Type 2 Diabetes, Breast Cancer, and Vitamin D!
Women who have Type 2 diabetes are at an elevated risk for breast cancer.
Women who have Type 2 diabetes also tend to have irregularities of vitamin D metabolism.
Getting the right amount of vitamin D, however, is believed by many experts to be preventative of breast cancer and many other maladies for which female Type 2's are at elevated risk.
By now most women have heard that vitamin D protects bones.
It also stimulates the release of insulin from its storage "packets" in the beta cells of your pancreas, and helps normalize blood sugar levels.
And by stimulating the immune system just enough to fight cancer cells without destroying healthy tissues, it protects against not just breast and ovarian cancer in women, but also against kidney cancer, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer in both sexes and prostate cancer in men.
Experts believe that if women were able to keep their bloodstream D levels to at least 40 to 60 ng/ml all year round, in the United States alone 58,000 fewer women would be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 49,000 fewer women would be diagnosed with colon cancer each and every year.
The key is keeping healthy D levels all year around.
It's easy to get enough D if you live in a tropical climate and you are not afraid of the sun.
When a woman who has fair skin spends just 20 minutes in the sun, or when a woman who has dark skin spends about 40 minutes in the sun, her body can make up to 10,000 IU of D.
That's twice as much D as the highest recommended supplemental dosage of the vitamin.
That's five times as much D as the body needs to maintain normal bloodstream concentrations.
The skin has to be unprotected to absorb the ultraviolet light needed to make the vitamin, but the vitamin is itself protective against skin cancer.
The problem occurs during winter north or south of about 35° latitude.
That's anywhere north of Los Angeles or Atlanta in the USA, anywhere in Europe, anywhere in Russia or north of Shanghai or Tokyo in Asia, and southern Australia, all of New Zealand, and the tips of Argentina and Chile.
Women who live at these latitudes just can't get enough sun during the winter months to keep vitamin D levels normal.
Food and supplementation are essential.
Since the best food sources of D are cod liver oil, cream, and butter, most women will prefer to take a pill.
But a pill is all one needs, 5,000 IU a day when vitamin D levels have slipped below normal, and 2,000 IU a day to maintain.
Vitamin D supplementation costs just pennies a day.
That's a small expenditure for enhanced blood sugar control and lowered breast cancer risk.
Just be sure not to take more than 5,000 IU a day, especially if you take calcium and magnesium for your bones, to avoid raising blood pressure.
Women who have Type 2 diabetes also tend to have irregularities of vitamin D metabolism.
Getting the right amount of vitamin D, however, is believed by many experts to be preventative of breast cancer and many other maladies for which female Type 2's are at elevated risk.
By now most women have heard that vitamin D protects bones.
It also stimulates the release of insulin from its storage "packets" in the beta cells of your pancreas, and helps normalize blood sugar levels.
And by stimulating the immune system just enough to fight cancer cells without destroying healthy tissues, it protects against not just breast and ovarian cancer in women, but also against kidney cancer, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer in both sexes and prostate cancer in men.
Experts believe that if women were able to keep their bloodstream D levels to at least 40 to 60 ng/ml all year round, in the United States alone 58,000 fewer women would be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 49,000 fewer women would be diagnosed with colon cancer each and every year.
The key is keeping healthy D levels all year around.
It's easy to get enough D if you live in a tropical climate and you are not afraid of the sun.
When a woman who has fair skin spends just 20 minutes in the sun, or when a woman who has dark skin spends about 40 minutes in the sun, her body can make up to 10,000 IU of D.
That's twice as much D as the highest recommended supplemental dosage of the vitamin.
That's five times as much D as the body needs to maintain normal bloodstream concentrations.
The skin has to be unprotected to absorb the ultraviolet light needed to make the vitamin, but the vitamin is itself protective against skin cancer.
The problem occurs during winter north or south of about 35° latitude.
That's anywhere north of Los Angeles or Atlanta in the USA, anywhere in Europe, anywhere in Russia or north of Shanghai or Tokyo in Asia, and southern Australia, all of New Zealand, and the tips of Argentina and Chile.
Women who live at these latitudes just can't get enough sun during the winter months to keep vitamin D levels normal.
Food and supplementation are essential.
Since the best food sources of D are cod liver oil, cream, and butter, most women will prefer to take a pill.
But a pill is all one needs, 5,000 IU a day when vitamin D levels have slipped below normal, and 2,000 IU a day to maintain.
Vitamin D supplementation costs just pennies a day.
That's a small expenditure for enhanced blood sugar control and lowered breast cancer risk.
Just be sure not to take more than 5,000 IU a day, especially if you take calcium and magnesium for your bones, to avoid raising blood pressure.