The Joint Canadian Tanning Association Lauches TanAwareness.com

From the website: "This is our association’s first annual campaign designed to increase awareness of responsible sun exposure and vitamin D production. It is our goal to educate the public in how to achieve a balance between sunburn avoidance and vitamin D production.

Each year we will encourage Canadians to have their vitamin D levels checked to ensure they are maintaining healthy levels. The Canadian Cancer Society recommends taking 1000 international units per day. A typical indoor tanning session in a tanning bed emitting UVB will produce up to 10,000 IUs.

Our Vision

Sun exposure, like air, water, and food, is natural and necessary to human life. The JCTA’s vision is that all Canadians learn to correctly embrace ultraviolet and sunshine as part of a healthy lifestyle – one which acknowledges that moderate ultraviolet light exposure, when experienced in a non-burning fashion, is the smartest way to maximize the potential benefits of UV light while minimizing the manageable potential risks associated with either too much or too little sunlight." Click here to visit.

Vitamin D may benefit breast cancer patients

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the "sunshine vitamin'' has anti-cancer benefits.

The results are sure to renew arguments about whether a little more sunshine is a good thing.

The skin makes vitamin D from ultraviolet light. Too much sunlight can raise the risk of skin cancer, but small amounts — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — may be beneficial, many doctors believe.

While the vitamin is found in certain foods and supplements, most don't contain the best form, D-3, and have only a modest on blood levels of the nutrient. That's what matters, the Canadian study found.

Only 24 percent of women in the study had sufficient blood levels of D at the time they were first diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who were deficient were nearly twice as likely to have their cancer recur or spread over the next 10 years, and 73 percent more likely to die of the disease.

"These are pretty big differences,'' said study leader Dr. Pamela Goodwin of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. "It's the first time that vitamin D has been linked to breast cancer progression.''

Hesitation from experts
But people shouldn't start downing supplements, she warned. Experts don't agree on how much vitamin D people need or the best way to get it, and too much can be harmful. They also don't know whether getting more vitamin D can help when someone already has cancer.

"We have no idea whether correcting a vitamin D deficiency will in any way alter these outcomes,'' said Dr. Julie Gralow, a cancer specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The study was released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be presented at the group's annual meeting later this month.

Lots of earlier research suggests vitamin D may help prevent prostate, breast and especially colon cancer. In lab and animal tests, vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors and has many other anti-cancer effects.

Other evidence: People who live in northern regions of the world have higher cancer rates than those living closer to the equator, possibly because of less sunshine and vitamin D.

The Canadian researchers wanted to see whether it made a difference in survival. They took blood from 512 women at three University of Toronto hospitals between 1989 and 1995, when the women were first diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.

A decade later, 83 percent of those who had had adequate vitamin D blood levels were alive without extensive spread of their cancer, versus 79 percent of those whose vitamin D levels were insufficient and 69 percent of those who were deficient, as defined by widely used medical standards for measuring intake.

Too much of a good thing?
One red flag: The few women with the very highest levels of vitamin D seemed to have worse survival.

Though the study was too small and those results were not conclusive, "there may be an optimal level of vitamin D in women with breast cancer and it may be possible to take too much,'' Goodwin said.

The federal government says up to 2,000 international units of vitamin D a day seems OK. Taking 800 units per day will, on average, raise blood levels to the middle of the range that seems best for bone and general health, Goodwin said.

Vitamin D is in salmon and other oily fish, and milk is routinely fortified with it, but dietary sources account for little of the amount of D circulating in the blood, experts say.

"It's very hard to make a recommendation'' because how much difference a supplement makes depends on someone's baseline level, which also can be affected by sunlight, skin type and time of year, she explained.

Doctors do suggest breast cancer patients get their vitamin D levels checked to see whether they are deficient. The simple blood test is available in many hospitals and labs for about $25, Goodwin said.

Dr. Nancy Davidson, a Johns Hopkins University cancer specialist who is president of the oncology society, said those tests are growing in popularity, even in ordinary medical care.

