Sunshine Cuts Blood Clot Risk

A new study by Swedish researchers finds the risk of blood clots can be lessened with a little help from the sun.

"We found that women who suntan had about 30 percent lower risk of suffering blood clots," Pelle Lindqvist told AFP. Lindqvist is an associate professor at the obstetrics and gynecology department at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

"There is also a 50-percent higher risk of blood clots in December, January and February in Sweden, when there is the least sun here," he said.

Researchers at Lund University in southern Sweden studied 40,000 Swedish women in 1990 and looked at their sunning habits which included whether they suntanned in the summer, the winter, used a sun bed, or traveled south to catch a few rays.

The researchers then studied the women's medical health records for a dozen years.

They discovered that 312 of the study participants had developed thrombosis, or blood clots.

Researchers adjusted for variables like exercise, smoking, alcohol habits, and weight. Yet, the study found any amount of sun tanning helped lower the risk of blood clots.

The study was published in the March edition of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

"By sunning, you avoid a shortage of Vitamin D in the winter when people here in Sweden very often suffer a deficiency of that vitamin. It is only during the summer that we really have enough Vitamin D," he said.

Lindqvist said he does not know how Vitamin D prevents blood clots. However, he says more questions raised by the research would be the focus of future studies.

He also noted that people should try to avoid sunburn as they try to balance beneficial sun exposure and skin cancer risks.

"But you should go out a bit every day, and it's not true that it's enough to go out late in the afternoon. You really should go out in the middle of the day, because that is when the production of Vitamin D occurs," he said.

Source: Redorbit.com

Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

Source: Mercola.com

Slash Your Prostate Cancer Risk -- With Sunlight!

Source: Dr. Mercola

Men with prostate cancer are as much as seven times less likely to die if they have high levels of the “sunshine vitamin” -- vitamin D -- according to a new study.

The research looked at 160 patients with prostate cancer who were classified as having either low, medium, or high blood levels of vitamin D. Over the course of the multi-year study, 52 of the patients died of prostate cancer. Low vitamin D levels were found to significantly affect chances of survival.

The study’s authors theorized that since vitamin D has a similar structure to androgen, it might amplify the therapeutic effects of lowering androgen levels and improve the survival chances of men with prostate cancer.
Sources:

British Journal of Cancer 2009; 100: 450-454

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

For all of you male readers, if you want to avoid prostate cancer, and protect your health if you already have it, getting regular sun exposure to optimize your vitamin D levels is an absolute must.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer, and the American Cancer Society estimates that one man in six will get this disease during his lifetime. In all, ACS estimated there were over 186,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2008.

The conventional treatments for prostate cancer include surgery to remove the prostate gland or radiotherapy. However, more recent research has begun to question these invasive treatments, as they may not be necessary for most men diagnosed with a low grade of the disease.

Prostate cancer is typically slow growing, and the five-year survival rate for all stages of prostate cancer combined is 99 percent, the 10-year survival rate is 91 percent, and the 15-year survival rate is 76 percent.

So it is very much a disease that can be managed … if you make the appropriate lifestyle modifications.

Why Sunlight is One of Your Most Important Cancer-Fighting Tools

This most recent study found men with prostate cancer are as much as seven times LESS likely to die if they have high levels of vitamin D. And a previous study found men with higher levels of vitamin D in their blood were half as likely to develop aggressive forms of prostate cancer as those with lower amounts.

Another groundbreaking study discovered that correcting vitamin D deficiencies through appropriate sunshine exposure could prevent 600,000 cases of colorectal- and breast cancer each year, worldwide. This is important as prostate cancer is essentially the male equivalent of breast cancer.

Numerous other studies also confirm the link between vitamin D deficiency and multiple types of cancer. The “sunshine vitamin” has a protective effect against cancer in several ways, including:

• Increasing the self-destruction of mutated cells (which, if allowed to replicate, could lead to cancer)
• Reducing the spread and reproduction of cancer cells
• Causing cells to become differentiated (cancer cells often lack differentiation)
• Reducing the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones, which is a step in the transition of dormant tumors turning cancerous

How Much Vitamin D do You Need?

Your doctor can measure your serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) to determine your vitamin D status. Your vitamin D level should always be above 32 ng/ml, and anything below 20 ng/ml is considered a serious deficiency state, which will increase your risk of breast and prostate cancers and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The one caution here in the US is to be certain your test is performed at a lab like Labcorp, that uses the gold standard Diasorin test for checking vitamin D levels. Due to information published by the New York Times about Quest labs , where they admitted to inaccurate results, I no longer recommend using them.

In the United States, late winter 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels generally range from 15 to 18 ng/ml, so this vitamin deficiency affects a very large portion of the U.S. population.

African Americans are even more prone to vitamin D deficiencies, as they produce less vitamin D3 than do whites in response to usual levels of sun exposure, and therefore have lower vitamin D serum concentrations year-round.

This deficiency may help explain why African Americans also have the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world, according to the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention.

The OPTIMAL value that you’re looking for is 45-52 ng/ml (115-128 nmol/l), but previous research has suggested that maintaining a slightly higher level of 55 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) is optimal for cancer prevention.

For those who already have cancer, meanwhile, vitamin D can help to treat the disease and you’ll want to keep your levels around 65-90 ng/ml for this purpose.

Sun exposure is, hands-down, the best way to get your vitamin D. But if you find you’re not spending enough time outdoors in the sun, you can instead use a safe tanning bed or an oral vitamin D supplement as the last choice approach to normalize your levels.

