Vitamin D is getting a lot of press recently about its health value. Vitamin deficiency is known to contribute to many health conditions, most studied recently is cancer. Additional research suggests that vitamin D can prevent autoimmune conditions and vitamin D supplementation can also help with inflammatory bowel conditions such as Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. Vitamin D3 is the most active form of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D supplements lengthen life has been found by researchers who have reviewed 18 studies involving 57,000 people and found that higher blood levels of vitamin D in subjects that took vitamin D supplements resulted in longer life and decreases in cancer and heart disease. More great news for the sunshine vitamin. Funny though, they still can’t wrap their little brains around the idea that nutrients from food and from supplements can positively effect health outcomes.

It seems that each and every study released has some underlying belief that this couldn’t be that true and in light of other studies, the validity of taking your vitamins remains in question.

If you come from the perspective that the only valid treatment is to do what you do…prescribe drugs…then all else has to be discounted.

A few comments from the research team and reporter:

“The new finding, published in the Sept. 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, is a bit of an anomaly, because the benefits of vitamin supplements remains uncertain at best. While they are often touted as a means of reducing risks for cancer and heart disease, some studies have found supplements have no effect on these conditions.”

“…And prior research suggests that multivitamin supplements do nothing to reduce cancer risk…”

How untrue this is. Certainly, there have been studies that dispute the efficacy of a certain vitamin, mineral or herb. But why? Three main reasons.

First, are the researchers truly independent without an agenda? Almost all studies are funded through pharmaceutical companies. They don’t have a great interest in finding that all natural substances are effective. They can’t patent them.

Second, too many variables have to be accounted for and surprisingly, scientists don’t account for them all. While they may test for vitamin E as to its value for a certain condition, they remain focused on that substance and don’t account for other nutrients, dietary choices, genetics and past patient history. They just want to know how much vitamin E you took in everyday.

Third, conditions like cancer and other chronic health conditions are more complex than the scientists give them credit for. They wish to believe that the cancer is caused by the same thing in every person, so correspondingly, it must be solved by the same treatment, vitamin, etc. in every person. That’s thinking doomed to failure.

And the quote I love the most…”This finding could lead to new drugs to fight cancer and other diseases, the lead researcher said.” What? How about just taking some vitamin D in supplement form? These guys just can’t get their brains off their prescription pad and out of the pharmaceutical company’s pocket.

The best form of vitamin D supplementation is with a type called vitamin D3.