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New Study Suggests That Vitamin D Decreases Risk of Cancer

  • April 03, 2017

Creighton University analyzed a recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association and determined that vitamin D may decrease your risk of cancer. The four-year study of postmenopausal women randomly assigned the participants to take either 2000 IUs of vitamin D and 1500 mg of calcium or a placebo. The women who received vitamin D saw their cancer risk lowered by a dramatic 30 percent. 

The case for vitamin D is nearly overwhelming. It has been shown to provide myriad benefits in study after study. With benefits so readily apparent, it is obvious why you want to optimize your vitamin D levels. 

The only way to know if you are deficient in vitamin D is to have your blood tested. There are some signs and symptoms to be aware of as well. You could be at risk if any of these seven signs you may have a vitamin D deficiency apply to you: darker skin complexion, depression, you are over the age of 50, overweight or obese, bone aches, head sweating and gut troubles. 

It is disheartening that vitamin D deficiency is still a pandemic in the United States. Despite its name, vitamin D is not a regular vitamin. It's actually a steroid hormone that you get primarily from either sun exposure or supplementation. The ability of vitamin D to influence genetic expression is what produces many of its wide-ranging health benefits.

Researchers have pointed out that increasing levels of vitamin D3 among the general population could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly 1 million lives throughout the world each year. Incidence of several types of cancer could also be slashed. Vitamin D also fights infections, including colds and the flu, as it regulates the expression of genes that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses. 

I've often said that when it comes to vitamin D, you don't want to be in the "average" or "normal" range; you want to be in the "optimal" range. I firmly believe that appropriate sun exposure is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels. In fact, I personally have not taken a vitamin D supplement for three or four years, yet my levels are in the 70 ng/ml range. 

Vitamin D can also be obtained from food. Four ounces of wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon provides 128 percent of the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin D. Keep in mind that the RDA is far lower than necessary to raise your vitamin D levels into the therapeutic range, so it's difficult to achieve enough vitamin D from dietary sources alone. In addition, it's ideal to get your vitamin D from sunlight because the sun offers a wealth of health benefits above and beyond vitamin D.