Attention News Editors:

Statement about vitamin D and breast cancer prevention

    TORONTO, Nov. 14 /CNW/ - Today, Marc Sorenson, Ed.D, an expert in vitamin
D, issued a statement today in regards to the health and cancer prevention
benefits of vitamin D:
    "The recent Journal of the National Cancer Institute published study,
only used 400 IU of vitamin D - an amount we know has no affect on vitamin D
blood levels. This research is deceiving. In contrast, the Creighton
University study (released in 2007) used 1,100 IU of vitamin D. People need
vitamin D blood levels around 40-60 ng/ml to achieve optimal anti-cancer
benefit, and we know that 400 IU won't get you there - in fact, it is barely
enough to prevent rickets. In the winter in Canada, every adult needs about
4,000 to 5,000 IU daily. Vitamin D is called "The Sunshine Vitamin" because
sun or UVB exposure to the skin is by far the most abundant source. Vitamin D
deficiency is a growing concern in Canada, especially during the darker winter
months. Get your levels checked."
       
    Sources for research about vitamin D and cancer prevention include:

    -   A four-year, randomized study followed 1,179 healthy, postmenopausal
        women from rural eastern Nebraska. Participants taking calcium, as
        well as a quantity of vitamin D3 nearly three times the U.S.
        government's Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) for middle-age adults,
        showed a dramatic 60 percent or greater reduction in cancer risk than
        women who did not get the vitamin. The results of the study from
        Creighton University School of Medicine, conducted between 2000 and
        2005, and reported in the June 8 online edition of the American
        Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Joan Lappe, Ph.D., R.N., Creighton
        professor of medicine and holder of the Criss/Beirne Endowed Chair in
        the School of Nursing said, "Vitamin D is a critical tool in fighting
        cancer as well as many other diseases."
    -   Fifteen experts from universities, research institutes and university
        hospitals around the world recently called for international agencies
        to "reassess as a matter of high priority" dietary recommendations
        for vitamin D because current advice is outdated and puts the public
        at risk of deficiency (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
        Vol. 85, pp. 860-868).
    -   A 2007 breast cancer study, published online in the Journal of
        Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, used two earlier studies
        - the Harvard Nurses Health Study and the St. George's Hospital Study
        - and found that individuals with the highest blood levels of 25-
        hydroxyvitamin D, or 25(OH) D, had the lowest risk of breast cancer.
    -   A study released in 2008 by the University of Toronto researchers
        measured the vitamin D blood levels of 512 women who had just been
        diagnosed with breast cancer, and tracked the progression of the
        disease during almost 12 years. Almost three-quarters of the women
        suffering from breast cancer had insufficient blood levels of vitamin
        D, and almost half of them were severely deficient. Women whose
        levels were highest had a 75 per cent reduced chance of death and a
        96 per cent reduced chance of metastasis when compared to those whose
        levels were lowest.
    -   Dr. Cedric F. Garland, cancer prevention specialist at the Moores
        Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and
        colleagues estimate that 250,000 cases of colorectal cancer and
        350,000 cases of breast cancer could be prevented worldwide by
        increasing intake of vitamin D3, particularly in northern or southern
        countries in temperate latitudes.
    >>

    Recently, The Canadian Cancer Society, recognized the cancer-fighting
potential of vitamin D, and recommends 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily.