Vitamin D

As you might remember, my own Vitamin D levels are astoundingly good. I've been popping D for over a year (and forcing my wife to do the same -- her levels are even better than mine). I've resisted discussing Vitamin D in Lympho Bob because it's kind of controversial, and I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking it's some kind of cure-all.

But last week, Dr. Rebecca Elstrom posted a short piece on the blog New Developments in Lymphoma, which is put out by the Lymphoma Program at Cornell Med. Elstrom does a nice job of explaining the implications of Vitamin D for Lymphoma patients, in a post called, appropriately enough, "Vitamin D and Lymphoma."

Basically, there's some promise in the idea that there might be a link between Vitamin D and lymphoma. This is based on research from last year that found that some patients with lymphoma had a lower survival rate if their D levels were low. Elstrom is clear in pointing out that the low D may not be the cause of the lower survival rate; it might be, for instance, that those patients had other problems that caused both their lymphoma issues and their low D.

But it's certainly an intriguing connection, especially given all of the other news that's come out about the importance of Vitamin D for other health issues. On the other hand, those who decide what our recommended daily allowance should be are not in a hurry to raise that umber. But since my own doctor seems convinced that my levels should have been higher than they were last year, and is pleased that they're up now, I'm going to keep up with the D. And, of course, keep up with research that looks into the D/Cancer connection.