Posted on 12/22/2005 7:22:19 PM PST by djf
Vitamin D Can Play Role in Lung Health A study in the December issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that patients with higher concentrations of vitamin D had significantly better lung function, compared with patients with lower concentrations of vitamin D.
"Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with osteoporosis, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer," said lead author Peter Black, MB, ChB, Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. "Our research shows that vitamin D may also have a strong influence on lung health, with greater levels of vitamin D associated with greater and more positive effects on lung function."
Researchers from the University of Auckland examined the relationship between vitamin D and lung function using participants from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) carried out during 1988 to 1994. The study included 14,091 people aged greater than or equal to 20 years, who were interviewed at mobile examination centers, had spirometry performed, and had serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D measured. Vitamin D measurements were divided into five groups (quintiles), ranging from more than 85.7 mL to less than 40.4 mL. After adjusting for gender, age, ethnicity, body mass index, and smoking status, the differences between the lowest quintile of vitamin D and the next quintile were 79 mL for FEV1 and 71 mL for FVC. In comparison, the differences between the highest and lowest quintiles of vitamin D were 126 mL for FEV1 and 172 mL for FVC. With further adjustment for physical activity, intake of vitamin D supplements and milk, and antioxidant level, the difference between the highest and lowest quintiles of vitamin D also was significant at 106 mL for FEV1 and 142 mL for FVC. In addition, an association between vitamin D and FEV1 was seen in non-Hispanic whites and blacks and was greater for those over 60 years and current or former smokers.
"The difference in lung function between the highest and lowest quintiles of vitamin D is substantial and greater than the difference between former and nonsmokers," said Dr. Black. "Although there is a definite relationship between lung function and vitamin D, it is unclear if increases in vitamin D through supplements or dietary intake will actually improve lung function in patients with chronic respiratory diseases."
Overall, male gender, younger age, white ethnicity, nonsmoking status, and regular, vigorous physical activity were associated with the highest lung function. Vitamin D was higher in men than women, was inversely related to BMI, and declined with age. Vitamin D also was lower in non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican-Americans, compared with non-Hispanic whites, and it was lower in participants smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day compared with nonsmokers.
"Vitamin D would be a relatively simple, low-cost intervention that would likely have high compliance to prevent or slow loss of lung function in susceptible subgroups. However, further studies examining the relationship between vitamin D and lung function are warranted to identify who may benefit from such an intervention," said author of the study's corresponding editorial Rosalind Wright, MD, MPH, Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
"Chronic lung conditions compromise quality of life for millions of people in the United States and around the world," said W. Michael Alberts, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians. "By understanding the effect that vitamins have on lung function, we may be able to identify new and more effective treatments for these debilitating diseases."
CHEST is a peer-reviewed journal published by the ACCP. It is available online each month at http://www.chestjournal.org/ . The ACCP represents 16,500 members who provide clinical respiratory, sleep, critical care, and cardiothoracic patient care in the United States and throughout the world. The ACCP's mission is to promote the prevention and treatment of diseases of the chest through leadership, education, research, and communication. For more information about the ACCP, please visit the ACCP Web site at http://www.chestnet.org/ .
I had a hunch that out of the sun completely thing applied only to moles...
Can you provide a working link to this story?
Stay out of the sun and die of cancer.
Lay out in the sun and die of cancer.
I get the idea we're all going to die !
The evidence here is pretty astounding.
There was overall, a greater difference between people who had high versus low levels of vitamin D than there was between people who smoked versus those who didn't.
So not getting enough Vit D is worse for you than smoking!
Outlaw night!
All bars must have UV lamps!!!
Scientists are making HUGH and SERIES breakthroughs in nutrition lately.
Wish I had known this a few years back, my mom passed from lung cancer.
So which is a worse way to die, lung cancer or skin cancer...
certainly, give me a minute, I closed the window...
It's a significant story. AFAIK, lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer worldwide...
It is, I though skin cancer was.
Great! I've added it to the top of the page for anyone who wants to check it out.
Thank you.
Additional news
Success of lung cancer surgery influenced by vitamin D intake and time of year
Article Date: 19 Apr 2005
Successful outcomes for surgery to treat early stage lung cancer appear to depend on the level of vitamin D present in a patient - a calculation that includes food sources, supplements, as well as the season of the year during which the operation is performed, according to researchers at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.
Their study, presented here at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, shows that patients with high vitamin D intake who had surgery in months with lots of sun were more than twice as likely to be alive five years after surgery, compared to patients with low vitamin D intake who had wintertime operations.
