Welcome Sunshine!

I absolutely love this time of year in the Midwest! It is like someone brought out the crayons and started coloring the world. What was drab and dreary has turned green and full of life. Trees that were bare and dead-looking are literally ready to burst out in a welcoming display of flowers and leaves.  In Michigan, we also get to see a lot more of the sun, which has been sorely missed! 

I am sure that most of you already know that the sun helps our bodies produce vitamin D. While I was reading the other day, I ran across yet another possible benefit of vitamin D.

There has been more research that seems to show a link between vitamin D and the risk of developing breast cancer. The study was conducted by the German Cancer Research Center, collaborating with the University Hospitals in Hamburg.

After studying 1,394 breast cancer patients, as well as an equal number of healthy women after menopause, women with a very low level of vitamin D in their blood had a far greater risk of breast cancer. (However, the researchers did admit that some of the cancer patients may have had a lower blood level due to chemotherapy or perhaps because of a long hospital stay.)

By counteracting the estrogen's growth promoting capabilities, it is thought that vitamin D is able to exert a cancer-preventing effect.

Dairy products and seafish both are rich in vitamin D, however, my personal plan is just to spend a little bit more time outside this spring, knowing that the sunshine makes me feel better emotionally and maybe even physically!