In the early 1970s two young Americans, Frank and Cedric Garland, who
were studying science and medicine, made an epic journey across America
from San Diego, California, to John Hopkins Medical School on the east coast.
The brothers rode proudly in a 1972 Mustang Sprint Fastback with blue trim.
As they crossed the country from west to east, returning from their Christmas
vacation, they could not help noticing the dramatic change in weather from
sunshine to snow. It was this journey that gave the Garland brothers the first
clue about the cause of bowel cancer.
At that time the most popular scientific theory was that insufficient dietary fibre
was the cause of bowel cancer. The English surgeon, Dennis Burkitt, gained fame
from his animated lectures illustrated with snapshots of African faeces. He
pointed out that colorectal cancer is rare in Africa and was relatively rare in
modern industrial countries before the 19th century.
Burkitt argued that
colorectal cancer is a disease of civilisation caused by refined diets. His message
was widely accepted and many people started to eat more fibre, especially in the
form of bran. The food industry showed what they can do when given a clear lead
– many foods began to appear on supermarket shelves with added fibre,
especially bran.
In an important article on diseases of civilisation in the British Medical Journal47a
in 1973 Burkitt said that a carcass in the African bush is most easily discovered by
locating telltale vultures and the same approach is needed in medical research. In
fact Burkitt was misled by his vultures, at least so far as bowel cancer is
concerned.
The hard stools passed by civilised Britons do not seem to be the
primary cause of colon cancer. It was the Garland brothers who, following their
epic journey in the Ford Mustang, obtained the first evidence showing that it is
lack of sunshine and vitamin D that are a more significant cause of bowel cancer.
When the famous Dr. Denis Burkitt noted that "diseases of civilization" were rare in Africa””although many patients died of malaria or gastrointestinal diseases””he was working in Uganda, right on the equator.
What Dr. Burkitt failed to notice, when he hypothesized it was fiber in the diet that prevented the diseases of civilization, was his patients frequently wore little clothing and were under an equatorial sun 365 days a year. Dr. Burkitt thought it was fiber, but it was the vitamin D.
As far as dying, remember, everyone who takes Vitamin D will die. It's simply a question of when. What we hope, even expect, is vitamin D will square off the mortality curve. Now, people start dying from the diseases of civilization in their forties, struck down by heart disease, cancer, etc. Premature deaths accelerates in the 50s and are in full swing by the 60s.
That is, the mortality curve slops downward, beginning in the late 40s, people succumbing to the diseases of civilization. Perhaps vitamin D will allow people to live normal lives until they reach their 90s–100s, when we will all suddenly drop dead of old age!
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* Always protect yourself from the sun during peak UV periods (when the UV Index in above 3).
Increased UVA exposures and decreased cutaneous Vitamin D3 levels may be responsible for the increasing incidence of melanoma☆
Dianne E. Godara, Robert J. Landrya, Anne D. Lucasa
Received 6 June 2008; accepted 12 September 2008. published online 20 January 2009.
Summary
Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has been increasing at a steady exponential rate in fair-skinned, indoor workers since before 1940. A paradox exists between indoor and outdoor workers because indoor workers get three to nine times less solar UV (290–400nm) exposure than outdoor workers get, yet only indoor workers have an increasing incidence of CMM. Thus, another “factor(s)” is/are involved that increases the CMM risk for indoor workers.
We hypothesize that one factor involves indoor exposures to UVA (321–400nm) passing through windows, which can cause mutations and can break down vitamin D3 formed after outdoor UVB (290–320nm) exposure, and the other factor involves low levels of cutaneous vitamin D3.
After vitamin D3 forms, melanoma cells can convert it to the hormone, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, or calcitriol, which causes growth inhibition and apoptotic cell death in vitro and in vivo. We measured the outdoor and indoor solar irradiances and found indoor solar UVA irradiances represent about 25% (or 5–10W/m2) of the outdoor irradiances and are about 60 times greater than fluorescent light irradiances.
