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The facts speak clearly. The number of cancer patients is increasing every day and modern medicine still has not found a cure for this deadly disease.
Specifically, more than 1.5 million new cancer patients are diagnosed each year in the USA alone. Adjusted to Slovak conditions, that is 30 thousand patients a year and effective treatment is still hopelessly out of sight.
However, a new hope is dawning. The latest studies show that our understanding of this insidious disease is gradually improving.
What the statistics and research indicate
New statistical data point out that up to 70% of children and 75% of adults suffer from long-term vitamin D deficiency. This is truly serious information.
Vitamin D reduces the incidence of almost all kinds of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer. To be more specific – our entire health status is influenced by the sufficient or insufficient amount of vitamin D in the body.
Dr. Cedric Garlan found in his study that a deficiency of this vitamin is directly responsible for some types of cancer, but most often it is breast cancer.
He even believes that its incidence could be reduced by half with a sufficient intake of vitamin D. Several other studies have also confirmed that its deficiency in the body leads to cancer.
Another study conducted by Joan Lappe and Robert Heaney in 2007 involved postmenopausal women who took supplements with vitamin D to raise its blood level to 40 mg / liter.
The result was astonishing: the risk of developing any type of cancer over 4 years fell by a staggering 77%!
Although this research did not directly prove that vitamin D can cure cancer, it did show that it can successfully prevent it. This confirmed a direct relationship between cancer and vitamin D.
How vitamin D prevents cancer
The reason vitamin D slows the growth of cancer cells is that it participates in multiple functions in our body.
It is mainly about immune system functions, where its deficiency can cause autoimmune reactions of the body. It also affects the functions of the cardiovascular system, bone health and calcium absorption.
The biggest problem with cancer and vitamin D is that people often do not know they are deficient.
The solution is to request a blood test for vitamin D from your doctor as part of a preventive check-up. Doctors rarely prescribe it, but you must insist on it. If your doctor refuses, consider changing doctors.
Such a test can accurately measure the level of vitamin D in the blood.
Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency
Besides a blood test, vitamin D deficiency can be inferred from the presence of some symptoms, such as:
- muscle weakness
- cognitive problems, especially in older people
- bone pain
- severe asthma, especially in children
- chronic pain
- excessive sweating and hot flashes (if not caused by physical activity)
- depression (vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of depression up to 11-fold)
According to the latest studies focused on adequate amounts of vitamin D to ensure bodily functions, its recommended daily dose should be reconsidered.
Today it is at the level of 400 IU (international units). Under the new guidelines it should be 600 IU per day for people aged 1 to 70 years and up to 1000 IU per day for children under 1 year.
Intake of the indicated amount of vitamin D is extremely important mainly for the health of your bones, muscles and of course as cancer prevention.
How to obtain an adequate amount of vitamin D
In the summer there should be no problem with that. It is enough to be outside in the sun for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day and have at least your face, neck, arms and legs exposed.
In the spring, autumn and winter months it is a bit more complicated. Then it is appropriate to supplement it through diet. Foods high in vitamin D include:
- tuna and other fatty fish (sardines, salmon, mackerel)
- mushrooms
- yogurt
- other fermented dairy products (consume raw milk and cheeses in moderation as they can be mucous-forming)
Taking vitamin D supplements is also an option, for example this one sold in Slovakia or this one in the Czech Republic.
Today vitamin D can usually be obtained in pharmacies without a prescription. When buying, however, make sure it is the form vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).
There is also a form of vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), but it is artificial and does more harm to the body than it helps.
