Researchers studying the preventive effects of vitamin D on cancer have proposed a new model of cancer development that hinges on a loss of cancer cells’ ability to stick together. The model, dubbed DINOMIT, differs from the older model of cancer development, which suggests genetic mutations as the earliest driving forces behind cancer.

“The first event in cancer is loss of communication among cells due to, among other things, low vitamin D and calcium levels,” said epidemiologist Cedric Garland. “This loss may play a key role in cancer by disrupting the communication between cells that is essential to healthy cell turnover, allowing more aggressive cancer cells to take over.”

Garland suggests that such cellular disruption could account for the earliest stages of many cancers. Previous theories linking vitamin D to certain cancers have been tested and confirmed in more than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basis stems from more than 2,500 laboratory studies.

Each letter in DINOMIT stands for a different phase of cancer development – disjunction, initiation, natural selection, overgrowth of cells, metastasis, involution, and transition.

While there is not yet definitive scientific proof, Garland suggests that much of the evolutionary process in cancer could be arrested at the outset by maintaining adequate vitamin D levels.

According to another study, getting more of the “sunshine vitamin” may also help you stay mentally fit as you age.

Researchers compared the cognitive performance of more than 3,000 men aged 40 to 79, and found those with low vitamin D levels performed less well on a task designed to test mental agility. The findings are some of the strongest evidence yet of such a link, because of the size of the study and because the researchers adjusted for a number of lifestyle factors believed to affect mental ability.

The researchers do not know exactly how vitamin D and mental agility may be connected, but it could be connected to the vitamin’s role in increasing certain hormonal activity, or it could have a protective effect on brain neurons.

Source: Science Daily

New research makes a strong case for exercise as a way to help prevent cancer both for men and women. Let’s consider the results of two related studies.

Men - Those with stronger muscles from regular weight training are up to 40 percent less likely to die from cancer, according to new research. These findings suggest that muscular strength is as important as staying slim and eating healthy when it comes to protecting your body against deadly tumors.

A team of experts tracked the lifestyles of over 8,500 men for more than two decades. Each volunteer had regular medical check ups that included tests of their muscular strength. The men who regularly worked out with weights and had the highest muscle strength were between 30 percent and 40 percent less likely to lose their life to a deadly tumor.

Even among volunteers who were overweight, regular weight training seemed to have a protective effect, although the researchers stressed that keeping a healthy weight was still crucial for avoiding premature death.

But they added, “In the light of these results, it is equally important to maintain healthy muscular strength levels.”

Researchers said it’s possible to reduce cancer mortality rates in men by promoting resistance training involving the major muscle groups at least two days a week.

Women – exercise reduces breast cancer . Reports have shown that excess weight and large sizes have been associated to a higher risk of breast cancer.

It remains unclear the amount or intensity of exercise that is needed to produce this effect and at what age the physical activity must occur. The study consisted of a group of 74,171 women aged 50-79 from 40 U.S. clinical centers between 1993-1998 for the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study.

Information collected was based on factors such as medical, family history, physical activity, diet, height, weight and lifetime use of hormone therapy.

In a four-and-a-half year follow-up of the study, breast cancer was newly diagnosed in 1,780 of the women. The study also revealed that women who participated in regular strenuous physical activities at the age of 35 decreased their risk of breast cancer by 14 percent compared with less active women.

This is further evidence that exercise before and after menopause are linked to breast cancer prevention. The effect was realized even with small increments of exercise equivalent to one to two hours per week of brisk walking. The results have shared similarities to those associated with decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease among post menopausal women and those with diabetes.

Sources: Men – The Telegraph, Women – Canadian Medical Journal

Is there a right way to check your breasts for early signs of cancer? Many women remain confused as experts now say there is no evidence that rigorous monthly “self-examination” — widely recommended in the United States — reduces breast cancer deaths. Plus, it can lead to unnecessary biopsies.

Two large studies looking at a total of more than 388,000 women found that death rates from breast cancer were the same among women who rigorously self-examined as those who did not, while there were almost twice the number of biopsy operations in the self-examination group.

According to some experts, the best way for a woman to check her breasts is not to follow a strict examination routine, but to get to know what is normal, and feel them regularly for signs of any changes.

Sources:  BBC News

In this video, Dr. Mercola interviews Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, reveals the important role vitamin D plays in your health.

Dr. Grant, whose background is in atmospheric sciences, has applied the ecologic approach to the study of dietary and environmental links to chronic disease. He has worked at the level of senior research scientist at such notable institutions as SRI International, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the NASA Langley Research Center.

More recently, Dr. Grant has uncovered exciting potential for the use of vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of a number of high-incidence cancers found in Western populations. He is the director of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC), an entity devoted to research, education, and advocacy relating to the prevention of chronic disease through changes in diet and lifestyle.

Dr. Grant has also authored or coauthored over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, edited two books of reprints, and contributed half a dozen chapters to other books.

New research shows that to get an optimal vitamin D supplement from the sun at a minimal risk of getting cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), the best time of sun exposure is noon.

That means that common health recommendations given by authorities in many countries — that sun exposure should be avoided for three to five hours around noon and postponed to the afternoon — could be wrong and may even promote CMM.

This is in part because the action spectrum for CMM is likely to be centered at longer wavelengths than that of vitamin D generation.

Source: Advanced Experiments in Medical Biology

Let’s talk about the remarkable anticancer activity of broccoli sprouts. Broccoli sprouts are loaded with sulforaphane. It’s a powerful tumor inhibitor. Now a new study suggests topical application of broccoli sprouts can fight skin cancer.

In this study, researchers gave mice UV radiation lesions on their skin. The researchers then divided the mice into three groups. They treated one group with low-dose broccoli sprout extract (0.3 micromol sulforaphane). They gave the second group a high-dose extract (1.0 micromol sulforaphane). And they didn’t give the control group anything.

The researchers treated the groups while waiting to see how many developed malignant tumors.

They discovered the extract was very effective at stopping tumor growth. And the more used, the better. Tumor incidence in the control group was 100%. All of them developed malignant tumors. But of those in the high-dose sulforaphane group, only 50% developed tumors. In other words, it cut their cancer risk in half. That’s remarkable. (Those in the low-dose group also saw reduction, but not as significant.)

Add broccoli sprouts to your list of skin remedies. You can simply mash them up and apply the paste as a poultice. A few drops of added DMSO might add to the effectiveness by enhancing its penetration into the skin! Apply it as often you can. I see no risk at all!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating whether four drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other immune system diseases might increase the risk of cancer in children.

The FDA has received reports of 30 cases of cancer among children and young adults treated with the drugs. The agency did not make clear how many children had taken the drugs.

The drugs involved are:

1. Enbrel, sold by Amgen and Wyeth
2. Remicade, sold by Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough
3. Humira, sold by Abbott Laboratories
4. Cimzia, sold by the Belgian company UCB

All of the drugs block a protein called tumor necrosis factor, and are therefore known as TNF-blockers. They are used to treat not only rheumatoid arthritis but also psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and other immune diseases.

Because the drugs block part of the immune system, it’s long been known that they might contribute to a higher risk of cancers and infections. The drugs’ labels contain warnings as such, including warning about a risk of lymphomas, which are cancers of immune system cells.

Among adults, meanwhile, one study found that those given Humira or Remicade to treat rheumatoid arthritis had 2.4 times the cancer rate of those in control groups.

Source:  New York Times