The melanin that African-Americans have can minimize their chances of skin cancer, but it can also lead to a decrease of Vitamin D if the diet isn’t rich in foods that have it. All people of color need to make a focused effort to incorporate Vitamin D into their lives by any means necessary, or else we all pay the price.
“Researchers measured vitamin D levels in 700 men who had biopsies. They found that low levels of vitamin D were associated with high-grade, more advanced tumors. The study was published in Clinical Cancer Research.
While the study authors concede that “a one-time vitamin D measure may not reflect a chronic deficiency,” they concluded that vitamin D helps protect against prostate cancer.
One way of getting vitamin D is safe exposure to sunlight. But according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, men who live north of 40 degrees latitude — a line above Philadelphia, PA; Columbus, OH; and Provo, UT — have a substantially greater risk due to “inadequate sunlight during three months of the year which reduces vitamin D levels.”
Because vitamin D occurs naturally in very few foods, experts recommend vitamin supplements ranging from 600 – 1,000 international units for men at risk of prostate cancer.” (Physicians News)
