A group of California vitamin D researchers have significantly advanced the vitamin D story this month by proposing a new model by which vitamin D prevents the spread of irregular or cancerous cells — adding another function to the growing list of natural activities attributed to the Sunshine Vitamin.

“In studying the preventive effects of vitamin D, researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, have proposed a new model of cancer development that hinges on a loss of cancer cells’ ability to stick together,” Science Daily reported last week. “The model, dubbed DINOMIT, differs substantially from the current model of cancer development, which suggests genetic mutations as the earliest driving forces behind cancer.”

The Science Daily article quotes lead researcher Dr. Cedric Garland as saying, “The first event in cancer is loss of communication among cells due to, among other things, low vitamin D and calcium levels. In this new model, we propose that this loss may play a key role in cancer by disrupting the communication between cells that is essential to healthy cell turnover, allowing more aggressive cancer cells to take over.”

Garland, an epidemiologist, is a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine.

According to Science Daily, “Garland suggests that such cellular disruption could account for the earliest stages of many cancers. He said that previous theories linking vitamin D to certain cancers have been tested and confirmed in more than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basis stems from more than 2,500 laboratory studies.”

The amount of vitamin D necessary to attain high enough vitamin D blood levels to perform this function are consistent only with regular UV exposure. Humans are intended to live in sunny climates — not northerly climates or indoor living. Moving out of sunny climates and indoors has led to mass vitamin D deficiency.

To read the Science Daily story click here.