Dallas Chiropractor Best Practices
Research Commentary;
Vitamin D and Cancer: What you need to know!
A review of
Garland CF, Grant WB, Mohr SB, Gorham ED, Garland FC. What is the dose-response relationship between vitamin D and cancer risk? Nutr Rev. 2007 Aug;65(8 Pt 2):S91-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2007.tb00349.x. PMID: 17867379.
Research Reviewed by Dr. Anthony Vasile
Summarized Review of Conclusion:
What this research proved is vitamin D in its proper form cholecalciferol (D3) is vital in the prevention of cancer. Not only are there numerous deficiencies in this country but there are deficiencies around the world. In North America if every person attained a serum 25(OH)D level of greater than 55 ng/mL, we could eliminate 250,000 thousand cases of colorectal cancer and 350,000 cases of breast cancer each year. These numbers are huge. Every person reading this review knows someone either in their immediately family or knows a friend that suffers from one of these cancers. Why wouldn’t we share this with as many people as possible? It is cost effective with little to no side effects compared to current treatments. We need to focus on these preventative measures to keep our bodies in a state of homeostasis. This means how we eat (including vitamin D3 supplementation), how we exercise and how we manage our stress daily. These three simple factors in health can make such a drastic difference in the health of people on a global scale.
Below I have referenced key quotes from this research to help summarize the results
Quotes from the Article:
“The lower limit for any benefit of vitamin D would correspond to 1000 IU/d of vitamin D3 for the first meaningful increment of colorectal cancer prevention and 2000 IU/d for the first meaningful increment of breast cancer prevention.”
“We estimated that 50% of colon cancer incidence in North America could be prevented by maintenance of a serum 25(OH)D level of greater than 34 ng/mL.”
“Based on a prediction involving linear extrapolation, a projected 50% reduction of breast cancer incidence could potentially be achieved by lifelong maintenance of serum 25(OH)D level greater than 52 ng/mL.”
“These gradients for cancer risk suggest that the upper limit should be revised upward, since there is considerable benefit, and no established adverse effect of vitamin D3 intake below 10,000 IU/d.”(11,12)
“Use of ergocalciferol (vitamin D2), which is popular in Europe and is used in some major US brands of multivitamins, should be discontinued immediately in favor of vitamin D3.” (13-15)
Introduction to the Research
The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of supplementing vitamin D3 and its effect in the prevention of certain cancers including colorectal cancer, breast cancer and ovary cancer. The research wanted to see the relationship with sun exposure relating to different geographical areas compared to the amount of cancer within that region. This study also sought to find what levels of vitamin D3 supplementation had the biggest effects on cancer prevention.
Research Methodology
Combining data from observational studies revealed an inverse association of serum 25(OH)D with risk of colon (7) and breast cancer8 (Figures 1 and 2). A dose response gradient for ovarian cancer and 25(OH)D concentrations was obtained from a recent cohort study. (9) The gradients were confirmed by an analysis of modeled and reported winter serum 25(OH)D levels and estimated age-standardized incidence rate estimates for 177 countries for 2002 from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) GLOBOCAN database. Serum 25(OH)D levels in each country were obtained from previous studies or modeled based on winter solar ultraviolet B irradiance by country, adjusted for winter cloud cover data obtained from the NASA international satellite climatology cloud climatology project (ISCCP).
Research Findings
The findings from this research help create recommendations to the medical community and general public for primary prevention of colorectal and breast cancer and should be used for that purpose. This research proved that it is absolutely vital to supplement with a minimum of 2000 IU a day of Vitamin D3 for all individuals 12 years of age and older. The current median intake for the US population is only 230 IU/day. The key take home advice is supplement and get into the sun during high noon for 3-15 minutes without sunscreen with 40% of skin exposed. This combination of supplementation and sun exposure is the best chance to keep vitamin D at the optimal levels for health and homeostasis.
Research References
As always with these reviews, these are my takeaways from the article and I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. The references used in this article by the authors of this article are listed here.