Get those Sunglasses, Baby: B Cell Lymphoma and Vitamin D

I don’t know about you, but I love reading good news about cancer treatment – especially when it offers a cheap, painless solution. Solution may be too strong a word, so let’s say – encouraging sign. A new study was just released that looked at 374 patients who had been newly diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The researchers found 50 percent of the patients in the study deficient in vitamin D. Those patients with deficient vitamin D levels had a 1.5-fold greater risk of disease progression and a two-fold greater risk of dying -- versus patients with optimal vitamin D levels -- after accounting for other patient factors associated with worse outcomes.

What’s even better is that it is fairly easy to maintain vitamin D levels through inexpensive daily supplements or 15 minutes in the sun three times a week in the summer, so that levels can be stored in body fat. (I knew there was a good use for that extra ten pounds I’ve been holding onto!)

Currently, the recommended intakes of vitamin D by age group are 200 International Units per day (IU/d) for young adults, 400 IU/d for those aged 51 to 70 years, and 600 IU/d for those over age 70.