posted May 21, 2009 06:27 AM         

Suncreen: Does It Lower Cancer Risk?

What is it that you wear everytime you are going out and exposure to the sun is inevitable? Do you always apply sunscreen before you go outdoors? If you do, then you maybe endagering your skin!

Contrary to popular belief, exposing your skin to then sun can prevent several types of cancer from developing.... including skin cancer.

The health recommendation you probably heard of is probably to stay away from the sun as much as possible, but did you know that this recommendation has led to an increase of cancer deaths by more than 50,000 per year in US alone. These 50,000 deaths are caused by to a deficiency of vitamin D.

What health experts fail to inform the public is that vitamin D helps prevent cancer from developing. And what is the best and most natural way to get vitamin D? You guessed it, sunshine! Maintaining the optimal level of vitamin D is one of the most critical things you can do to prevent and treat not only skin, but all other cancer because vitamin D keep cell growth and activity in balance.

What Is Causing Skin Cancer?
A Simple Overview
People have to understand this. Diet is the most important part of our health. The fact is, if your body has optimal levels of vitamins, minerals etc, your body practically cannot get sick. The food you eat, plays a far more important role in the development of cancer than sun exposure. Please note also, that your skin absorb basically anything you put on it. Did you know that when you bath, your skin absorb more than the 8 cups of water you are required to drink?

Now, as you would have guessed, the food you consumed is the number 1 reason for the cause of skin cancer or any type of cancer for that matter. The most important balance you need to maintain for cancer prevention is the omega 6:3 ratio. Our diet contains far too much omega 6 while too little omega 3, causing an imbalance and thus causing cancer.

So where does omega 6 and 3 come from? Virtually any vegetable oil, corn, sunflower, safflower etc contains close to 100% omega 6 fats. And due to the saturated fats scare, people often opted for vegetable oil instead of other alternatives like coconut oil. This over consumption of omega 6 distorts the ratio required to maintain a healthy body.

It is therefore important to increase your intake of omega 3, mainly from fish or
Cod Liver Oil, and decrease consumption of omega 6. An Austrlian study has shown that there is 40% reduction in the development of melanoma for those who are eating fish. And that's without any attention to lowering omega 6.

However, I am *NOT* suggesting that you eat more omega 3, eat less omega 6 and run out in the sun naked for the whole day. You must exercise caution. Avoiding getting burnt is very important. Gradually increase sun exposure. Do not use sunscreen, use an umbrella, or a hat when prolong exposure is necessary. If all this is not possible, THEN I would suggest you use sunscreen to prevent a sunburn. Minimize your use of sunscreen.

The Relationship Between Sunscreen And Skin Cancer
Is sunblock the asnwer?

Most of think applying sunscreen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is the answer to skin cancer prevention. Nothing can be further from the truth. Two British Studies here and here have shown that sunscreens do not protect against melanoma.

In fact some ingredients present in sunscreen can be hazardous to your health! For example, Octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), which is an ingredient in most sunscreen brand, has been found to kill mouse cells at low doses. To make things worse, OMC becomes more toxic when exposed to sunlight. If they were to penetrate the layer of dead skin cell and come into contact with the living cell tissue, it can potentially increase your chances of developing skin cancer.

The Sunday Times in London interviewed a biophysicist from Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority named Terje Christensen and she said "her research showed that sunscreens should be treated with caution, and used only when it was impractical to stay indoors or to shield the skin from the sun with clothes".

Even If You Believe Using Sunscreen Can Protect You
Ok, let's assume you are right that sunscreen DO protect you from skin cancer. Where do you apply it?

What sunscreen does is absorb or reflect UV rays at the skin's surface and prevents direct damage. This is good IF it works.

The fact is most of us apply our sunscreen on our skin, which according to the Journal PhotoChemistry and Photobiology in UK, render sunscreen practically useless. This is because by applying the sunscreen on the skin, its UV protection reduces to near 0. Instead, the sunscreen sinks into sweat glands and skin lines. Worse still, people often stay exposed to sun longer because they THOUGHT they have sunscreen on.

Can you imagine what can happen when it reaches your body? Sunscreen contains cancer-causing chemicals like carcinogenic fragrance chemicals.

Newswise Science News reported, " Newswise - Recent studies by UAB physics professor Thomas Nordlund, Ph.D., suggest that energy transfer by some sunscreen ingredients could actually be harming healthy cells. "Ultraviolet light has a lot of energy, and if that energy does not dissipate quickly as it is absorbed by sunscreen, the energy can enter into healthy cells and do harm. We looked at whether the energy absorbed by sunscreen ingredients as they absorb ultraviolet light can be transferred into DNA in skins' cells or is turned into harmless heat." Researchers found that with one common sunscreen ingredient the potentially harmful energy created by the ultraviolet light could be transmitted into DNA, where it might do damage."

posted May 21, 2009 06:28 AM         

The scientific evidence, however, shows quite clearly that sunscreen actually promotes cancer by blocking the body's absorption of ultraviolet radiation, which produces vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D, as recent studies have shown, prevents up to 77 of ALL cancers in women (breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, brain tumors, multiple myeloma... you name it). Meanwhile, the toxic chemical ingredients used in most sunscreen products are actually carcinogenic and have never been safety tested or safety approved by the FDA. They get absorbed right through the skin (a porous organ that absorbs most substances it comes into contact with) and enter the bloodstream.

