The Preventative Benefits of Vitamin D

Life Extension's May 2011 issue is it's usual fabulous wealth of knowledge, but especially so with it's coverage of the benefits of Vitamin D and the various roles it plays in preventing a plethora of health issues that include lung development, multiple Sclerosis, and breast cancer.

Vitamin D and Lung Development

According to the Life Extension article, lung structure and function becomes compromised with a vitamin D deficiency which was found in the mice used for this study reported by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Reduced lung volume was noted and was accompanied by a diminished body length and weight. Graeme Zosky, Phd expressed his satisfaction in the findings of the study that found a direct role in decreased lung function that correlated with vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D and Breast Cancer

In a recent study involving Cedric Garland, DrPH, of the University of California, San Deigo School Medicine along with his collegues were able to uncover the fact that significant doses of vitamin D, than what is currently suggested in assisting with breast cancer prevention. These findings were published in the Anticancer Research journal. Dr. Garlands findings included daily intakes of vitamin D that were between 4,000-8,000 I.U's. These levels were found to maintain good vitamin D metabolite blood levels that are so important in reducing a number of cancers that include breast cancer, as well as colon cancer.

Vitamin D Lowers Risk of MS

Those who spend a lot of time soaking up the sun reported a preventative effect from the increased vitamin D levels. This was the result in a report by Nuerology, finding the higher blood levels of vitamin D to positively contribute against the risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis. The study followed 216 people that had first event MS experiences to 395 people that had no symptoms of MS. Dr. Robyn Lucas, PhD, of Australian National University and his collegues found a decrease of 30% in cases that were diagnosed to be in the range of 2 to 9 cases per 100,000 people.

Source:

May 2011 issue of Life Extension