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Reduce All Cancer Incidence by 77% with Vitamin D? - Seminar

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by RobH, Sep 22, 2009.

  1. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    influenza and vitamin d hypotheses remain unproven. it's contradictory. if high-dose vitamin d is immunosuppressive enough to prevent autoimmune disorders (where excessive immune reaction occurs), why would it protect against infection where rapid proliferation of immune cells is needed?

    when i look up influenza and vitamin d on the internetz where everyone is an expert, what i see are freaking germ theory denialists! this is contrary to EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE AVAILABLE. if you reject the KNOWN FACT that viruses cause influenza, you don't get to be an expert in anything- except maybe quackery and preying on people who don't know any better to make some money completely absent of ethics.

    by all means, take your vitamins. but don't let people tell you that their special-powered-formula xyz is going to keep away all ills. correlation does not imply causation. to break that down, just because you have low vitamin d levels does not imply that the low vitamin d caused your ills. it also does not mean that increasing your blood concentration of vitamin d will help. disease is a complex process, and correlations such as these studies tell us nothing about cause.
     
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  2. radioprius1

    radioprius1 Climate Conspirisist

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    RobH isn't there any other internet forum you can spread your voodoo on?
     
  3. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    And there we have the crux of the matter. Do we go by what the study says, or by sensationalist articles about the study in the popular press?

    Thanks, Galaxee!
     
  4. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    So it wont help protect against cancer "germs".
    Who'd of guessed?

    Heres one study.
    Pretty simple stuff.
    http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc05/papers/pap1468.pdf

     
  5. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    mojo, what part of "correlation does not imply causation" are you failing to grasp here?
     
  6. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    I guess we will never know.
    Meanwhile everyone wanting to avoid cancer , move to the Equator.
    Might be in the Rum?
     
  7. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    The 31 PhD/MD researchers named at the Grassroots Health home page describe themselves as

    "A Consortium of Scientists, Institutions and Individuals Committed to Solving the Worldwide Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic"

    Note that they don't hang their hat on any one study, but on their professional judgment of the totality of evidence available.

    There are current recommendations for vitamin D consumption, and they were arrived at by some process of evaluating the evidence available at the time. The established basic recommendation is for adults to get 400 IU of D per day.

    The Grassroots Health group states that the current recommendation is inadequate, and should be increased to 2000 IU per day, with a target of a 40-60 ng/ml value on the blood test.

    Claiming that the new evidence is inadequate to support anything promotes the action (inaction?) of continuing with the old recommendations. It should be obvious that the combination of old and new data represents an opportunity for a better choice than limiting decisions to the old data.

    Unlike some people, I think that several decades of study by dozens of professionals in the field is likely to turn up better recommendations than just ignoring them. Particularly when those professionals believe that we are unnecessarily suffering from a condition that is easily and cheaply remedied.

    About the only reason I can see to oppose better health is that poor health is profitable for those in the disease care business.
     
  8. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    Nope. Unless you've got the dark skin of those native to the area, you'd just fry. Even with the rum...:D
     
  9. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    It looks to me as though they've reached their conclusion in advance, and now they're just fishing for "evidence" of their foregone conclusion.

    What's interesting in your statement is that you trust a small group of people who began with a conclusion, rather than going in with open minds, while rejecting the rest of the scientific community. This is a conspiracy mentality: anything advocated by the bulk of the "establishment" must be wrong, and anything advocated by a small group of renegades must be right.

    A more rational approach would be to look for someone who has no horse in this race and is competent to read and understand the actual studies being cited. Prius Chat has a surprising breadth of expertise among its members, and we have such a one right here. But the conspiracy mentality is so strong that it rejects scientific education in favor of sensationalism.

    Well, the rest of us are grateful for Galaxee's input, even if you think you are better able to understand the available information than she is. And we will refrain from over-dosing on alleged miracle cures. A well-balanced diet with the full complement of vitamins and minerals is important to good health. But massive doses of any one vitamin is likely to cause more harm than good.

    Here's a thought experiment: What if massive doses of Vitamin X were guaranteed to reduce your chances of cancer from one in a hundred thousand to one in five hundred thousand, but at the same time it increased your chances of heart attack from one in a thousand to one in five hundred? Would you insist on taking Vitamin X?
     
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  10. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    yes, they do choose to believe, because the data don't back that belief up. they have no basis whatsoever for claiming that vitamin d supplementation prevents or cures cancer.

    somehow in all this, there was a legitimate correlative claim which, while interesting, doesn't say much on its own. then, the word "correlate" got replaced with "cause" and it all promptly went to hell.

    but we don't know that increased vitamin d does anything for "better health" in the first place! how can it be a conspiracy when there are no findings to cover up? get the data first, then commence the whining about how it's all a big industry/big medical/big pharma/big science cover-up. :rolleyes:
     
  11. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    The correlational study was presented as being interesting for people studying the research on vitamin D. I don't see any excessive claims by the scientists who freely describe it as a correlation.

    One of the comments that I've read is that there are 3000+ vitamin D studies in the literature. So I can't get that wound up on any single one. One woman who got very excited about the general tone of the research is Carole Baggerly. She is a breast cancer survivor, and attended a vitamin D seminar sponsored by the National Cancer Institute back in 2005. After listening to two days of researchers talking about what was know about vitamin D and cancer, she couldn't contain herself any more and asked what was being done to publicize the research. There was essentially no answer, but she got the job.