The benefits of sunscreen are a myth. Proponents say sunscreen prevents sunburn, but in fact, the real cause of sunburn is not merely UV exposure: It is a lack of antioxidant nutrition. Start eating lots of berries and microalgae (spirulina, astaxanthin, blue-green algae, etc.), and you'll build up an internal sunscreen that will protect your skin from sunburn from the inside out. Sunburn is actually caused by nutritional deficiencies that leave the skin vulnerable to DNA mutations from radiation, but if you boost your nutrition and protect your nervous system with plant-based nutrients, you'll be naturally resistant to sunburn. The same nutrients, by the way, also protect the optic nerve and eyes from radiation damage. That's why the consumption of berries and carrots, for example, has historically been associated with healthy eye function. (The same nutrients that protect the eyes also protect the skin.)

Medical nonsense
If sunscreen is so bad for humans, you might ask, then why do so many doctors recommend using it? This might be hard for you to believe, but it wasn't too long ago that doctors routinely recommended smoking cigarettes, too. The Journal of the American Medical Association, in fact, ran numerous ads promoting Camels as "recommended by more doctors than any other cigarette!" Doctors talked up the "benefits" of smoking cigarettes, urging people to start smoking in order to improve brain function or even -- get this -- make their teeth stronger!

The truth is doctors are easily influenced by commercial interests and can be readily convinced to recommend practically any product, no matter how toxic, unhealthy or deadly to consumers. Just look at how many doctors wrote prescriptions for Vioxx, for example, after being visited by a Vioxx drug rep pushing it as a "miracle drug" for joint pain.

Also keep in mind that doctor-prescribed medications are the fourth leading cause of death in America today. About 100,000 Americans die each year from following the advice of their doctor. Does it really make any sense to get your health advice from a group of professionals who kill more Americans each year than all the terrorists have ever killed in the history of this country? Besides, doctors know that if they start recommending sunlight and vitamin D, they'll lose patients and profits because people will start getting well and have no need to keep visiting the doctor. Vitamin D, as you will learn in our free report, The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D, prevents not only cancer, but also diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, heart disease and obesity. It's the miracle nutrient of the millennium, and yet the entire medical profession tries desperately to pretend that vitamin D has no biological function whatsoever. Hence the support of sunscreen (the anti-vitamin D product).

Sunscreen directly promotes vitamin D deficiency. You show me a person who regularly uses sunscreen, and I'll show you a person who's on the road towards cancer and other degenerative diseases. People who use sunscreen are killing themselves and they don't even know it!

The sunscreen marketing con
The marketing of sunscreen is another great example of consumer product companies fabricating a need in order to sell a high-profit product made mostly with toxic chemicals. There is no need for sunscreen, but the cancer industry and sunscreen manufacturers have created a fictitious need through a campaign of fear and disinformation, hypnotizing practically the entire population into believing one of the most ridiculous ideas in the universe: that sunlight is bad for human health.

Think about it. Our ancestors did not have indoor lighting; they exposed their skin to the sun regularly. They didn't run and hide from the sun, they used it as nourishment to generate a crucial vitamin that supports human health in a multitude of ways. The idea that "the sun is bad for you" makes about as much sense as "water is bad for you" or "the Earth is flat." This persistent myth was invented, marketed and publicized by an industry that profits from a gullible public believing demonstrable falsehoods.

But why would the cancer industry go along with the deception, you might ask? Because the continued commercial success of the cancer industry depends on more people getting cancer. In previous articles, I've clearly shown that the cancer industry has no interest whatsoever in preventing cancer. The industry, in fact, takes steps to interfere with prevention efforts and thereby ensure the growth in the number of future cancer patients.

The American Cancer Society, for example, still will not recommend that anyone take vitamin D supplements, even though the vitamin can prevent nearly 4 out of 5 cancers. The cancer industry simply has no interest in preventing cancer. It is only interested in treating cancer and profiting from those treatments. (That's why genuine cancer cures have been routinely suppressed, censored or discredited in the United States.) Read my book, Natural Health Solutions and the Conspiracy to Keep You From Knowing About Them, to learn the shocking truth about how the cancer industry really operates in America today.

