Letter from the Director

Today is the start of a 2-week, online summit on Cancer Prevention. Hosted by Integrated Health International, this summit includes 30 talks from experts in integrative and alternative health.  

 
It is free to register - just click here. There are two presentations to choose from daily, airing at 12:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. PST. I did an interview with Jean Swann, a holistic health professional and broadcast journalist, entitled "Vitamin D and Cancer Prevention." Many of you know the benefits of having a serum level of 40-60 ng/ml for cancer prevention, but I shared some new research by our lead researcher, Dr. Cedric Garland. My talk can be viewed on September 7th, at 5:00 p.m. PST and will be available for 48 hours after airing.

Today's newsletter is the start of a three-part series on crowdfunding. This has become a wave for startup companies on the Internet, but from my knowledge GrassrootsHealth is the first public health project to be crowdfunded. I thank you for your participation and as you read the newsletter, I encourage you to reach out to others. The more people participate - the more people we help, the more data we collect, the more papers we publish, and the faster we move the research into practice.  

It is an exciting time! 

Carole Baggerly 

Director, GrassrootsHealth

A Public Health Promotion & Research Organization

Moving Research into Practice NOW!

Background of vitamin D research and findings

A quick search of "vitamin D" and "prevention" in published medical journals will uncover vitamin D research dating back to 1935. Almost all of the research is related to bone health, or as was explained in our newsletter last week, how the endocrine system absorbs, stores, and uses vitamin D. The goal of most of this research was to find a cure for rickets and to help children grow properly.  

Still today, much of the research on vitamin D is on bone health, but there is a growing number of research scientists studying how it can prevent disease - scientists such as Dr. Cedric Garland, Dr. William Grant, Dr. Robert Heaney, Dr. Michael Holick, Dr. Bruce Hollis, Dr. Carol Wagner, and Dr. Reinhold Vieth to name a few.  

In 2007 GrassrootsHealth was born

After diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, then finding out that vitamin D sufficiency might have prevented the whole thing, Carole Baggerly wanted to act. She had retired from the company she had founded, was a breast cancer survivor and wanted to make a difference. But how? She founded GrassrootsHealth.

GrassrootsHealth is unique because it is based on science. Today 42 leading scientists in the vitamin D community are part of the GrassrootsHealth panel and regularly provide input, answer questions, or record video presentations on the latest in vitamin D research. These scientists authored and signed the "Scientists call to D*action" - the manifesto of GrassrootsHealth, which was originally published in 2008 and updated in January 2011. Have you read it?

In October 2008, in association with Dr. Cedric Garland, GrassrootsHealth published The "Disease Incidence Prevention by Serum 25(OH)D Level" chart and Carole traveled the world to find people who would listen and take action. Would the government stand up? Not yet. Would national health institutes stand up? Not yet. Would doctors stand up? Some did, but the majority were not yet ready. The primary movers were - and still are - individuals.

Thousands of people were learning about the importance of vitamin D and wanted to have their vitamin D levels tested, but they couldn't get it done through their medical plans. How could they get tested? They joined D*action.  

Crowdfunding and the power of data

D*action was started in 2009 and is the world's largest vitamin D  project with participants in the range of 40-60 ng/ml, totaling almost 10,000 participants. Rather than depend on a government research grant, D*action relied on the essence of crowdfunding whereby each participant has paid for their own vitamin D serum level test and in-turn receives relevant data about their health and how to combat and prevent disease. Their data is then pooled with that from other participants for analysis and publication about the status and health measures of this population. An objective of GrassrootsHealth is to collect data for each participant over the course of five years (or longer) and track health outcomes associated with vitamin D sufficiency.  

Vitamin D deficiency and its negative health consequences do not need to exist. This project depends on a true 'GrassrootsHealth' movement. We can do it together!

What have we found so far?

One of the first posters we created and promoted was "Serum levels vs. intake." From your data we were able to de-bunk the standard medical practice at the time - which was a blanket recommendation from NIH to take 400 IU/day (yes, that is right, there is no missing '0') for humans 1-70, including pregnant women; and 600 IU/day for those over 70. No testing. That was considered enough.  

