I'm not a physician, and also not a biologist or otherwise a scientific researcher of any stripe.
the most important part of this article
It is unclear whether consumption of Vitamin D in a digestible form could provide the same cancer protective benefits as direct exposure to sunglight, but a number of studies have suggested that it cannot,
this was either written 10 years ago, or hes outright lying. supplemental vitamin D absolutely provides the same benefits
However, it is known that the form of Vitamin D delivered by UVB sun rays is D3, which is quite different from the Vitamin D in milk, which is D2.
the end-products of supplemental d2 and d3 metabolism are no different than what you get from the sun
Further, Vitamin D consumed as a dietary supplement in excess can cause calcium build-up in the internal organs, a bad thing,
this is twisting the facts... this would only happen from taking HUGE amounts of vit D over prolonged periods of time. this is not even an issue worth discussing in people supplementing [properly] 1000-2000iu daily
that article is pretty much garbage. a mild sunscreen and vitamin d supplementation are 2 of the best things you can do to PREVENT cancer... end of story.
You evidently were unwilling to read any of the articles I linked, which were published by news organizations such as Reuters, The Associated Press, NBC News and BBC, and were simply reporting the findings in recent studies and opinions of experts on this topic. If you'd taken the time to read these articles, you'd have found that none of them were written "ten years ago", and that everything I'd written was based on information within these articles. You should not have called me a liar.
I don't claim to be an expert, and therefore included links to articles referring to the opinions of experts and studies that supported my statements. Evidently, you expect readers to treat you as an expert whose opinions require no substantiation
Again, and as stated in my original post, one of the NBC News articles addresses the issue of supplementation. Since you evidently didn't bother to read it at the link provided (
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7875140), I've copied below some of the pertinent quotes from this article published in 2005 (emphasis added):
--------------
"Scientists are excited about a vitamin again.
But unlike fads that sizzled and fizzled, the evidence this time is strong and keeps growing.
If it bears out, it will challenge one of medicine's most fundamental beliefs: that people need to coat themselves with sunscreen whenever they're in the sun.
Doing that may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents, some researchers think.
The vitamin is D, nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. Sunscreen blocks its production, but dermatologists and health agencies have long preached that such lotions are needed to prevent skin cancer.
Now some scientists are questioning that advice.
The reason is that
vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even treating many types of cancer. In the last three months alone, four separate studies found it helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer.
Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone, and
supplements are problematic.
So the thinking is this: Even if too much sun leads to skin cancer, which is rarely deadly, too little sun may be worse.
No one is suggesting that people fry on a beach. But many scientists believe that "safe sun" — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — is not only possible but helpful to health.
One of these is Dr. Edward Giovannucci,
a Harvard University professor of medicine and nutrition who laid out his case in a keynote lecture at a recent American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Anaheim, Calif."
...
[D]iet accounts for very little of the vitamin D circulating in blood, Giovannucci said.
Supplements contain the nutrient, but most use an old form — D-2 — that is far less potent than the more desirable D-3. Multivitamins typically contain only small amounts of D-2 and include vitamin A, which offsets many of D's benefits.
As a result,
pills might not raise vitamin D levels much at all.
...
"
[T]oo much of the pill variety can cause a dangerous buildup of calcium in the body. The government says 2,000 IUs is the upper daily limit for anyone over a year old.
On the other hand, D from sunshine has no such limit."
________________
In the two years since that article was published, a great number of additional studies have been completed concluding that the benefits of unprotected limited sun exposure outweigh the risks. I linked articles discussing several of them, which again you chose not to read. The controversy described in the 2005 article is fast becoming a consensus even in the United States that limited, unprotected sun exposure is beneficial.
Fast forward to the Jan. 2008 Reuters article linked above:
_________________
"A little more sunshine might help you live longer, according to a study published on Monday suggesting that for some people health benefits from the sun outweigh the risk of skin cancer.
Sunlight spurs the body to produce vitamin D but fear of skin cancer is keeping many people in the shade and depriving them of an important protection from a range of diseases, researchers said.
"
The skin cancer risk is there but the health benefits from some sun exposure is far larger than the risk," said Johan Moan, a researcher at the Institute for Cancer Research in Oslo, who led the study. "What we find is modest sun exposure gives enormous vitamin D benefits."
...
"The
current data provide a further indication of the beneficial role of sun-induced vitamin D for cancer prognosis," said Richard Setlow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, who worked on the study."
______________
The other linked articles in my original post discuss other studies, and the information in those articles speaks for itself.
Edited by TianZi, 14 January 2008 - 04:10 PM.