The promotion of sunscreen products is a way for the cancer industry to ensure future profits from the treatment of cancer. The more people use sunscreen products, the more they'll get cancer. And that's due to two primary reasons: 1) Sunscreen blocks vitamin D production, a nutrient that strongly prevents cancer, and 2) Sunscreen products almost always contain cancer-causing chemicals that are absorbed through the skin and enter the bloodstream where they cause severe DNA damage, leading to cancer.

Seven important questions about sunscreen
The next time you see some public service advertisement urging you to smother yourself and your children with sunscreen chemicals, think hard before taking action. Ask yourself these seven commonsense questions:

1) Is the sun really dangerous to humans? If so, how did humans survive for the last 350,000 years on planet Earth?

2) Have the chemicals used in sunscreen products ever been safety tested or approved by the FDA? (The answer is no.)

3) Who financially benefits when you keep buying and using sunscreen products?

4) What is the environmental impact of sunscreen chemicals washing off into the ocean, a lake, a swimming pool or being washed down the drain in your shower?

5) Sunscreen manufacturers say the skin doesn't absorb their chemicals. If that's true, then how do nicotine patches work? How do trans dermal drugs get absorbed through the skin if sunscreen chemicals don't? (Answer: ALL these chemicals get absorbed through the skin. The skin is not selective about what it chooses to absorb.)

6) If the sun is so dangerous, then why is the vitamin generated by sunlight (vitamin D) so healthy for humans? Why would humans evolve a mechanism for generating a vitamin from sunlight if we weren't supposed to be exposed to sunlight in the first place?

7) If sunlight is so dangerous, then why is virtually every living creature on planet Earth dependent on sunlight for survival? Plants use sunlight to generate their nutrition, too, and most animals eat either plants or other animals that originally ate plants. Nearly all life on planet Earth is powered by sunlight. Why does the cancer industry believe sunlight causes death when, in reality, sunlight delivers life?

posted May 24, 2009 07:56 PM         

Fight Cancer with Vitamin D

You’ve probably heard all of your life that vitamin D builds strong bones. That’s certainly true, but recent research shows that vitamin D has an even bigger role in many aspects of our health. One role that many people and even doctors are just now becoming aware of is the impact the “sunshine vitamin” has on lowering our risk of developing cancer.

As a powerful regulator of cell reproduction, vitamin D-3, the most effective form of vitamin D, plays a major part in preventing cancers and controlling the growth and spread of existing cancers.

In the 1970s and ’80s, the medical establishment, led by dermatologists, sounded an alarm over the rising number of deadly malignant melanomas in the United States, but when doctors convinced people to protect themselves from the sun, cases of melanoma actually rose in significant numbers. Medical experts blamed the increase on the fact that people were spending more time in the sun because they felt that sunblock creams protected them. Only later did research reveal that the sun’s UVA rays, which most sunblocks did not affect, were just as carcinogenic as UVB rays.

Although this is important, they still may be missing the boat. When sun strikes our skin, the penetrating UVB rays trigger biochemical reactions in the deeper cells that generate huge amounts of vitamin D. As little as 30 minutes in the sun can generate up to 50,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D.

We now know that vitamin D is a powerful inhibitor of cancer development and growth. So by making people vitamin D deficient with their medical wisdom to avoid sun exposure, they inadvertently increased people’s risk of developing all forms of skin cancer, including the deadly malignant melanoma.

Although vitamin D is known to inhibit some of the worst cancers, such as breast and colon, the most dramatic effect on cancers is with the deadly glioblastoma multiforme, the most common primary brain tumor and the form that has stricken Ted Kennedy.

The mortality is around 90 percent, and most die within one to two years of diagnosis despite aggressive conventional treatment.

posted May 24, 2009 10:00 PM         

a related question is the vitamin D in milk helpful or too synthetic?

posted May 24, 2009 11:03 PM         

Here's an article from Dr Russell Blaylock. Dosage Answer: take about 2,000iu per day. I have a D-3 supplement that is exactly that dosage. As I have psoriasis (an inflammatory, auto-immune malfunction) I'm going to try the 4,000iu level. I give a tab daily to my 13yo too.....

Vitamin D’s Hidden Role in Your Health

You probably already know that vitamin D builds strong,
healthy bones. But that’s only part of the story — and a small part
at that. In fact, vitamin D is essential for all-around good health.
Without it, cells could not perform their functions and the brain
would not fully develop.

Despite its many benefits, vitamin D has had a hard time making
its way into our bodies in the past.

In the 1970s and ’80s, the medical establishment, led by
dermatologists, sounded an alarm over the rising number of
malignant melanomas in the United States.

Malignant melanoma is one of the few skin tumors that can
actually kill. Since doctors believed that most skin cancers were
the result of too much exposure to UVB rays from the sun, they
launched a campaign to convince people to protect their skin from
the sun’s rays. This included the use of broad-brimmed hats, long
sleeves, and the liberal use of sun blockers. Unfortunately, instead
of correcting the problem, they only made it worse.

