100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (66 page)

were given

●
never giving up, no matter what

●
relying on support from family, loved ones, or support groups

●
choosing to look on the bright side and see the gifts cancer brings

●
giving back and making a difference in other people’s lives, whether it

was fund-raising, lobbying, or supporting other survivors

●
having a strong sense of faith

●
being proactive participants in their health care

●
viewing their lives as transformed by their experience

These characteristics define what Boehmer calls miracle survivors. Yes,

Beck, there are miracles.

BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!

HEALTH TIP #67

The “Miraculous” Vitamin D

T
ry searching “vitamin D” on the Internet and you will get over 20 million

entries! Vitamin D is the “hot” vitamin these days, partly because of the

remarkable discoveries made about it in just the last decade.

Perk #67: Cancer Introduced Me to Many Phenomenal Women

275

Vitamin D is one of the fat-soluble vitamins found in many food

sources. (Fat-soluble means it needs to be metabolized with fat to make it

work. The other fat-soluble vitamins are A, E, and K.) Vitamin D is unique

in that your body can actually produce the stuff just from a day at the beach.

Sunlight exposure causes a process in your body that turns the sunlight into

vitamin D. Because the body can manufacture vitamin D, some say it should

be labeled a “hormone.” I think we should call it a “vitamone” because it

does the job of both.

One major biological function of vitamin D is to regulate normal blood

levels of calcium and phosphorus that are necessary for healthy bone and

muscle. The latest research also shows that vitamin D plays a huge role in

preventing inflammation, helping to control hypertension (high blood pres-

sure), and even plays a role in cavity prevention. Vitamin D has strong ties

to preventing cancer and several autoimmune diseases, including multiple

sclerosis, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. There is a definite link between

vitamin D and a healthy immune system. As you can see, there is good rea-

son for its popularity! I’d want this vitamone at
my
next party.

Being a cancer survivor, I am particularly interested in

the role of cancer prevention. It turns out that vitamin D

plays an important role in the management of “cell elimi-

nation” or
apoptosis.
When cells don’t belong, there is a

mechanism in the body that arranges to have them stop

reproducing. If this “cell-subtraction” function is lacking,

abnormal overgrowth of cells can occur, which is the defi-

nition of cancer.

Recently, it was noted that a significant number of breast

cancer patients, for whatever reason, had very low levels of

vitamin D. (I was one of them.) While there has not been proof that the

low levels
cause
the cancer, there definitely seems to be a relationship

between the two. And the low levels don’t stop there. A study of over 1,400

randomly selected healthy women showed that over 50 percent of them had

low vitamin D levels too. Children and the elderly are also coming up short

as well. It is unknown what effect the low levels are having on their general

health, but when found, a low vitamin D level is, luckily, an easy fix with

supplementation.

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

So how can you get some of that “D”-lightful stuff? There are several

ways to get it.

Naturally:
Skin will help produce vitamin D by exposure to sunlight with-

out sunscreen. Five to ten minutes a day, three times a week is sufficient to

produce adequate levels of vitamin D in your system. This small amount of

sun should not be enough to put you at any increased risk of skin cancer,

but the Skin Cancer Foundation still warns of excess exposure and warns

that “more is not better” when trying to boost vitamin D levels this way.

Foods:
It is hard to eat enough foods to get the levels of D needed to sat-

isfy the new suggested higher daily intake levels. Vitamin D is contained

in eggs, fish and fish oil, fortified dairy products, and (dare I say it?) beef

liver (
ugh
). Those on vegan or low-fat diets can get their vitamin D by con-

suming fortified foods like cereals and plant-based milks.

