Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer:

Researchers just found that women who are low in vitamin D tend to have more aggressive breast cancer tumors and they're far more likely to suffer a recurrence.  This information was presented on Friday, April 29 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons. It also will appear in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The study followed 155 women. All of these women underwent surgery for breast cancer sometime between January 2009 and September 2010. The researchers monitored blood vitamin D levels for all the patients for one year prior to surgery and one year after surgery. They found a clear association between vitamin D levels and how fast the tumor progresses.

As scary as these results are, they pale in comparison to another finding in the same study.

These researchers also found that low vitamin D levels affect every major biological marker doctors use to determine a patient's prognosis. In other words, the lower your vitamin D levels are when you get breast cancer, the more likely you are to die of the disease. And you're more likely to die quicker than those who have higher levels of vitamin D.

Those at the highest risk for a poor prognosis were those with vitamin D levels of less than 32 milligrams per milliliter of blood.  Previous posts have noted the fact that insomnia is associated with levels less than 50, a fact also well-documented.

So if you're at high risk for breast cancer, you must take vitamin D. Actually, almost all of us need to take plenty of vitamin D, as most people are low. Just don't listen to conventional medicine to determine how much you need. Most people need to take at least 5,000 to 10,000 IU daily.

Ask your doctor to give you a baseline vitamin D blood test. If you're low, start taking at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D a day. This dose is perfectly safe for most people.  Your pharmacist recommends high-potency Micellized D3 1000 drops.  The micellized form is absorbed five times more efficiently than typical oral capsules so one drop under the tongue is like taking a 5,000 unit capsule.  I frequently recommend patients take 1 or 2 drops every night at bedtime to replenish their vitamin D level.  But, this strategy also helps reset our sleep:wake cycle and many patients report improved sleep, recuperative rest that helps them feel refreshed the next day.  This is truly one of the biggest bang for your buck nutrients.  Each bottle contains 600 drops, which at two drops per day will last 300 days, and sells for ~$30.00.

Robert Seik, PharmD, FAARFM, RKC
CEO - Partell Specialty Pharmacy

Robert Seik is a Doctor of Pharmacy and principal owner of Partell Specialty Pharmacy.  He managed research trials for biotechnology companies during a ten year career in the pharmaceutical industry.  Robert is now a functional medicine specialist and fellow of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.