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cancer    
How vitamin D helps prevent lung cancer

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Written by: Aurora Geib
   
(NaturalNews) Increasing vitamin D may now be a matter of life or death, as recent studies have shown that it may play a vital role in the fight against lung cancer. To date, lung cancer is one of the three most common cancers that kill men and women in developed countries with a statistic of one million deaths every year.

Researchers from the University of California at San Diego discovered a correlative relationship between higher rates of lung cancer and less exposure to the sun.

Cancer and vitamin D
The study compared data from national and international databases and compared the lung cancer rates in 111 countries. It found a correlation with smoking, lung cancer and significant lower UVB exposure. Although the current study focused only on lung cancer, research conducted on other cancers have pointed to the fact that most cancer cases are seen in subjects living far from the equator, suggesting that lower levels of vitamin D also account for a high risk of colon and other cancers.

Traditionally, vitamin D was thought to be mostly responsible for bone health and was the medical answer to the rickets phenomenon decades ago. More recent findings have shown that the body has cells and tissues which contain vitamin D receptors necessary for its proper functioning, spurring a lot of interest in the potential of what it can do. The fact that it has just been discovered to prevent a spectrum of chronic diseases, cancer included, has stimulated a debate about whether it is the answer to the cancer problem that has plagued the world.