Posts Tagged ‘cancer’

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Oliver Gillie: Time to abandon this outdated view on staying out of the sun

Monday, July 5th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Monday, 5 July 2010

Lack of sunshine and the vitamin that it makes in our skin is probably the most serious single cause of disease in the UK today.

Vitamin D deficiency is well known as the classic cause of rickets and serious bone diseases, but in the last 10 years it has also been identified as a major risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, infections, some cancers and other ills.

The cost of all this disease to the UK has been put at an astounding £27bn annually, which compares with only £5bn for the cost of disease caused by smoking.

Small amounts of vitamin D can be obtained from food but you can’t obtain more than about 10 per cent of the optimal amount this way unless you eat oily fish – skin and all – three times a day.

We depend on the sun for our vitamin D. Since our weather is so unreliable, British people suffer more than almost any other from vitamin D deficiency.

Many years of bad advice has also been a factor.

The British Isles are located far north so the winter sun is not strong enough to make any vitamin D. The prevailing westerly wind bringing cloud in from the Atlantic is also against us. The Scots are worst off because there is nothing to the west to protect them. Their vitamin D levels are lower and they have the highest incidence of multiple sclerosis in the world.

Scientists studying MS now believe that it may be prevented if women take vitamin D in pregnancy and children take regular supplements. Another devastating disease, diabetes type 1 – affecting mostly children who must inject themselves with insulin – could be prevented by the same vitamin D supplements.

Indeed it is possible that these two diseases could now be eradicated if Government had the will.

However a recommendation that pregnant women take vitamin D has been ignored over many years by obstetricians.

Standard advice is that babies are not given vitamin D until they are six months old. Nobody any longer remembers the reason for this, which is implemented nowhere else.

Everybody thinks that breast milk is a complete food – and so it might be if mothers sunbathed as often as they can. As it is, breast milk in the UK is deficient in vitamin D while artificial milk is supplemented.

This need not be a problem if mothers give vitamin D drops to their babies. Melanoma, the worst form of skin cancer, has dramatically increased during some 20 years of advice to avoid the sun and use suncream. This is quite possibly because the advice has been wrong. Suncream blocks the action of UVB (shortwave ultraviolet radiation from the sun) – so blocking synthesis of vitamin D with loss of protection against cancer – while UVA (longwave radiation), which seems to carry the main risk of melanoma, is not blocked by many creams.

We could do much, much more. The Irish Republic has already fortified semi-skimmed milk with vitamin D, Finland has fortified milk and Israel is making milk fortification mandatory. Jordan is bringing in fortification of bread.

The UK the Food Standards Agency has hummed and hawed. The United States has had fortification for 80 years. What are the English and Scots waiting for?

The one simple action open to us all is to sunbathe, carefully without burning. The sun is natural, free, and safe if you are sensible. It’s also good to take a vitamin D supplement of at least 1000 to 2000 IUs [international units of measurement] per day.

The author is a health writer and vitamin D campaigner.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/oliver-gillie-time-to-abandon-this-outdated-view-on-staying-out-of-the-sun-2018389.html

Pregnant mothers should be given vitamin D to help safeguard babies’ health

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Researchers at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) are calling for the swift reintroduction of vitamin D supplements to pregnant women in the UK.

In an article published online today by the British Journal of Nutrition (BJN), the authors argue that despite a growing body of evidence that links vitamin D deficiency to complications in pregnancy and poor neonatal health, the UK remains the only one of 31 European countries that doesn’t have a set vitamin D recommendation for women of reproductive age, whilst also failing to endorse a daily supplement to expectant mothers.
Dr Elina Hyppönen, reader in epidemiology and public health at the ICH and a co-author explains, “The incidence of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women in Britain is unacceptably high, especially during winter and spring.  This is compounded by a lack of exposure to sunlight and the limitations of an average diet to meet the optimal need.

