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Vitamin D is the single largest modifiable risk factor
for breast cancer prevention.
Research showing evidence of primary prevention has been available since 2007.

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Purchase the Reducing Breast Cancer Risks eBooklet, a compilation of charts and research on reducing the the risk of breast (and other cancers) and improving cancer outcomes with vitamin D!
Purchase the Reducing Breast Cancer Risks eBooklet Here

Evidence #1

A randomized trial published in 2007 showed a 77% reduction in the incidence of all cancers in women with vitamin D levels greater than or equal to 38 ng/ml (95 nmol/L) as compared to vitamin D levels less than 29 ng/ml (72 nmol/L).

Read more about this trial.

Evidence #2

Another randomized trial in 2017 showed a 35% reduction in all cancer incidence with vitamin D levels greater than 55 ng/ml (137 nmol/L) as compared to vitamin D levels less than 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L).

Lappe cancer fig C 2017 b

Read more about this trial.

Evidence #3

A study published in 2016 by GrassrootsHealth showed a 71% reduction in all cancer risk when women had vitamin D levels greater than or equal to 40 ng/ml (100 nmol/L) as compared with vitamin D levels less than 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L).

Read more about this paper.

Evidence #4

A study published in 2018 of a pooled analysis of Lappe’s two RCTs (2007, N=1129 and 2016, N=2196) and the GrassrootsHealth Cohort (N=1713) showed that women with 25(OH)D concentrations ≥60 ng/ml had an 80% lower risk of breast cancer than women with concentrations <20 ng/ml, adjusted for age, BMI, smoking status and calcium supplement intake.

Read more about this study.

Purchase the Reducing Breast Cancer Risks eBooklet, a compilation of charts and research on reducing the the risk of breast (and other cancers) and improving cancer outcomes with vitamin D!
Purchase the Reducing Breast Cancer Risks eBooklet Here

The GrassrootsHealth Nutrient Field Trial methodology for moving research into practice

Prevent Breast Cancer NOW! is a Field Trial of GrassrootsHealth designed to be implemented in any community (a business, a city, a hospital), using our methodology for moving nutrient research into practice. This model was developed and tested over 7 years, with over 10,000 participants, through GrassrootsHealth’s D*action project.

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Purpose of the Prevent Breast Cancer NOW! Field Trial

D*action is an international public health field trial started by GrassrootsHealth to help solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic. It currently involves over 10,000 individuals world-wide. Its principal method consists of two efforts: 1) providing educational material concerning vitamin D status, and 2) providing information about the participants’ own vitamin D status, thereby allowing participants to adjust their vitamin D intake to achieve desired levels. The database which GrassrootsHealth has created contains anonymized health status information provided by the enrollees. This database is available to qualified scientists for the testing of various hypotheses.

As a community-based subset of this larger D*action project, Prevent Breast Cancer NOW! is focused specifically on breast cancer prevention. The intervention, as with the larger project, consists of the provision of educational materials and information about the participants’ own vitamin D status, its impact on breast cancer, testing vitamin D levels and gathering anonymized health status information from the participants.

A minimum of 1000 individuals in each community are expected to participate. Results of this project will be taken to public health officials and translated to the population at large to help all individuals decrease their chances of getting breast cancer, and to also change the focus from finding a cure or early detection to primary prevention.

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Over 10 years of research…

There have been many studies on vitamin D and breast cancer that demonstrate a lower risk of breast cancer when women raise their serum 25(OH)D levels. Below are some of the key findings from the last 10 years:

71% lower risk of cancer
In April 2016, GrassrootsHealth partnered with leading vitamin D and cancer researchers Dr’s Garland, Gorham, Heaney and Lappe to publish a paper focused on achieved vitamin D serum levels and cancer incidence.  We found that women with vitamin D serum levels greater than or equal to 40 ng/ml had a 71% lower risk of cancer than women with serum levels less than 20 ng/ml.

70% reduction in breast cancer risk
A 2013 case control study at UCSD School of Medicine, Mohr et al.  found that the three months prior to tumor diagnosis was a relevant window of time for cancer prevention and that those with vitamin D levels ≥35 ng/ml had a 70% reduction in risk of developing breast cancer than those with levels <15 ng/ml.