We calculated the outdoor and indoor UV contributions toward different biological endpoints by weighting the emission spectra by the action spectra: erythema, squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma (fish), and previtamin D3. Furthermore, we found production of previtamin D3 only occurs outside where there is enough UVB. We agree that intense, intermittent outdoor UV overexposures and sunburns initiate CMM; we now propose that increased UVA exposures and inadequately maintained cutaneous levels of vitamin D3 promotes CMM.
Some interesting facts cited in support of their hypothesis:
"Although outdoor workers get much higher outdoor solar UV doses than indoor workers get, only the indoor workers’ incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has been increasing at a steady exponential rate since before 1940."
"Outdoor workers have a lower incidence of CMM compared to indoor workers."
People who use UVB-absorbing sunscreens have a significantly increased risk of melanoma and these sunscreens promote the growth of melanoma in mice.
People who maintain an all-year-tan have a reduced risk of melanoma, and outdoor workers, who receive three to nine times the erythemally effective UV dose of indoor workers have a significantly lower incidence of melanoma.
Excluding sunburns, outdoor activities in childhood decrease the incidence of melanoma and research has failed to find a ‘‘critical period,” such as childhood, where intense exposures contribute more towards the induction of melanoma.
Sunburns throughout life increase the risk of melanoma, while low level solar UV exposures reduce the risk.
Melanoma patients who receive regular sun exposures live longer than those who do not.
UVA not only promotes skin tumor growth in mice after initiation by artificial sunlight, but also causes twice as many tumors to form .
UVA increases melanomas in a mouse model after initiation by UVB.
People can get considerable UVA exposure from windows, but windows do not allow passage of adequate UVB to stimulate vitamin D production.
UVA exposure, absent UVB exposure, leads to degradation of vitamin D; and UVA also causes DNA damage.
"High-rise office buildings, needing many large windowpanes, became increasingly popular around the mid 1910s, about 20 years prior to the first observed increase in the incidence of CMM. The time-line for the industrial revolution fits the CMM observations, unlike the introduction of fluorescent lights in the mid-1940s [80] or any other events that occurred after the mid- 1930s. Thus, the industrial revolution caused many workers to stay indoors during the day reducing their cutaneous vitamin D3 levels and, the UVA entering their offices caused photodegradation of vitamin D3 and mutations to the DNA of their skin cells."
Finally:
"In the early 20th century, people went against evolution by going indoors during the day to work, which drastically decreased their daily amount of cutaneous vitamin D3 and, along with it, their blood levels. With the addition of larger buildings and sky scrappers, people created an unnatural UV barrier when windows were developed and used in abundance. The UV barrier created by window glass divided UVB from UVA, so that the vitamin D making UVB was excluded from our indoor working environment; only the vitamin D-breaking and DNA-mutating UVA was included. Because this unnatural UV environment existed for decades in buildings and cars, CMM began to steadily increase about 20–30 years later in the mid-1930s."
Thanks for the info, Motorway...
I think some over zealous Mums don't give their kids even a few minutes in the sun. I know of one such mother who is a school teacher. She rushes around with hats and sunscreen and has spares for other kids. She was horrified when I politely rejected her offer of a hat for my granddaughter - it was late in the afternoon! I said something about getting enough Vit D and she looked at me as if I was being negligent!
Her two children are unusually pale and I wonder if she will one day regret protecting so tightly. Sure they won't get skin cancer, but with the lack of natural Vit D, I wonder if she is inadvertantly opening them up to other problems with this almost fanatical approach.
I have also done a lot of research on osteoporosis and soon learned the value of Vit D. As it is inadvisable for me to take the pharmaceutical medications, my GP allowed me to try Strontium (not the radioactive kind) together with calcium, Vit D, Vit K and a few other trace minerals. I did extensive research on it and was only able to find very positive feed back.