“In the most severe cases, maternal vitamin D deficiency can be life threatening to a newborn. We believe that the routine provision of a daily supplement throughout pregnancy would significantly decrease the number of mothers who are clearly vitamin D deficient, reducing related serious risks to their babies.

“Our take on vitamin D supplementation in the UK has seen many changes over the decades and we can see clearly from past experience that a proactive approach to supplementation has coincided with a much lower incidence of deficiency linked diseases such as infantile hypocalcaemia and rickets.”
Current data for the UK shows that women are more likely to be vitamin D deficient than men (9.2 and 6.6 per cent respectively). Pregnancy poses a particularly high risk situation, with one in four pregnant mothers being vitamin D deficient ( below 25nmol/l) during winter and spring, with nearly all (90 per cent) having concentrations considered insufficient (below 50nmol/l).
In the article, Dr Hyppönen and her co-author, Barbara J Boucher (Queen Mary, University of London) draw on historical data that supports the case for a daily dose of at least 10µg of vitamin D to prevent vitamin D deficiency in pregnant mothers, and recent evidence suggesting potentially wide-ranging benefits for the prevention of deficiency for the health of the mother and her child.
“This risk of vitamin D deficiency is largely being overlooked by our health professionals. Under a current government scheme, pregnant women who are on a low income are entitled to receive supplements free of charge, but there is no strong evidence to suggest that this group are at greater risk.
“What’s needed is a unified approach that will ensure that all expectant mothers, regardless of their economic status, are informed of the benefits of taking a regular supplement throughout pregnancy.”

Avoidance of vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy in the United Kingdom: the case for a unified approach in National policy, Elina Hyppönen1 and Barbara J. Boucher2: http://journals.cambridge.org/bjn/vitD

The Sunshine Vitamin

Saturday, March 20th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Sustainable Scotland

Vitamin D , sometimes known as the sunshine vitamin because the body manufactures it in response to sunlight on the skin, is increasingly being thought of as important in preventing a variety of chronic illnesses. Vitamin D deficiency is now a strong suspect in Scotland’s poor health record, which gives it some of the highest rates of heart disease and cancer in Europe and, overall, chronic disease in the world. Another obvious characteristic of Scotland is its weather. Its geography and the Gulf Stream combine to give it a particularly damp, overcast climate where sunlight levels can be as low as parts of the Arctic Circle.

George Ebers, Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, can claim there is hard evidence of a causal link between genes and the environment to multiple sclerosis. In a genetic study for the Wellcome Trust he reports “We have known a long time that genes and environment determine MS risk . . . Here we show that the main environment risk candidate – vitamin D – and the main gene region are directly linked and interact.” Scotland has one of the highest incidences of MS in the world.

Shine on Scotland, supported by BUPA, are campaigning to have all school milk fortified with vitamin D. Campaigners would like legislators to allow GPs to recommend higher doses of vitamin D supplementation and to correct the current scare over sunlight (it is burning which is bad for the skin and heightens the risk of skin cancer. Regular, sensible exposure is healthy and has even been associated with improved moods).

Dietary sources of the vitamin are liver (which is very rich in vitamin A, which is essential for good health but is toxic in high doses, so stick to once a week); oily fish such as herring, catfish, salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna and eel; eggs; dairy produce; and fortified margarines and cereals. The perennial supplement cod liver oil is an excellent source as well as having been confirmed as the best provider of omega 3 oils. Choose good quality capsules or bottled oil.

If making an effort to consume meaningful quantities of vitamin D is a way of slashing Scotland’s shocking health stats (and the evidence just keeps stacking up) then let’s get on with it.

“Our study implies that taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and the early years may reduce the risk of a child developing MS in later life,” says Dr Sreeram Ramagopalan, lead author of the Ebers study. “Vitamin D is a safe and relatively cheap supplement with substantial potential health benefits. There is accumulating evidence that it can reduce the risk of developing cancer and offer protection from other autoimmune diseases.”

