Posted on 12/06/2009 9:00:19 AM PST by STARWISE
The claims have been sensational. Martin Mittelstaedt checks up on the research behind the hype
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In the summer of 1974, brothers Frank and Cedric Garland had a heretical brainwave.
The young epidemiologists were watching a presentation on death rates from cancer county by county across the United States.
As they sat in a lecture hall at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore looking at the colour-coded cancer maps, they noticed a striking pattern, with the map for colon cancer the most pronounced.
Counties with high death rates were red; those with low rates were blue. Oddly, the nation was almost neatly divided in half, red in the north and blue in the south. Why, they wondered, was the risk of dying from cancer greater in bucolic Maine than in highly polluted Southern California?
*snip*
Exposure to sunshine varies dramatically depending on the latitude. What if that's what was behind the varying cancer rates?
Their hypothesis, painstakingly developed and published six years later in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was that sunlight has a powerful anti-cancer effect through its role in producing vitamin D in bare skin.
Those living at northern latitudes, they theorized, receive less sunlight and make less of the vitamin, which in turn increases their risk of dying from cancer.
Today, with vitamin D so much in the news, it's hard to believe that it took decades for the Garlands' hypothesis to gain traction in the mainstream medical community.
But the benefits of vitamin D are no longer restricted to cancer prevention:
Studies have linked a shortage of the compound to such serious, chronic ailments as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, heart disease, influenza and schizophrenia.
Rest @ link
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
I agree. This ‘anti-sun’ terror that has been instilled in people, is way overkill IMO.
I take 3,000 IU daily but didn’t know that I should be taking the geltabs.Thanks for the heads up!
Ah........ but the suncreen actually BLOCKS Vitamin D absorption, so even here in AZ we need extra D....
Its an old medication and most doctors don't use it any more unless the person cannot tolerate statins...His doctor is a Cardiologist. He turns 50 tomorrow and has already had a stent put in his coronary arterys. He has ony 2 instead of 4 which is the norm...they didn't know that until they did a dye test on him...
Genetically my son's got screwed. Son #1 had his first heart attack in his mid 40's and he is also diabetic. My husband died suddenly at the age of 51, had his first and last heart attack at the same time...Took no medication and looked strong as an ox. Walked out of the barn and died in the back yard...believe me doing CPR on your husband is no fun....
Because of his early death, I drummed into my kids not to negelect their health. So they keep up with everything and I think it has saved at least my 2 older son's lives.
ALL YOU MEN OUT THERE DON'T IGNORE YOUR BODY OR YOUR HEALTH. MACHO LEADS TO EARLY DEATH.
I also read of another non'statin on Web MD but I have to find that in my messy desk. I will talk to the Doctor about both medications..
Son's doctor also told him to take niacin for good cholesterol....hope this helps you......GG
PS You name has we wondering how old a teen are you...:O)
Due to my systemic Lupus and Sjogren’s and the drug they have me on (anti-malarial) I cannot go out into the sun for any length of time, I get sunpoisoning... so I have to take added D even living in Arizona... I also cannot use sunscreen....
For what it’s worth, I take 2500 units of (plain old) niacin a day as well as lipitor.
Sceptic ehhh?
Try it for a month , a winter month, 4,000 units per day. You might like it.
Walmart has 2,000 unit tabs very cheap
It’s like Aristotle said.....moderation
The need for Vitamin D trumps the fear of melanoma. If you die from Flu or Pneumonia at 45, you need not worry about skin cancer at 67
The vitamin d in milk is trivial and designed to prevent rickets in kids.
see post 104 to answer your question....:O)
My cholesterol med contains 2000 units of time release niacin.
With an added 4000 units of D3 during flu season.... I’m very good to go.
If you take it at bed time, you sleep through the flushing
As a dedicated outdoorsman......
Winter overcast for days, extreme cold and parkas, rain, snow sleet = no vitamin d = flu season.
Did she say why re: the gel tabs? (That’s the kind I have anyway.) Thanks.
Oh my Gawd. Thank you for jarring my memory, Starwise. Three of us have been sick for over a month and this article just made me realize why.
My thoughts on skin cancer are....the better (healthier) you eat (and supplement) the less chance of skin cancer.....I’m not much for sunscreen (except when it’s REALLY bright (on water, in snow)....
I’ll say it again....your son most likely needs CoQ10....and a different doctor
Schatzi.. might want to look at some of these links.
If Vitamin D was a great cureall then our ancestors would never have died of anything, they were out in the Sun all the time.
Something about it being oil soluble. The dry pills don't get absorbed very well. The softgels have the Vit D suspended in oil, so they absorb better.
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