"All my patients are on Vitamin D," said Stefan Glück, clinical director of the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute and UMSylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. "They should [take one vitamin D supplement] per day, or prior to sun exposure, put your sunscreen on 10 minutes after you are exposed."
According to Gluck, those 10 unprotected minutes in the sun give you about 12,000 IUs of vitamin D -- about 12 times the amount you get from taking one vitamin D supplement.
Still, some experts said they refrain from recommending that their cancer patients begin vitamin D supplementation as a preventive measure because of past conflicting evidence on the benefit of such supplementation.
"On the basis of this study, I would not recommend vitamin D supplementation," said Tim Byers, professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics and deputy director at the University of Colorado's Cancer Center. "There have been far too many examples in the past where preliminary studies of this type led to recommendations for supplementation that later we found to be either not helpful or harmful."
Past research has indicated that oversupplementing your vitamin D can be toxic, leading to symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness and weight loss. More seriously, it can also raise blood levels of calcium, causing kidney stones or even heart rhythm abnormalities.
Vitamin D is found in salmon and other oily fish, and is routinely added to milk, but diet accounts for very little of the vitamin D nutrient that enters into the bloodstream. Most people get their vitamin D from dietary supplements. However, the simplest way to get your daily dose of vitamin D is from the sun's ultraviolet rays, which naturally trigger vitamin D synthesis.
Vitamin D is essential for promoting calcium absorption in the stomach and maintaining bone health, immune function and reduction of inflammation.
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