I had been losing bone density on every dexa scan for the last few years so something had to be done. After 18 months on Strontium, the dexa scan showed an average of 5% increase. My GPs jaw litterally dropped at the result of not only stopping the decrease but such a significant increase in that time...I do know that strontium can be heavier than calcium, but read somewhere that they are no longer adjusting the scores. I told the radiologist that I was on it so they were fully aware.
A few months before the scan, I fell down about a half flight of stairs. Fell sideways and crashed down on to a tiled floor. Amazingly, nothing was broken! So I felt that the strontium must have been somehow strengthing the bones and possibly making them a bit less brittle.
You seem quite knowledgeable on these sorts of things, Motorway. Do you know anything about strontium for osteoporisis in addition to Vit D?
I thought it worth mentioning here in case it should help anyone else who can't take the pharmaceutical alternatives.
Seen in the light of evolution, biology is, perhaps, intellectually
the most satisfying and inspiring science. Without that light it
becomes a pile of sundry facts some of them interesting or
curious but making no meaningful picture as a whole.
Do people who worry about Vitamins suffer more constipation than the average poster on ASF.
I believe they do, as a non sufferer.
How can we as a community of investors help them?
gg
Motorway
Has your research sufficiently explained how people in extreme latitudes get sufficient Vitamin D? Wouldnt it be assumed that where the sun was not available or the weather so cold for long periods that cancer rates and other health issues would then be measurably higher than otherwise?
Cenegenics ® Medical Institute, the global age management medicine leader, collaborated with Dr. Ernst R. von Schwarz””professor of medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine””to investigate current evidence linking vitamin D deficiency with heart failure. Their expert scientific review recently appeared in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
The stats show why co-authors Cenegenics and von Schwarz zeroed in on vitamin D deficiency: An estimated 1 billion people worldwide have deficient or insufficient levels of vitamin D. Even more alarming is the association of vitamin D deficiency with many types of diseases, particularly heart failure.
In fact, epidemiologic studies show an 80% to 96% prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in heart failure””with some data suggesting the deficiency may be an independent predictor of mortality in heart failure patients. Classified as a vitamin, the highly hailed vitamin D actually functions as a steroid hormone. The hormone, per the Cenegenics-von Schwarz scientific review paper, is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells and cardiac myocytes (heart muscle cells).
“Vitamin D is an iceberg. Beneath it is much more to discover about how to reduce oxidative stress through antioxidant therapy. In our investigation, we’ve put our emphasis on looking to improve not only cardiovascular disease, but also overall cardiovascular health through supplementation. The vitamin D story is now clear to most physicians who are recognizing it as an important pro-hormone that supports the concept that you can achieve a generalized effect and measurable results on health through a simple supplement,” Dr. Robert D. Willix, Jr. said.
I supplement with Vitamin D and enjoy the SUN
Motorway
mmm, "worry" was a little exaggerated, I don't actually ever recall being constipated, all those spicy dishes and curries probably have me on the other side
GG, although I am aware that your comment was a light hearted one, but it does highlight the fact that there are many that have no desire to learn about nutrition and are quick to debunk or ridicule new findings.
Personally I find the subject fascinating, and if by chance, learning more about how our bodies work gives me an advantage, then that's a pretty good investment.
Mate, anyone who lives on the Eastern seaboard of Australia or in Perth and environs, who is not Aboriginal or homeless has a problem if they are Vitamin deficient.
The Great Barrier Reef is awash with the pee of the anxious and indolent gobbling Vitamins they do not need.
gg
There is evidence that optimal levels are really quite a bit higher24. The recommended daily allowance of vitamin D in Australia is 200IU. This amount of vitamin D is way too low. It is based on the amount required to prevent rickets.
