The article of the month of November- Cancer & Vitamin D, Dr. Vranken

Last month we were celebrating Pink October. For the month of November, Dr. Vranken was keen to comment on the importance of vitamin D, and its anti-inflammatory properties, for women and how it could prevent breast cancer.

“The leaves are falling, the weather is getting cooler, sunny days are rare, we are almost in winter! It’s time to think about vitamin D supplementation because we produce our vitamin D by exposing ourselves to the sun.

An American study that was done with 5000 women aged 60 or older showed that with high serum vitamin D levels (in the blood), the risk of breast cancer was 5 times lower compared to women who had a low serum vitamin D level. It is therefore advisable to supplement in winter since we will produce less. And, in Belgium, our beautiful but sunnyless country, this supplementation should continue throughout the year for people with vitamin deficiencies.

We can also try to improve our production via our food!

Foods naturally rich in vitamin D are: fatty fish, raw egg yolk, clarified butter, veal liver … and cod liver oil. Small fatty fish such as sardines, anchovies, herring are the least polluted. Tuna and salmon are unfortunately quite polluted with mercury.

Note that taking vitamin D should be done with a fatty meal because this vitamin is fat-soluble. This means that it will be absorbed only in the presence of fat in our digestive tract.

It is a simple and inexpensive way for women to protect themselves against breast cancer and to optimize their health!”