Another Benefit of Vitamin D
VITAMIN D PROTECTS AGAINST MORE AGGRESSIVE COLON CANCERS
Researchers have found that cholecalciferol, or vitamin D3, acts on a specific biological pathway that results in a protective effect against more aggressive forms of colon cancer. Evidence that vitamin D inhibits the growth of colon cancer cells is not new, but this study found that vitamin D slows down the action of beta-catenin, a key protein in the carcinogenic transformation process that can cause colon cancers to develop as the more aggressive type.
The study was conducted on mice and also on human colon cancer cells. The scientists reported that treatment with vitamin D in the initial stages of colon cancer could prevent development of aggressive cancers and save lives, but they stressed that this would not be useful in the advanced stages.
Vitamin D is available from some foods such as oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna), from direct sunlight on exposed skin, and from supplement pills or cod liver oil.
The sole vegan source is UV-irradiated mushrooms.
This study was just published electronically in the online journal PLoS, and the full text is now available at http://bit.ly/mYUAJ0 without cost.
Take a 30 Minute Walk 5 Days/Week for Cancer Prevention
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ISSUES EXERCISE RECOMMENDATIONS TO FIGHT CANCER
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new, global, exercise recommendations aimed at reducing the risk of breast cancer and colon cancers. While various types of cancer might be prevented by exercise, WHO experts estimate, after examining the scientific evidence, that 25% of breast and colon cancers could be prevented if sedentary people exercised just 150 minutes a week. The WHO stressed that this amount of exercise could be attained easily with a moderately brisk 30-minute walk five days a week.
The WHO reports that 31% of the world’s population is inactive, the fourth leading risk factor globally for death. One person in two will have a cancer in his or her lifetime and the risk increases with age.
The WHO released the new anti-cancer recommendations in time for World Cancer Day, which is February 4, 2011. The full report is available online on the WHO website at http://bit.ly/fClTR7 without charge.
Do You Know How Much Vitamin D Your Body Needs?
Two thirds of the world’s population, including about half the people in North America and Western Europe, get an insufficient supply of vitamin D, according to vitamin D expert Anthony Norman, PhD.
His article appeared in the July, 2010 issue of Endocrine Today, a monthly newspaper about diabetes and endocrine disorders. Several studies have reported reduced risks of breast cancer, colon cancer and type 1 diabetes with adequate levels of vitamin D, the positive effect generally occurring within five years of beginning to get an adequate vitamin D intake, writes Norman.
It was Norman’s lab that discovered, in 1967, that vitamin D is converted by the body into a steroid hormone; and later discovered that 37 body organs respond to it biologically.
Vitamin D is found in very few foods naturally – fish, eggs and cod liver oil – which is why some other foods such as milk, orange juice, some yogurts and some breakfast foods are fortified with it.
Currently, the recommended daily intake of vitamin D is:
- 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old;
- 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old; and
- 600 IU for people over 70 years old.
But many scientists suggest that amounts as high as 2,000 to 4,000 IU are required for optimal health, levels which cannot be achieved through food alone; a combination of food, sunshine and supplements may be needed to achieve these levels.
