Vitamin Information Center

Experts are increasingly pushing for higher daily recommended intakes of vitamin D, saying that while current amounts may prevent signs of deficiency, they are insufficient to provide a protective benefit against cancer.

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient produced by the body when ultraviolet radiation from sunlight strikes the skin. In northern latitudes, however, when sunlight is dim for significant parts of the year, many people cannot get enough sun to synthesize sufficient levels of the vitamin. This problem is particularly pronounced among those with darker skin. Few foods are rich in vitamin D. Fish oil and fortified food sources, such as milk or non-dairy milk substitutes, provide the most common dietary sources.

The United States and Canadian governments recommend a daily vitamin D intake of 200 IU. But vitamin D and cancer experts warn that this value is far too low.

Recently, the Canadian Cancer Society advised that light-skinned people take a 1,000 IU vitamin D supplement daily during fall and winter months, and that dark-skinned people or those who regularly keep all their skin covered while outdoors take a supplement year-round.

“We’re recommending 1,000 IU daily because the current evidence suggests this amount will help reduce cancer risk with the least potential for harm,” said Heather Logan, director of the society’s Cancer Control Policy.

“I have to commend the Canadian Cancer Society,” vitamin D researcher Joan Lappe said. “They’re right out in the lead there on changing the recommendations.”

Lappe was lead researcher in a recent study that found that women taking 1,100 IU of vitamin D per day showed a 60 percent reduced risk of developing cancer than women taking a placebo. Excluding women who developed cancer during the first year of the four-year study, the risk reduction from vitamin D was 77 percent.

In a paper published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” a group of vitamin D experts recently advised that an upper daily limit of 10,000 IU be set for vitamin D exposure, making a break with the current, more cautious, government recommendations.

ALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The indoor tanning industry has launched a campaign blitz saying there is “no compelling scientific evidence that tanning causes melanoma.” It’s an ad campaign that has some health experts seeing spots over concerns about the dangers of sun exposure, including a doctor from the Huntsman Cancer Institute here in Salt Lake City.

On television and in print, the Indoor Tanning Association is trying to turn up the heat, challenging the medical establishment’s view of tanning.

“The dermatologists, the sunscreen and cosmetic industries have tried to say that somehow moderate tanning causes melanoma, which is just not true,” said the Association’s spokesperson, Sarah Longwell.

We showed the full-page ad claiming the tanning-melanoma link is just hype to skin cancer survivor Emily Konesky. “I don’t think they’re being honest at all,” Konesky said.

Two years ago, Emily fought off advanced stage melanoma – cancer she says her doctors attributed to her tanning salon habit. “Four times a week on average,” Konesky said. “It is not natural for a 19-year-old to be diagnosed with cancer that takes 30 to 40 years to develop.”

The Indoor Tanning Association cites at least one medical authority who questions whether exposure to ultraviolet rays from tanning can really cause melanoma. And the industry ads go on to say tanning is actually helpful because our bodies get vitamin D from sunlight. “It’s healthy to have moderate exposure to UV light,” Longwell said. “It produces vitamin D.”

But experts say you can get all the vitamin D you need from your food and just a few minutes of sun a week, and that the ad is misleading.

“The ad misrepresents scientific fact,” said Dr. David Leffell of Yale Medical School. “Ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from the artificial bulbs that are used in the tanning parlors can lead to skin cancer.”

Dr. Dirk Noyes of the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City agrees. “We know tanning or ultraviolet rays exposure is the most common cause why people get melanoma,” Noyes said.

But the tanning industry is still fighting back. “The benefits of moderate exposure to UV light far outweigh any potential risks,” Longwell said.

Doctors say there’s no question, the sun ‘can’ do damage. For Emily Konesky, the damage was almost fatal. “I wake up every single morning and think this could be the day that the cancer could come back,” Konesky said.

It’s still ultimately up to parents in Utah. The state passed legislation last year stating teens under the age of eighteen need parental consent to use a tanning bed.

Hydride ions are strong proton acceptors and hence fatal to free radicals. Silica hydride is consequently a powerful antioxidant that can be used to protect your body against the ravaging effects of these free radicals that destroy the cells of your body, and due to its other unique properties this is a molecule that could be a very useful participant in the various redox reactions that occur naturally within our bodies every microsecond of every day of our lives.
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Hydride ions are strong proton acceptors and hence fatal to free radicals. Silica hydride is consequently a powerful antioxidant that can be used to protect your body against the ravaging effects of these free radicals that destroy the cells of your body, and due to its other unique properties this is a molecule that could be a very useful participant in the various redox reactions that occur naturally within our bodies every microsecond of every day of our lives.
Continue Reading…