Vitamin D may offer protection from Flu and Cancer

Vitamin D may offer protection from Flu and Cancer

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By The Sun-TimesJanice Norris/ Health is Wealth
By Janice Norris/ Health is Wealth
The Sun-Times
Wed Sep 30, 2009, 11:00 PM CDT

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Heber Springs, Ark. -
Vitamins have been advocated by health minded people for many years. However, they have usually not been accepted as anything except producing “expensive urine” by many mainstream health care providers. Recently, however, vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) has been shown in numerous studies to be preventative as well as curative in a number of serious health challenges.
In addition to protecting the bones and boosting immunity, studies show that vitamin D helps prevent certain cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and colorectal. In view of studies done by prominent researchers, it has been determined that women with vitamin D levels above 53ng/ml have half the risk of developing breast cancer as those with 13ng/ml!
Science Daily (Feb. 5, 2009) published “Vitamin D Found to Stimulate a Protein that Inhibits the Growth of Breast Cancer Cells”.
Researcher Sylvia Chistakos, Ph.D., of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has published extensively on the multiple roles of vitamin D, including inhibition of the growth of malignant cells found in breast cancer. These findings are published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Previous research had determined that increased serum levels of vitamin D are associated with an improved diagnosis in patients with breast cancer.
There is also significant evidence that vitamin D deficiency is a factor in respiratory infections and even in deaths of children from swine flu. Adequate vitamin D levels boost immunity, and therefore are important in prevention of sickness.
It is clear that we need to be looking at our vitamin D levels and that you may have to be aggressive when asking for the test you need. No one understands all about vitamin D. However, it is fat soluble and therefore, is stored in the body. Because it can become toxic, tests need to be run if you are to take a high dose in supplement form. You need to be informed and ask you doctor for the accurate test. Some insurance companies pay for it.
Many doctors are including a test for vitamin D levels in routine blood tests. Some order a 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D, thinking that by measuring the most potent steroid in the body, calcitriol, they are getting useful information. They are not. 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D is an adaptive hormone; it goes up and down with calcium intake. So these doctors see the 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D is normal or high and tell their patients they are okay when they may actually be vitamin D deficient. Furthermore, many doctors who see a 25(OH)D (the accurate test) of 30 ng/ml will tell you that your level is fine when it is not. A level at or above 50ng/ml is optimum and up to 100ng/ml is okay. When preparing for the test, ask your doctor for the 25(OH)D test.
The best source of vitamin D is sunlight and you will never get enough to produce toxicity from the sun. However, sometimes people who frequent the sunlight are still vitamin D deficient and sun screen products block its absorption. It is recommended that you get at least 15 minutes of daily sunlight on 40% of your body without a sun blocker– but never a burn.
Another option is taking a high-quality vitamin D supplement. The most important thing to keep in mind if you opt for oral supplementation is that you only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which is human vitamin D. It is much better absorbed and compatible with the body than its synthetic counterpart, vitamin D2. Since most medical doctors do not study nutrition, they often think that a chemically produced supplement is the same as a natural one. All the research shows vitamin D3 to be the effective form. Most prescriptions are for vitamin D2. You can buy D3 without a prescription and it is very inexpensive.
In the past, the law allowed only 400IU of vitamin D to be contained in a supplement. However, that has changed and since I was found to be deficient, I purchased a supplement containing 2,000IU which I take daily. I will have another test to check the level after a few months.
Whenever an inexpensive, effective nutrient is found to have such a profound effect on health as has vitamin D, you will likely hear of research to prove it is of no use at all. Keep in mind that much of that research is financed by the pharmaceutical industry. They want you to think you are dependent on their expensive drugs to be well and they can set up research to prove it. Funding often goes a long way in determining the methods and outcome of “research”. It is common for it to be done with the inferior form of the nutrient. In this case it could be done with vitamin D2 and it would not produce the beneficial results.
There is still much to be learned about vitamin D, as well as other nutrients and how they can help maintain and regain health. Stay informed and don’t believe everything you hear on television. I often hear people say “they” say this or that – as if “they” are the last word. Find out who “they” are and make your own decisions. Your health may depend on it.

(Janice Norris lives in Heber Springs, has a B.S. in home economics from Murray State University, taught home economics, owned and operated health food stores in Illinois and Heber Springs, has taught numerous health and nutrition classes, and wrote a weekly newspaper column in Illinois for 15 years. She can be reached at janicenorris34@yahoo.com)

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citizen211 week ago
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MEDICARE WILL NOT PAY FOR A FLU VACCINE FOR ME. I DOUBT THEY WILL PROVIDE ME WITH THE FUNDS TO PURCHASE VITAMINS TO KEEP ME CANCER FREE.
Dokadow1 week ago
Report AbuseI would like to thank the author for shedding light on America's most serious health crisis, vitamin D3 deficiency. Nothing is more important that maintaining an activated D3 level of at least 50 ng/ml in the bloodstream. And as Ms. Norris points out correctly Vitamin D3 when activated is a steroid, nto a vitamin. Medicine's most difficult challenges are treated with steroids and calcitriol is one which we evolved with for thousands of generations. It would be beneficial to everyone to read up about D3 and investigate the endless list of diseases and chronic conditions afflicting hundreds of millions of people in the Northern Hemisphere. In particluar cancers and heart disease, diabetes, MS, asthma, colds/flu, chronic pain, lupus, fibromyalgia, IBD, Crohn's, restless leg syndrome, claustrophobia, depression/SAD, resistant bacterial infections, dimentia including Alzheimer's etc. etc etc. And perhaps worst of all- if there is such a thing, autisim. What was the AMA thinking when they demonized the sun? In the klast 20 years they have made most Americans afraid of direct sunlight which is the worst case of iatrogenic negligence in history. The experts say it costs $3 million to raise an autistic child. Multiply that by 2 million children and you can begin to see the scale of the lawsuit now certain to ensue.