The evidence continues to mount supporting the single, cheapest, most cost effective medical treatment available...and your body produces it...except not always in sufficient quantities...Vitamin D.
In just the last few days even more data has come out in support of taking 1000 IU supplements, especially if you live further north and/or you are non-white.
Today: Researchers sound alarm over shortage among non-whites
Vitamin D tests conducted on a group of University of Toronto students have found that virtually all non-whites had insufficient levels of the sunshine vitamin, putting them at elevated risk of debilitating diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer and diabetes.
The research, which is awaiting publication in a medical journal, found that 100 per cent of those of African origin were short of vitamin D, as were 93 per cent of South Asians (those of Indian or Pakistani origin), and 85 per cent of East Asians (those of Chinese, Indochinese or Filipino origin, among other countries).
And there has been even more info out recently...
Let's start with the basics and a quick synopsis of recent studies. As you read through these reports ask yourself what other health "tool" is available that has such a high impact. I am used to seeing reports on new costly drugs that give 5% improvements and are hailed as successes. The changes summarized here are much larger, and much cheaper to achieve.
In September 2007, an analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials involving people over the age of 50 found that people who took at least 500 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily had a seven per cent lower risk of death compared with those given a placebo.
Researchers at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha found a 60 to 77 per cent decrease in cancer rates in postmenopausal women who took a daily dose of 1,100 IU of vitamin D combined with calcium over women who were given a placebo or calcium alone.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, suggested in the March 2007 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily along with 10 to 15 minutes in the sun and a healthy diet could reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer by two-thirds. The same authors found that breast cancer rates were 50 per cent lower in people with high levels of vitamin D in their blood
Yesterday there was another report out that lack of sunlight may impact lung cancer rates.
Researchers found lung cancer rates were highest in countries furthest from the equator, where exposure to sunlight is lowest.
It is thought vitamin D - generated by exposure to sunlight - can halt tumour growth by promoting the factors responsible for cell death in the body.
He said vitamin D stimulated the release of chemicals which, in combination with calcium, formed a glue-like substance which bind these cells tightly together, and put a brake on their division.
There was also evidence that vitamin D may also slow the progress of cancer once it develops.
Then there is some suggestive information on prostate cancer.
Dr. Donald Trump, M.D., medical oncologist and President and CEO of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., has been treating prostate cancer for 32 years. He's noticed something disturbing.
"Seventy percent of my patients have vitamin D deficiency," Dr. Trump says.
The sunshine vitamin is an emerging area of cancer research.
"Low vitamin D levels are one of the factors that contribute to the development of a number of cancers," Dr. Trump says.
What should we do:
Obviously the requirement for supplemental Vitamin D varies with where you live and your race. If you live in the northern areas of the US and/or you are non-white chances are that you may not be getting enough Vitamin D, especially in the fall and winter.
The Canadian Cancer Society, however, earlier this year advised non-whites that they need to consume more than whites. The recommendation, through diet and supplements: 1,000 IU a day year-round for non-whites, and that amount in fall and winter for whites.
Whites can make about 10,000 International Units after about 10 minutes to 15 minutes in a bathing suit around noon in summer. Those with darker skin need up to six times longer to make the same amount because their higher levels of melanin act like a natural sunscreen.
While Canada is farther north, you should realize that more than 80% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border, so what goes on up there is probably applicable a bit further south too. It is also extremely important for non-whites in these areas.
Vitamin D is in most multivitamins, but typically at only a 400 IU level. A consensus seems to be developing that we need to be taking 1000 IU/day to get the beneficial protective effects of the sunshine vitamin.