New research from Creighton University School of Medicine confirms what we’ve said previously about the importance of vitamin D and adds to the growing body of evidence that vitamin D may play an important role in cancer prevention. In a four-year study of almost 1200 postmenopausal women, those taking nearly three times the recommended daily amount of vitamin D, plus calcium, reduced their relative risk of cancer by 60%. When the later three years of the study were analyzed, thus eliminating any women who had an undiagnosed cancer when the study was begun, those taking vitamin D supplements saw a 77% reduced risk of cancers.

These results are in addition to a recent editorial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that maintained, “The balance of the evidence leads to the conclusion that the public health is best served by a recommendation of higher daily intakes of vitamin D.�

A reprint from our previous newsletter:

The consensus of all the studies concludes that the current Recommended Dietary Allowance of 400 – 600 IU is not sufficient, and that, to achieve maximum benefit, 1000 IU of vitamin D should be taken daily.  NOTE:  The upper tolerance or maximum amount you can take without chancing vitamin D toxicity is 2000 IU, so stick to the goal of 1000 IU.

EDITORS NOTE: the women with the best results in the new Creighton study took 1,100 IU of supplemental vitamin D3, plus 1400-1500 milligrams of extra calcium

The “natural� form of the vitamin, called D3, is normally produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight, but you don’t want to be lying out in the sun in order to get it. Moreover, people of dark pigmentation need more exposure and those living in northern climates can’t get enough either, so, the easiest and most reliable way of getting the appropriate amount is from food and a daily supplement.

Main food sources of vitamin D are:

3 ½ oz. cooked salmon		360 IU
3 ½ oz. cooked mackerel		345 IU
3 oz. tuna, canned in oil		200 IU
1 ¾ oz sardines, canned in oil		250 IU

There are others, such as vitamin D fortified milk, 98 IU per ½ cup, and margarine, 60 IU per tablespoon.  Eggs, cheese and some meat contain vitamin D as well, but in quantities too small to mean anything.

If you can stomach cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon provides 1360 IU of vitamin D.

There are supplements available containing varying amounts of vitamin D. OLEDA Skin Helpers Vitamin, for example, contains 400 IU. OLEDA Bone Helpers, for example, contains 200 IU