An American study scheduled for a June release compared the health of some 1,200 female patients, some of whom took a vitamin D supplement while others didn't.

The number of patients who reduced their risk of cancer by taking a vitamin D supplement -- 60 percent -- was so unexpectedly high that some initially believed it to be a typographical error.

This study, and many similar ones, may force conventional medicine to re-evaluate its vitamin D recommendations. A deficiency in vitamin D figures into many diseases in addition to cancer. One researcher pointed out, "We don't really know what the status of chronic disease is in the North American population, until we normalize vitamin D status."

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

I just love when I do a major controversial video -- like the one I did on how sunlight can reduce your risk for cancer by 50 percent -- that many said was not true, and a few weeks later a MAJOR study is published confirming precisely what I was saying. 

This has been a regular pattern now for many years. The truth is obvious and as plain as day, and most of the time it does not line up with conventional thinking on the topic. But given time, science seems to catch up to the obvious as they have in this case.

So, after many clashes over countless years, conventional medicine may finally be on the verge of acknowledging the true value of vitamin D and how it can help you reduce your cancer risks.

As I pointed out in a video posted last month, there is a relationship between latitude, sun exposure and mortality rates associated with cancer, of particular importance to folks living in Canada and the Northern United States (hence all the interest paid to this critical health issue in a Toronto-based newspaper).

The best and safest way to get the right amount of vitamin D is through exposing your body to the right and safe amount of sunshine. Should you need to take a supplement or cod liver oil to get the vitamin D you need, however, please have the vitamin D levels in your blood checked often to avoid overdosing.

At least 21,000 Americans die each year from cancer associated with inadequate vitamin D levels, and that number is probably an underestimate. The real number very likely exceeds 50,000. And those numbers refer solely to cancer; they do not even take into account the many other illnesses associated with a vitamin D deficiency.

The economic cost for treating these illnesses has been estimated as being as high as $56 billion in the United States each year, compared to just $6 billion for treating illnesses caused by overexposure to sunlight.

You might want to think about that the next time someone tells you that sunlight causes cancer -- while there are some cancer risks associated with getting enough sun, they are far outweighed by the incredible cancer-prevention benefits.

Related Articles:

Sunlight Actually Prevents Cancer

Learn Why the Myth of the Sun Causing Skin Cancer Can Hurt Your Health

Discovering the Truth Behind the Sunshine/Skin Cancer Myth