57% reduction in breast cancer risk
Bilinski et. al. demonstrated in a 2013 case control study that women with 25(OH)D levels ≥30 ng/ml had an almost 60% reduction in risk of breast cancer compared to those with levels <10 ng/ml.  Among women younger than 50 years old, there was a 71% reduction in risk and among women 50 years and older there was a 55% reduction in risk.

63% reduction in breast cancer risk
In a 2012 case control study, Yao et. al. found that women with 25(OH)D levels ≥30 ng/ml had more than a 60% reduction in breast cancer risk compared to women with levels <20 ng/ml.  Among post-menopausal women, there was a 71% reduction.

59% reduction in breast cancer risk
In a 2012 case control study, Peppone et. al. found that those with 25(OH)D levels ≥32 ng/ml had an almost 60% reduction in breast cancer risk compared to women with levels ≤20 ng/ml.

55% reduction in breast cancer risk
In a 2009 case control study, Abbas et al. found that women with 25(OH)D levels ≥24 ng/ml had more than a 50% reduction in risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer compared to those with levels <12 ng/ml.

62% reduction in breast cancer risk
In a 2009 case control study, Rejnmark found that pre-menopausal women with 25(OH)D levels ≥34 ng/ml had more than a 60% reduction in breast cancer risk compared to women with levels <24 ng/ml.

54% reduction in breast cancer risk
In a 2009 case control study, Crew et. al. found that post-menopausal women with 25(OH)D levels ≥40 ng/ml had more than a 50% reduction in breast cancer risk compared to women with levels <20 ng/ml.

69% reduction in breast cancer risk:
In a 2008 case control study, Abbas et al. found that those with 25(OH)D levels ≥30 ng/ml had an almost 70% reduced risk of post-menopausal breast cancer compared to those with levels <12 ng/ml.

77% reduction in all non-skin cancer incidence
A 2007 randomized clinical trial at Creighton University led by Joan Lappe, PhD, RN, FAAN, found that a dose of 1100 IU/day of vitamin D along with 1400-1500 mg/day of calcium helped women aged 55 and older raise their average serum vitamin D level to 38 ng/ml (from a baseline of 29 ng/ml) and prevent approximately 4 out of 5, or 80%, of all invasive cancers including breast cancer.

83% reduction in breast cancer risk
Lowe et al. demonstrated in a 2005 case control study that women with serum levels of >60 ng/ml had more than a five-fold (80%) reduction in breast cancer risk compared to women with levels <20 ng/ml.

 

 

Higher Vitamin D is Associated with Increased Breast Cancer Patient Survival

Breast cancer patients with high levels of vitamin D in their blood are twice as likely to survive the disease as women with low levels of this nutrient, report University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers in the March issue of Anticancer Research.

University of California, San Diego, March 6, 2014 — In previous studies, Cedric F. Garland, DrPH, professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, showed that low vitamin D levels were linked to a high risk of premenopausal breast cancer. That finding, he said, prompted him to question the relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D – a metabolite produced by the body from the ingestion of vitamin D – and breast cancer survival rates.

Garland and colleagues performed a statistical analysis of five studies of 25-hydroxyvitamin D obtained at the time of patient diagnosis and their follow-up for an average of nine years. Combined, the studies included 4,443 breast cancer patients.

“Vitamin D metabolites increase communication between cells by switching on a protein that blocks aggressive cell division,” said Garland. “As long as vitamin D receptors are present tumor growth is prevented and kept from expanding its blood supply. Vitamin D receptors are not lost until a tumor is very advanced. This is the reason for better survival in patients whose vitamin D blood levels are high.”…read full article

Mammography or Primary Prevention…

An Open Letter to the New York Times

by Dr. Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H.
12/7/09

Editor, New York Times:

We have closely followed the stories in the Times about the mammography controversy. The coverage has been thorough and superb.

The controversy is about a procedure that, at best, reduces mortality by 15% and does nothing toward primary prevention.

It is not widely realized that most breast cancer is preventable. While the scientific literature reveals many strategies for prevention of breast cancer, the simplest is elimination of the vitamin D deficiency. This is the main known cause of breast cancer. Raising the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level to 40-60 ng/ml could prevent 75-80% of breast cancer incidence (and deaths, of course).

While deciding on the issue of mammography, action can be taken today to raise the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D to appropriate levels.

Sincerely yours,

Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H., F.A.C.E.
Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California San Diego
Participating Member, Moores UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, California


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