The Vitamin D Council
Vitamin D

Executive Director: John Cannell, MD

Vitamin D Council

[The Vitamin D Newsletter December, 2007] Does vitamin D prevent cancer?    Both Canadians and Americans are shocked to think their doctors care about money, are in the illness business.  In some ways people think of their doctors like they do their local public schools.  They know medicine is a business and know doctors do things for money but they don't think their own doctors do. 
      The fact is that doctors, hospitals, regional cancer centers, and the cancer drug manufacturers are all in business to make money and all of these businesses make money off the sick, not off the well.  Just a fact, but, as Aldous Huxley once observed, "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
       Vitamin D will save the Canadian government enormous amounts of money but will cause widespread economic disruption in the USA.  Do the physicians leading the American Cancer Society have strong economic ties to the cancer industry in the form of patents, stock options, and consulting fees?  If so, what do you expect them to do?  What would you do?  It's simple.  You would believe what you have to believe, what you need to believe, that is, anything with the word "vitamin" in it is simply the latest Laetrile. 
       Look to Canada, not the USA, to lead the way. Dr. Lichtenfeld, implied the Canadian Cancer Society has acted precipitously in recommending that all Canadians take 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily.  He implied that Americans should placidly wait until more randomized controlled trials, such as Lappe JM, et al (above), accumulate before they address their vitamin D deficiency. That is, nothing should be done until more randomized controlled trials prove vitamin D prevents cancer, one randomized controlled trial is not enough; epidemiological studies are not enough, animal studies are not enough, multiple anti-cancer mechanisms of action are not enough?  If that is his position, I challenge him to point to one human randomized controlled trial that proves smoking is dangerous? If he cannot, then he must admit that the American Cancer Society's position on smoking is entirely derived from epidemiological studies, animal studies, and a demonstrable mechanism of action, not on human randomized controlled trials?  Vitamin D not only has hundreds of epidemiological studies, thousand of animal studies, and at least four anti-cancer mechanisms of action, vitamin D deficiency has something smoking does not have, it has a high quality randomized controlled trial.  If future randomized controlled trials fail to show vitamin D prevents cancer - and Dr. Lichtenfeld better hope they do - he can have the satisfaction of saying "I told you so."  If future randomized controlled trials confirm vitamin D prevents cancer, then he needs to look at his hands, the red he sees is the blood of needless cancer deaths.