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Vitamin D: Role in Preventing Cancer

First Aired: 6/3/2010
54 minutes

Is vitamin D the wonder vitamin? Can it prevent certain cancers and chronic diseases? Find these answers and more in this series brought to you by UCSD School of Medicine and GrassrootsHealth where experts discuss the latest research on vitamin D. In this program, Cedric Garland, Dr.PH, talks about vitamin D and cancer prevention.

http://www.ucsd.tv/s...px?showID=18715

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Best way to get vitamin D

a word about sunshine. You should get tested to check if using sun is working for you where you live.

First vitamin D is made from the action of UVB on cholesterol in skin.
NO UVB = NO VITAMIN D
The amount of local ozone pollution from traffic, air travel, factories is such that at some times of the year and in some towns/cities insufficient UVB reaches the ground.

NO CHOLESTEROL = NO VITAMIN D
People taking statins, people on low cholesterol diets, older people with thinner skin ALL will have a lower potential for making D3 from sunlight.
Skin colour will also affect the amount made, that is why the skin least exposed, least tanned generates more vitamin d than hands/face that are regularly exposed.

UVA as detailed in the UV guide processes the newly made D3 into products the body doesn't use so if you use sunscreen AFTER making your vitamin D AND you stay in the sun it's possible that extra UVA only exposure could degrade the newly made D3.

Vitamin D is fat soluble.
Sweat contains some fat.
Indulging in vigorous exercise while sunbathing such that you sweat inevitably brings D3 to the skin surface. If you shower, swim towel down you remove the D3. Marathon runners, Cyclists and athletes all generally have low vitamin D status even though they spend lots of time in the sun practicing their sport.


http://www.natmedtal...lly-better.html

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A concerned patient asks his doctor about vitamin D.

[Rogerdodger]

I loved the doctor recommending that the patient stay out of the sun and then concluding with: "You look rather pale."

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Vitamin D Crucial to Activating Immune Defenses

Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system -- T cells -- will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body

Most Vitamin D is produced as a natural byproduct of the skin's exposure to sunlight. It can also be found in fish liver oil, eggs and fatty fish such as salmon, herring and mackerel or taken as a dietary supplement. No definitive studies have been carried out for the optimal daily dosage of vitamin D but as a large proportion of the population have very low concentrations of vitamin D in the blood, a number of experts recommend between 25-50mg micrograms a day.


http://www.scienceda...00307215534.htm

[Dex]

[

Most Vitamin D is produced as a natural byproduct of the skin's exposure to sunlight.

Unless you are covered up to avoid cancer and aging of the skin.

I take D supplements.

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A large study into supplement intake of calcium and vitamin D found that they had no beneficial effect at all.

Participants: Participants were 5292 people (85% women) aged at least 70 yr with previous low-trauma fracture.

Interventions: Participants were randomly allocated to daily vitamin D3 (800 IU), calcium (1000 mg), both, or placebo for 24–62 months, with a follow-up of 3 yr after intervention.

Main Outcome Measures: All-cause mortality, vascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, and cancer incidence were evaluated.

Conclusions: Daily vitamin D or calcium supplementation did not affect mortality, vascular disease, cancer mortality, or cancer incidence.


http://jcem.endojour...2f-004f16c399b3

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Vitamin D best trials showed the best results at about 30 ng/mL with or without supplementation

Easily achievable sun exposure in areas within 30° latitude of the
equator will prevent any deficiency of vitamin D , while areas
beyond 50° N or S will often have a 6-month Vitamin D “winter.”
Thus, vitamin D is unique in that supplementation may not be needed
for some months or even all year long.

In Western countries, advice to avoid sun exposure and to use sunscreen
could be a major contributor to vitamin D deficiency. A lotion with a
sun protection factor (SPF) of 8 can cut vitamin D synthesis by
92.5%, and one with a SPF of 15 by 99%.

The primary source for vitamin D for most people is, or could be
sun exposure. Just 15 minutes of summer noonday sun on both sides
of the body will generate the equivalent of 10,000 IU of D in most
light-skinned adults. This refers to any time of year within 30° of the
equator, and the sunnier half of the year at 30°-50°N or S. According
to Cannell, once or twice a week is enough exposure. Glass, plastic,
and clothing will absorb nearly al lUV-B from sunlight. Holick wrote
that about 3,000 IU from direct sun on the arms and legs is obtained
in 5-10 minutes.





http://www.jpands.or...o2/kauffman.pdf

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Best Health to Live Close to Equator and at a High Altitude

The size of the disease differences is impressive — e.g., a factor of 2. I think these sunshine correlations are due either to a protective effect of Vitamin D or a protective effect of sleep (more sunshine = better sleep). There’s no doubt that sleep quality depends on the amplitude of a circadian rhythm (greater amplitude = better sleep), which in turn depends on the amplitude of the sunlight intensity rhythm, the day-night difference.

First, to develop the latitude theme, that distance from the equator determines risk of heart disease, cancers, multiple sclerosis and others.

But the [most] important observation of the sun being protective against cardiovascular disease comes from the USA. A latitude effect is present but weak. However a longitude effect is powerful. It works out as an altitude effect — the higher the altitude of residence the lower the risk of death from cardio-vascular disease (coronary heart disease + stroke)



http://blog.sethrobe...ments/#comments

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"Vitamin D supplementation has failed spectacularly in clinical trials" according to the Outside article.  Five years of high-dose vitamin D had "[n]o impact on cancer, heart disease, or stroke."  https://www.american...f_buzzfeed.html

 

Maybe simply taking vitamin D as a pill isn't the same as getting it naturally from sun exposure.  Perhaps the low blood levels of vitamin D in the unhealthy weren't the actual cause of health problems, but instead just a marker.

 

This is the scientific conundrum of causation versus association.  Does having blue hair cause elderly ladies to play bingo, or is this just an association?

 

The science of sunlight is a bit more complicated.  The skin uses sunlight to make nitric oxide, a blood vessel-dilator that lowers blood pressure.  This in turn reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.  Vitamin D is produced along the way but may not be preventing actual disease, instead serving as a marker that an individual is receiving enough sun exposure.