In 2016, the number of new cancer diagnoses only in the United States is estimated to be around 1,658,370. This is what the statistics predicts about this year coming, and the worst part of this information is that this goes only for new cases, not the already existing cases. Although the medical researchers claim that the cure for cancer does not exist yet, they have come pretty close to the latest discovery about a certain vitamin.
Nearly 70 percent of the children in America do not get enough vitamin D and nearly 75 percent of the adults in the United States do not get enough of this sunshine vitamin in their everyday life. This vitamin may not appear so significant if it weren’t for the reason of preventing numerous different kinds of cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. The proper daily intake of this nutrient is a healthy contributor to the general health and if you increase the intake of this vitamin you can even cure cancer.
One of the biggest problems that relate cancer to lack of vitamin D is that too few people in fact know how to establish if they are lacking the vitamin. Making a blood test can help you determine whether you have a vitamin D deficiency, but there are other signs that can also indicate that a person may lack this vitamin. Some of the most common indicators that a person lacks vitamin D are:
- Depression – vitamin D has been shown to help in treating depression and even anxiety. In 2008, a study was conducted in Norway, which included 441 obese and overweight men and women, and it was discovered that those who were given 20,000 and 40,000 IUs of vitamin D supplements weekly had considerably less symptoms of depression after a year, compared to the individuals form the placebo group.
- Muscle weakness
- Severe asthma, in children particularly
- Pain in the bones
- Cognitive impairment, especially in older adults
- Chronic pain
- Excessive sweating – sweating that occurs with no physical exertion or increased temperature is a common sign of low levels of vitamin D.
Although it is not confirmed yet, numerous studies explain how vitamin D aids vastly with cancer. Joan Lappe and Robert Heaney carried out a research in 2007, which was done on women who were going through menopause at the moment were given vitamin D to raise their levels, four years later, these women experienced a 77 percent reduction of all types of cancer.
Dr. Cecdric Garland has carried out a research which indicated that vitamin D is intricately connected to certain types of cancer, especially breast cancer. Actually, this research indicated that a person’s risk of breast cancer cut be reduced by 50 percent with intake of the proper level of vitamin D.
Researchers still do not know what is the connection between vitamin D and cancer, but they suppose it might be the fact that vitamin D is important for many thing and functions in the body. The major function of vitamin D is to absorb calcium in order to promote bone growth. It also aids the function of the cardiovascular system, the autoimmune system, as well as other systems of the body.
Current findings that relate to vitamin D suggest that there are changes and adjustments in the daily allowance of this vitamin. Individuals aged between one and seventy need 600IU a day and infants aged between 0 and 12 months need 1,000 IU a day. The best way to achieve these quantities of this vitamin is to take it in through foods, including fatty fish, tuna, yogurt, milk, orange juice, mushrooms, etc, as well as through spending time in the sun. Still, there are oral supplements that are also beneficial. The best one is the vitamin D3. These supplements need to be taken every day, about two to three months, so that an adequate amount of this nutrient is established in the body.
Cancer really is a puzzle, and this discovery relating to vitamin D might as well be the missing piece. Proper levels of vitamin D in the body are useful and needed for promoting bone and muscle health, as well as for lowering the risk of cancer.