Colon Cancer? You MUST Read This

Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death among men and women. 

But it doesn’t have to be. 

If you get a routine colon cancer screening, you can catch polyps and have them removed before they have a chance to become cancerous. 

And for the estimated 100,000 cases of colorectal cancer that will be diagnosed this year, there’s good news. 

Researchers have identified a natural substance that can help delay the progression of this deadly disease. 

This clinical trial was called the SUNSHINE trial and for good reason.  

Researchers wanted to see if adding high doses of vitamin D – the hormone your body makes from direct sunlight – to standard chemotherapy could improve the outcome in colorectal cancer patients. 

The test included 139 patients with untreated metastatic colorectal cancer (meaning it had already spread to other parts of the body). Half took high-dose vitamin D (8,000 IU per day) for 14 days, and then a lower dose of 4,000 IU/day for the rest of the time. 

The second group took a low dose of 400 IU of vitamin D per day for the entire trial period. 

The patients also received standard chemotherapy. 

Ultimately, the group taking the higher dose of vitamin D experienced a 13-month delay of disease progression, while the lower dose group experienced an 11-month delay. 

As an added benefit, at the nearly two-year mark, the high-dose group was still less likely to experience disease progression – or even death.   

I would like to have seen a third group that only received the chemo (and no vitamin D) to see what kind of difference the vitamin D made compared to standard therapy alone, but I’m still happy to see positive results with one of my favorite nutrients. 

Typically, I would recommend getting most of your vitamin D from sunshine, but if you’d like to try using vitamin D to help combat your colorectal cancer, I’d advise following the same guidelines outlined in the study. 

If it’s possible to prevent the disease from progressing from simply adding vitamin D to your standard treatment – something that’s safe, natural, and inexpensive – why not give it a try? 

Given the high death rates from this type of cancer, every little bit counts.