More Evidence That Vitamin D Prevents Cancer
For a number of years my great grandmother's admonition to get out of the house and get some "healthy sunshine" as soon as winter eased its grip has been at odds with the consensus in the medical community. Sunlight is officially expected to be a human carcinogen. And there's no safe level for carcinogens, right? So stay out of the sun and slather up any uncovered skin with sun block whenever you're forced to venture into the perilous outdoors. That's what the science said anyway.
The problem is that science, which is to say the business of generating knowledge, is as addicted to fads as Madison Avenue. So often when a hot new idea comes along, especially one that confirms part of a dominant narrative, most scientists and physicians seem to immediately buy into it. Thereafter, rather than investigate further whether sunshine is indeed an insidious carcinogen to be avoided at all costs, they investigate ways to stop it, or discover where it is brightest (and so riskiest), or find medicines that might ameliorate its dire effect.
At the same time though a vast and uncontrolled experiment gets carried out on the people who buy into the fad. In this case they're depriving their bodies of the Vitamin D manufactured in their skin when sunshine falls on it. Is that something they should worry about?
Well, it's beginning to look as though the good health of Mediterraneans has a lot more to do with getting plenty of sunshine than it does with getting plenty of dolmades and wine. The number of papers demonstrating vitamin D deficiencies in Americans and the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and increased risk of cancer is astounding. The newest I've found, "Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D Levels and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer: the Multiethnic Cohort Study" demonstrates a 37% to 46% decrease in colorectal cancer among Hawaiians of Japanese, Latino, African-American, White and Native ancestries with the highest levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in their blood.
And vitamin D deficiency isn't just associated with cancer. In another new paper it's associated with infections leading to more illness, costly treatments and long hospital stays. The authors conclude: "Vitamin D deficiency is intimately linked to adverse health outcomes and costs in Veterans with staphylococcal and c. difficile infections in North East Tennessee".
My great grandmother worked in her garden almost to the end of her days. She made it to 101 without a walker or even a cane then died in her sleep after a fall. Simply an anecdote proving nothing about sunlight, I know. Nevertheless, we might do well to consider tradition and the thoughts of the wise before jumping aboard every bandwagon that rolls by.
