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PeopleBeatingCancer supports an evidence-based integrative approach to cancer care. For most newly diagnosed patients, FDA-approved therapies form the foundation of treatment, while evidence-based complementary therapies may help reduce side effects and improve survivorship.
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Vitamin D and Cancer: Benefits for Bones, Brain, Heart and Survivorship
Vitamin D and Cancer: Benefits for Bones, Brain, Heart, and Survivorship
Vitamin D may play an important role in bone health, immune function, brain health, and cancer survivorship. Learn what research says about vitamin D and cancer patients.
I supplement with vitamin D3- 1.000 ng/ml x 2,3 daily. This daily supplementation puts my serum D3 levels at about 35 ng/ml when I get my blood levels tested. According to the Endocrine Society, vitamin D3 blood levels below 20 ng/ml are considered to be deficient.
Does Vitamin D prevent Cancer and Disease?
Why? I am a long-term myeloma survivor living with a number of long-term and late stage side effects. I consider adequate blood levels of vitamin D3 to be one of the many cheap, evidence-based therapies that helps me manage my
- brain health,
- heart health,
- bone health,
- muscle health,
- nerve health, etc, etc.
What does vitamin D do for cancer patients?
Vitamin D may help support bone strength, immune function, cardiovascular health, and overall survivorship. Research suggests vitamin D deficiency is common among cancer patients, although supplementation should be individualized and monitored through blood testing.
I ‘m not saying that vitamin D3 supplementation is a cure-all or silver bullet. The studies linked and excerpted below explain that D3 is central to brain, heart, bone, and immune system functioning.
Vitamin D3 would be classified as a wonder drug if someone could patent it. But they can’t!
- Vitamin D status and Colorectal Cancer Survival
- Natural Multiple Myeloma, Anti-Aging Therapy, Vitamin D3
- Vitamin D3 Benefits Breast Cancer Big Time!
- Vitamin D3, Chronic Disease, Multiple Myeloma
- Multiple Myeloma- Vitamin D Deficiency –
Can vitamin D prevent cancer?
Research does not currently show that vitamin D supplements prevent cancer overall. However, maintaining adequate vitamin D levels may support overall health, and some studies suggest possible benefits for specific cancers such as colorectal cancer.
Is vitamin D deficiency common in cancer patients?
Yes. Vitamin D deficiency appears common among cancer patients and may affect skeletal health and survivorship outcomes.
Should cancer patients take vitamin D supplements?
Supplementation should usually be guided by blood testing and physician recommendations because excessive intake can lead to complications.
What vitamin D blood test should be measured?
25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is generally the blood marker used to assess vitamin D status.
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
To learn more about vitamin D
- Vitamin D–Myeloma Side Effect Prevention
- Multiple Myeloma Diet
- Multiple Myeloma Need to Know
- Integrative Oncology
- Immune System Support for Cancer Patients
- Sleep Secrets of a Long-Term Myeloma Survivor
- Chemotherapy Fatigue
To learn more about conventional therapies to enhance immune function
IVIG Therapy Risks and Benefits
Beyond Bone Health: Does Vitamin D Have a Role in Cancer, CVD, and COVID?
“…Therefore, looking at receptors for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, they were found in the intestine, bone, and kidney, which regulate calcium metabolism.
Then we began to realize that basically every tissue and cell in your body has a vitamin D receptor, and the obvious question is, why would they be there? There’s now a large amount of evidence to suggest that immune cells, colon, breast, skin, and other cells in your body can activate vitamin D locally…
As a result, there are a multitude of association studies that have related vitamin D deficiency with increased risk for autoimmune disorders like type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, and increased risk for cardiovascular disease, neurocognitive dysfunction, infectious diseases, and some malignancies…
We know that vitamin D is essential to health and we know it’s important to avoid vitamin D deficiency…
Low levels of vitamin D in the brain linked to increased dementia risk
“Recently, a new, observational study investigates for the first time the presence of vitamin D in the brain and its potential effect on cognitive outcomes.
The study found that better cognitive function is associated with people who have higher concentrations of vitamin D in their brains. Before the study, it had been unclear whether vitamin D was present in the brain at all…”
Vitamin D Supplements May Improve Cardiac Function in Heart Failure Patients
“While vitamin D supplementation had no effect on the six minute walk test distance, it effectively restored normal levels of 25-OH vitamin D3 and was associated with improvements in cardiac function, resulting in an increase of left ventricular ejection fraction by 6.07 percent, from an average baseline of approximately 26 percent.
After 12 months, patients who took vitamin D had greater improvement in echocardiographic measures of LV function, LV dimensions and volumes than patients who took a placebo.
According to the authors, these findings suggest that taking vitamin D supplements may lead to beneficial reverse remodeling. Patients with chronic heart failure are also frequently deficient in vitamin D and low levels are associated with more severe disease and worse outcomes in these patients.
“New therapies for serious chronic conditions including chronic heart failure are often expensive, increasingly technical and frequently fail to meet the rigorous demands of large phase 3 clinical trials,” the authors write.
“Vitamin D might be a cheap and safe additional option for chronic heart failure patients and may have beneficial effects on multiple features of the syndrome.”
The Role of Vitamin D in Brain Health: A Mini Literature Review
- “Vitamin D is vital for our body as it regulates calcium homeostasis and maintains bone integrity. In this article, we will discuss how vitamin D aids in the function of neuronal and glial tissue and the many health consequences in a person with vitamin D deficiency.
- Some of the effects of vitamin D deficiency that will be discussed include the development of dementia caused by the increase of cerebral soluble and insoluble amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and a decrease of its anti-inflammatory/antioxidant properties, the link to depression by a reduction of the buffering of increased calcium in the brain, and vitamin D deficiency in expecting mothers linking to the development of autism and schizophrenic-like disorders, hypoxic brain injury, and other mental illnesses.
- Lastly, we will discuss how vitamin D deficiency is linked to the development of diabetes mellitus, its role in neuronal development and a decrease of microglial inflammatory function leading to increased brain infections.