It is equivalent to the amount of vitamin D your skin would make in 6 seconds of all over sun in Perth on a summer’s day. Vieth and others have shown that in sunny countries the vitamin D levels are at least 100-140nmol/L, and more like 135-225nmol/L, and that a level of 200nmol/L may actually be optimal.25 Others have suggested a level as high as 250nmol/L may be optimal.26
To achieve a level of 100nmol/L requires daily intake of about 4 000IU of vitamin D for people who are not getting any sun. To get to 140nmol/L needs about 10 000IU a day in the absence of sunlight. It has been shown that average healthy men’s bodies use about 3 000 to 5 000IU a day.5
It is not possible to get toxicity from vitamin D if it all comes from the sun. Only supplements can potentially produce toxic levels. The only published toxicity however is from supplements of 40 000IU a day.23
the body does not reliably begin storing cholecalciferol in fat and muscle tissue until 25(OH)D levels get above 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L). The average person starts to store cholecalciferol at 40 ng/ml (100 nmol/L), but at 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L) virtually everyone begins to store it for future use.
That is, at levels below 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L), the body uses up vitamin D as fast as you can make it, or take it, indicating chronic substrate starvation””not a good thing. 25(OH)D levels should be between 50–80 ng/ml (125–200 nmol/L), year-round.
Mate, anyone who lives on the Eastern seaboard of Australia or in Perth and environs, who is not Aboriginal or homeless has a problem if they are Vitamin deficient.
The Great Barrier Reef is awash with the pee of the anxious and indolent gobbling Vitamins they do not need.
gg
Agree with you GG
Most supplements do more HARM than GOOD..
But Vitamin D is different
Both for what it does
and what we have done
with our modern life styles
Motorway
So what symptems would a person low in vitamin D show?
As far as dying, remember, everyone who takes Vitamin D will die. It's simply a question of when. What we hope, even expect, is vitamin D will square off the mortality curve. Now, people start dying from the diseases of civilization in their forties, struck down by heart disease, cancer, etc. Premature deaths accelerates in the 50s and are in full swing by the 60s.
That is, the mortality curve slops downward, beginning in the late 40s, people succumbing to the diseases of civilization. Perhaps vitamin D will allow people to live normal lives until they reach their 90s–100s, when we will all suddenly drop dead of old age!
in the very large population-based NHANES analysis, bone density increased with higher 25(OH)D levels far beyond 50 nmol/l in younger and older adults suggesting that the IOM threshold recommendation is too low for optimal bone health in adults[4]. In contrast to the IOM report, the IOF recommended in their 2010 position paper on vitamin D a threshold of 75 nmol/l for optimal fall and fracture reduction
Calcitriol Made in KidneysThe first pathway leads to the kidney, where calcidiol is turned into calcitriol. Calcitriol is a potent steroid hormone, in fact, it is the most potent steroid hormone in the human body. A steroid hormone is simply any molecule in the body that is made from cholesterol and that acts to turn your genes on and off. They are always important to health, always need to be handled with care, and are often quite potent.
Calcitriol made by the kidney circulates in the blood to maintain your blood calcium levels. Calcium is vital to the function of the cells in the body, without enough calcitriol in the blood calcium levels will fall and illness will set in.
Therefore, the first priority for calcidiol is to go to the kidney where it makes enough calcitriol to secrete into the blood in order to regulate serum calcium.
The second vitamin D pathway leads to your tissues and that is where all the action is. All of the amazing health benefits of vitamin D discovered in the last 10 years are from vitamin D going down the second pathway. If any calcidiol is left over””that is, if your tank is full and your kidneys are getting all the calcidiol they need to maintain serum calcium””then calcidiol is able to take another pathway, one that leads directly to the cells.
This path is only now being fully understood and is causing excitement all around the world, especially concerning cancer. These are the autocrine (inside cell) and paracrine (around the cell) functions of the vitamin D system.These functions are crucial to understanding why you should keep your vitamin D tank full.
If you only have a small amount of calcidiol in your blood, virtually all of it goes to your kidney, which then makes extra calcitriol to keep your serum calcium levels from falling. Almost no calcidiol gets to your tissues to make tissue calcitriol.
But when your tank is full, the left over calcidiol goes to the many cells in the body that are able to make their own calcitriol to fight cancer””and they do so with gusto! In fact, they appear to make as much calcitriol as they can. The more calcidiol they get, the more calcitriol they make.
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