If life's a beach, where the hell are our Cabana Boys?
Posted on 11/08/2009 5:29:05 PM PST by neverdem
With new studies showing the sun vitamin may slow come cancers, some physicians are eager to add it to treatment programs
Responding to research indicating that vitamin D may slow the progression of breast, colon and other common cancers, some doctors have begun adding the supplement to their tool kit of cancer therapies alongside more conventional treatments such as radiation, surgery and chemotherapy.
While not all physicians are convinced the evidence is strong enough to warrant taking an extra dollop of the sunshine vitamin, those recommending the course say popping the pills is a simple health strategy that has few, if any, risks and has the added benefit of also improving bone health in those with cancer.
“There is emerging data on breast cancer recurrence rates and vitamin D levels that are quite compelling,” says Tracey O'Connor, an oncologist at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo who treats breast cancer and is having her patients take the vitamin.
Giving vitamin D as part of a treatment program for cancer is still relatively new in the medical community, and Roswell Park is one of the first major cancer institutions in North America to have a number of doctors investigating whether wider use of the nutrient may make a difference in the outcome of the disease.
Speaking at a conference this week in Toronto, Dr. O'Connor outlined a protocol she is using for vitamin D in breast-cancer treatment. It involves giving high doses of the supplement to the most deficient patients immediately after they are diagnosed to quickly raise blood levels of the nutrient.
Dr. O'Connor says that having a low level of vitamin D “is quite common” among women with breast cancer, and most patients, typically about 80 per cent, are either deficient or have insufficient amounts.
Current Health Canada...
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Nutrition and diet is more important to health than drugs and radiation.
I take 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily.
The number one best way to prevent illness is...washing your hands.
I take 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily.
my wife also, 2000 am, 2000 pm as per her doctor...
I’ve also read (probably here on free republic) that Vitamin D is a recommended protocol for PREVENTING the flu.
And yes, that includes H1N1.
Lemme see if I can find a linkerooni.
Great reminder. Take your Vitamin D, Ladies. You need it to help absorb either the calcium supplement you take, or the calcium you’re getting from the dairy in your diet.
Also - this winter, when the sun is weak and we’re starved for light, try to get outside on sunny days and stand with your face and the backs of your hands (no mittens!) toward the sun for a full 20 minutes. You will feel an immediate energy boost as you absorb that FREE Vitamin D. I promise! :)
We just live in the coolest Universe, don’t we? She provides EVERYTHING we need, and then some. Why, it’s almost as if there were some sort of ‘plan’ or something, Eh? :)
Over 2000 is considered unsafe. If fact, studies show that doses over 500 per day acutally decrease the beneficial effects.
Yes, I read one study that claimed patients who were given (I think) 2000 units or more of vitamin D daily had a statistically significant lower rate of contracting the flu. Add in a possible link to cancer, and I’m taking it. I’m also getting out in the sun on nice days like this :-)
http://www.virologyj.com/content/5/1/29 (highly scientific)
http://npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?articleid=25166&zoneid=258 (easier to read for us laypeople)
After three years of dinking around with “regular” doctors for treatment of a problem caused by a doctor in the first place. I am now seeing an osteopath with some unconventional treatments.
He is heavy into vitamins and supplements and gave me what I thought was a lot of vitamin D, considering that I spend as much time outside as possible.
But as going “off the grid” of course means out of pocket, so I figured to do it his way and see.
Then I start reading that D is also being touted as a flu preventative and while I did get the flu when everyone around me did, I can say that I was only really miserable for two days and didn’t have the coughing/congestion that others did.
Cause, effect? Only one incident, no claims made.
Can you point me to that study?
BS...however, people should have their levels tested (Vit D (0H)25 or something)....I take over 5000iu daily, and my level is still below 50, which is optimal.
My understanding is that it needs to be D3?
You might want to google scholar vit D3 and flu, also look up Grattan Woodson MD on vit D and flu and Joseph Mercola MD as well.
I am on 5000ius daily and following my Docs directions and it keep me from developing a cytokine storm when I had the H1N1. It also kept my asthmatic daughter from having one.
My neighbor has a bad case of breast cancer and she has been given 10k/day.
Yes, I take D3, 1,500 per day/
“Over 2000 is considered unsafe. If fact, studies show that doses over 500 per day acutally decrease the beneficial effects.”
I take 2500 a day. You’re wrong, btw. URL’S?
Looking at my bottle of Vit D. This is in units of 1000 I.U.
The label lists one softgel as 250% of the % daily value (I’m taking that to mean the recommended daily amount?) Wouldn’t that be 4000 I.U. per day?
These are “Finest Natural” distributed by Walgreen.
I take 5,000 units per my Doctor. Tests showed that I was very, very low.
Follow your doctor's advice.
