Cancer - New Scientist

Webiny Lumshway
 

Cancer

Two epidemiologists, Frank and Cedric Garland, were the first to suspect a link between regional cancer rates and the weather. They conducted a 1980 study of colon cancer rates in the United States. What they found shocked them: in the cloudy Northeast rates were twice as high as in the namesake sunshiny Sunbelt areas. Further medical research by the National Cancer Institute has proven that there is indeed a link. You see, when we are exposed to sunshine, the ultraviolet rays of the sun are absorbed by a D linked hormone in our skin. This hormone carries the raw vitamin D to our organs, where it is refined into a powerful disease fighting hormone called calcitriol. The cells in our bodies use this hormone to regulate the growth of potential cancer cells. When our calcitriol levels are minimal, as they often are, the cell multiplication rates can spike, causing cancer.

Diabetes
FACT: During winter months, the sun is only out for a few hours during winter mornings in Finland. FACT: Finland has the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world. Do you see a connection? Finnish researchers did. So they tested a their theory of the link on infants and pregnant women. When the children were given regular doses of vitamin D they were found to be 80% less likely to develop diabetes later on. Since type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease, they believe that the calcitriol suppressed immune cells which may otherwise have destroyed insulin producing cells.

Hypertension
A study of 18 volunteers with high blood pressure was conducted to prove the link between vitamin D, or the lack thereof, and the illness. The participants were given UVB exposure for about six minutes, thrice weekly. A month and a half later, the vitamin D in their systems had doubled and their blood pressure had decreased dramatically; some had a normal blood pressure. Again it was found that calcitriol had controlled the quantities of blood vessel constricting enzymes. This vessel constriction is one of the leading causes of hypertension.

Osteoporosis
When vitamin D is missing from the delicate balance of calcium regulation in the body, the bones become unhealthy. A hormone, called parathyroid hormone, accumulates and starts to pull calcium from the bones. This causes the bone brittling disease so common in older women. A study of elderly people with hip fractures in the US and Britain found that 30 to 40% of them were seriously deficient of vitamin D. Daily dose of sunshine would reverse the problem extremely brittle bones to a safe level.

So How Can You Help Yourself?
As you are now aware of the importance of vitamin D to your health, you should take steps toward improving your supply. Probably like most people today you are deficient in the sunshine vitamin due to a busy lifestyle, sun-blocking atmospheric pollutants, avid sun block wearing and an indoor lifestyle. However, if you try a few of the simple ideas below, you will have no trouble getting the recommended 800-1000 IU's a day.
Remember the easiest way is to get out in the sun for 10 to 20 minutes. Don't wear sunscreen because even the weakest ones block out ALL vitamin absorption. Try these tips if you don't normally get outside much.
-Eat breakfast by a window. It takes most people between 15 and 25 minutes to have a meal.
-Go for a morning jog. The added benefits are exercise, fresh air, and a invigorating start to your day.

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