New Model for Cancer -- Dynamite!

You can likely cut your risk of cancer by 60 percent -- and it won’t cost you adime. Would you like to know how?

By getting sun exposure.

This simple action is what allows your body to produce vitamin D, which is actuallynot a vitamin at all but rather a steroid hormone that influences your entire body.Receptors that respond to vitamin D have been found in almost every type of humancell, from your bones to your brain.

Theories linking vitamin D to certain cancers have been tested and confirmed inmore than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basisstems from more than 2,500 laboratory studies, according to epidemiologist CedricGarland, DrPH, professor of family and preventive medicine at the UC San Diego Schoolof Medicine.[1]

Dr. Garland is widely regarded as the top epidemiologist on vitamin D and its relationto health. He led one of the latest studies on vitamin D for cancer prevention andhis results, which were published in the Annals of Epidemiology[2],were nothing short of astonishing. Garland wrote:

“It is projected that raising the minimum year-around serum 25(OH)D [vitamin D]level to 40-60 ng/ml would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancerand 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three quarters of deathsfrom these diseases, in the US and Canada.”

Further, the study proposed a new model of cancer development -- dubbed DINOMIT-- that is centered on a loss of cancer cells' ability to stick together. The modelis a departure from the older model of cancer development, which centers on geneticmutations as the earliest driving forces behind cancer. According to Dr. Garland:

"The first event in cancer is loss of communication among cells due to, among otherthings, low vitamin D and calcium levels. In this new model, we propose that thisloss may play a key role in cancer by disrupting the communication between cellsthat is essential to healthy cell turnover, allowing more aggressive cancer cellsto take over."

Vitamin D is a Powerful Cancer Prevention Strategy

Dr. Garland’s findings only lend further credence to the mountain of growing evidencethat optimal levels of vitamin D are essential for your health. Here are just afew highlights into some of the most noteworthy findings:

• Some 600,000 cases of breast and colorectal cancers could be prevented each year if vitamin D levels among populations worldwide were increased, according to previous research by Dr. Garland and colleagues.[3] And that’s just counting the death toll for two types of cancer.

• Optimizing your vitamin D levels could help you to prevent at least 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin cancers.[4]

• A large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled study on vitamin D and cancer showed that vitamin D can cut overall cancer risk by as much as 60 percent![5] This was such groundbreaking news that the Canadian Cancer Society has actually begun endorsing the vitamin as a cancer-prevention therapy.

• Light-skinned women who had high amounts of long-term sun exposure had half the risk of developing advanced breast cancer (cancer that spreads beyond your breast) as women with lower amounts of regular sun exposure, according to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology.[6]

• A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths -- which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 in the United States -- could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D.[7]

Now we’re starting to see more evidence that the type of cancer in question maynot be all that important, because vitamin D appears to play a key role in the development-- and prevention -- of ALL types of cancer!

Beyond cancer, researchers have pointed out that increasing levels of vitamin Dcould prevent diseases that claim nearly 1 million lives throughout the world eachyear![8]

Why Isn’t This Being Shouted From the Rooftops??

The evidence is overwhelming, and the solution is incredibly simple. One way todrastically reduce your risk of cancer and countless other chronic diseases is tooptimize your levels of vitamin D either by safe sun exposure, tanning in a safetanning bed or taking a high-quality supplement.

Yet, a great deal of people around the world have heard nothing of this great “discovery.”It’s even likely that your doctor is among them.

And on top of that, many, many people are deficient in vitamin D. It’s thought thatover 95 percent of U.S. senior citizens may be deficient, along with 85 percentof the American public.

Clearly, the word needs to get out but the mainstream media is slow to react. Plus,there’s no money to be made on selling vitamin D (it’s one of the most inexpensivesupplements around) and sun exposure is free! So don’t count on any major corporationsor drug companies to help get the message out (rather, count on them to try andsuppress this lifesaving information).

The longer this information goes largely unnoticed, the more people who will dieunnecessarily from potentially preventable cancers and other diseases.

Fortunately, GrassrootsHealth D*action is on a mission to get the word out and solvethe vitamin D deficiency epidemic … in just one year’s time.

