D is for Defense: Deterring MS and Cancer via Vitamin D
Based on the
BromsaMS Wikidot web article “Vitamin D And Multiple Sclerosis”
and the
Nutrition Journal web article “Nutrition and cancer:
A review of the evidence for an anti-cancer diet” by
Michael S Donaldson
Edited
(with Introduction) by
Dr.
Don Rose
, Writer, Life Alert
--
Various studies
indicate that higher levels of Vitamin D in the body are associated with reduced
risk or recurrence of MS (Multiple
Sclerosis) and cancer. While more study is needed to establish
whether increasing Vitamin D levels with supplements will reduce the risk of disease,
it appears that, in general,
supplements can provide a very low cost and safe form of “insurance” for your health.
In other words, there doesn’t seem to be much downside to taking supplements like
Vitamin D, yet a very large potential upside. (Of course, always consult your doctor
before taking any supplements.) Read below for more details.
--Don Rose
--
Introduction
Vitamin D is
produced primarily from the exposure of the skin to sunshine. Even casual exposure
of the face, hands, and arms in the summer generates a large amount of vitamin D.
In fact, simulated sunshine, equivalent to standing on a sunny beach until a slight
pinkness of the skin was detected, was equivalent to a 20,000 IU oral dose of vitamin
D2
[1]. (Note that the RDA is 400
IU for most adults.) It has been estimated that 1,000 IU per day is the minimal
amount needed to maintain adequate levels of vitamin D in the absence of sunshine
[1], and that up to 4,000 IU per day can be safely used
with additional benefit [2].
Vitamin D and MS
Good news about Vitamin
D: researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that the risk of
MS is lowest among people whose Vitamin D levels are high. While other research
has suggested this link, the Harvard study is the first to indicate that
increasing Vitamin
D levels could help prevent MS, a chronic degenerative
neurological disease that affects some 350,000 people in the
United States
and two million worldwide.
Working with researchers from
the U.S. Army and Navy, the Harvard team analyzed stored serum samples from more
than seven million individuals for levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D].
They found that
the risk of MS among whites whose Vitamin D levels were highest was 62 percent lower
than among those whose levels were lowest. No
significant associations were found among blacks and Hispanics, perhaps because
there were fewer of their serum samples available or because these groups tend to
have low Vitamin D levels. More study is needed to establish whether increasing
Vitamin D levels with supplements will reduce the risk of MS. The study was published
in the December 20, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Vitamin D and Cancer
The concentration
of the active hormonal form of vitamin D is tightly regulated in the blood by the
kidneys.
This active hormonal form of vitamin D has the potent anti-cancer properties.
It has been discovered that various types of normal
and cancerous tissues, including prostate cells
[3], colon tissue
[4], breast, ovarian and cervical tissue
[5], pancreatic tissue
[6] and a lung cancer cell line
[7] all have the ability to convert the major circulating form
of vitamin D, 25(OH)D, into the active hormonal form, 1,25(OH)2D. So, there is a local mechanism in many tissues of the body for
converting the form of vitamin D in the body that is elevated by sunshine exposure
into a hormone that has anticancer activity.
Indeed, 25(OH)D has been
shown to inhibit growth of colonic epithelial cells
[8], primary prostatic epithelial
cells
[9], and pancreatic cells
[6]. So, the laboratory work is confirming what had
been seen some time ago in ecological studies of populations and sunshine exposure.
The mortality
rates for colon, breast, and ovary cancer in the
USA
show a marked north-south gradient
[10].
In ecological studies of populations and sunlight exposure, sunlight has been found
to have a protective effect for prostate cancer [11],
ovarian cancer [12], and breast
cancer [13]. Recently Grant found that
sunlight was also
protective for bladder, endometrial, renal cancer, multiple myeloma, and Non-Hodgkins
lymphoma in Europe [14] and bladder,
esophageal, kidney, lung, pancreatic, rectal, stomach, and corpus uteri cancer in
the
USA
[15]. Several prospective studies of vitamin D and cancer have
also shown a protective effect from vitamin D (see Table 1). It could be that sunshine
and vitamin D are protective factors for cancers of many organs that can convert
25(OH)D into 1,25(OH)D2.
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Table 1
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Prospective Studies
of Vitamin D and Cancer
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Study
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Vitamin D measure
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# of Cases
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# of Controls
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Outcomes
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Comments
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19-year cohort study
of 1,954 men
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Diet history
|
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Increase (Vitamin
D + calcium) = Decrease (colorectal cancer). Rates for lowest to highest
intakes were 38.9, 24,5, 22,5 and 14.3 / 1000 population.
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Significant effect
even after adjustments for confounding factors; 2.7 fold reduction.
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Washington
county,
Maryland
cohort
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Serum 25(OH)D
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34
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67 matched
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Increase (serum
Vitamin D) = Decrease (colon cancer). Relative risk was 0.25 for
3rd
quintile and
0.20 for 4th quintile.
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4–5 fold reduction
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Physicians' Health
Study
|
Serum 25(OH)D &
1,25(OH)D2
|
232
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414
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No relation between
Vitamin D metabolite levels and prostate cancer
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Nurses' Health Study
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Dietary and supplement
intake
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Colon
cancer RR = 0.42 (SS)
for total Vitamin D, comparing top and bottom quintiles
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Calcium not related
to colon cancer risks; 2.4 fold reduction
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Finnish clinical cohort
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Serum 25(OH)D &
1,25(OH)D2
|
146
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292
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Increase (serum
25(OH)D) = Decrease (risk of rectal cancer). RR by quartile = 1.00, 0.93,
0.77, 0.37, P trend = 0.06.
