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 ...
Welcome .. ;)
That article had a very big impact on me ..
prompted me to get the doc at my Mom’s
nursing home to get her on it.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51913.php
I see .. could be that in today’s culture as
everywhere else, as I said above, folks work
behind tinted windows, come home in cars with
tinted windows, and get dinner, help with homework,
etc etc. Only the weekends might have some
sun time.
I lived in FL for 30 yrs .. left 5 yrs ago.
I never spent 10-15 mins a day in the sun
without sunscreen. Just didn’t know any
better then.
AH...I failed...I guess....I take 2 TABLESPOONS of Carlsons Lemon Flavored Cod Liver EVERY day....plus about 4000iu of Vit D3...
Too much sun screen used probably!
I had the same trouble with statins. Tried simvistatin and couldn’t move with muscle and joint pain. Then got on Crestor and it was tolerable and lowered my bad cholesterol. But meanwhile, found out I was hypothyroid, and started on synthroid, and since then was able to tolerate statins. I am now on lovestatin, which is so much cheaper than Crestor and works as well for me now. so would be a good idea for a blood thyroid panel when they take blood for lipids.
Blood thyroid panel, I’ll add it to my list, thanks....
Best remedy for the flu or colds is the antiviral Sambucol, basically elderberry extract. It’s available at Walgreens, CVS. It was researched and used by the Israeli army and it works! I have recommended it to my friends who are amazed with the results. You can take it as an immunity builder or when you start to feel a cold coming on. The syrup is the best form, but it somes in capsules also. You can’t OD on it, it tastes good and doesn’t give you that crawly feeling that most cold medications cause. And its only $12, well worth it IMHO
BTTT
About 2 yrs ago, my Mom was very frail,
medically, mentally and emotionally.
She had had a bypass, was very depressed,
subject to disorientation frequently and
very frail in all ways.
She’s a different person since she’s been
taking it at my urging to the doctor there.
Spirits are high, sharp mentally, tho in a
wheelchair and severely visually handicapped
with macular degeneration. She’s in good humor,
plays bingo and other games .. she’s in a GREAT
nursing home that provides wonderful care and
daily activities that keep them occupied.
It’s been truly remarkable.
bump
CVS has the same, but buy one get one free.....Best bargain so far.
Any how, I got sick: constantly picking up the bugs of the 1,000 plus kids I saw a week. Contacted an adult onset asthmatic condition, was lethargic etc etc. Doctors thought the building was “sick”. Administration tested. I would get better in the summer and on long vacations. Finally was forced to take an early retirement, as specialist in Chicago, Cinncinnatti and Louisville all said what ever was causing my condition was killing me. No one thought of lack of sunlight.
Last year, in a week time frame, I ran across three articles on vitamin D deficiency. Check, check, check, check, check.....I had all the symptoms of extreme deficiency. Started taking D, now D3 in gel gradually increasing dose. ...Surprise, surprise I'm healthy for the first time in decades....After all those Dr visits, all that expense, it could have been solved by putting in the sky light I had jokingly asked for for years.
Thank you. Excellent link especially with the link on the page to another article about niacin at: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2007/mar2007_atd_01.htm
Starwise, thanks for a great thread.
appreciate that added information.
Have passed this very important information along to my Dad and others in my family and appreciate all the info very much.
God bless your mom! and you!
Have you seen what most of them look like under their coverings?
The men in Saudi wear head coverings and well...
So many of them have crossed eyes and blood spots in their eyes. A lot have unsightly growths on their faces.
There is no telling what the women look like or what condition they are in.
I think the average life expectancy for both men and women is low.
The beggar kids...flies congregating around their eyes...no idea what all diseases they are picking up. The kids don't even bother to wave the flies away, they just let them roam.
Oh, I read once where some archaeologists had found a battle site between Turks and Egyptians and at first they couldn’t figure out why so many Turks had stove in skulls. Turns out, the Turks wore head coverings and the lack of sun (absorption of vitamins from the sun) made their skulls thin and brittle whereas the Egyptians didn’t wear head coverings and their skulls were stronger.
Glad you found the link ...
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