“Vitamin D3 Lowers Cancer Risk”
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol, the form we use in the body), which helps with calcium absorption, has been reported as being of overall benefit to good health. It is found in cod liver oil and has been fortified in milk since 1933 to prevent rickets. Sunlight activates the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin, and people who get little sun exposure have lower stores of the vitamin. Patients with higher vitamin D levels have been shown to have lower rates of breast, colon, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic and lymphomatous cancers and vitamin D helps prevent cancer cells from growing and spreading. Overall, clinical trials in which people were given high doses of vitamin D showed lower risks of cancer, arthritis and diabetes. Interestingly, experts are still at a loss to explain the mechanism of these differences but they have not considered D3’s prooxidant character.