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Serum 25(OH)D 12% lower
in cases than in controls (12.2 vs 13.8 ng/l, P = 0.01; 2.7-fold reduction
|
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NHANES I Follow-up
Study
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Sunlight and diet
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190 women
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Cohort matched
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Risk reductions for breast
cancer for women in regions with high solar radiation (RR 0.35 – 0.75).
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Helsinki
Heart Study
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Serum 25(OH)D
|
149
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596
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Increase (serum
25(OH)D) = Decrease (prostate cancer). 1.7 fold greater risk for
below median level compared to above median level.
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Young men (<52 years
old) with low 25(OH)D had much higher risk of advanced prostate cancer (OR = 6.3)
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Randomized controlled
trial for colon adenoma recurrence
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Serum 25(OH)D &
1,25(OH)D2, and supplementary calcium
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803 subjects total
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Above medium 25(OH)D
and supplemental calcium reduced adenoma recurrence (RR = 0.71)
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Calcium and Vitamin D
appeared to work together to reduce colon cancer risk.
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Norway
,
Finland
,
Sweden
cohort of men
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Serum 25(OH)D
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622
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1,451
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≤ 19 nmol/l and ≥ 80
nmol/l of 25(OH)D at higher risk of prostate cancer. (40–60 nmol/l had lowest risk).
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1.
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Holick MF: Vitamin D: importance in the prevention
of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Am J Clin Nutr
2004, 79:362-371.
[PubMed Abstract]
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2.
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Vieth R, Kimball S, Hu A, Walfish PG: Randomized
comparison of the effects of the vitamin D3 adequate intake versus 100 mcg (4000
IU) per day on biochemical responses and the wellbeing of patients.
Nutr J
2004, 3:8.
[PubMed Abstract][PubMed
Central Full Text]
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3.
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Schwartz GG, Whitlatch LW, Chen TC, Lokeshwar BL, Holick MF:
Human prostate cells synthesize 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 from 25-hydroxyvitamin D3.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1998, 7:391-395. [PubMed
Abstract]
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4.
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Tangpricha V, Flanagan JN, Whitlatch LW, Tseng CC, Chen TC, Holt PR, Lipkin MS,
Holick MF: 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1alpha-hydroxylase
in normal and malignant colon tissue.
Lancet
2001, 357:1673-1674.
[PubMed Abstract]
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5.
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Friedrich M, Rafi L, Mitschele T, Tilgen W, Schmidt W, Reichrath J: Analysis of the vitamin D system in cervical carcinomas, breast
cancer and ovarian cancer.
Recent Results Cancer Res 2003, 164:239-246. [PubMed
Abstract]
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6.
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Schwartz GG, Eads D, Rao A, Cramer SD, Willingham MC, Chen TC, Jamieson DP, Wang
L, Burnstein KL, Holick MF, Koumenis C: Pancreatic
cancer cells express 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1alpha-hydroxylase and their proliferation
is inhibited by the prohormone 25-hydroxyvitamin D3.
Carcinogenesis
2004, 25:1015-1026.
[PubMed Abstract]
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Epub
2004 Jan 1023.
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7.
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Mawer EB, Hayes ME, Heys SE, Davies M, White A, Stewart MF, Smith GN: Constitutive synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 by a human
small cell lung cancer cell line.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
1994, 79:554-560.
[PubMed Abstract]
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8.
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Holt PR, Arber N, Halmos B, Forde K, Kissileff H, McGlynn KA, Moss SF, Kurihara
N, Fan K, Yang K, Lipkin M: Colonic epithelial
cell proliferation decreases with increasing levels of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin
D.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2002, 11:113-119. [PubMed
Abstract]
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9.
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Barreto AM, Schwartz GG, Woodruff R, Cramer SD:
25-Hydroxyvitamin D3, the prohormone of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, inhibits the proliferation
of primary prostatic epithelial cells.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2000, 9:265-270. [PubMed
Abstract]
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10.
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Sunlight, Nutrition And Health Research Center
[http://www.sunarc.org]
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11.
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Hanchette CL, Schwartz GG: Geographic patterns
of prostate cancer mortality. Evidence for a protective effect of ultraviolet radiation.
Cancer
1992, 70:2861-2869.
[PubMed Abstract]
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12.
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Lefkowitz ES, Garland CF: Sunlight, vitamin D,
and ovarian cancer mortality rates in US women.
Int J Epidemiol
1994, 23:1133-1136.
[PubMed Abstract]
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13.
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Gorham ED, Garland FC, Garland CF: Sunlight and
breast cancer incidence in the
USSR
.
Int J Epidemiol
1990, 19:820-824.
[PubMed Abstract]
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14.
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Grant WB: Ecologic studies of solar UV-B radiation
and cancer mortality rates.
Recent Results Cancer Res 2003, 164:371-377. [PubMed
Abstract]
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15.
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Grant WB: An estimate of premature cancer mortality
in the
U.S.
due to inadequate doses of solar ultraviolet-B radiation.
Cancer 2002,
94:1867-1875.
[PubMed Abstract]
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The
BromsaMS Wikidot
article cited above is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
License. The referenced Nutrition Journal
article is governed by an
Open Access
license.
The
information provided in this article is, to the best of our knowledge, reliable
and accurate. However, while
Life Alert always strives to provide true, precise and consistent information,
we cannot guarantee 100 percent accuracy. Readers are encouraged to gather more
information before drawing conclusions and making decisions.
Dr.
Don Rose
writes books, papers and articles on many topics, including
computers, the Internet, artificial intelligence, science and technology, and issues
related to seniors.
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