Published on April 6, 2016
April 6, 2016
Today, April 6, 2016, is the release of a truly definitive paper about vitamin D and cancer. In 2007, I read a paper by Lappe et al. and, cried. It was a randomized controlled trial which showed a 77% cancer incidence reduction with all cancers (women) with a serum level of approximately 40 ng/ml vs a baseline of 28 ng/ml. I was still recovering, mentally, from my own bout with breast cancer and treatment. THIS was the answer to ‘How do we PREVENT’ cancer! There was a way!!! Unfortunately, it was not to be. There were many obstacles that we faced with getting acceptance, and, most importantly, ACTION from this study.
In 2012, GrassrootsHealth initiated a Breast Cancer Prevention Project, which now has over 1000 participants, in order to add data to the Lappe study and to focus on the information from the serum levels of our cohort.
Our goal was to add our data about women and cancer to the existing data from the randomized trial to accomplish a major aim. GrassrootsHealth has a much larger sample of women with higher serum levels than the Lappe study, and together they would create a larger overall cohort with a broader range of serum levels.
End result: a >65% reduction in cancer risk for all cancers in women by going from a serum level of 20 ng/ml to 40 ng/ml. I would especially encourage you to look at the shape of the curve below. There is a marked decline in risk going down from 20 ng/ml and a more gradual decrease as the serum level gets above 40 ng/ml.
This newsletter also touches on the importance of looking at research from the perspective of the serum level, not just supplement intake, for all diseases. For example, the VDAART Study, looking at rates of asthma and wheezing, found statistically significant results when analyzing the data by serum 25(OH)D concentration of mothers during pregnancy, but not so much when looking at intake.