sunlight exposure they receive in terms of duration, the time of year and time of day, and the amount of skin exposed. Vitamin D amount already being received through diet and supplements should be considered as well.
Vitamin D As Treatment
How much vitamin D should one take if they have cancer? We don't know as the research is far from complete. Although current research indicates vitamin D to be an effective tool in the fight against cancer, it should be used in addition to regular chemotherapy or surgery. Oncologists and surgeons work miracles every day.