Vitamin D and Cancer

More vitamin D intake may be needed to cut cancer risk.
HealthDay (2/27, Dotinga) reported that it "takes far more vitamin D than initially thought to dramatically cut the risk of several major diseases, including breast cancer," according to a study in the in the journal Anticancer Research. The study was based on a survey of "several thousand people who took supplements ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 IU per day. ... 'We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4,000-8,000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases -- breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes,'" said study co-author Dr. Cedric Garland from the University of California in a news release. The Institute of Medicine's recommended daily level is only "600 IU."