Why vitamin D is HOT

There has been a surge in studies and attention given to vitamin D as researchers are discovering that several cancers are inhibited by the active form of D made by the body. Vitamin D is nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. It is clear now that D not only regulates calcium metabolism for bone health, but it regulates all cell growth, which means it helps to keep cancer in check.

Due to recently published research, The American Cancer Society's chief epidemiologist, Dr. Michael Thun says the society is reviewing its sun protection guidelines. "There is now intriguing evidence that vitamin D may have a role in the prevention as well as treatment of certain cancers," Thun said.

On of the top vitamin D researchers in the world, William B. Grant, Ph.D. is quoted stating, "For the past seven years, I have applied the ecologic approach for the study of dietary and environmental links to chronic diseases and have read the health literature extensively. There is a large and growing list of diseases related to vitamin D deficiency. Muscle pain and weakness is one. There are about 16 types of internal cancers for which vitamin D is a risk reduction factor. Other diseases include multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease." ¹

According to head researcher and the original author of groundbreaking studies on vitamin D, Dr. Michael Holick claims the increased incidence of several cancers over the past 30 years is due to lack of sufficient vitamin D, mainly due to sunscreen use. Most people know that the skin manufactures vitamin D, and part of the problem is that people take vitamin D for granted because they think it's plentiful. Holick states that for years now, people have been mislead by dermatologists into thinking they need gobs of sunscreen to prevent cancer, and by the dairy industry thinking that if they've "got milk" they've got it covered. Both are misconceptions. The truth is that a consistent exposure of sun is necessary for the skin to manufacture adequate vitamin D. Secondly, you would need to drink 10 tall glasses of vitamin fortified milk every day just to get minimum levels of D.

Sunscreen is necessary obviously to avoid skin damage, but only with extreme sun exposure. To give you an example, sunscreen with an SPF of 8 reduces the ability of your skin to make vitamin D by more than 95%. The thing to do, if you plan to spend 8 hours in the sun, is spend the first 20 to 30 minutes sunscreen-free, then apply the lowest SPF. This needs to be direct sun exposure, not in the car or sitting next to a window, because all glass absorbs the beneficial UV rays needed by the skin.

As for the vitamin D content in foods, unless you're willing to take spoonfuls of cod liver oil daily, very few foods naturally contain vitamin D.

Dr. Holick, who has researched the effects of vitamin D deficiency for more than 30 years, explains in his book The UV Advantage that his studies revealed in 1985 that people who live in higher latitudes tend to lack vitamin D and are more prone to developing common cancers and dying of them, such as cancer of the colon, prostate, breast and even ovaries. He believes that is in part due to the body's inability to make enough activated vitamin D to help regulate cell growth, which would help keep cancerous growth in check.

Holick claims that vitamin D deficiency is epidemic throughout the entire U.S., through all age groups, including elderly people and newborns that inherit their mothers' deficiency. "Those who do not get adequate sun, such as people with deep skinned pigmentation, the elderly, those who live north of the equator, pregnant women and those who are obese can benefit from supplemental vitamin D."

The American Academy of Pediatricians recommended in 2003 that all breastfed babies receive a vitamin D supplement to ward of the threat of rickets. According to pediatrics professor Laura Bachrach at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, "There is concern that vitamin D deficiency early in life can have long-term effects on bone density and bone strength". This is confirmed by Dr. Holick, who states that many experts are concerned about the possibility that infants vitamin D deficient at birth can remain deficient for the first several months, putting them at risk of developing many chronic diseases later in life, including type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, as well as many common cancers.

In his book, Holick quotes a study done in Finland that followed the development of 1 year olds for 20 years. The infants received 2000 units of vitamin D as a supplement for the first several years of their lives. As young adults, compared to those in the study who did not get additional D, they had an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes. For those 1 years olds who had rickets at the beginning of the study and did not get additional D, there was a four-fold increased risk of getting type 1 diabetes later in life.

This is why, according to Holick, that scientists are starting to "sound the alarm". It appears we have a nation that is suffering from vitamin D deficiency that we are passing on to a whole new generation of children who are starting out deficient and therefore at high risk for these diseases.

Vitamin D facts:

• You can reduce your risk of developing serious disease by 50-80% through sensible exposure to sunlight 2-3 times each week.
  

• Sunscreen with an SPF of 8 will reduce the skin’s ability to make vitamin D by more than 95 percent.
  

• Sufficient vitamin D may prevent prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, depression, colon cancer.
  

• Vitamin D is activated in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used.
  

• Prostate cancer is epidemic among black men. People with dark skin may need supplemental D or at least 20 to 30 times more exposure to sunlight.
  

• Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which greatly impairs calcium absorption.
  

• Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption--without it, calcium supplements are useless.
  

• Chronic vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.
  

• Rickets is a bone-wasting disease caused by vitamin D deficiency.
  

• The farther you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun.
  

• Vitamin D deficiency may impair insulin production in the pancreas.
  

• Infants who receive vitamin D supplementation (2000 units daily) have an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes over the next twenty years.
  

• Up to 80% of nursing home patients are vitamin D deficient.
  

• Taking a vitamin D supplement that equals at least 1,000 units of D a day would help satisfy the body's vitamin D requirement.
  

References:
The UV Advantage by Dr. Michael Holick
Stanford School of Medicine
American Cancer Society
1 Holick MF. Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79:362-71.
Grant WB. An ecologic study of dietary and solar UV-B links to breast carcinoma mortality rates. Cancer. 2002a;94:272-81

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov