Jan 23rd 2024
Vitamin D and Cancer
Imagine if there were a magic potion that was: nontoxic, inexpensive, had no side effects, and worked to prevent aging, colds, depression, diabetes, flu, multiple sclerosis, obesity, and osteoporosis and was proven to prevent four out of five cases of cancer. Most of us would take such a potion daily if it existed. Vitamin D is that amazing magical potion. -- Raymond Francis, Never Fear Cancer Again, pp. 311-312.
Around this time of year, Newsclips is usually talking about vitamin D and immunity. Keeping you cold and flu-free throughout the winter months has been shown to be one of vitamin D’s most useful and remarkable abilities. But did you know that this antioxidant vitamin can also prevent cancer?
According to scientific studies, vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as in causing many, many other diseases, while levels of vitamin D up to around 60-80 ng/ml have been shown to virtually eliminate breast cancer.
Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency is more the rule than the exception. This is why I encourage everyone to get their blood levels tested. Ask your doctor to include a 25(OH)D test in your next blood chemistry panel. If your levels aren’t high normal, call our office at 1-800-250-3063 to find out the best way to use our vitamin D supplements – cod liver oil, vitamin D3 – to get your levels up. If you already have cancer, they should be kept in the 80-90 ng/ml range.
A 2009 review article concluded that “. . . raising the minimum year-round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/ml . . . would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada.”
Since our skin makes vitamin D from sunlight, levels are highest during the summer months and tend to dip as the days become shorter and darker. Make sure your levels remain high to avoid colds and flus this winter, and, long-term, to prevent getting cancer!
For more on how vitamin D prevents cancer, see Never Fear Cancer Again.