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American Morning
New Research Suggests Drinking Milk May Protect You From Getting Colon Cancer
Aired May 17, 2002 - 08:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Got milk? Don't get it just to build healthy bones. New research out today suggests that drinking milk and other good sources of vitamin D may actually protect you from getting colon cancer. Joining us from Atlanta with more on the study, CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Boy, this is good news, isn't it?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's good news and it's a big deal.
Paula, as you know, colon cancer is the number two cancer killer out there, just behind lung cancer. And high-fat diets are probably the biggest culprit. There are some other risk factors for colon cancer, such as eating red meat, alcohol intake, cigarette smoking. But it is those high-fat diets that really seem to be causing this degree of colon cancer, and specifically what happens is the more high fat you eat, the more of a very toxic substance known as lipocolic acid. The name's not that important. But it's just acid that's produced that subsequently causes colon cancer. This is really bad stuff.
If you put it in the intestines of animals, it almost invariably causes colon cancer just by itself. So you can imagine how toxic it is.
But now the good news, vitamin D and calcium, actually. Vitamin D alone, about 400 to 600 units of that will actually reverse, detoxify some of the effects of this lipocolic acid, thus reducing the amount of colon cancer that people get. So therein is the good news, Paula.
ZAHN: All right, so is that the specific recommendation of how much you are supposed to take, that 400, whatever that reading was?
GUPTA: I asked the researchers who conducted this trial about this point exactly. You get a lot of vitamin D just being out there in the sunlight. Fifteen minutes of sun exposure three times a day will probably give you the vitamin D that you need. But if you're someone that invariably eats a high-fat diet or you're at risk for colon cancer in some way, you can take up to 400 to 600 units, international units that is, of vitamin D, but you got to supplement that as well with calcium, so that you don't get any of the negative effects of this vitamin D. About 1,800 milligrams of calcium as well.
ZAHN: OK, what would be the negative effects of too much vitamin D, if you don't supplement it with this calcium?
GUPTA: What happens with vitamin D, it actually draws calcium out of your bones and things like that. Vitamin D is a calcium binder. So it actually draws the calcium out, and therefore, you might get things like osteoporosis, which is something we hear a lot about in postmenopausal women, who are told to take calcium anyways. But if you supplement the vitamin D with calcium, it should countereffect the likelihood of getting osteoporosis.
ZAHN: So once again, if you combine it with the calcium, 400 to 600 units and no more than that?
GUPTA: That's really what they say. Anything can be toxic if you take too much of it, including vitamin D. So you really don't to take more than 400 or 600 units of it. If you take that much, you can still countereffect the effects of things like osteoporosis by taking additional calcium. If you start taking more than that, you could start getting into trouble with things like brittle bones and problems with you calcium..
ZAHN: So let's talk a little bit more about the researchers not only believe that you can prevent colon cancer, but if you already have colon cancer, is vitamin D effective in fighting it?
GUPTA: Yes, and that's a very important point. This lipocolic acid again, this thing causes problems within the intestines, including DNA mutations, proliferation of tissue, which actually causes the formation of tumors, things like that.
Now even if you have some of that lipocolic acid out there, and you've already started to develop some tumors, small benign tumors at that point, you can possibly reverse the effects of those benign tumors turning into malignant tumors by taking vitamin D. But it probably is a good idea not to -- but you got to mention that low-fat diets really is the best way to go in terms of preventing colon cancer, but the vitamin could actually not only reverse some of the effects but possibly stop them from starting in the first place.
ZAHN: So, Sanjay, before we let you, you've talked about this being really, really good news. Are researchers calling this a major breakthrough now that they understand this link between vitamin D and the preventive nature of it?
GUPTA: What they're saying is that they now understand the link, which is a breakthrough, if you will. But that doesn't mean there's not more work needs to be done. The ideal thing would be to develop a drug that could detoxify the lipocolic acid, again, that really toxic substance, without causing any of the negative effects of vitamin D. So something that was very specific toward lipocolic acid. Now we know what it is, we know what it does, we know something that counteracts it. We need a better weapon against it.
ZAHN: All right, so in the meantime, we down our vitamin D and we drink our milk and eat our yogurt, right?
GUPTA: Yes, eat low-fat food, that's still the best answer. That's not new news, but that's still probably the best news, in terms of preventing colon cancer.
ZAHN: All right, Sanjay, thanks so much. Have a good weekend.
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