The disadvantage of swallowing vitamin D is that you’ll need to have your blood levels tested to be sure your vitamin D levels are in the correct range, but remember not just any test -- or any lab -- will do. I’ve discussed exactly what you need to know to get the right vitamin D test, with accurate results, here.

Please also set aside some time to watch my one-hour vitamin D lecture, as it is loaded with all the details you need to use this vital nutrient to protect your health.

More Natural Tips to Prevent Prostate Cancer

Optimizing your vitamin D levels is an important part of prostate cancer prevention, but it is far from the only method. Another sensible strategy is to increase your intake of vitamin K2 (found in fermented foods such as natto), which may reduce your risk of prostate cancer by 35 percent.

You can also follow these helpful tips for prostate cancer prevention and all-natural alternative treatments given to me by former guest commentator Dr. Larry Clapp, author of Prostate Health in 90 Days Without Drugs or Surgery.

• Be sure to keep your insulin levels below three as high insulin levels drive and promote cancer growth.

• Cleanse past accumulation of toxins in your tissue, gut and colon with a good detox program

• Cleanse your mouth of hidden infections from root canals, amalgam fillings, decay and gum infections. Then, chelate mercury from your body, nutritionally.

• Avoid as many toxins as possible as your prostate was designed by nature to filter toxins from your semen.

• Adopt the advice in Take Control of Your Health and eat a healthy diet based on your nutritional type.

All types must eliminate:

• High glycemic carbohydrates such as sugar, pasta, potatoes, bread and most grains
• All pasteurized dairy
• Conventional grain and chemical fed animals
• Most fish, due to high levels of mercury and PCB contamination

Also if you are not sensitive or allergic to them incorporate natural lycopene foods such as:

o Tomatoes
o Raspberries
o Watermelon
o Cabbage family foods, such as broccoli and broccoli sprouts to help control excess estrogens, the real enemy of the prostate

• Take a high-quality krill oil with vitamin E to rebuild omega-3 fat levels, which are deficient in most people and a major cause of inflammation and disease.

• Get full body sun exposure whenever possible to increase vitamin D levels, which need to be tested regularly.

• Avoid biopsies, which permanently damage your prostate and can spread or cause cancer. Have a far more reliable, non-invasive Power Color Doppler Sonogram of your prostate done by Robert Bard, MD in New York City, www.cancerscan.com or other qualified Radiologists. PCD is the first line of diagnosis in other countries, but is not sanctioned by American Urologists so it is difficult to find.

Low vitamin D levels associated with several risk factors in teenagers

Low levels of vitamin D were associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome in teenagers, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

In the study, researchers analyzed 3,577 adolescents, 12 to 19 years old (51 percent boys), who participated in the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted from 2001.

After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, socioeconomic status and physical activity, researchers found the adolescents with the lowest levels of vitamin D were:

• 2.36 times more likely to have high blood pressure;
• 2.54 times more likely to have high blood sugar; and
• 3.99 times more likely to have metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors including elevated waist circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good") cholesterol and high fasting glucose levels. The presence of three or more of the factors increases a person's risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"We showed strong associations between low levels of vitamin D and higher risk of high blood pressure, hyperglycemia and metabolic syndrome among adolescents, confirming the results of studies among adults," said Jared P. Reis, Ph.D., the study's lead author and post-doctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Researchers used a biomarker of vitamin D to measure levels in blood. The biomarker measures vitamin D obtained from food, vitamin supplementation and exposure to sunlight.

The ethnic breakdown was similar to the general U.S. population: 64.7 percent non-Hispanic whites; 13.5 percent non-Hispanic blacks; and 11 percent Mexican Americans.

The study highlights the association between high levels of vitamin D and lower risk of heart disease. The highest levels of vitamin D were found in whites, the lowest levels in blacks and intermediate levels in Mexican Americans. Whites had almost twice as high levels as blacks.

In whites, the average level of vitamin D was 28.0 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL); in blacks, 15.5 ng/mL; and in Mexican Americans, 21.5 ng/mL.

"Although our study is important, we believe clinical trials designed to determine the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the risk of heart disease risk factors in adolescents should be conducted before recommendations can be made for vitamin D in the prevention of cardiovascular disease," Reis said.

The Institute of Medicine recommends a daily intake of vitamin D of 200 International Units (IU) for those less than 50 years, which includes children and adolescents. More recent recommendations, however, from the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests a daily intake of 400 IU daily. While these intakes have been shown to be important in the prevention of skeletal conditions such as rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults, some specialists have suggested intakes of at least 1,000 IU daily may be needed for overall health.

Low levels of vitamin D are strongly associated with overweight and abdominal obesity. Since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, it may be sequestered within adipose tissue. This may explain why those who are obese are more likely to be vitamin D deficient, Reis said.

Vitamin D plays a useful role in general human health, particularly in bone health. Other roles are emerging, Reis said. "This is an exciting time; since we are just now beginning to understand the role that vitamin D may play in cardiovascular health."

"These data on serum vitamin D levels in young people raise some concern about their food choices and even the amount of time they spend in the sunshine," said Robert H. Eckel, M.D., American Heart Association past president. "The American Heart Association recommends an overall healthy diet and lifestyle, and that people get their nutrients primarily from food sources rather than supplements."

Source: American Heart Association (news : web)