In addition, campaigners suggest, all milk, bread and orange juice should be fortified, negating the necessity for individuals to remember to take a ‘pill’.

One wonders how much distress and waste of money could be avoided by adding tiny amounts of this inexpensive substance to more of our diet.

DID YOU KNOW?

Figures for the UK published by Cass Business School , City University London, state that the cost of treating coronary heart disease is £3.5 billion, with costs of £3.1 billion attributable to lost working days; cost of stroke £2.3 billion; hypertension, which is under-reported, £0.8 billion; diabetes, £1.3 billion; and COPD, £1 billion.

The UK RDA (recommended daily amount) is five micograms, equivalent to 200 IUs (International Units). This is half that of the EU and the US RDAs. Campaigners and experts want this to be revised upwards and for clarity (the Food Standards Agency and BUPA, for instance, are giving contradictory advice).

Two studies hope to test the benefits of vitamin D once and for all

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , ,
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Two major clinical trials are just beginning in the United States that will likely settle, once and for all, whether everyone living at northern latitudes should pop a vitamin D pill every day to help ward off cancer, heart disease, and a host of other serious ailments.

The trials will also test the benefits of calcium supplements and omega-3 fatty acids, two other nutrients that also have gained a widespread following over their purported health benefits.

Hopes are high that the research studies will end the debate over the sunshine vitamin because they will be using relatively high doses – 2,000 International Units – a day, and involve more than 22,000 people, a large enough group to uncover any benefits or risks.

Both trials have been designed specifically to test the nutrient’s possible role in preventing cancer, perhaps the most dramatic medical claim that has been made about the vitamin.

“We’re not going to change formal public policy [about taking vitamin D] until we have at least one randomized trial with a primary outcome being cancer,” says Joan Lappe, a professor at Creighton University in Nebraska, and the lead researcher on one of the trials.

Dr. Lappe’s review will involve 2,300 postmenopausal women, who will be tracked for four years to check whether the vitamin reduces cancer rates, along with the incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Some of the women will also be given calcium.

The other trial, which will involve 20,000 people, is being run jointly by Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. It will also test the theory that fish oils are good for heart health and stroke prevention, and will run for about seven years.

Both studies are receiving funds from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Vitamin D has acquired its health-cult status because many studies have found that people with more of the nutrient circulating in their blood have lower rates of some cancers. As well, other research – based on epidemiology or the study of disease distribution in large populations – has found that there is more cancer, diabetes, and other chronic ailments among those living at northern latitudes than among people living further south.

This peculiar south-to-north pattern of increasing incidence of many diseases suggests a possible role for vitamin D because most of this nutrient is made in the skin when cholesterol in it is exposed to strong, ultraviolet light – hence the sunshine vitamin moniker.

Light isn’t intense enough to make the vitamin the natural way in northern countries like Canada for nearly six months every fall and winter, causing many people who aren’t supplementing to have seasonal deficiencies and possibly putting them at risk of illness.

While epidemiology has been suggestive of benefits from vitamin D – it was the research technique used to finger cigarettes as a cancer risk – it has the drawback of not constituting proof in the same way as a drug-style clinical trial involving some people taking medication and others a dummy pill, the gold standard for proving the efficacy of any treatment.

The idea that a vitamin deficiency may cause cancer and many other illnesses is also such an unconventional one that it has prompted disputes within the medical research community, with doctors who are skeptical arguing that before people start taking large amounts, physicians should be certain both of its efficacy and potential side effects.

The researchers involved in the trials are also urging caution.

“We have to be careful before jumping on the bandwagon to take megadoses of supplements before we have conclusive answers from randomized trials,” says JoAnn Manson, co-leader of the Harvard/Brigham study and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Another factor suggesting a careful approach is that many nutrients, such as vitamin C and beta-carotene, once as hyped as vitamin D, failed to live up to initial, hopeful research after drug-style trials didn’t find the value in taking them, according to Dr. Manson.