Cases of melanoma actually rose in significant numbers. Medical
experts blamed the increase on the fact that people were spending
more time in the sun because they felt protected by sun-blocking
creams.

Only later did new research reveal that the sun’s UVA rays,
which were not blocked by most sun blocks, were just as
carcinogenic as UVB rays.

Sun Exposure and Vitamin D

While this is important, they may still be missing the boat. When
sun strikes our skin, the penetrating UVB rays trigger biochemical
reactions in the deeper cells that generate huge amounts of
vitamin D.

As little as 30 minutes in the sun can generate up to 50,000
international units (IU) of vitamin D. We now know that vitamin
D is a powerful inhibitor of cancer development and growth.

So by making people vitamin D deficient with their medical
wisdom to avoid sun exposure, they inadvertently increased
people’s risk of developing all forms of skin cancer, including the
deadly malignant melanoma.

Vitamin D plays a role in reducing major
medical problems including heart disease, cancer,
and osteoporosis.

Medical experts have long known that vitamin
D is essential for promoting calcium absorption in
the intestinal tract and helping the body build and
protect bones.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is found
naturally in large quantities in few foods, other
than fish.

Nicknamed “the sunshine vitamin,” the major
source is rays from the sun, which the body uses
to make vitamin D. But getting enough sunshine
to produce our own vitamin D has been strongly
discouraged, and, as a result, the average person’s
level of vitamin D has plummeted.

There are a number of safe ways to use the sun
to make vitamin D, without increasing your risk
of skin cancer and skin aging, which I will outline.

But first, I will share with you some of the new
things we have learned about vitamin D — some
that will surprise you.

What Is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a very complex substance. For
over half a century vitamin D was thought only to
mineralize bones. But studies indicate that it does
much more:
• Regulates calcium in all cells (especially brain
cells)
• Protects the immune system
• Regulates cell growth and cell death
• Provides antioxidant and antiviral benefits

Since foods contain very little vitamin D, the
body’s major source is from that manufactured in
the deeper layers of the skin. The UVB wavelength
from sunlight activates 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-
DHC), transforming it into a precursor form of
vitamin D-3.

It then changes to active vitamin D-3 and enters
the blood stream where it is distributed all over
the body.

Vitamin D from foods is metabolized in the liver
and the kidneys to form the active vitamin D-3.
Many forms of commercial vitamin D
supplements are not the active form. So, when
you buy vitamin D supplements make sure it is
vitamin D-3.

Vitamin D-3’s Impact on the Brain

One of the most exciting findings is that
vitamin D-3 is a neurohormone, and like other
neurohormones in the brain, it plays a number of
roles in brain function.

Recent research has shown that all cells in the
brain have receptors for vitamin D-3, both in the
nucleus and on their membranes.

A number of recent studies have found that
these vitamin D-3 receptors play a major role in
brain development, both while the baby is in the
uterus and after it is born.

Low vitamin D intake or low exposure to
the sun by moms-to-be can result in behavioral
problems when the child is older. With acute
vitamin D-3 deficiencies, the brain’s growth can
suffer severe abnormal development, because this
critical vitamin controls how the brain develops.

Food, even fortified milk, is a poor source
of vitamin D-3. This leaves sun exposure and
vitamin D-3 supplements as the two most
important sources.

In the past, mothers made their children
take cod liver oil, a concoction that contained
substantial amounts of vitamin D.

As medical practice became oriented more
towards pharmaceuticals, this ritual seemed
archaic.

Modern medicine has a bad habit of promoting
the abandonment of healthful folk treatments —
such as B-12 shots for the elderly and cod liver oil.
Vitamin D-3 plays a major role in a number
of mechanisms that protect the brain, such as
increasing neuron glutathione level. It is also a
powerful antioxidant.

In addition, it also reduces harmful levels of
nitric oxide, which can form a brain-destroying
free radical called peroxynitrite.

This radical is found in high concentrations
in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease
as well as a number of other neurodegenerative
diseases of aging.

Vitamin D-3 and Autism

Vitamin D-3’s role in the development of the
brain begins when the human brain undergoes its
most rapid and complex formation between the
last trimester of pregnancy and the first two years
of life. In studies of the development of rat brains,
which are very similar to humans in terms of
vitamin D-3, vitamin D-3 deficiencies have their
most devastating effects during the last trimester
of pregnancy.

Studies on rats showed that feeding pregnant
rats a diet deficient
in vitamin D-3 led to
behavioral problems when
the offspring grew up. This
was mainly manifested as
high excitability, something
we see in ADHD and
autism. Vitamin D-3
deficiency in pregnant
animals has also been
shown to negatively impact
the brain in the offspring:
• Shrinking of the brain
was observed
• Abnormal levels of
brain growth factors
occurred
• Formation of abnormal
neurons occurred

One effect of vitamin D-3 deficiency during
pregnancy is the appearance of an excess number
of brain cells, which is characteristic of autistic
brains.

