Surprising Supplement Can Cut Your Risk of Dying by FIFTY PERCENT 

Taking vitamin D supplements in order to overcome a deficiency in the vitamin could cut your risk of dying by more than half. An analysis of more than 10,000 patients found that 70 percent were deficient in vitamin D -- and those who were, were three times more likely to die from any cause.

However, once the deficiencies were corrected by supplements, the risk of death dropped by more than half. In addition, the researchers found that patients with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, and diseased heart muscle.

According to the study:  “In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency was associated with a significant risk of cardiovascular disease and reduced survival. Vitamin D supplementation was significantly associated with better survival, specifically in patients with documented deficiency.”

Dr. Joseph Mercola, November 2011

Higher vitamin D cuts cancer risk

New research suggests that a significantly higher vitamin D intake than previously thought is required to reach blood levels that can prevent or lower the incidence of breast cancer and other major diseases, Newswise.com reports.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb., found that daily vitamin D intakes of 4,000 IU to 8,000 IU are required to maintain the blood levels of vitamin D metabolites needed to reduce by about half the risk of breast and colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

The study notes that these daily intake levels are higher than traditional recommendations, but are within the range declared safe in a December 2010 National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine report. The recommended minimum daily intake is 600 IUs.

The study reports on a survey of several thousand volunteers who took daily vitamin D supplement dosages ranging from 1,000 IU to 10,000 IU. Blood studies were conducted to determine the level of 25-vitamin D.

Newswise.com quotes Cedric Garland, Dr.P.H., professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center, as saying, “Most scientists who are actively working with vitamin D now believe that 40 ng/mL to 60 ng/mL is the appropriate target concentration of 25-vitamin D in the blood for preventing the major vitamin D deficiency-related diseases, and have joined in a letter on this topic.

“Unfortunately, according to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only 10 percent of the U.S. population has levels in this range, mainly people who work outdoors.

“Now that the results of this study are in, it will become common for almost every adult to take 4,000 IU a day. This is comfortably under the 10,000 IU a day that the IOM Committee Report considers as the lower limit of risk, and the benefits are substantial.”

The findings were published Feb. 21 in the journal Anticancer Research.

Vitamin D cuts breast cancer risk by 43%

A new study has suggested that high levels of sunlight combined with a diet packed with Vitamin D can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 43 per cent.

Laboratory studies have suggested that Vitamin D may have a number of anti-cancer effects and has been shown to slow the spread of cancer cells.

Researchers at the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health in France tracked 67,721 women aged 41 to 72 for a decade to see who developed breast cancer.

Regions, where levels of daily ultraviolet were high, the women with higher level of Vitamin D had a breast cancer risk 32 to 43 per cent lower compared with those with the lowest vitamin intake.

"Our findings support a protective effect of sun exposure on the risk of breast cancer," the Daily Mail quoted Pierre Engel, who led the study, as saying.

"It is difficult to have a simple public-health message without thinking about the risk of skin cancer. We must be very cautious but we think that increased Vitamin D levels by reasonable sun exposure and higher dietary intakes should be encouraged.

"As suggested by our results, diet alone seems unable to provide an adequate amount of Vitamin D," said Engel.

''These results confirm other work we have carried out showing that women with high blood Vitamin D levels are at reduced risk of breast cancer compared to those who have very low levels,'' added Engel