vitamin D no help to cancer

[sarah]

Apparently vitamin D is a preventive however it does help Calcium absorption.
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Research_Shows_No_Benefit_from_Vitamin_D_in_B reast_Cancer_Prevention_28743.html

[flynny]

That really is a bummer. I guess I'll continue to take it, but merely for the benefit of not having any bones fracture.

[Becky]

For the record, this study was extremely flawed. First, they only gave these women 400 mg per day. This dose did not change the blood levels of women in the category that had the highest levels of Vit D in their bloodstreams to start with. Secondly, regardless of what group you were in if you were taking Calcium with Vitamin D for bone health, then you were allowed to keep taking it . This equated to half the women in the group who were in the placebo group (average amount of Vitamin D per day in the placebo group was 600 mg)!

This is NOT a study. Pretty much everybody got Vitamin D. Also 400 mg is nothing when research is saying that people need 2000mg - 4000 mg per day (20 minutes of summer sunshine with face/arms/legs exposed without sunscreen gives you the equivalent of 20,000).

Do not think for a moment that Vitamin D isn't important. It is very, very important and do not allow this flawed study stop you from supplementing this important anti-cancer vitamin.

[tricia keegan]

Thanks for the clarity Becky, I'll pass that info on to some people I know who were concerned about this study.

[RobinP]

Right, Becky, I too understood that at least 1200mg of vitamin D3 per day was needed to be a breast cancer preventive. As I recall D3 taken at proper levels interferes with a particular enzymes needed for her2 breast cancer proliferation. So yes, D3 is very important for bc prevention and her2 bc prevention particularly.

For those interested search the archives for vitamin D to find supporting articles to above statements, which I have posted in the past.

[fullofbeans]

above comments appreciated (i.e. on amount required)

Furthermore I could not help noticing that the study was carried out in california..not sure the control group would have got much less overall vit D (proportionally to the amount they would have got from sun exposure). It sounds to me like the equivalent of give an extra apple to eat to people that are fructivorous and see if it makes a difference..

It is different for folks living in higher latitudes especially if they have dark/olive skin (they need longer exposure to get vit D)..l

There is no one cause to BC, but I really beleive that vit D, albeit lack of, is a contributory one for a number of people .

[vickie h]

Thank you, Becky, I am taking 2,000 vitamin d everyday. My Onc swears by it! some other people I know are taking as much as 4,000 a day. It's extremely important to find out where the research was done, how much was given, over what length of time. controlled or not? Thanks again for your insight. Vickie

[Rich66]

This thread was worthwhile to me primarily for introducing me to the word...fructivorous. I just keep saying it;)