A recently published comparing the blood selenium levels of 767 recently diagnosed bladder cancer patients with 1,108 individuals from the general population indicates that selenium levels in the blood is inversely related to bladder cancer incidence among women, some smokers and those with p53 positive bladder cancer.

The data are still preliminary, and there is no causative relationship established indicating that selenium does have chemo-preventive properties, but the data are promising.

“Ultimately, if it is true that selenium can prevent a certain subset of individuals, like women, from developing bladder cancer, or prevent certain types of tumors, such as those evolving through the p53 pathway, from developing, it gives us clues about how the tumors could be prevented in the future and potentially lead to chemopreventive efforts,” Karagas said.

This study is published in the January 2009 issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

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Selenium May Help Prevent Bladder Cancer

These observations build on previously published reports that vitamin K may have an effect on diabetes development via the vitamin K-dependant protein osteocalcin:

By “knocking out” these genes in mice so that they could not function, the animals lacking a functional osteocalcin gene gained fat, showing that osteocalcin helps regulate the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas and release it into the bloodstream.

These osteocalcin deficient mice also became glucose intolerant. Both conditions are considered “pre-diabetic.”

Osteocalcin was also shown to signal fat cells to release a hormone called adiponectin that increases insulin sensitivity (Cell, 2007 Vol. 130, pp. 456-469).

Vitamin K1, also called phylloquinone or phytonadione, (as opposed to Vitamin K2, also termed menaquinones) is found in green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli and spinach.

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Vitamin K1 May Reduce Development of Insulin Resistance

…Canadian researchers analysed the vitamin D intakes of 759 women with breast cancer, and compared this to the vitamin D intakes of 1,135 healthy controls.

Increased intakes of the vitamin were associated with a 24 per cent reduction in the risk of developing ER+ and PR+ tumours, said the researchers. Moreover, increased intakes were also associated with 26 and 21 per cent reductions in the risk of receptor-negative (ER–/PR–) and mixed receptor (ER+/PR–) tumours. However, these last two associations were not significant, said the researchers.

For further reading you may want to refer to the manuscript published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwn198, entitled, “Vitamin D From Dietary Intake and Sunlight Exposure and the Risk of Hormone-Receptor-Defined Breast Cancer”.

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Vitamin D Linked to Reduced Breast Cancer Risks

1. Tomato products, canned, paste, without salt added
2. Orange juice, frozen concentrate, unsweetened, undiluted
3. Beet greens, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt
4. Beans, white, mature seeds, canned
5. Dates, deglet noor
6. Milk, canned, condensed, sweetened
7. Tomato products, canned, puree, without salt added
8. Raisins, seedless
9. Potato, baked, flesh and skin, without salt
10. Grapefruit juice, white, frozen concentrate, unsweetened, undiluted

My favorite among these? Dates and raisins! Add nuts and you have trail mix, which comes #11! To see what other foods are rich in potassium, you may download the list here.

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Top 10 Sources of Potassium

According to the paper, if Americans were able to increase their potassium intake, the number of adults with known hypertension with blood pressure levels higher than 140/90 mm Hg might decrease by more than 10 percent and increase life expectancy. Similar studies show that diets high in magnesium (at least 500 to 1,000 mg/d) and calcium (more than 800 mg/d) may also be associated with both a decrease in blood pressure and risk of developing hypertension. Data regarding these minerals, however, are not definitive.

Potassium, in particular is believed to be one reason why vegetarians and those on primitive diets (high potassium, low sodium) have lower rates of cardiovascular disease.

In isolated societies consuming diets high in fruits and vegetables, hypertension affects only 1 percent of the population, whereas in industrialized countries which consume diets high in processed foods and large amounts of dietary sodium, 1 in 3 persons have hypertension. Americans consume double the sodium and about half of the potassium that is recommended by current guidelines.

Next: Top 10 Sources of Potassium

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Potassium May Reduce Risk of Heart Diseases

Heart muscle cells in untreated rats bred to develop heart failure show signs of disease. Right: Heart muscle cells remain healthy in rats treated with calcitriol, the hormone that Vitamin D becomes in the body. Credit: University of Michigan

In the study, treatments with activated vitamin D prevented heart muscle cells from growing bigger – the condition, called hypertrophy, in which the heart becomes enlarged and overworked in people with heart failure. The treatments prevented heart muscle cells from the over-stimulation and increased contractions associated with the progression of heart failure.

Simple sun exposure (under safe conditions) can make your skin produce activated Vitamin D. In individuals who do not get adequate sun exposure, vitamin D may also be obtained from certain vitamin-D rich or enriched foods, or Vitamin-D supplements. However, the researchers say that people with heart failure or at risk of heart failure will likely need a drug made of a compound or analog of vitamin D that will more powerfully produce vitamin D’s effects in the heart if they are to see improvement in their symptoms.

For more information on the role of Vitamin D in health, here’s a comprehensive report on it, where it also mentions foods containing vitamin D such as fatty fish (mackerel, salmon, sardines), fish liver oils, and eggs from hens that have been fed vitamin D. In addition, look out for Vitamin-D fortified milk,infant formula and other dairy products, cereals and breads, and even orange juice.

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Vitamin D May Prevent Heart Failure

McCann & Ames point out that evidence for vitamin D’s involvement in brain function includes the wide distribution of vitamin D receptors throughout the brain. They also discuss vitamin D’s ability to affect proteins in the brain known to be directly involved in learning and memory, motor control, and possibly even maternal and social behavior. The review also discusses studies in both humans and animals that present suggestive though not definitive evidence of cognitive or behavioral consequences of vitamin D inadequacy.

Vitamin D is naturally present in only a few food items. There are food products such as milk and yogurt that are enriched with Vitamin D, and while our bodies can produce Vitamin D upon sun exposure, many still suffer from Vitamin D deficiency as the efficiency of Vitamin D production is also function of skin tone, making populations with darker skin tone at risk for rickets, bone fractures and possibly other diseases including several types of cancer due to a inadequate vitamin D.

Thus, experts conclude that Vitamin D supplementation is warranted for groups whose vitamin D status is exceptionally low, particularly nursing infants, the elderly, and African Americans.

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Vitamin D in Brain Function, Supplementation May Be Necessary

In a new study, dietary supplementation with vitamin D has been found to reduce children’s likelihood of developing type 1 diabetes by almost 30%. In a more detailed report, it has also been noted that the timing of the supplementation could also have an impact on the type-1 diabetes risk; supplementation of vitamin D-rich cod liver oil between the ages of seven and 12 months at a 45 per cent lower risk, compared to infants supplemented between 0 and six months of age.

For additional reading:

“Vitamin D supplementation in early childhood and risk of type 1 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis“, Archives of Disease in Childhood, doi:10.1136/adc.2007.128579.

Inadequate vitamin D in infants ups type 1 risk.(Metabolic Disorders). Family Practice News.

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Vitamin D Reduces Diabetes Risk in Children

The next question, of course, is how to increase the circulating Vitamin C in your blood. One way is to increase your consumption of fruit and vegetables. Previous studies (see these Medscape and Neurology articles) have shown that a diet rich in fruits and veggies has been linked to a lower risk of stroke.

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Higher Plasma Vitamin C Indicates Lower Risk of Stroke

Leafy vegetables such as spinach and turnip greens, dried beans and peas, fortified cereal products, sunflower seeds and certain other fruits and vegetables are rich sources of folate.

Try out this Kale, Sausage & Lentil Skillet Supper recipe. A serving already covers 79% of the daily value!

For a list of food sources of folate and folic acid, check out the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference and this food chart from the Florida Folic Acid Coalition.

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Foods Rich in Folate