For once, some good news about vitamins was all over the mainstream media. A recent study showed that people with higher levels of one vital nutrient have a lower risk of colon cancer.
Of course, this convincing evidence has actually been around for many years.
If you haven’t guessed yet, I’m talking about vitamin D.
In fact, when I edited my very first medical textbook more than 30 years ago, there was already enough evidence to fill a whole chapter on vitamin D and colon cancer. Since then, hundreds of other studies have been published supporting vitamin D’s pivotal role in preventing all kinds of chronic diseases.
But now — suddenly — it’s “big news” to mainstream minions.
When it comes to natural health news, I suppose we should take what we can get…
Unfortunately, the study researchers still found a way to deny the writing on the wall, despite their strong findings. More on that in just a moment. But first, let’s take a look at the study details.
Higher D levels, lower colon cancer risk
For the new study, researchers analyzed previous data involving 5,706 patients with colon cancer and 7,107 cancer-free control participants.
The researchers found participants with the lowest vitamin D levels (less than 30 nmol/L) had a 31 percent higher risk of colon cancer. On the other hand, those with the highest D levels (greater than 125 nmol/L) had a 21 percent lower risk of colon cancer.
Furthermore, there was a dose-response effect.
Which means the higher the vitamin D levels, the lower the colon cancer risk, right across the board. Overall, for each 25 nmol/L increase in vitamin D blood levels, there was a 13 percent reduction in colon cancer risk.
And findings based on gender were particularly noteworthy. It appeared women with higher vitamin D levels got an even bigger boost than men. In fact, women experienced a nearly 20 percent colon cancer risk reduction, while men experienced a reduction of 7 percent, with each 25 nmol/L increase in vitamin D levels.
Overall, these benefits were observed up to vitamin D levels of 100 nmol/L in both sexes. Of course, many doctors would consider that level “too high.” (For the record, I recommend keeping your levels between 50 nmol/L and 75 nmol/L, but 100 nmol/L is still a safe upper limit.)
It’s also worth noting — the researchers found that the favorite “risk factors” of body mass index and physical activity had minimal effects on colon cancer risk. Ironically, the mainstream continually harps about these two factors. Yet, compared to vitamin D levels, their influence was practically nil.
In fact, these researchers found the link between vitamin D status and colon cancer risk to be so strong, they made a conclusion you rarely hear in scientific circles…
Guilty — and not just by “association”
The researchers concluded there’s strong evidence that low vitamin D causes colon cancer — which is a much stronger stance than other studies that just find an “association.”
They also said the evidence suggests that optimal vitamin D levels to prevent colon cancer are in the range of 75 to 100 nmol/L, which, of course, is right on par with what I recommended earlier.
But then, the lead researcher — who works for the American Cancer Society — actually denied the results of her own study by saying they don’t recommend supplementing with vitamin D.
Instead, she recommended getting all of your vitamin D from foods, which is very difficult to do. There is essentially little or no active vitamin D available from regular dietary sources. The most common sources are fortified foods like milk and orange juice.
But one glass of milk or fortified orange juice only contains about 100 IU of vitamin D. So, you would need to drink quite a bit of it to reach even the RDA amount (which isn’t optimal to begin with).
Salmon does contain available vitamin D. But it must be wild-caught salmon. These fish feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton, which make their own vitamin D. Farmed salmon, on the other hand, are fed food pellets with little nutritional value. As a consequence, they have only 10 percent of the vitamin D of their wild counterparts.
But even salmon isn’t an adequate source of vitamin D by itself. A 9 oz. serving contains just under 1,000 IU. A good start, but I don’t know how many people would be willing or able to eat that much on a daily basis.
Perhaps these obstacles are why the lead researcher of this study also suggested spending more time in the sun. And while I strongly agree with that particular advice, I can’t help but note how it flies in the face of other mainstream recommendations to avoid sun exposure.
Besides, I’ve pointed out many times before that if you live in northern latitudes, your skin doesn’t make any vitamin D from November through March — no matter how much sun exposure you get. And by “north” I don’t just mean New England…any latitude above Atlanta in the east, and LA in the west, is considered “north” for these purposes.
So, the best solution for maintaining adequate vitamin D levels is to take a quality nutritional supplement. But this researcher warns against that simple approach due to supposed concerns over vitamin D “toxicity.” However, the fact is, clinical vitamin D overdose is one of the rarest medical conditions in the world.
And yet, this researcher falls right in line with government health bureaucrats who believe that taking any amount of vitamin D over 4,000 IU is a “high” dose. In reality, 4,000 IU equals a measly 100 micrograms. Which is hardly a high dose, by any standard.
What should you do about D?
In the end, this supposedly “big news” is rather disappointing.
Here we have a solid, well-designed study that shows low vitamin D actually causes colon cancer. But when the rubber meets the road, the study’s own research team still doesn’t recommend supplementation…
Ironically, they claim there are other “proven” ways to prevent colon cancer —such as weight reduction and physical activity…but both of which had no effect in their own study!
They just don’t get it!
Of course, they also recommend even more colonoscopies — a truly dangerous and deadly procedure that’s never actually been “proven” to reduce colon cancer risk when compared to other safe, standard, screening techniques.
In the end, my current vitamin D recommendation just stays the same…take 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 year-round and get 10 to 15 minutes of direct sun exposure on as much of your body as possible (without sunscreen) from May through October.
To learn more about ways you can prevent, treat, and even reverse colon and various types of cancer, I encourage you to check out my Authentic Anti-Cancer Protocol. Click here to learn more or sign up today.
P.S. Tune back in tomorrow for an amazing report on vitamin D and injury prevention in professional athletes.
Source:
“Circulating Vitamin D and Colorectal Cancer Risk: An International Pooling Project of 17 Cohorts,” JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, (www.academic.oup.com/jnci) 6/14/2018