Who Hasn’t Heard About Vitamin D Lately

Vitamin D...it's in the news more & more these days & I came across some research published earlier this month in the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute". Researchers have found that people who are Vitamin D deficient had a significantly increased risk of developing bladder cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, there are about 73,500 new cases of bladder cancer diagnosed & 15,000 deaths per year in the United States. 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with bladder cancer are over the age of 55. I'm not so sure I agree with this as I know of many UNDER the age of 50 & as young as the 30's & 40's. The researchers determined that those with the lowest Vitamin D levels were 1.83 times as likely to have bladder cancer when compared to those with the high levels. They also looked at different forms of bladder cancer & found that the patients with the lowest Vitamin D levels were 5.94 times as likely to develop the most aggressive form of bladder cancer. One of the study docs says "These results indicate that high levels of the vitamin are associated with protection from the illness or, similarly, that low levels are associated with a higher risk of suffering from it. My advice: Next time you have your yearly, ask your healthcare provider to check you D level. It's a relatively inexpensive blood draw & can be done most anywhere. Vitamin D come from Old Man Sun & some health experts claim that if one is going to schedule a surgery & it is of an "elective" nature, it is best to have that procedure done during the spring or summer months when there is more sunlight available. They say it will speed the healing & recovery process, but that's another subject for a further Puffman Blog.