But those who have been urging wider usage of vitamin D say the evidence is already compelling and that people shouldn’t wait for the trial results to start supplementing.

“People should not remain vitamin D deficient,” says John Cannell, head of the Vitamin D Council, a California-based non-profit group that has been advocating widespread use of the nutrient as a public health measure.

Dr. Cannell says that when it comes to vitamin D, physicians have an obligation to “act based upon what is currently known, not waiting for what is going to be known in the future.”

But Dr. Manson says that there may be early indications of the results from her research. For ethical reasons, those participating in the study will be monitored for both harmful effects and benefits, which if found, may cause the trial to be altered.

How much vitamin D should you take?

The doses used in the clinical trials checking vitamin D’s anti-cancer properties will be 2,000 International Units a day, Health Canada’s maximum safe level. This is the equivalent of two typical over-the-counter pills and is designed to raise blood levels of the nutrient to concentrations associated with lower cancer risk in previous epidemiological research.

The Canadian Cancer Society has been recommending 1,000 International Units a day, with whites taking that amount in fall and winter and those with dark skin year-round because non-whites don’t make the vitamin as quickly in Canada’s relatively feeble sunlight.

The cancer society made the recommendation following the publication of study in 2007, the first of its kind, finding that about 1,100 International Units taken daily had anti-cancer properties.

Health Canada says people need take only 200 International Units to 600 International Units a day, depending on age, a recommendation based on vitamin D’s well recognized role in promoting bone health.

There are very few dietary sources of the nutrient, making it hard to get large amounts from food. Fortified milk has 100 International Units per cup. Wild salmon is one of the best natural sources, at about 800 International Units per serving. Eggs contains about 25 International Units per yoke.

Previous research has found that a vitamin D intake of around 400 International Units per day doesn’t have anti-cancer properties.

The hunt for healthy answers

Friday, February 5th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Study to probe health benefits of vitamin D, fish oil

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital are leading a five-year nationwide trial to find out whether the dietary supplements vitamin D and fish oil can boost the immune system and fight cancer, heart disease, and a host of other ills.

The “Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial,” or VITAL, aims to sort out inconclusive and conflicting evidence from earlier research on the effects of the two compounds on human health.

Previous studies have turned up tantalizing clues that the two nutrients can have considerable protective effects. But JoAnn Manson, the VITAL study’s principal investigator, said those trials — and others showing no protective effect — either involved specialized populations, such as those suffering heart disease, or used low dosages, which may have prevented finding a conclusive answer.

The VITAL study is a large-scale, randomized trial involving 20,000 people across the country with no previous history of cancer, heart disease, or stroke, and is designed to test whether vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil can help to prevent cancer and heart disease. Though cancer and heart disease are the study’s primary therapeutic targets, Manson said the study will also provide information on other ailments, such as diabetes, cognitive decline, depression, and respiratory diseases.

Scientists already know quite a bit about how these nutrients work in the body. Both have powerful anti-inflammatory effects. Vitamin D appears to benefit blood pressure and glucose tolerance, while working to prevent blood vessel growth that allows tumors to enlarge and spread. Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-clotting effects and have been shown to protect against irregular heart rhythms.

Manson, the Elizabeth Fay Brigham Professor of Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School and chief of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of Preventive Medicine, said the trial will enroll men age 60 or older and women age 65 and up. The older study population was selected because people of those ages are more commonly afflicted with the ailments the study seeks to test.

Researchers began seeking participants in January and will eventually send mailings to more than 1.2 million Americans, including health professionals and members of AARP. Potential participants will undergo a three-month screening before enrolling in the full trial. Participants will be divided into four groups and receive blister packs of daily supplements, along with questionnaires to complete and mail back to researchers. Though some participants may opt to visit nearby clinical centers for more-detailed assessments and to provide blood samples, most can participate entirely by mail.