Further connections to autism include a state of
hypersensitivity that causes the brains of babies
whose mothers are deficient in vitamin D-3 to be
oversensitive to the harmful effects of multiple
vaccinations and infections.

According to today’s vaccine recommendations,
children receive some 36 vaccines by the age of
2, a period when the brain is most sensitive to
such injury. A vitamin D-3 deficiency makes their
brains even more susceptible to damage.

The brain’s immune cell is called the microglia
and it contains a number of vitamin D-3
receptors. Newer studies indicate that these
receptors play an important role in reducing the
damaging reactions triggered by vaccines as well
as other toxins such as mercury.

Vitamin D-3 has been shown to significantly
soothe activated, angry microglial cells, thus
calming the brain’s hypersensitivity.

Recent studies have found widespread,
prolonged microglial activation in the brains of
autistic individuals lasting from age 3 to 45 years.
This means that their brains are inflamed for very
long periods, even decades. Vaccines can produce
this reaction, especially in the face of vitamin D-3
deficiency.

It would be interesting
to know the incidence of
vitamin D-3 deficiencies
during pregnancy in mothers
of autistic children.

One study found that
vaccination impaired the
functioning of vitamin D-3.

Interestingly, autism is
more common in blacks
than whites.
Dark-skinned people are
especially prone to vitamin
D-3 deficiency because they
cannot absorb as much
sunlight.

In essence, it may be
that a maternal vitamin
D-3 deficiency sets the stage for autism. When
combined with the right genetic propensity (which
is linked to a high risk of autoimmune disorders),
activating an immune reaction in the brain may
trigger the effects on brain development associated
with autism.

A number of factors can trigger
immunoexcitotoxicity in the brain:
• Ethylmercury (in vaccines as thimerosal)
• Aluminum, repeated vaccinations (especially
closely spaced)
• Recurrent infections
All have been associated with autism.

Protecting the Aging Brain

As we age, our brains become more inflamed.
With neurodegenerative diseases, such as
Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, we
see much higher levels of brain inflammation.

This reaction in the aging brain can lead to
a loss of vital brain cells in the memory and
cognitive parts of the brain (hippocampus and
prefrontal lobes).

It has been shown that vitamin D-3 deficiency
is very common in the elderly. This makes sense
because so many are house-bound and avoid sun
exposure.
Many also have GI problems that interfere with
vitamin D absorption. While the average diet is a
poor source of vitamin D, the diets of many senior
citizens are even worse.

Studies have shown that vitamin D-3 can
protect the normal aging brain from neuron loss,
especially in the memory areas of the brain, the
hippocampus. This means that a higher intake of vitamin D-3
can protect your memory.

Vitamin D-3 and Alzheimer’s Disease

A compelling number of studies have shown
that Alzheimer’s disease is another brain
inflammatory disorder, characterized by the
following:
• Intense inflammation,
• Microglial activation
• Free-radical generation

A number of conditions cause this inflammation,
many of which are present in all cases.
• Elevated brain mercury levels
• Elevated brain aluminum levels
• Chronic viral infections
• Head injury
• Repeated small strokes
• Exposure to certain pesticides and herbicides

All of these things trigger immunoexcitotoxicity,
which is made much worse if a person is deficient
in vitamin D-3. This may be another reason why Alzheimer’s
dementia increases the older we get, from 3
percent to 5 percent at age 70, to 43 percent over
age 80.

Vitamin D-3 and Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is another neurodegenerative
disease of aging that is strongly related to chronic
brain inflammation, but different parts of the
brain are involved than in Alzheimer’s disease.
The primary sites of the inflammatory damage
are the substantia nigra, a part of the brain
perched high on the brain stem, and the locus
coeruleus, a brain nucleus located lower on the
brain stem.
Page 4 The Blaylock Wellness Report September 2008
In previous newsletters I pointed out the strong
connection between Parkinson’s and exposure to
commonly used pesticides and herbicides.
I also noted that vaccinations can dramatically
increase one’s sensitivity to these brain poisons,
making even very small exposures very toxic.
Remember this when your doctor pressures you
to get a flu shot!

New studies have also shown that deficiencies in
vitamin D-3 can cause poisons, such as pesticides
and herbicides, to have the same sensitizing effect.

In one study, scientists found that dogs exposed
to a drug that damages certain sensitive brain cells
developed symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. But
when they were given high doses of vitamin D-3
for eight days, their symptoms improved.

A Japanese study found that giving vitamin D-3
before exposure to toxins protected the neurons
from damage.