Much like you cannot know a person's cholesterol level by just examining their diet, your data has proven that vitamin D serum levels cannot be known just by examining intake. Testing is necessary.

Another standard of practice at the time was that vitamin D was unsafe in higher intake levels, that anything above 2000 IU/day would lead to vitamin D toxicity. D*action data showed (and you can see by the blue line on the chart) that greater than 4000 IU/day the curve starts to taper off and we see it is very hard to get to potentially toxic levels (200 ng/ml). We also used D*action data to publish a paper demonstrating that higher levels of 25(OH)D did not lead to kidney stones, as many doctors learned in medical school.  

Breast Cancer Prevention

Based on the Lappe et al. publication in 2007, which showed an overall cancer reduction of 77% with a serum level of approximately 40 ng/ml; GrassrootsHealth embarked on a specific study with women over 60 who were cancer-free at the time of enrollment. The goal was to demonstrate the protective effect of improved vitamin D status on the risk of breast cancer.

As of our most recent analysis, 839 are still cancer-free and have an median of 50 ng/ml 25(OH)D. Five women have been diagnosed with breast cancer; four of these women had 25(OH)D values below the median.Overall there was an 80% reduction in breast cancer among those ≥50 ng/ml compared to those <50 ng/ml. Click here to view the full poster. 

According to the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer Statistics, 232,670 new cases of breast cancer are expected in 2014 with 40,000 deaths. With a potential 80% reduction in breast cancer risk, 186,136 of these women would never face a breast cancer diagnosis.  

What women in your life would you like to tell this to?  

Do you know someone that would qualify for this study?

Call to D*action

You already know the benefits of vitamin D for disease prevention. Next week we will highlight more findings from your data. Today, you  can continue to be part of the study by continuing to test your vitamin D serum level.  

We are expecting to demonstrate the significance of vitamin D on the health and prevention of many diseases for individuals and at a population level. We very much appreciate your participation. Help us spread the word.

I remember the first time I heard about vitamin D. I was on a running trail talking with a friend, while two of my very small children were being babysat. It was a time in my life where I was searching for ways to stay ahead of the health curve. Like many of you I nodded and continued running, and later did some web surfing. Could vitamin D really be better than vitamin C for colds? If I gave it to my infant could it really prevent colds and flus? Cancer?

Like you, I googled and read and found out how important it was and was invited to join the fight. For me, my contribution to the fight was with GrassrootsHealth helping to organize events and get the word out. For you, it was to order the test - to talk to friends - to spread the word on Facebook. For some of you in the future it may be a Norma-Rae-type vigilance in your community that helps to start a groundswell.  

What is your vitamin D passion?

Susan Siljander

Marketing Director, GrassrootsHealth

A Public Health Promotion & Research Organization 

Moving Research into Practice NOW!

References

Printable PDF 

Disease Incidence Prevention by Serum 25(OH)D Level

October 2008

Updated August 2012 

Printable PDF

 25-Hydroxyvitamin D in range of 20-100 ng/ml and incidence of kidney stones  

American Journal of Public Health, October 2013

Press release, article

 25(OH)D Serum Levels ≥ 50 ng/ml may provide additional Reduction in Breast Cancer Risk

American Society for Nutrition
Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting
San Diego, CA, April 26-30, 2014

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on Facebook! Click on the top left social share buttons to share this entire newsletter. 

You can prevent disease if just one more person finds out about the preventative properties of vitamin D and starts moving their blood serum levels to 40-60 ng/ml. 

The Role of the Parent Compound Vitamin D with Respect to Metabolism and Function: Why Clinical Dose Intervals Can Affect Clinical Outcomes

Bruce W. Hollis

J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2013

Full Publication 

   

Meta-analysis of Vitamin D Sufficiency for Improving Survival of Patients with Breast Cancer

Cedric F. Garland

Anticancer Research, 2014

Full Publication