Researchers Find Links Among Vitamin D, Calcium Levels and Cancer
The Calcium Connection: A Revolutionary Diet and Health Program to Reduce Hypertension, Prevent Osteoporosis and Lower the Risk of Cancer by Dr. Cedric Garland and Dr. Frank Garland with Ellen Thro (G. P. Putnam’s Sons: $27.98, 254 pp., illustrated)
The principal authors in this revealing book are medical researchers. Dr. Frank Garland is head of the occupational medicine department at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, and an assistant adjunct professor in community and family medicine at UC San Diego. His brother, Dr. Cedric Garland, is director of the epidemiology program of the Cancer Center and an assistant professor at UC San Diego. In other words, the credentials are not only impeccable, but each of their specialties dove-tailed in research that led to the premise of the book.
Their message that the deficiencies in calcium absorption are profoundly affected by the level of Vitamin D in the body and that the effect is linked to risks of cancer, which can be prevented with appropriate dietary changes, is relatively new. So new in fact, that the authors are laying their careers on the line.
“I’m willing to say the connection is scientifically absolute and put my career on the line,” said Cedric Garland. “We are leading this field and trying to effect a change in this country in the way people eat. We think we’ve found the link that was missing in understanding this cancer disease. It will take time to convince everyone, but we expect it to occur,” Cedric Garland said.
So far, several scientific papers on the subject have emerged, giving credence and support to the Garlands’ theories, according to Garland.
The authors have spent almost 10 years attempting to clarify the calcium, Vitamin D and cancer connection. “We presented the theory was presented in 1980 and we’ve been trying to support it with evidence ever since,” explained Garland.
Where you live and how you live has much to do with the way your body absorbs calcium, the authors discovered. Because Vitamin D is produced primarily by exposure to sunlight, its role in the amount of calcium the body absorbs becomes an important factor in the calcium connection.
They discovered that Vitamin D was linked to calcium deficiency and cancer by following epidemiological studies.
A newly computed epidemiological map of the United States formulated by the National Cancer Institute showed that areas of low cancer rates occured more frequently in the Sun Belt areas while high mortality rates of cancer occured in the northern half of the country, particularly in the northeast. What was the significance of sunlight with regard to cancer rates? Sunlight, apparently, reacts with cholesterol inside and on the surface of the skin to create Vitamin D, missing in the understanding of this cancer disease.
“It looked as if someone had drawn a heavy line along the 37th parallel--through the middle of California, and the tops of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Virtually all the places with high mortality from breast and intestinal cancer were north of this line, whereas those with low mortality were south of it. The white low-cancer areas were far more frequent in the sun belt. . . . Cedric Garland had a flash of inspiration. Could the rates for intestinal and breast cancer be connected somehow with sunlight? Our first step in answering the question was to try to eliminate other possible explanations for the geographic differences. . .” write the Garlands with novel-like urgency, a rare look for the reader in following the scientific path of discovery.
The authors believe that deaths due to cancer of the breast, the most frequent cancer in women, may be prevented with controlled intakes of Vitamin D and calcium. The highest rates for breast cancer were found in cities where sunlight was most scarce (New York, Washington, Chicago, Cleveland and Boston.) The lowest rates happen to exist in cities that receive the highest amounts of sunlight in the United States. Urban architecture, pollution and life styles have much to do with cancer statistics, as well. (City smog from pollutants depletes ultraviolet light before it reaches the ground.)
Research on calcium and the way it works in the body opened new vistas of understanding of its role not only in certain cancers (breast and intestinal) and osteoporosis, the bone-depleting disease of middle and old age, but also in hypertension. Studies show that one may be able to reduce blood pressure by eight to 10 points if potassium levels are increased to 3,000 mg. and calcium taken in recommended amounts.
Also, an increase in Vitamin D levels to recommended amounts (given in the book) may cut blood pressure reading by several additional points, particularly for women. “Calcium must be absorbed in order to reduce your blood pressure, and Vitamin D helps your body absorb the calcium you take in and make it usable,” the authors said. Guidelines for increasing calcium intake and absorption are given.
According to the authors, three hormones regulate calcium in the body; only one, Vitamin D, is to some extent, voluntarily controlled.
Here’s how the authors explain the phenomenon: “Vitamin D is the only vitamin that has both a dietary and nondietary source. It is present in a few foods, such as fortified milk and some kinds of fish, but what makes Vitamin D so unique is that it’s also produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Sunshine activates the cholesterol on the skin, creating provitamin-D. A reaction requiring body heat transforms this to Vitamin D, which is transported to the liver and kidneys in sequence, where each adds a molecule to it. The final product is transported to the small intestine, where it directs the cells lining in the intestine to produce a calcium-binding protein from a part of their DNA or genetic material. This protein then lies in wait, ready to yank in any unsuspecting calcium coming through the intestine. Once hooked, the calcium is carried everywhere in the body it is needed, including the breast and the rest of the intestine. Without Vitamin D, most of the calcium is cast off, completely unused.”
Part one of the book explains how calcium affects health and offers a guide to use for measuring Vitamin D and usable calcium in the diet. You also get a list of food known as “calcium robbers”--foods that bind up and make calcium unusable. Caffeine and alcohol are well-known calcium robbers; bran, Swiss chard, nuts, spinach, barley, bulgur, beets and oats are among several others that are also listed as calcium robbers, but are good foods say nutrition experts and should be used in moderation, not in too-large amounts.
The second section of the book gives a diet to assure adequate intake of natural calcium within a diet that allows for 60% complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables and grains), 20% protein and 20% fat along with a group of 100 fairly imaginative recipes that are rich in calcium.
The authors offer two separate diets--one for a normal 2,000-calorie diet for women (2,700 for men) and the other for a low-calorie losing diet at 1,200 calories for both men and women. Both contain intakes of 800 mg. of calcium, which meets the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for adults.
According to Lisa Jakobsberg, a registered dietitian with the Greater New York Dietetic Assn., both diets are nutritionally balanced and center around good sources of calcium and Vitamin D rather than taking calcium supplements. Readers are advised to consult a physician if supplements are used.
The recipes with colorful names of places in California sound enticing and seem to cater to people who love to cook. Lasagna Live Oaks, vegetable-yogurt loaf Tecopa, rice pilaf Ranchita, oysters Pirate Cove, chicken Carlsbad, with milk included in its various forms. We like the La Jolla shake made with tofu, skim milk, fruit and fructose, offered as a standard daily low-calorie breakfast drink, which adequately supplies the calcium needed daily. However, the calories are high (600), which means that strict adherence to the diet is necessary to prevent consuming too many calories. Without it, adequate calcium intake might be difficult to achieve. Still, it is a good drink to keep in mind if you are concerned about calcium intake.
The charts are worth the price of the book. There is a chart on calcium, calorie and fat contents in some popular prepared foods, a chart giving oxalate in foods (oxalates bind calcium, making it unavailable), another chart on sources of potassium, and there is a chart giving mineral levels of drinking water in major U.S. cities (the most healthful waters have high levels of calcium). Another chart serves as a calcium counter.
LA JOLLA SHAKE
10 ounce carton soft tofu
2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup fresh fruit
2 tablespoons fructose
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 ice cubes
Place tofu, milk, fruit, fructose, vanilla and ice cubes in blender and process until smooth and frothy. Makes 4 servings.