This means that your best protection against
developing neurodegenerative diseases is to
take vitamin D-3 in higher doses than the
recommended daily allowance (RDA) every day to
attain maximum protection. Don’t forget vitamin
D-3’s many benefits:
• Cools down the activation of microglia
• Blocks excitotoxicity
• Reduces brain immune reactions
(immunoexcitotoxicity)

Vitamin D-3 and Depression

People’s moods change with seasons. They are
more often depressed and anxious during the
winter months and less so during the summer.
Extreme degrees of this are called seasonal
affective disorder (SAD). SAD is associated with
the following conditions:
• Carbohydrate cravings
• Daytime sleepiness
• Lack of energy
• Severe depression

Researchers have linked the variations in mood
to seasonal exposure to sunlight, which links a
lack of vitamin D-3, to this disorder.

Newer research has disclosed several possible
explanations for this association. We know
that high stress levels can cause blood levels of
corticosteroid, the stress hormone, to increase.
Over time, corticosteroid can damage brain cells
in the limbic system associated with memory and
mood.

Corticosteroids increase excitotoxic damage to
these neurons, but one study found that vitamin
D-3 can reduce the damage, especially in the
hippocampus.

The limbic system, which regulates mood as
well as memory, also contains a high density of
vitamin D-3 receptors, which are especially dense
in the hippocampus.

Another nuclei within this limbic system called
the amygdala, also contains a dense concentration
of vitamin D-3 receptors.

As I pointed out in the newsletter on depression
and anxiety, “Overcome Depression and Its
Deadly Effects” (March 2008), the new theory
of these mood disorders is based on the idea that
the brain accumulates too much limbic glutamate,
and glutamate, in combination with immune
overactivity (immunoexcitotoxicity), triggers
depression and anxiety.

Vitamin D-3 and Cancer Risk

As a powerful regulator of cell reproduction,
vitamin D-3 plays a major role in preventing
cancers and controlling the growth and spread of
existing cancers.

I mentioned the malignant melanoma and its
relation to sunlight exposure.

Higher doses of vitamin D-3 have been shown
to slow cancer growth by inhibiting cancer
cell reproduction. It also makes the immature
(undifferentiated) cells become more mature
(differentiated), which has always been the dream
treatment of cancer specialists.

It does this by regulating a number of complex
cell signaling processes.

Studies have shown that vitamin D-3 can make
melanoma cells more like normal cells and reduce
their growth. Likewise, studies in patients with
melanomas have shown that high doses of vitamin
D-3 strongly inhibit the spread of the melanoma,
which is what kills.

People inheriting deficiencies in vitamin D-3
receptors (which makes vitamin D-3 work in the
body) have a much higher incidence of malignant
melanomas upon exposure to sunlight.
Vitamin D-3 is also known to inhibit the
development of some of the worst cancers:
• Breast
• Colon
• Prostate

Yet, the most dramatic effect on cancers is with
the deadly glioblastoma multiforma, the most
common primary brain tumor and the form that
has stricken Ted Kennedy.

The mortality is around 90 percent and most
die within one to two years of diagnosis despite
aggressive conventional treatment.

Studies of animals with glioma-type tumors
(similar to the glioblastoma) have shown that high
doses of vitamin D-3 cause the cancerous glioma
cells to commit suicide (called apoptosis). One of
the most encouraging studies used actual patients
with glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer.

In a Phase II trial, researchers found that high
dose vitamin D-3 produced a dramatic regression
of the tumor and complete clinical remission in
27 percent of cases that lasted as long as four to
seven years, far beyond the expected survival with
conventional aggressive treatments.

One of the key triggers for cancers is the
generation of free radicals. This trigger is
secondary to chronic inflammation. Iron
accumulation plays a major role in cancer
development and its growth and spread. Vitamin
D-3 has been shown to be a powerful antioxidant
and to dramatically reduce iron-induced free radical
generation.

Another way vitamin D-3 fights cancer is by
inhibiting immunoexcitotoxicity.

We know that activation of glutamate receptors
on cancer cells causes the cancer to grow faster
and spread more rapidly. Glioblastomas that
secrete glutamate grow 15 times faster than those
that don’t. (As a side note, most processed foods
contain high levels of glutamate additives.)

Vitamin D-3 and Autoimmune Diseases

There are over 80 known autoimmune diseases
that affect people, mostly women. There is
growing evidence that the incidence of these
disorders has increased dramatically over the past
30 years, most likely because of the great number
of vaccines being given. The tetanus, HepB, MMR
and DPT vaccine have been the worst offenders,
but newer vaccines may be worse. Over 150
vaccines are now being proposed for people
during their lifetime!

I will consider a select few of the autoimmune
diseases to discuss, including multiple sclerosis
(MS), irritable bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid
arthritis and insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM),
but the information is pertinent to a great number
of additional autoimmune disorders.

A link to low vitamin D-3 levels has been found
in all four of these diseases.

One of the clues was that all of these disorders
are more common in the higher latitudes, which
include Canada, northern United States, and
northern Europe, and they get worse during
winter and spring. Why spring?
Because there is a two-month lag before the
effect of rising vitamin D-3 levels takes hold.
It is also known that people who inherit a
deficiency in the vitamin D-3 receptors on their
cells have a higher incidence of autoimmune
diseases of all types.

