Breast Cancer, Integrative Medicine, and Vitamin D - Part 1
By this point in time all of us are fully aware of the impact of breast cancer upon our families and our society.
The American Cancer Society has estimated that in 2009, there will be over 192,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed and 62,000 new cases of DCIS (localized cancer), with 40,000 women dying of from it.
I am looking forward to the day when October is renamed "Breast Cancer Prevention Month".
Integrative medicine doctors have an increasing toolbox of tests and natural treatments in our armamentarium that can reduce the risk of this cancer or its recurrence, and I see new patients every week who want this extra help.
Prevention is the hallmark of the approach to cancer of the breast.
Once a woman who has been diagnosed with this disease has completed her treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation, she is back in prevention mode.
At that point, she is trying to prevent a recurrence of her cancer.
In the integrative medicine doctors' toolbox there are many approaches to help prevent breast cancer.
These range from correcting estrogen dominance imbalances to detoxification of environmental estrogens from her body, using the techniques of naturopathic medicine.
At the present time, there is no integrative medicine modality for the treatment and prevention of this type of cancer with more data and research than vitamin D.
There is so much information showing that this vitamin, which is really not a vitamin but a hormone, in sufficient daily doses can help protect against this type and many other types of cancer.
Because for the last year I have been focusing my work in integrative medicine through the lens of vitamin D, I would like to review several of the studies showing the importance of sufficient vitamin D to protect against breast cancer, and in my next article I will review several of these studies.
The American Cancer Society has estimated that in 2009, there will be over 192,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed and 62,000 new cases of DCIS (localized cancer), with 40,000 women dying of from it.
I am looking forward to the day when October is renamed "Breast Cancer Prevention Month".
Integrative medicine doctors have an increasing toolbox of tests and natural treatments in our armamentarium that can reduce the risk of this cancer or its recurrence, and I see new patients every week who want this extra help.
Prevention is the hallmark of the approach to cancer of the breast.
Once a woman who has been diagnosed with this disease has completed her treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation, she is back in prevention mode.
At that point, she is trying to prevent a recurrence of her cancer.
In the integrative medicine doctors' toolbox there are many approaches to help prevent breast cancer.
These range from correcting estrogen dominance imbalances to detoxification of environmental estrogens from her body, using the techniques of naturopathic medicine.
At the present time, there is no integrative medicine modality for the treatment and prevention of this type of cancer with more data and research than vitamin D.
There is so much information showing that this vitamin, which is really not a vitamin but a hormone, in sufficient daily doses can help protect against this type and many other types of cancer.
Because for the last year I have been focusing my work in integrative medicine through the lens of vitamin D, I would like to review several of the studies showing the importance of sufficient vitamin D to protect against breast cancer, and in my next article I will review several of these studies.
