I've written before about how low levels of vitamin D can increase a woman's risk for breast cancer. Now new research is helping us better understand this link.
Research studies just published out of Germany have determined that women with very low blood levels of 25(OH)D have a considerably higher risk of getting breast cancer. Interestingly, those women not taking hormones for relief of menopausal symptoms were at the greatest risk.
The researchers noted, however, that chemotherapy from breast cancer treatment or lack of sunlight might also contribute to these lower levels.
What is especially interesting and meaningful for us is that vitamin D3 (the 3 here after the letter D here means 25(OH)D) can exert a cancer-preventing effect, presumably by counteracting the growth-promoting effect of estrogens.
Along with helping to prevent cancer, vitamin D3 also impairs cancer cell growth and cell differentiation, and promotes programmed cell death, which is one of the body's key cancer-avoiding strategies.
So get your vitamin D3 (the blood test will refer to it as "25(OH) D") checked and, if the value is under 30, you are deficient. Make sure your doctor checks the 25(OH)D. One of the problems has been that doctors are ordering tests for just vitamin D and it isn't the right test; it needs to specifically be the 25(OH)D.
You can bring up your levels by:
- Taking a vitamin D supplement
- Eating more eggs, shellfish, cod liver oil, and dairy products
- Exposing your skin to 20 minutes of sunlight a day