Recently, researchers found that a definite
correlation exists between sunlight exposure and
the worsening of MS symptoms: Symptoms were
worse during the winter and spring.

Further research found that the incidence of
MS itself was much lower with greater overall
exposure to sunlight.

In one of the largest studies of its kind involving
187,000 people who were followed from 10 to 20
years, researchers found a 40 percent reduction
in MS in those with the highest blood levels of
vitamin D-3.

Most of the vitamin D-3 came from vitamin D
supplements. Another study of 29,000 women
found a strong correlation between vitamin
D-3 blood levels and a reduced incidence of
rheumatoid arthritis. We also know that vitamin
D-3 deficiency is common in Crohn’s disease and
insulin-dependent diabetes.

Daily doses of cod liver oil containing 5,000 IU
of vitamin D were shown to reduce MS symptoms
by an incredible 2.4 to 2.7-fold. Not surprisingly,
MS is another neurological disorder triggered by
immunoexcitotoxicity.

Experimental studies using mice with these same
human diseases as models also show a dramatic
improvement when treated with vitamin D.

For example, in the mouse model of MS,
vitamin D-3 will prevent the disorder if given
before the disease develops and will halt the
disease in its tracks if it has already started.
Making the animals deficient in vitamin D-3 will
dramatically increase the incidence and severity of
autoimmune diseases.

One of the interesting effects of vitamin D-3
is that it switches the immune system from an
inflammatory state that’s associated with most
autoimmune diseases, to a condition that inhibits
inflammation.

Vitamin D-3 and the Flu

A friend sent me a paper that discusses the
work of Dr. R. Edgar Hope-Simpson, the self-educated
epidemiologist who discovered the cause
of shingles. He turned his incredible skills to
observations concerning sunlight exposure and flu
epidemics. What he discovered was that latitudes
determine the flu epidemics, just as we saw with
multiple sclerosis.

The elderly are more severely affected by the flu
because they have lower vitamin D-3 levels and
cannot make as much vitamin D-3 in their skin as
younger people.

He also observed that the Norwegians have less
sun exposure than any other Europeans, yet they
have fewer flu epidemics and a lower mortality as
well.

The reason is that they eat a lot of fish oil,
which is high in vitamin D-3.

The vitamin D-3 link also explains why
black children get pneumonia twice as often as
Caucasian children and why blacks are more
likely to die of respiratory infections and flu
complications.

Blacks make less vitamin D-3 with sun exposure
than Caucasians. In fact, their skin must be
exposed to 10 times the sunlight to make the
same amount of vitamin D-3 as a person with
white skin.

Rather than spending vast amounts of taxpayer
money promoting ineffective and dangerous flu
vaccines, maybe health officials should be handing
out vitamin D-3 supplements, especially to babies,
small children, and the elderly.

What Are Recommended Doses?

Recent reviews by health “experts” have revised
the recommended doses for vitamin D from 400
IU to 2,000 IU a day, a dramatic five-fold increase.
This means that the “experts” have been keeping
people in danger of contracting a number of
serious diseases, many deadly, for over a century
— more bad advice from a government that is
quickly moving to control all of your health
decisions (universal healthcare).

A recent paper by Dr. Cantorna of the
Department of Nutritional Sciences at
Pennsylvania State University and a recognized
authority on vitamin D, recommended that people
of all ages should take 2,000 IU of vitamin D-3 a
day. This dose was given to 10,366 children in a
study and found to be perfectly safe.

The optimal blood levels to prevent bone
fractures is 50 nM (20ng/ml), which can be
attained by taking 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin
D-3 a day.

Lifeguards and people who work outdoors have
blood levels of 100 nM (40 ng/ml). There is no
known vitamin D-3 toxicity with any level of sun
exposure.

A dose of 800 IU a day (twice RDA levels) has
no effect on bone fracture reduction, but 2,000 IU
a day produces a profound reduction. At 4,000
IU a day there is no reported hypercalciuria (a
condition that causes kidney stones), a previous
fear of the “experts.”

Daily doses of 10,000 IU or less have been
shown to produce no complications.

For daily maintenance in otherwise healthy
people, 2,000 IU a day appears to be adequate.
For those with autoimmune diseases, cancer or
viral illnesses, higher doses may be needed —
doses as high as 5,000 IU a day.

So, what about those who want to use the sun?
The paradox is that sun exposure is associated
with aging of the skin and skin cancer, but it also
reduces the incidence of these same disorders. The
problem is that with extensive sun exposure the
skin’s antioxidants are rapidly depleted, leaving
the skin unprotected.