Supplements:
Here is where it gets tricky. Initially, the RDA (recommended

daily allowance) of vitamin D was 200 IU/day. (IU stand for international

units and in the case of vitamin D can be interchanged with mg or mil-

ligrams.) But we now know that 200 IU/day is just not enough based on

the widespread deficiencies discovered. So the U.S. Food and Drug Admin-

istration (FDA) raised the RDA intake level to 600 IU/day. But with ever-

evolving research, the consensus among the health community is that every

adult should be taking 1,000 to 2,000 IU/day, especially the elderly, dark-

skinned people, those who live in colder climates (and don’t get sunlight

exposure), those who are overweight (vitamin D is prevented from absorp-

tion in overweight persons), and those who have inflammatory bowel dis-

ease like Crohn’s (ingested vitamin D is absorbed in your intestinal tract).

In order to obtain these higher intake levels, a supplement is probably nec-

essary. Vitamin D is supplied in two forms: Vitamin D2 and D3. Vitamin

D3, in supplement form, seems to be the better absorbed and is the form

you will most commonly see in supplements. How much you take should

ideally be based on your vitamin D blood levels and adjusted to keep the

level within a normal range of 35 to 60 ng/dl. Of course, any supplement

that you decide to take should be discussed with your healthcare specialist.

And if your healthcare specialist says you don’t need extra vitamin D, please

have them call me and we’ll have a chat.

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277

Some bits of info about vitamin pills:

●
Since vitamins are not regulated by the FDA, there is no guarantee that

because the bottle says “Vitamin D3, 1,000 IU,” that it contains what it

states. Use a reputable vitamin company. Look at their philosophy. Look

at who
really
owns the company. How long have they been around? Any

of their claims about certain products should have data to support it.

●
Vitamins lose their potency so check expiration dates.

●
Look for a descriptive label. Does it say just “Vitamin D,” or “Vitamin

D3, 1,000 IU”?

●
Look at the fillers. Are there yeasts, preservatives, bulking agents, binding

agents?

●
Does the company “do good” for the community? Do they donate a por-

tion of sales to research?

Toxicity: Initially, there was not enough evidence to put a number on

the upper limit for vitamin D intake. Blood levels are routinely measured,

and we can see how supplementation affects these levels. Knowing that

blood levels should be maintained between 35 and 60

ng/dl led the Food and Nutrition Board to initially estab-

Taking a vitamin D

lish
very
conservative maximum upper-intake levels of

supplement may be one

4,000 IU/day with a serum blood level of vitamin D not

of the easiest things you

to exceed 60 ng/dl. The maximum used to be 2,000

can do to boost immunity

IU/day but was recently raised based on new research.

and reduce your risk for

Who knows where it will go in the future.

a handful of illnesses,

Vitamin D toxicity can further be avoided by taking

including cancer.

it in conjunction with vitamin K. When taken with vita-

min K, vitamin D is less likely to reach toxic levels. Cer-

tain companies are now combining vitamin D with vitamin K. The RDA

for vitamin K is 150 mcg/day. I would not be surprised if you start to see

more supplements that contain a combo of vitamins D and K in the future.

If you choose to take a multivitamin, it would be a good idea to take your

extra vitamin D with it as most multi’s contain K. (Or you can just take

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

your vitamin D with a big dose of high vitamin K kale or any other dark

green leafy vegetable.)

Speaking of multivitamins, if you plan to take extra vitamin D, check

your multi and your extra calcium (if you take it) to see if there’s any vitamin

D in those. You may not need extra D if it’s covered elsewhere.

If you get your blood levels checked, and your levels are low, you may

be prescribed 50,000 IU/week for several weeks until your levels are cor-

rected. There is no danger of toxicity from taking 50,000/week for a few

weeks under a doctor’s supervision to get your serum D up to normal. Tox-

icity symptoms are rarely seen when intake is less than 10,000 IU/day; they

include muscle cramping and heart rhythm problems due to high blood

calcium levels. Again, getting your blood tested is the best way to find the

perfect amount of vitamin D you need for your body.

I would strongly suggest (and I don’t usually
strongly suggest
anything)

that you ask your doctor to check your vitamin D level (ask for the vitamin

D 25-hyroxy blood test) and treat accordingly.