When I first saw the headline, I thought well that is great news.  Then as I read the article I became increasingly alarmed at how once again our tax dollars are being used not to promote science, but to further misinformation about vitamin D.  Here is the headline:

“Roswell Park Team Receives Grant from the National Cancer Institute to Study the Anticancer Effects of Vitamin D”

That sounds really great and noble until you start to read how the trials are being run.  They are not using just plain D3 in the trials but giving directly the active steroid, calcitriol, 1a,25(OH)₂D₃.  What about the other 35 plus metabolites that are produced from the parent, D3?  Another mater of confusion that comes to mind is the calcitriol going to be made from D3 or D2.  You think that I may be picking at something that is not of importance.  However, when there have been over two thousand genes identified that vitamin D impacts; the difference of a methyl group between vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 can be HUGE!  If you do not believe that then go read Dr. Randy Jirtle’s work at Duke University about how metylation affects genetic expression.

From what I have read of the science of vitamin D the metabolites appear to work synergistically for the full benefit of sunshine.  Why would you fund a project that is not part of the normal process of the human body when many studies have already been done to show the necessity of all the derivatives of sunshine?  To help you understand my concern read this statement from vitamin D researchers at the University of California Riverside:

“Over the past 25 years, research efforts have largely focused upon understanding how 1a,25(OH)₂D₃ generates biological responses; an enormous scientific literature of over 5,000 scientific papers exists on this subject. By comparison, the biological actions of 24R,25(OH)₂D₃ have been relatively less studied. However, evidence has been presented to support the view that the combined presence of both 1a,25(OH)₂D₃ and 24R,25(OH)₂D₃ are required to generate the complete spectrum of biological responses attributable to the parent vitamin D.” http://vitamind.ucr.edu/biochem.html and http://vitamind.ucr.edu/about.html

The statement above is amazing but even more amazing when you consider that the dimmers that are formed with other nutrients like vitamin A are necessary for complete genetic expression.

In the words of the TV actor Dr. House these guys may be idiots.  I really feel empathy for the ones participating in the study that could be healed with just plain D3.  DO THE TRIAL WITH LARGE DOSES OF VITAMIN D3!  -Pandemic Survivor