A number of studies have shown that a good
diet that replenishes lost antioxidants can protect
the skin against aging and cancer. The problem
is that most people eat diets that promote
skin aging and cancer, especially diets low in
fruits and vegetables, high in simple, processed
carbohydrates and high in pro-inflammatory
omega-6 oils.

Sun blockers still leave the skin unprotected,
because, at best, they block only 50 percent of the
UVA/UVB rays.

Vitamin D May Prevent
Multiple Sclerosis

Some studies indicate that a higher intake
of vitamin D may prevent MS, the crippler of
young adults. Modern science has concluded
that this terrible disease is the result of the
body’s immune system attacking its own
nervous system. Scientists have found that
people having the highest vitamin D levels had
the lowest incidence of MS.
It is known that vitamin D regulates the
immune system (called immunomodulation)
and tends to cool down the overactive immune
reactions seen in autoimmune diseases such
as multiple sclerosis.
Similar studies have shown low vitamin
D levels in people having other autoimmune
diseases such as immune thyroiditis,
rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s syndrome,
lupus, and Crohn’s disease.
Epidemiologists have noted that diseases
such as MS are more common in northern
latitudes than southern and have hypothesized
a relation to sun exposure. Most of the vitamin
D we require is generated when our skin is
exposed to the sun. With the widespread use
of sunscreens and sun avoidance, vitamin D
deficiency has become more common.
Recommended levels of supplemental
vitamin D have recently been shown to be far
too low at 200 to 400 IU a day. The American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that safety
concerns with vitamin D toxicity are grossly
exaggerated and that the daily dose should be
2,000 IU a day.

Vitamin D-3’s Vital Role in
Controlling Seizures

A recent study of 285 people with epilepsy
found that almost half (44.5 percent) were
clinically deficient in vitamin D, especially the
men. Some anti-seizure medications lower
vitamin D-3 levels and several studies have
shown that supplementing with vitamin D-3 can
reduce the number of seizures and even increase
the effectiveness of anti-seizure medications.
One way vitamin D-3 prevents seizures is
by reducing excessive immune reactions in the
brain, a central cause in all seizures. Studies
of seizure patients have shown that most have
elevated levels of brain inflammatory cytokines.
Medications which are effective in reducing
seizures reduce inflammation and excitotoxicity.
Vitamin D-3 has also been shown to rid the
brain of free radicals, which are also associated
with seizures. This may explain why fish oil
supplements reduce seizures, since most contain
high levels of vitamin D, especially cod liver oil.
The DHA in the fish oil has other benefits as well:
• Reduces brain inflammation
• Reduces excitotoxicity (the process by which
nerve cells are killed by toxic substances)
• Helps repair injured brain cells

What Causes the Brain to Age

posted May 25, 2009 11:45 AM         

"The Truth About Vitamin D Toxicity" --
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml

And "The Worst Science on Vitamin D" --
The Vitamin D Council reviews three studies which, due to their faulty science, we consider to have done a grave disservice to humanity by preventing adequate vitamin D nutrition.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/worst_science.shtml

Following from the NIH (not that we should believe THEM either
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

In March 2007, a group of vitamin D and nutrition researchers published a controversial and provocative editorial contending that the desirable concentration of 25(OH)D is ¡Ý30 ng/mL (¡Ý75 nmol/L) [12]. They noted that supplemental intakes of 400 IU/day of vitamin D increase 25(OH)D concentrations by only 2.8-4.8 ng/mL (7-12 nmol/L) and that daily intakes of approximately 1,700 IU are needed to raise these concentrations from 20 to 32 ng/mL (50 to 80 nmol/L).

posted May 25, 2009 01:22 PM         

it seems confusing to me. because how do you know if your body is processing it properly. one of those articles talks about people who will be "hypersensitive" and some of them are cancer patients, so it is not helpful in treating all cancers?

my mother-in-law has parkinsons. she has spent every summer, of her adult life at least, getting brown as a bran muffin...her skin is one of the healthiest parts of her but i'm sure she has done plenty of white-bread eating, caffeine-drinking and over-cooking her food. her husband doesn't sunbathe nor does he use any kind of lotion, but he eats the same food, is the only drinker left in his family! and smokes (rollups), the only ill effects being a bad knee, so far. as a carrier of the braco gene he recently had a pre-cancerous lump removed from breast tissue but is a very good specimen of healthy 75 year-old.

i find nutrition and health fascinating but am continually brought up sharp by all the contradictions involved. not least is the experience of watching the scientists go from one side of the fence to another and back again as the years go by...it is so hard to know who is right!

my personal instinct has been to stay out of the sun...it's uncomfortable! - not in general, but sunbathing yeuch! - and to stay away from creams and lotions except for natural oils like jojoba and coconut. i have found the DRYNESS of california hard to deal with, especially after being spoiled by the moisture of england. but i find it hard to stick to taking ANYTHING on a daily basis and try to eat as many different foods as possible to keep my system replenished.