    Carole Baggerly organized Grassroots Health, and her story is available on the University of California TV archive at Vitamin D Prevents Cancer: Is It True? - UCTV - University of California Television

    A primary thing that she did was to talk to all of the researchers that she could, and to develop a new recommendation for vitamin D status that all of them could endorse. I guess you could say that she organized the conspiracy. The scientists would have been more comfortable just doing their research and talking to each other.

    The government standard for vitamin D consumption is 400 IU for most adults. This standard was established in 1997 by a group called the Food and Nutrition Board. The Grassroots recommendation is whatever consumption is required to achieve a blood test value of 40-60 ng/ml. In the absence of blood testing, 2000 IU is recommended as safe.

    So why the difference between the 1997 standard and the Grassroots recommendation? Perhaps the comments by Dr. Robert Heaney seem appropriate, as he served on that board and voted for the 1997 standard. In short, he comments that it was the best decision given the data available at that time. His comments 12 years after that standard are available from the University of California TV archives at What’s a Vitamin D Deficiency? - UCTV - University of California Television

    One of the interesting aspects about these vitamin D meetings is who shows up at them. Like cardiologist Dr. Dave Sane. The audience is clearly amazed that a cardiologist would even attend such a meeting, let alone be a featured speaker. The video is at Vitamin D & Cardiovascular Disease- New Frontiers for Prevention - UCTV - University of California Television

    No list of vitamin D researchers would be complete without Dr. Michael Holick. A video of one of his presentations on bone & muscle health is at http://www.youtube.com/v/Cq1t9WqOD-0

    And Dr. John Cannell probably has the most extensive list of relevant vitamin D research available on the web. One of his videos is at http://www.youtube.com/v/--NqqB2nhBE


    My take on all of this is that the vast majority of people in the US suffer from a vitamin D deficiency. The effect is a less than optimal immune system that results in an extensive array of different medical conditions. Sun avoidance, supposedly to avoid skin cancer, has made the deficiency even worse.

    The available solutions are to increase sun exposure (controversial), increase vitamin D consumption (limited utility), and to use blood testing to titrate vitamin D level to a healthy level. Those who cherish the 1997 standard will obviously continue to promote it. Perhaps in a few more years the bureaucrats will get around to establishing a new standard that reflects the past 12 years of medical research in the area (about 20 times as much research as existed when the 1997 standard was established). I'd hate to die of an information gap.
     
  12. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    The important aspect of this is that many people are deficient in D.
    Get your levels checked .
    My breast cancer survivor friend ,checked her blood level after reading about the studies and had a low D measurement.
    Sun block has a lot to do with the malnourishment in our culture.

     
  13. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    The correct response, if you are low in vitamin D, is to eat more foods with D, or take a multivitamin pill; not to take massive doses.
     
  14. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    No one is recommending "massive doses"
    They are saying the previous recommendation of 400 units is too low to provide a correct blood level.
    A recent major study used 400 iu as the dosage and found no effect.
    No sh*t Sherlock,you studied the wrong dosage.

    Thus multivitamins have too low a D ratio .To obtain a proper D blood level you would OD on A.
    The easiest way to get the proper amount of D is to get sufficient sunlight exposure.
    Unless you are dark skinned wherein you would need much longer exposure time.
     
  15. MarinJohn

    MarinJohn Senior Member

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    So the old sayings 'ski nekkid, sail nekkid and swim nekkid' all were based on scientific fact?!?

    Let's talk sunscreen. Have we gone too far in our use of it? Should it be to avoid serious sunburn, but not used as often as it is? How effective is it anyway without PABA? As I've stated in other posts, this is an experimental year whereby I have avoided all sunscreen and I must tell you my mental and physical health are improved over previous sunscreen usage years. I would still use it if I expected sunburn to be a major factor during the day, but not use it prophylacticly.
     
  16. Prius101

    Prius101 Paid off Prius Member

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    I'm with the 'have it checked when you visit the doctor' group. My doctor checked it and my levels are good. (And I live near Bremerton, Washington!) Of course, I believe they put Vitamin D in milk, and I drink my fair share of that.
     
  17. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    My personal nirvana is swimming 1 hour in hot sun ,no sunscreen(no risk of burn though,Im already tan).
     
  18. Dave_PH

    Dave_PH New Member

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    You're better off tanning, indoors or outdoors.

    Tanning Truth

    Also, Cheeseburgers cure heart disease.

    TransfatsFacts.com—trans fats are actually good for you. Quote, “Trans fats contain a compound called conjugated linoleic acid, CLA, which has demonstrated beneficial health benefits, including fighting cancer, enhancing immunity and decreasing artery-clogging plaque. Eat more cheeseburgers, it will unclog your arteries.

    'The Rachel Maddow Show' for Wednesday, September 30 - Rachel Maddow show- msnbc.com
     
  19. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I am sure you meant this as a joke. But a lot of people don't seem to get it: Let's say we all agree that spinach is good for you. Adding spinach extract to injectible cobra venom does not make it good for you. Vitamin B12 is good for you, but a compound of poison ivy with B12 is not healthy.

    People look for one "beneficial" ingredient in something deleterious, and then claim it's good for you. It's very popular to say that chocolate is good for you because of one compound which, if isolated, might have some health benefits.

    Again, I know you are joking about the cheeseburgers. But the pathetic thing is that some folks will actually justify their high-fat high-cholesterol high-salt high-sugar crap foods by pointing to one compound that has some beneficial effects.

    :mad:
     
  20. Dave_PH

    Dave_PH New Member

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    All the details are in this clip. Toward the end it also points you to websites that extole the advantages of corn syrup and advises pregnant women to eat more fish.