The groups will receive supplements containing vitamin D, omega-3s, both, or placebos, allowing researchers to examine the effects of vitamin D and omega-3s independently as well as together.

The study’s vitamin D supplements will contain 2,000 international units (IUs) per day, five times the 400 IUs that the U.S. government currently recommends. Manson said most Americans get only about 300 IUs of vitamin D per day through their diet, and even with supplements few get more than 500 or 600 IUs. The human body can manufacture vitamin D when exposed to sunlight — more than 2,000 IUs for someone working lightly clothed in the sun all day — but the increase in people wearing sunblock to ward off skin cancer and the decreased prevalence of children playing outdoors have reduced the amount of vitamin D that many people get from sunlight.

Several other factors are working to further reduce the amount of vitamin D that people get. The increase in children drinking sugar-sweetened beverages instead of milk cuts vitamin D intake. Also, because vitamin D is fat soluble, the obesity epidemic is increasing the amount that is stored in fats in our bodies instead of being freely available.

The supplements will contain about one gram of omega-3s, Manson said, or about twice the amount people would get if they followed the government’s recommendation of two fish meals a week, and about five to 10 times what the typical American usually eats. It’s also about equal to the level in a typical diet in Japan, where heart disease rates are lower.

Manson said it would be unwise for the public to start taking megadoses of the two compounds before the study’s results come out, citing the examples of earlier large-scale trials of vitamins E and C and beta-carotene that showed little benefit of those vitamins in large doses and even suggested some risks. Should the trial turn up protective benefits to vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, it would open the door to greater therapeutic use of the compounds, which are easily accessible, unlike a new exotic drug that would require extensive testing.

Manson also plans to explore the role of vitamin D in reducing racial health disparities. The study will seek to enroll enough African Americans to make up a quarter of the study population in an effort to see whether low levels of vitamin D in African Americans are linked to higher incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases and whether treatment with vitamin D can reduce these risks.

“It’s exciting to get started with this trial,” Manson said. “We’re really hoping it will provide important answers.”

Scotland must fortify school milk!

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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When 14 year old Ryan Mclaughlin started his Shine on Scotland campaign he had set a goal to get vitamin D into our school milk, a simple idea to protect every child in scotland from Multiple Sclerosis,  but he quickly became aware that far more diseases would benefit from vitamin D supplementation not just MS.

Now the countries largest private health care provider BUPA agree’s and says we should all be taking between 1,500 to 2,000 IUs per day to beat cancer. This is 5 times the current UK RDA and exactly what Ryan has campaigned tirelessly for almost 9 months.

Dr Virginia Warren, assistant medical director for Bupa, commented: “There has been a lot of research over the last few years about the health benefits of taking a vitamin D supplement. Based on this evidence, we would recommend taking between 37.5 and 50 micrograms of vitamin D on a daily basis to help reduce your risk of certain cancers. Spending time outside in summer will also increase your vitamin D levels, but is a risk for skin cancer.

“Ensuring you get enough vitamin D is a simple and effective way to reduce your risk of developing certain cancers. Alongside this, it’s important to ensure you eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise regularly, only drink in moderation and do not smoke.

It was again reinforced today when the Israeli Health Ministry announced that all 3% milk is to be fortified with vitamin D in the next 3 months and Ryan McLaughlin wants the Scottish Government to look to follow suit.

Last week on a STV news interview with Ryan McLaughlin in realtion to his win for vitamin d campaign he said ‘that fortification of school milk was still at the top of his priorities’ as he still thinks its the best way to protect future generations of Scots from many diseases not just MS, this announcement by the Israeli Government only goes to further back his case and show that it can be done on a national basis and with the worst health record in western world and the highest rates of MS in the world – Scotland must take the lead.

Dr Sareeram Ramagopalan of Oxford University and Ryan’ family all gave evidence at the Scottish Parliaments petitions committee back in June and told the committee that Israel was looking at fortification of both Milk and flour and we heard that France was also looking at it, now its been confirmed in Israel we need to really start considering moving towards fortification of the school milk program now in scotland.

