Another opinion on vitamin D and cancer

[Joan M]

A news story from Reuters said that Canadians and Americans get enough vitamin D without supplements and questioned whether the vitamin plays any role in diseases like cancer and MS:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUST...me=ushealth200

I attended a lecture recently at which Dr. Larry Norton of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center discussed, among other things, a potential link between not getting enough vitamin D and developing cancer. He seemed to think a link exists.

Joan

[Carol.hope]

Wow. This article says:
"North Americans need on average 400 International Units (IUs) of vitamin D per day, the committee decided. Those 71 and older may require as much as 800 IUs a day." The report referred to had an incorrect link, so I could not check it. But I think the newer information is that we need 2000-5000 IUs a day.

There is plenty of research on the importance of Vitamin D, and this article gives no evidence to refute it. The people at UCSD Cancer Center say that with a high enough level of Vitamin D, cancer can't get a start. RB posted a link to their article a year or so ago. You could search this site for Vitamin D.

[Joan M]

Dr. Norton would agree with UCSD Cancer Center, but it seems that the doctors at Penn State and Ohio State Medical Center cited in the story question whether people need that much vitamin D.

I wonder what the outcome will be -- if we ever know. The FDA said the air at ground zero was not hazardous to breath, yet major litigation was just settled to reimburse people who feel their health was affected by breathing that air. And of course the bigger fish was that HRT was (even) good for us, and that is now being questioned.

Joan

[ElaineM]

I am going to keep taking my vitamin D no matter what the reports say. It helps. I had blood tests before and after I started vitamin D. Before vitamin D my D levels were below normal and I live in Hawaii !! My D levels became normal after I started taking it.

[Joan M]

Elaine,

I would agree. Last year my vitamin D levels were low, and I was given 50,000 IUs per week for eight weeks. Now I take 2400 IUs per day. It seems that more and more people are being diagnosed with low D levels.

Joan