The D*Action Project: How YOU Can Make a Difference

GrassrootsHealth has launched a worldwide public health campaign to solve the vitaminD deficiency epidemic in a year through a focus on testing and education with allindividuals spreading the word.

And you are all invited to join in this campaign!

With Dr. Garland at the helm, The D*Action Project will be monitoring, for fiveyears, the health outcomes of individuals who get their vitamin D levels to thelevels of 40-60 ng/ml. I would highly recommend that you optimize your levels tothe high end of this spectrum, as optimal vitamin D levels are 50-65 ng/ml, or 65-90ng/ml if you are treating cancer.

Says Carole Baggerly, director of GrassrootsHealth:

"We will be tracking the incidence of many diseases, from cancer to diabetes andmuscular function as well as pain levels to see what effect the higher vitamin Dlevels may have.

We expect to see a significant reduction in the incidence of breast cancer (andits recurrence), colon cancer, diabetes and myocardial infarction, compared withthe general population. With the expansion of the project by individuals, we couldsubstantially reduce this epidemic in a few years!”

So how can you get involved?

Join theD*action Project!

Simply complete a health questionnaire and test your vitamin D levels two timesper year during the 5-year program to help demonstrate the public health impactof this nutrient.

GrassrootsHealth is sponsoring the use of blood spot test kits (laboratory analysisdone by ZRT Labs) for a $40 fee to each individual. The tests are to be done twicea year by each individual along with the submission of some basic health data. Thefee includes:

• A vitamin D blood spot test kit to be used at home (except in the state of New York)
• The results sent directly to you

You will be asked to take a quick health survey and also to take action to adjustyour vitamin D levels to get into the desired ranges, ideally in consultation witha knowledgeable health care professional.

If you are a physician, medical institution or other health group, please also getinvolved by contacting Baggerly directly at: carole@grassrootshealth.org

What will be done with the information you provide in the health survey?

A five-year study will be done with the data accumulated to evaluate the resultsof the program in disease prevention and to help create a long-term plan for publichealth.

Regularly testing your vitamin D levels and monitoring them to stay within therapeuticranges is a step I urge all of you to do for your health. By joining the D*ActionProject, you can make a major contribution to the health of the United States andyour own health at the same time!

This project depends on a true ‘grassroots’ health movement. Together we can stopthe vitamin D deficiency epidemic in its tracks and improve the health of millionsof people.

With only 100 of you joining today, and getting two friends to join in two weeks(and those two friends getting two more), by week 42 there could be 400,000,000people who are vitamin D ‘replete’ (more than the United States population)!

To find out more about vitamin D, including what your levels should be and how tosafely get them there, please watch my one-hour, free vitamin D lecture.

Then, do your part to stop vitamin D deficiency, and improve your own health, byJoiningthe D*Action Project Now, and encouraging your friends and family to doso also!

How Vitamin D Performance Testing Can Help Optimize Your Health

Additionally, a robust and growing body of research clearly shows that vitamin D is absolutely critical for good health and disease prevention. Vitamin D affects your DNA through vitamin D receptors (VDRs), which bind to specific locations of the human genome. Scientists have identified nearly 3,000 genes that are influenced by vitamin D levels, and vitamin D receptors have been found throughout the human body.

Is it any wonder then that no matter what disease or condition is investigated, vitamin D appears to play a crucial role? This is why I am so excited about the D*Action Project by GrassrootsHealth. It is showing how you can take action today on known science with a consensus of experts without waiting for institutional lethargy. It has shown how by combining the science of measurement (of vitamin D levels) with the personal choice of taking action and, the value of education about individual measures that one can truly be in charge of their own health.

In order to spread this health movement to more communities, the project needs your involvement. This is an ongoing campaign during the month of February, and will become an annual event.

To participate, simply purchase the D*Action Measurement Kit and follow the registration instructions included. (Please note that 100 percent of the proceeds from the kits go to fund the research project. I do not charge a single dime as a distributor of the test kits.)

As a participant, you agree to test your vitamin D levels twice a year during a five year program, and share your health status to demonstrate the public health impact of this nutrient. There is a $65 fee every 6 months for your sponsorship of the project, which includes a test kit to be used at home, and electronic reports on your ongoing progress. You will get a follow up email every six months reminding you "it's time for your next test and health survey."