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These days if you are reading about health studies, chances are they have something to do with vitamin D.
The latest study, released Thursday, showed that vitamin D cut the risk of several types of cancer by 60 per cent overall for older women.
"The findings ... are a breakthrough of great medical and public health importance," said prominent vitamin D researcher at the University of California-San Diego. "No other method to prevent cancer has been identified that has such a powerful impact."
That study was designed mainly to monitor how calcium and vitamin D improve bone health, and the number of cancer cases overall was small, showing up in just 50 patients.
Other research has suggested that cancers and other disorders in rich countries aren't caused mainly by pollutants but by vitamin D deficiency.
Some researchers are linking low vitamin D status to a host of other ailments, including multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, influenza, osteoporosis and bone fractures among the elderly.
But not everyone is willing to jump on the vitamin D bandwagon, especially since smoking and some pollutants, such as benzene and asbestos, irrefutably cause many cancers.
So, what are we to think after seeing these studies? Should consumers run out to buy vitamin D supplements, or spend more time in the sun? Is vitamin D everything the research seems to suggest?
Dr. Reinhold Vieth has worked in the vitamin D field for over 30 years. He is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Toronto. He is member of the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists and Director of the Bone and Mineral Laboratory, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, which provides specialized laboratory services for vitamin D and osteoporosis.
He is a scientific adviser to Osteoporosis Canada, and to several pharmaceutical firms. His research studies into vitamin D nutrition are funded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada, The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, The Dairy Farmers of Canada, and by the Direct-MS Charity.
