Vitamin D is the sort of vitamin that gets neglected more often than not. People will just assume that they’re getting enough vitamin D if they’re out in the sun often enough since vitamin D is produced as a chemical reaction between the skin and the sun. Other people won’t think about it at all, and they focus on the vitamins that get publicized more often.
However, vitamin D is a nutrient that has tremendous implications for the prevention of cancer, particularly with regard to NCBI, NCBI, and colorectal cancer in general.
The Immune System and Cancer
Scientists finally understand the role of the immune system and cancer. Cancer prevention is complicated at the best of times, given the number of cancers that have genetic factors and the number of cancers that can be triggered by exposure to environmental stimuli.
However, people with strong immune systems are less likely to get cancer, and the immune system, in general, is a valuable tool against all sorts of bodily infiltrators, and that includes cancer.
Researchers noticed that people who live in sunnier climates were less likely to get certain types of cancer, and they hypothesized that one of the factors might have been the local vitamin D exposure. It seems that these researchers made an important initial observation, and the related evidence is increasing.
Those people were all less likely to get colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer, which is why these have been areas of investigation for oncology researchers. Finding vitamin D linked to lower colorectal cancer risk and lower lung and colon cancer risk has made a huge difference.
Types of Cancers Prevented By Vitamin D Consumption
It is true that only a certain number of studies have been conducted on vitamin D and cancer prevention. If more of them were conducted on different types of cancer, it is possible that scientists would find that vitamin D can prevent or even treat many different types of cancer. However, vitamin D has already demonstrated its potential when it comes to lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and colon cancer.
Vitamin D and lung cancer might get neglected by some people since lung cancer tends to be associated with the consumption of cigarettes only. People might think that cancer prevention with lung cancer is just a matter of not smoking or quitting smoking. However, plenty of nonsmokers does get lung cancer, even if they aren’t exposed to secondhand smoke.
The lungs come in contact with so many environmental pollutants as people breathe that they tend to be vulnerable organs in general, and the growth of abnormal cells that leads to cancer shouldn’t surprise anyone. A healthy immune system is essential when it comes to the prevention of lung cancer, and that’s why vitamin D is such a unique and applicable weapon.
When it comes to how vitamin D might fight colon cancer, it is important to consider the way that the body fights cancer in general. Certain immune cells are able to recognize and fight cancer cells in general.
However, lots of cancer cells still go unnoticed. Vitamin D can help activate those immune cells. People who have higher blood levels of vitamin D have been found to be less likely to develop colorectal tumors. Vitamin D can help prevent colon cancer and lung cancer in a similar manner.
Getting Enough Vitamin D
Naturally, researchers are still trying to determine how much is too much when it comes to a person’s vitamin D consumption. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so the excess quantities are not going to be flushed out of a person’s system, making overdosing more of a problem.
However, some researchers think that the typical recommended doses of vitamin D are much too low for most people. There is a limit to how much vitamin D people can naturally produce, as well as a limit to how much vitamin D most people can get through diet. Many people are going to want to avoid sun exposure anyway, given the association between sun exposure and accelerated aging and skin cancer.
In order to work towards cancer prevention, a lot of people are going to need to take vitamin D supplements. These supplements are easy to find and easy to take. The fact that vitamin D shows so much promise in terms of cancer prevention makes the supplements worth it.
Sources: National Cancer Institute | NIHNIH