There are many problems associated with just offering supplementation, simply try getting a child to take a supplement every day for their young life seems doomed for failure, Ryan says he has forgotten a few times to take his and he is running the vitamin D camapign !

How many adults get a course of antibiotics which state finish the course and don’t.  Ryan say’s ‘I am sure almost every adult can say that take them till they feel better and the rest is left in a medical cabinet’.

Furthermore do we really want kids popping tablets everyday ?

Can we ask our teachers to dish out supplements he doesnt think so!

We would need to ask the questions from the Education Dept, teachers and of course get the teachers unions to agree to it, teachers have a big work load already, Ryan points out that many parents will be able to relate to the following point ! How many times as a parent have you been called home and had to take a day off work when a paracetamol would sorted a sore head or a slightly high temperature and the child could have stayed in school getting educated – It would all take too long, too many problems to overcome.

We could spend millions of pounds trying to educate parents and expectant mothers to take vitamin D supplements everyday, but  I believe we should lead from the front from the start , we owe it to the kids and we must protect each and every child in Scotland.

If parents don’t want it for their kids – let them simply opt out !

Ryan believes we need to think much much bigger!  He think we should educate parents to the idea of  the benefits of vitamin D everyday and proposing putting vitamin D into the school milk program so kids get it every day, start debating it with the public and informing parents immediately !

Vitamin D boosts your immune system to help fights off cold and bugs and it would improve the school attendence records on wasted days of school due to simple sniffles, as well as save parents the loss of earnings by taking time off work with sick kids that could be in school learning.

Add his very valid points to the figures compiled for national supplementation of vitamin D in Scotland in relation to just MS alone and you have very good case – Scientists believe it could prevent 2000 cases over 10 years in Scotland alone and could save the UK economy some £4.5 billion surely children’s health must be the priority and a penny onto the cost of a pint of milk is well justified and we should start talking to the dairies immediately !

Vitamin D ‘can boost survival from cancer’

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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People who spend more time outside have a better chance of surviving certain cancers, new studies suggest.

Those who had higher levels of vitamin D – produced by the body in the presence of sunlight -when diagnosed with colon cancer were 50 per cent more likely to survive than those with low levels, researchers found.

A separate study also found that patients who had high levels of the vitamin when they were diagnosed with skin cancer were more likely to have thinner tumours.

Vitamin D, which is also present in a small number of foods, such as fatty fish, is thought to be important in protecting against a number of other conditions, including osteoporosis, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, depression and Multiple Sclerosis.

Earlier this year scientists cautioned that health warnings about the damaging effect of the sun could be causing vitamin D levels to drop.

Prof Kimmie Ng, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston, who followed 1,017 patients with colon cancer, also called colorectal cancer, for around nine years, said: “Our study shows that levels of vitamin D after colorectal cancer diagnosis may be important for survival.

“We are now planning further research in patients with bowel cancer to see if vitamin D has the same effect, and to investigate how vitamin D works.”

The findings were published in the British Journal of Cancer and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

A second study found that skin cancer patients who had the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood when they were diagnosed were almost a third more likely to relapse than those with high levels.

Prof Julia Newton Bishop, from Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, who led the study, said: “It’s common for the general public to have low levels of vitamin D in many countries.”

She added that skin cancer patients tended to avoid the sun as sunburn is known to increase the risk of the disease.

The findings suggested that they should increase their vitamin D levels by eating more fatty fish or taking supplements, she said.

Sara Hiom, from Cancer Research UK, said: “Both these studies support the theory that higher levels of vitamin D can improve the chance of surviving cancer.

The key is to get the right balance between the amount of time spent in the sun and the levels of vitamin D needed for good health.

“But protection from burning in the sun is still vital.”

Story by the Telegraph.co.uk

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