Prostate Cancer More Deadly In Black Men

No, this is not today’s headline, although I have witnessed it in the past and would not be surprised to continue seeing it in the future. Fact is, Black men do indeed die at a higher rate from prostate cancer than other groups, but not because the group’s tumors are different. The immune system of blacks, the main line of defense against cancer, is disproportionately compromised by a deficiency in Vitamin D, and this is why prostate, and other internal cancers, seem to be more aggressive.

I could say that the medical community is simply showing their insensitivity to the needs of blacks, but this would not explain why whites are being allowed to suffer their own proportionate fate from the deficiency, as well. The prostate cancer rates in American white men are well above what you would expect if their blood serum measured normal levels of 1,25(OH)2D3, the active form of vitamin D3 our bodies use.

I could also say that the research into biologic differences in tumors in blacks versus whites is some 'race game' when the immune system ‘playing field’ of the two groups is so obviously unequal, due to varying melanin and sunlight. But I would also have to wonder why the high cancer rates of whites in the sun-starved northeast, relative to whites in the southern US, has not caught the attention of the medical establishment. Is this a conspiracy to rid the country of Yankees and blacks, with but one stone?

What we have here is a medical community that is horrendously slow and stupid, even while it harbors pockets of research brilliance. The FDA continues to recommend levels of daily vitamin D so inadequate that the public is guaranteed to measure at, or near, zero during a routine physical exam. But that same FDA can fast-track drugs that cost an arm-and-a-leg, and carry so many side-effect warnings that you feel sorry for the lab mice who were forced to take the stuff in trial.

I can only say that I am overwhelmed with the research results the medical community continues to unearth that could make our lives better, while at the same time being profoundly disturbed with what they actually do with this vital information, as measured by what I have had to go through to come to subscribe to the value of vitamin D in our lives.

I'll keep writing about it, and hope that somebody is listening.

James C. Collier

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