The mechanism behind the link between vitamin D and surgery outcome is not known, and the study needs to be validated, the researchers say, but they add that a number of other studies have hinted that vitamin D may work to inhibit a variety of different cancers.
"Animal studies have shown that treatment of cancer with vitamin D demonstrates both anti-proliferative and anti-invasive properties, but we don't know if that is true in humans with cancer," says the lead investigator, Wei Zhou, Ph.D., a research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. "So the best way we can make some sort of association is to look at differences in what happens after treatment of cancer between patients who use high levels of vitamin D through their diet and supplements, as well as through sunlight exposure, compared to patients who do not.
"This study in no way suggests that people should try to time their cancer surgeries for a particular season - that would obviously be impossible," Zhou adds. "But, if validated, it may mean that increasing a patient's use of vitamin D before such surgery could offer a survival benefit."
The research team, led by Prof. David Christiani, M.D., of Harvard University, included investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, looked at the disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in 456 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer. A variety of different lung tumor types were included in the mix of patients, of whom 40 percent were current smokers. Only 9 percent of patients received radiation treatment following surgery, and 1 percent received chemotherapy.
The researchers derived two separate calculations - outcome based on intake of vitamin D from food and supplements (using diet questionnaire information from 321 patients), and outcome based on the season in which the surgery was performed, which was viewed as a surrogate marker for intake of vitamin D from sunlight.
Results from the analysis of survival as it relates to season of surgery showed:
-- For disease free survival, the researchers found that patients who had operations in winter were about 40 percent more likely to die from their cancer, than patients who had surgery in summer. Five year disease-free survival rates were 54 percent, 56 percent, and 70 percent, respectively, for patients who had surgery in winter, spring/fall, and summer.
-- For overall survival, patients who had surgery in the winter were about 25 percent more likely to die than those who were operated in summer. Five-year overall survival rates were 50 percent, 57 percent, and 59 percent for patients who had surgery in winter, spring/fall, and summer.
When the joint effects of surgery season and vitamin D intake were considered, the researchers found:
-- Patients with the highest vitamin D intake who had surgery in the summer had statistically significantly better outcomes - a three-fold better disease-free survival and a four-fold better overall survival - than patients who had surgery during winter with the lowest vitamin D intake. The five-year disease-free survival was 83 percent versus 46 percent, respectively, and the five-year overall survival rate was 72 percent compared to 30 percent, respectively.
Zhou points out that the study was conducted on patients who had surgery in Boston, and so the calculation of surgery season may differ in other locations.
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research is a professional society of more than 24,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical scientists engaged in all areas of cancer research in the United States and in more than 60 other countries. AACR's mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication, and advocacy. Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. AACR's Annual Meetings attract more than 15,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field. Specialty meetings, held throughout the year, focus on the latest developments in all areas of cancer research.
From what I've read lately,(some of it on MSNBC.com) vitamin D is also protective against breast cancer and SKIN cancer. This has apparently thrown some of the anti-sun people into a tailspin.
The thing that gets me is the "nutritional" experts who have been proclaiming for years that because they have sheepskins, you don't ever need supplements.
Most animals make their own Vitamin C. Scientists who studied the Vit C levels in animals who do were able to calculate how much Vit C an adult would need to stay at the same level.
Somewhere between 5 and 6 thousand milligrams per day.
It is a well know fact that as you age, you lose your ability to convert Beta Carotene into the Retinol Vitamin A group.
So you can eat carrots till the cows come home and still not get enough Vit A.
Now they seem to be finding out that the number one risk for cardiac is NOT cholesterol, it's not getting enough folates in your diet. EAT YUR SPINACH!
BTTT
Well now isn't that just GREAT! I work in the basement of our local courthouse in the microfilm office. No windows, and the lights are off all the time so we can film. Should I start making out my will?
And what about all those folks who live in Alaska? Any tests done on them? Don't they live six months in the (almost) dark?
Just don't need this stress before I knock off for my beauty sleep! LOL! My head hurts from thinking about it. (Is that a symptom?!)
This reminds me of the story of higher rates of cancer in the northern states compared to the southern states. It all makes sense that the sun would be a healthy thing as long as you don't burn. Everyone feels good when they are out in the sun, and a lot of people get depressed in the winter and some doctors think it is from a lack of sunlight.
I KNOW that's why people are depressed here in the northeast. Lordie, we've got months of nothing but gloom and cold.
Last time I bought Vit D is was like $4.99 for 90 400 IU unit tabs.
I've been taking about 1500-2000 IU's per day.
I should point out that Vit D in large amounts CAN BE TOXIC. But we're talking at the level of 15,000-25,000 IUs per day for an extended period.
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