By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, June 9, 2008, abstracted from “Relationship between Low Ultraviolet B Irradiance and Higher Breast Cancer Risk in 107 Countries” in the May/June 2008 issue of Breast Journal

 

Breast cancer is the second biggest cancer killer of American women after lung cancer, killing an estimated 40,580 women in 2004¹ and estimated to cause 213, 000 new cases and nearly 41,000 deaths in 2006². It costs our health care system $80 to $100 billion per year³. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to help maintain breast cell health, including lignans in pre-menopausal women⁴ and post-menopausal women⁵, curcumin⁶, soy⁷, kelp⁸, apples⁹, broccoli¹⁰, olive oil¹¹ and  exercise¹².

 

Now a new study¹³ has found that vitamin D may play a role in breast cell health.  Previous research has shown that vitamin D blood levels influence breast cell health¹⁴. Building on these findings, researchers looked at vitamin D blood levels and breast cancer risk 175 countries, using the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) GLOBOCAN database¹⁵. 

 

They found that vitamin D blood levels above 22 nanomgrams per milliliter resulted in “considerable room for reduction in the risk of breast cancer” compared to those with the lowest levels of vitamin D (10-18 ng/mL).  Specifically, those with the highest vitamin D levels (22-34 ng/mL) were three times less likely to have breast cancer compared to those with the lowest vitamin D blood levels.

 

While they didn’t discuss how sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation can result in vitamin D blood levels of 22-34 ng/mL, the researchers concluded that “Vitamin D and its metabolites may reduce the incidence of many types of cancer.”

 

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

 

Reference:

 

1  "2004/2005 Fact Sheet Cancer Registries: The Foundation for Cancer Prevention and Control" posted on the CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/

 

2  “Cancer Facts and Figures: 2006” posted on the American Cancer Society Website http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2006PWSecured.pdf

 

3  Radice D.  Breast cancer management: quality-of-life and cost considerations.  Pharmacoeconomics 2003;21(6):383-96

 

4  Piller R.  Plasma enterolactone and genistein and the risk of premenopausal breast cancer.  Eur J Cancer Prev. 2006 Jun;15(3):225-32

 

5  Touillaud MS.  Dietary Lignan Intake and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk by Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Status.  J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2007 99: 475-486; doi:10.1093/jnci/djk096

 

6  Skibola CF.  Brown kelp modulates endocrine hormones in female sprague-dawley rats and in human luteinized granulosa cells.  J Nutr 2005; 135(2): 296-300

  

7  Lampe JW.  Plasma Isoflavones and Fibrocystic Breast Conditions and Breast Cancer Among Women in Shanghai, China.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007 16: 2579-2586 doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-07-0368

 

8  Skibola CF.  Brown kelp modulates endocrine hormones in female sprague-dawley rats and in human luteinized granulosa cells.  J Nutr 2005; 135(2): 296-300

9  Liu, R. H., J. Liu, et al. (2005). "Apples prevent mammary tumors in rats." J Agric Food Chem 53(6): 2341-3

10  Jackson, S.J. and K.W. Singletary, Sulforaphane inhibits human mcf-7 mammary cancer cell mitotic progression and tubulin polymerization. J Nutr, 2004. 134(9): p. 2229-36

  

11  Menendez, J. A. "Oleic acid, the main monounsaturated fatty acid of olive oil, suppresses Her-2/neu (erbB-2) expression and synergistically enhances the growth inhibitory effects of trastuzumab (Herceptin) in breast cancer cells with Her-2/neu oncogene amplification." Ann Oncol 16(3): 359-71

12  Chlebowski, R. T., M. Pettinger, et al. (2004). "Insulin, physical activity, andcaloric intake in postmenopausal women: breast cancer implications." J Clin Oncol 22(22): 4507-13

  

13  Mohr SB.  Relationship between Low Ultraviolet B Irradiance and Higher Breast Cancer Risk in 107 CountriesThe Breast Journal.  Volume 14 Issue 3 Page 255-260

 

14  Palmieri C.  Serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels in early and advanced breast cancer. Clin Pathol. Published Online First: 17 October 2006. doi:10.1136/jcp.2006.042747

 

15  Ferlay J, Bray F, Pisani P, Parkin D. GLOBOCAN 2002: cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 5. Version 2.0 2004 [WWW document]. URL: http://www-dep.iarc.fr