250% is 2.5 times the % daily dose. That would mean the recommended daily amount would be 1000 / 2.5 or 400 units.
Thanks for clearing that up. Oh wait, I just realized I was looking at that as though it was 25%.
Sheesh. I need more tea. LOL
I'll see your 4 thousand and raise you a thousand :-) 5k/day for me. D3? Natch.
Not according to the NIH:
Sunlight has long been recognized as a major provider of vitamin D for humans; radiation in the UVB (290-315 nm) portion of the solar spectrum photolyzes 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin to previtamin D3, which, in turn, is converted by a thermal process to vitamin D3. Latitude and season affect both the quantity and quality of solar radiation reaching the earth's surface, especially in the UVB region of the spectrum, but little is known about how these influence the ability of sunlight to synthesize vitamin D3 in skin. A model has been developed to evaluate the effect of seasonal and latitudinal changes on the potential of sunlight to initiate cutaneous production of vitamin D3. Human skin or [3 alpha-3H]7-dehydrocholesterol exposed to sunlight on cloudless days in Boston (42.2 degrees N) from November through February produced no previtamin D3. In Edmonton (52 degrees N) this ineffective winter period extended from October through March. Further south (34 degrees N and 18 degrees N), sunlight effectively photoconverted 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3 in the middle of winter. These results quantify the dramatic influence of changes in solar UVB radiation on cutaneous vitamin D3 synthesis and indicate the latitudinal increase in the length of the "vitamin D winter" during which dietary supplementation of the vitamin may be advisable.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2839537
Yes.
Not everyone manufactures Vitamin D easily. Even with supplements and/or sunlight, you should be getting tested at your doctor’s office - particularly if you have unexplained pain, similar to fibromyalgia.
Well, I guess I won’t have to sworry about you hogging my sunshine on the Frozen Tundra this winter. I do what I have to do to stay sane in sub-zero weather and a lack-o-sunshine.
I didn’t say, ‘stop taking your supplements.’ I said get outside and get some sun on your face and some fresh air. Can’t hurt; might help.
Killjoy.
I love your post, it IS awesome isn’t it?
What I think is that we don't get enough sun, we stay inside most of the year, and then come outside only during the summer when it's hottest and get burned immediately. If we spent more time outside year-round we would gradually build up a tan during the spring to help protect us from the summers harsh rays.
For more information on Vitamin D, go to the Vitamin D Council; for its important benefits against heart disease, see the Heart Scan blog.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the links.
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400 IU
Didn't mean to be.
I did think the NIH info interesting. I'm at roughly the same latitude as Boston so there are four months of the year when I will make no D from sunlight. Starting now, in fact. And if that's true then it must be another four months when I will make little D from sunlight.
At my last routine physical Dr. said I was “D” deficient. Prescribed 1000 IU daily. (D-3)
Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately, I can’t tolerate vitamins. :( Try to stay out as much as possible. Greenhouse helps. :)
I’d never make it where you are. I suffer here. Have been counting down the days until the winter solstice for weeks now.
Maybe I should just move to... Tahiti/Hawaii/somewhere warm and sunny all year round! LOL
I’m with you! I refuse to use sunscreen. I can’t believe that slathering yourself with chemicals is better for you than sunshine.
I take 1,000 IU, but I’m out in the sun at least 30 min. to an hour most days. Unfortunately, we’ve been blessed with an abundance of rain this year so I may up the dose to 2,000 IU for the winter.
I’d do just about anything for sunshine. ;) I work outdoors year ‘round, so it’s usually not a problem for me unless we’re under blizzard conditions. The dogs want their walk 2x a day no matter what the weather, and the small livestock still need their needs tended to, no matter what the weather.
And I get cranky when I’m cooped up. (And even sometimes when I’m not!) ;)
I just run a rope from the house down to the coop like ‘Pa Ingals’ did, so I can find my way there and back when the snow if over my head, LOL!
“Maybe I should just move to... Tahiti/Hawaii/somewhere warm and sunny all year round! LOL”
Let me know where you are and I’ll meet you there!
The Vitamin D thing is really starting to hit the mainstream.
I took one of our kids for her annual appointment last week. Her doctor said that she wanted the kids to take an increased dose of Vitamin D every day through the winter/flu season, and to take a booster at the slightest sign of illness.
Then, today, I was at Wal*Mart, in the pharmacy department, and happened to notice that all of the slots which hold Vitamin D bottles were completely empty.
Sounds good to me!
Maybe we should apply for a grant and do some research! LOL
If life's a beach, where the hell are our Cabana Boys?
LOL Yep! That’ll be us! Ugly suits and bathing caps and everything! Course, by then we’ll be too old to care and we can whistle at all the good looking hunks as they parade by us!
Cabana boys. Definitely need cabana boys! :)
Life isn’t complete without them. :)
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