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Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

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Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#101

Post by vharuck »

dboreham wrote: post #40

Wouldn't we know this already if populations in sunny areas had less cancer (controlled for genetics)?

It'd be hard to control for everything relevant. Diet would be indirectly affected by sunlight (sunny areas would naturally have different crops). Amount of exercise, too. Genetics play a large role in some cancers, but behaviors and choices are strongly linked to many common cancers like lung or colorectal. Breast cancer has been linked to a woman's history of pregnancy (higher risk for those who were pregnant when very young or never had been pregnant past middle age).

mini-rant

Even if we could design an experiment to know how much sunlight affects cancer mortality, it might not be worth the time and money. We already know ways to reduce cancer incidence in a population: less tobacco, less alcohol, less obesity, more exercise, sunscreen if you have light skin. We could further reduce cancer mortality by getting people to follow screening guidelines.

We've reached a point where public policy and outreach are the most valuable efforts to preventing cancer incidence and mortality. Quitting bad habits is hard. Going to the doctor for screening can be scary, expensive, or logistically difficult.

/mini-rant

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#102

Post by moffkalast »

oppositelock wrote: post #39
jghn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Over months, I tracked my blood vitamin D levels OOC what did you use to do this?

Monthly blood tests prescribed by a doctor at a local bloodwork lab.

Where is that mythical theranos machine when you need one, smh.

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#103

Post by dcow »

lynx23 wrote: post #85

It took me a long time, and virtually no help from outside, to discover that vitamin D effectively cures my winter depression. I was never really feeling good around that time of the year, but it wasn't problematic enough to actually do something about it. But when my gut started to revolt around that time too, I started to feel distinctly unwell. So I went to my doctor, who gave me an approintment with a nutrition s…

This (among other things) makes me wonder why we don't have better metrics and monitoring solutions for the human body. Your option is anecdotal self-diagnosis, or a full blood panel after seeing a doctor and convincing them that you need to be tested. It seems there's room for a product that monitors your health and sends you notifications when you need to address any metrics that are falling out of normal tolerances. Or at least something that helps you keep on top of preventative health visits. Holmes showed it can't really be invasive technology. I wonder if some sort of embedded blood monitoring device is feasible.

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#104

Post by nicenewtemp84 »

lynx23 wrote: post #97
BeetleB wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why I type this here? I found it interesting that I had to discover this cure on my own. The medical system wuldn't have figured that out on their own, let alone accept that it was the single solution. It's because studies showing correlation between Vitamin D level and winter depression/SAD are mixed. I'm not saying it's a placebo. If it works for some people - great! But you can't expect doctors to recommend it w…

I am a high risk cancer patient who is blind, i.e. doesn't necessarily get a lot of sun exposure due to disability + occupation. Given the discussion in this thread regarding correlation with lattitude and cancer risk, me being around 47 deg, and my personal history, I would have expected a caring medical system to suggest vitamin D to me roughly 30 years ago already. But alas, it turns out you have to do your own st…

People are so indoctrinated they for some reason actually think most doctors want to help them. I assume they also trust their dealerships service advisor.

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#105

Post by mattchew »

Our family started taking Vitamin D at the start of the pandemic. We've all gotten sick a lot less than we used to, despite one of us working at a drugstore constantly exposed to sick people.

Of course I don't know for sure that the Vitamin D is causal here, but it's my best guess. I suspect a lot of people are D deficient and just don't know it.

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#106

Post by nicenewtemp84 »

oppositelock wrote: post #92
_trackno5 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because you get plenty of sunlight where you live it doesn’t mean you get enough exposure to produce vitamin D. You need to expose large areas of your body like legs, arms, and torso for several minutes to an hour. If those areas are covered, sunlight won’t do much. The Sigma Nutrition podcast has an excellent episode on that: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode438/

Nah, for me, that wasn't sufficient. I get at least 10 hours a week of full sun on my whole arms and legs and sometimes my torso if I decide to bike shirtless; more sun than most people, and still, I was vitamin D deficient.

Did you wear sunscreen? I'm pretty sure it blocks vitamin d creation, which really makes me wonder how any of my GFs Ive had ever got any since they wear it religiously in hopes of keeping youthful skin.

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#107

Post by tpoacher »

The article seems to imply that lots of p-hacking took place before they found a "positive" result worth reporting. Not sure how to feel about that.

Also, why on earth would one talk about mortality "from cancer" and not mention overall mortality from all causes? This is classic "smoking cures most diseases of old age" statistical thinking...

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#108

Post by moffkalast »

lynx23 wrote: post #85

It took me a long time, and virtually no help from outside, to discover that vitamin D effectively cures my winter depression. I was never really feeling good around that time of the year, but it wasn't problematic enough to actually do something about it. But when my gut started to revolt around that time too, I started to feel distinctly unwell. So I went to my doctor, who gave me an approintment with a nutrition s…

Just wondering, have you had any tests done regarding arterial plaque since? Supposedly one also needs a vitamin K supplement along with D to avoid that.

Re: Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

#110

Post by dcow »

vharuck wrote: post #84
alejohausner wrote: post #54

The global distribution of many types of cancer is strongly related to latitude. The farther you are from the equator, the higher the rate of disease. The more sun you get, the less cancer. It's hard not to infer that sun exposure and thus synthesis of vitamin D helps prevent many cancers. We've been urged to avoid sun exposure because it can cause skin cancer. But those cancers are squamous and basal cell carcinomas…

>Melanoma, the truly deadly skin cancer, is more prevalent in populations with less sun exposure. It's vastly more prevalent in white people versus other skin colors. Even at the same latitude. Even in the same country. The incidence rate of malignant melanoma in the US is about 30 times higher for Whites than Blacks. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/melan.html If somebody is White, getting more sun won't preve…

Neither of you are advocating for getting sun burn. That's bad. I think what GP is saying is that the overcorrection in worrying about skin cancer where people act like they're straight up allergic to the sun and avoid it, is actually harmful. I've seen this attitude in white people so I know what GP is referring to.
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