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Healing Strategies:
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Supplement Strategies: Vitamin D3

Vitamin D3 is the natural human form of vitamin D made in the skin when cholesterol
reacts with sunlight. (Do not confuse D3 with D2 which may be found in small
amounts in multivitamins.) D3 is being widely studied in larger (than FDA
recommended) doses for cancer. In a slightly-altered, patentable form, D3 is
currently being developed as a drug.


Update:
At an April 2006 cancer conference, evidence was presented that the risk of
breast cancer was reduced by 50% when vitamin D in the blood was 52
nanograms per milliliter, which equals to no less than 1000 international units (IU)
of vitamin D every day whether in the diet or in supplements.  The average person
only gets 310 IU a day. (Evidence of Need for Increasing Dietary Vitamin D in Food.  
Abstract 4008 - AACR Conference.)

We are indebted To Dr. John Cannell of The Vitamin D Council for his inspiring
presentation to the Cancer Control Society in 2005. The highlights of the Council's
research on Vitamin D and breast cancer are summarized below.

  • Researchers (from St. Georges Hospital medical School in London) found
    women who had vitamin D receptor positive tumors had longer disease
    free intervals than women whose tumors had no measurable receptors for
    vitamin D. Lancet. 1989 Jan 28;1(8631):188-91. In 1997, researchers at the
    Manchester Royal Infirmary discovered that women with the highest levels of
    activated vitamin D (calcitriol) in their blood had the best prognosis. Those
    women with the lowest levels had a more rapidly fatal course.  J Clin
    Endocrinol Metab. 1997 Jan;82(1):118-22.

  • In other words, if you test vitamin D deficient breast cancer patients for
    vitamin D receptors, they will not have many; if you treat their deficiency,
    they will probably develop those receptors.

  • Blood Vessel Blocker. Not only does the active form of vitamin D inhibit
    breast cancer cells from growing, it makes those cells grow and die more
    like natural cells. Furthermore, vitamin D inhibits the formation of excessive
    blood vessel growth around the cancerous tumor, a process called anti-
    angiogenesis. Braz J Med Biol Res. 2002 Jan;35(1):1-9.

  • Latitude Counts. In the 1990's, a group of scientists from the University of
    California at San Diego found that women in the sunniest regions of the
    USA were about half as likely to die from breast cancer as were women
    who lived in less sunny regions. When the same researchers looked at the
    USSR, before that country dissolved, they found that women who lived in the
    sunniest regions were three times less likely to develop breast cancer than
    were the women who lived in regions without as much sun. Prev Med. 1990
    Nov;19(6):614-22.Int J Epidemiol. 1990 Dec;19(4):820-4.


According to the landmark work of R. Vieth in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition (1999, 2001), the RDA for Vitamin D is antiquated, and
during a sunny day total body sun exposure may make 10,000 units. Giving
volunteers 4,000 IU in winter produced no adverse calcium levels in blood
or urine.  LEF agrees, suggesting breast cancer patients may take
between 4000 to 6000 IU, of vitamin D3 per day.  Periodic blood tests are
needed as a precaution  to make sure toxicity does not occur in response
to these high daily doses. As with all supplements, they are best used with
nutritious foods and other supplements. Keep your physician advised of
your dosage regimen.

These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food & Drug
Administration.  The supplements discussed are not intended to diagnose, treat,
cure, or prevent any disease.

This website is intended as information only. The editors of this site are not medically-trained.
Please consult your licensed health care practitioner before implementing any health strategy.
The information provided on this site is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that
exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing physician. This site accepts no
advertising. The contents of this site are copyrighted 2006 by Breast Cancer Choices, Inc.
Contact us for reprint permission.

Website updated January 8, 2008
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