Vitamin D—a 1930s miracle nutrient—banished the crippling disorder rickets from America’s sun-starved factory towns when it was used as a milk fortifier. Now the sunshine vitamin is back in the news—this time for potentially cutting the risk of certain
cancers by up to 50 percent. The difficult part, though, is deciding on the optimal dose. The amount of D required for building healthy bones is inadequate for staving off malignancies that annually claim millions of lives.
Current National Academy of Science daily recommendations range from 200 IU (International Units) of D for people up to age 50, to 600 IU for the over-70 crowd. But cancer prevention specialists at UCSD’s Moores Cancer Center beg to differ. They favor 1000 IU per day—and a prompt rewrite of the national guidelines.
“
We now have proof that the incidence of colon, breast and ovarian cancer can be reduced dramatically by
increasing the public’s intake of vitamin D,” says Cedric F. Garland, D.P.H., a professor with Moores Cancer Center and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the UCSD School
of Medicine.
Residents of the northeastern United States and African-Americans face an increased risk
of vitamin D deficiency. Darker skin pigmentation reduces the ability to synthesize D from sunlight. African-American women with breast cancer are more likely to die from the disease than white women of the same age. Survival rates are worse among African-Americans for colon, prostate and ovarian
cancers as well.
D is present in sunlight, in fortified foods such as milk and fruit juice, and in oily fish. The easiest and safest way to reach the 1000-IU mark, according
to UCSD researchers, is with food plus a daily vitamin D3
or cholecalciferol supplement. A glass of milk, with 100 IU, doesn’t even come close. (Garland emphasizes that any vitamin D consumed should be D3 not D2, which is not effective in preventing cancer.)
Does that mean that we should now stock up on over-the-counter vitamin D3?“
It has to be an individual decision,” says Garland, “but it’s always a good idea to
discuss vitamin supplementation with your health care provider first.”  — Sylvia Tiersten
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