Source: msnbc

Vitamin D Guards Against Artery Disease

Vitamin D may protect against peripheral artery disease (PAD), a disease in which fatty deposits restrict blood flow to your limbs. PAD most often reduces blood flow to your legs, causing pain and numbness. It can impair your ability to walk and in some cases lead to amputation.

Scientists found that people with low levels of vitamin D in their blood experience an increased risk for the condition.

The researchers based the findings on a U.S. government health survey involving almost 5,000 adults who underwent PAD assessment and had their blood vitamin D levels measured. The 25 percent of people with the lowest vitamin D levels were 80 percent more likely to have PAD than those in the highest 25 percent.

Sources:

• Reuters April 16, 2008

• Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology April 16, 2008

Sunscreens can block vitamin D

Click here to view the video

Tamara Smith visits a tanning parlor when she can’t be outside in the sun. “I’m always indoors. I don’t go outside," says Smith.

Many doctors say ultraviolet light from the sun or a tanning machine is dangerous because of the risks associated with skin cancer. But some health experts, such as Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University, disagree.

“I believe that Americans have gone overboard with their fear of the sun. I think that sensible exposure to sunlight is really important for your overall health and well-being,” says Holick.

The reason for the concern is vitamin D, essential for bone strength and other health needs, which our skin makes through exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays.

We need 1,000 units of vitamin D a day, but a glass of milk supplies only 100 units and a multivitamin only 400. So most people need the sun in order to avoid deficiency.

Sunscreens can reduce vitamin D production
Now, new research has found that wearing sunscreen continuously can reduce the amount of vitamin D a person is able to make.

"We looked at individuals that always wore a sunscreen before they went outside. ... And we found that, indeed at the end of the summer, they were deficient in vitamin D," says Holick. "And so we have shown over and over again that adults, even if they're on a multivitamin, and drinking milk, if they always wear sun protection, or avoid any direct sun exposure, they're at high risk of developing vitamin D deficiency."

Rooftop measurements of sunlight show that, for most people, getting enough sunlight exposure at this time of year is not easy, even for people who don't regularly wear sunscreen. In the middle of the winter on a very sunny day in a city as far north as Boston, there’s not enough sunlight for people to get sufficient quantities of vitamin D.

The good news is that if you get enough sun during the rest of the year, it carries you through the winter, says Holick.

Or there are machines. In Holick’s lab he put young people in tanning machines and measured their bone density.

“Tanners had higher bone density on average than non-tanners,” says Holick.

Still, he cautions against the dangers of skin cancer and warns people not to go overboard. However, it is critical, he says, to realize the sun’s rays are not always our enemy.

Source: MSNBC

Low vitamin D levels linked to depression in older people

Older people who have low levels of Vitamin D may be at a higher risk of depression, a new study has found.

The new research shows that people deficient in vitamin D have high levels of parathyroid hormone, which has been linked to depression.

The researchers estimate that 13 per cent of all people over 65 are depressed.

Dutch scientists measured the blood levels of vitamin D and parathyroid hormones in 1,282 study participants between the ages of 65 and 95.

They found that 26 of them were suffering from a major depressive disorder, 169 had minor depression and 1,087 did not suffer from depression.

The study found that 38.8 per cent of men and 56.9 per cent of women had insufficient vitamin D levels.

In those people who had both major and minor depression, vitamin D levels were 14 per cent lower than in people who did not suffer from depression.

Parathyroid hormone levels were five per cent higher in those people who were minorly depressed and 33 per cent higher in those who were severely depressed, compared with those who had no depressive symptoms.

The good news, researchers say, is that low vitamin D levels in the blood and elevated parathyroid hormone levels can be easily modified through an increased intake of vitamin D and more sun exposure.

Despite the findings, researchers aren't sure whether the depression leads to the reduced vitamin D levels and elevated parathyroid hormone or vice-versa.

"Underlying causes of vitamin D deficiency such as less sun exposure as a result of decreased outdoor activity, different housing or clothing habits and decreased vitamin intake may be secondary to depression, but depression may also be the consequence of poor vitamin D status," the authors write.

They suggest more studies be undertaken to determine this relationship.

The study is published in the May issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.