Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : Nutrition -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ian@SI who wrote (137)	1/10/2006 8:31:18 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 577

Part 2. VITAMIN D When epidemiologists Cedric and Frank Garland began mapping the incidence of colon cancer in the United States back in the 1970s, they noted a curious pattern. People in the South were half as likely to die of the disease as those in the Northeast. Could the reason be the sunshine vitamin—D? Since then the research has grown, linking vitamin D with lower risks of not just colon cancer but also breast, prostate and ovarian cancers. That's not all. People with higher levels of D are less likely to suffer autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. They may even have less heart disease and better lung function. "I'm not an alternative- medicine nut who says one nutrient is good for everything," says biochemist Reinhold Vieth at the University of Toronto. "But vitamin D might be." It clearly does far more than aid calcium absorption. Vitamin D helps mobilize and modulate the immune system—which explains its effect on autoimmune diseases. Biochemical studies suggest that it helps keep cells from becoming malignant—and when cells do go bad, it encourages them to self-destruct. Scientists suspect the vitamin has still other functions. "Tissues throughout the body have receptors for vitamin D," says Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University. "Why would they be there if they had no purpose?" Just how much vitamin D we need is a matter of debate. The government recommends 200 to 600 international units a day, but a growing scientific consensus says that's too low. In a paper last month, the Garlands wrote that 1,000 units a day could cut colon cancer in half and reduce the rates of breast and ovarian cancer by 25 percent. Holick has stirred the ire of his fellow dermatologists by suggesting that the best source in the summer is five to 10 minutes of sunshine on the arms and legs two to three times a week, without sunblock. But in the winter, the sun's oblique rays are not strong enough in most of the United States to stimulate D production. For help, turn to supplements of vitamin D3, fatty fish and fortified foods, including milk and certain brands of orange juice and soy milk.