Vitamin D: Cancer Fighter

Vitamin D helps ensure that the body utilizes calcium and phosphorus, both necessary for a wide array of health needs from bones and nerves to mental health. Vitamin D keeps cancer cells from proliferating, and is important in controlling infections. Calcium has also been shown extremely effective in the fight against cancer.

A study by the Creighton University School of Medicine shows that supplementing with vitamin D and calcium reduces your risk of cancer by an amazing 60 percent. This includes breast cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer and many other forms of cancer. This makes vitamin D the single most effective medicine against cancer, far outpacing the benefits of any pharmaceutical cancer drug known to modern science. Other natural supplements rival this astonishing result, for example, 200mcg/day of Selenium has been shown to reduce the incidence of and mortality from cancer by about 50%.

These tremendous results were achieved from fairly low doses of vitamin D and low quality calcium supplements. What does all this mean? It means that if you take high-quality calcium supplements and get lots of natural sunlight exposure or take premium vitamin D supplements – such as those made from fish oil – you MAY have a reduction greater than the 60 percent found in this study!

Other early studies suggest not only an association between low vitamin D intake and increased risks of breast, colon, and other cancers,  but there was an increased risk of multiple sclerosis as well.  One randomized trial among post menopausal women showed significant reductions in cancer incidence among those randomized to vitamin D.

An study in the Archives of Internal Medicine indicates that taking vitamin D supplements may reduce overall mortality by a statistically significant 7% from any cause. The analysis looked at the findings from 18 randomized controlled trials that enrolled a total of nearly 60,000 study participants; most of the study participants took between 400 and 800 IU of vitamin D per day for an average of five years, which we now know to be a somewhat small supplemental dose. Again one has to ask, how much better would the results have been had more vitamin D been administered?

But that’s not all the good news of this miracle vitamin.  Vitamin D is one of the most potent inhibitors of skin cell growth. As a result, it is now considered one of the best treatments for psoriasis.

Still not convinced?  There was a study done in Finland that looked at children 1 year of age who received 2000 units of vitamin D as a supplement for the first several years, and followed them for over 20 years. They had an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes than the general population.

Pregnant women with vitamin D deficiencies are more likely than other expectant moms to deliver their babies via cesarean section. In one  study, women with a vitamin D deficiency were almost 4 times more likely to have a cesarean than those with [normal] vitamin D levels.  Vitamin D also increases muscle strength which aids in natural birthing.

Scientists have known for some time that in adults, low levels of vitamin D are associated with high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome — a collection of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease that includes high abdominal fat, elevated levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides and insulin resistance. Now we know that too little of the sunshine vitamin causes those same problems in tweens and teens.

Vitamin D may affect the ability of blood vessels to relax and contract as the body maintains blood pressure. And people with more vitamin D are better able to move glucose from food into cells and use it for energy, which could lower their risk of metabolic syndrome.There are clear links between vitamin D deficiency and inflammation within the body, and chronic inflammation is now the basis of a major new theory of aging and disease.

Thus, proper levels of vitamin D are thought to reduce obesity risk by 57 percent, reduce the risk of high blood pressure by 67 percent and lower glucose intolerance risk by 55. This lowers your risk of heart attack and stroke by an astounding 50%. A 50% reduction for the risk of arthritis may also be expected. Not bad.

Insufficient levels of vitamin D have also been associated with people suffering from chronic pain from conditions such as migraines and fibromyalgia. When vitamin D levels are raised, pain decreases. Pain reduction has also been associated with increased levels of calcium. Supplementation of vitamin D in genetically altered mice prevents inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble compound essential for calcium metabolism. The skin forms vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, but in some circumstances sunlight may lack sufficient amounts of ultraviolet rays to bring about adequate production of the vitamin. That is why supplementation of vitamin D is a good idea for most people.

The research on vitamin D is so positive that one wonders why Marji McCullough, strategic director of nutritional epidemiology for the American Cancer Society, flatly stated that nobody should take supplements to prevent cancer. What this obviously shows is that the mainstream medical community does not want people to be healed from cancer by the many natural supplements available on the market. Rather, they prefer to protect the obscene profits of the pharmaceutical industry.

“The ACS [American Cancer Society] apparently supports the proliferation of cancer as a way to increase its power and profits. The ACS is the wealthiest non-profit organization in America and has close political and financial affiliations to pharmaceutical companies, mammography equipment companies and other corporations that benefit from cancer.

Do yourself and your family a favor. Get enough sunlight and supplement with vitamin D. You’ll be glad you did.

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