Women with breast cancer have low vitamin D levels

[Guest guest]

Women with breast cancer have low vitamin D levels, scientists discover

Wednesday, November 04, 2009 by: S. L. Baker, features writer

http://www.naturalnews.com/027393_cancer_Vitamin_D_brst.html

(NaturalNews) At the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Breast Cancer

Symposium held in San Francisco recently, researchers from the University of

Rochester Medical Center made an announcement that at first glance may seem

startling -- at least it may startle people who are unaware of the

preventive and healing power of nutrients. When they studied 166 women

undergoing treatment for breast cancer, the scientists found the vast

majority, about 70 percent, had something other than their cancer in common:

they had very low levels of vitamin D in their blood. What's more, women

whose disease had progressed to late-stage (i.e. terminal) cancer had the

lowest levels of all.

According to the researchers' statement to the media, their take away

message about the breast cancer study seems to be simply that women with

breast malignancies need to take high-dose vitamin D supplements to help

protect bone mass and decrease fracture risk during cancer treatment. They

recommend that women with breast cancer take weekly high doses of vitamin D,

at least 50,000 international units or more.

" Vitamin D is essential to maintaining bone health, and women with breast

cancer have accelerated bone loss due to the nature of hormone therapy and

chemotherapy. It's important for women and their doctors to work together to

boost their vitamin D intake, " said Luke Peppone, Ph.D., research assistant

professor of Radiation Oncology at Rochester's P. Wilmot Cancer Center

and a member of the National Cancer Institute's Community Clinical Oncology

Program research base in Rochester.

The scientists also pointed out that symptoms of vitamin D deficiency

include muscle pain, difficulty sleeping, weak bones resulting in fractures,

low energy, fatigue, lowered immunity, symptoms of depression and mood

swings. And these symptoms are also commonly seen in women who are

undergoing breast cancer treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiation.

Surprisingly, what the researchers didn't point out is that the lack of

vitamin D found in women with breast cancer could be the cause of their

disease -- or least a factor in it. As Mike covered recently in

NaturalNews, previous research has shown vitamin D can reduce cancer rates

by 77% (http://www.naturalnews.com/021892_c...) and vitamin D appears to

play a specific role in preventing cancer of the breast

(http://www.naturalnews.com/027230_c... breast cancer).

Fortunately, some mainstream Western physicians are becoming aware of the

value of vitamin D to prevent and treat malignancies. In a paper recently

published paper in the Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and

Oncology, a team of doctors from Legacy Emanual Hospital in Portland,

Oregon, stated: " Because most physicians do not appreciate the role of

vitamin D deficiency in predisposing the development of cancer, we have

written this important report as a wake-up call to physicians and other

healthcare workers in documenting the relationship of vitamin D deficiency

and cancer. Epidemiological data show an inverse relationship between

vitamin D levels and breast cancer incidence... " In addition, the Legacy

Emanual Hospital physicians pointed out that low vitamin D intake has been

indicated in colorectal carcinogenesis and vitamin D deficiency has been

documented in people with prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and multiple

myeloma, too.

For more information:

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/...

http://dl.begellhouse.com/journals/...