Dr John Campbell, a nursing lecturer from Carlisle has told the News & Star that Vitamin D supplementation would boost immunity and reduce the risks of developing serious illnesses such as cancer.
The human body creates Vitamin D from exposure to sunlight, it is a vital source of nutrients to keep muscles, teeth and bones healthy.
Benefits of Vitamin D
Dr John Campbell in a video on his YouTube channel, the academic streams to thousands of viewers each week.
And while clinical trials have not been carried-out, Dr Campbell believes that there is enough evidence from observational studies to suggest Vitamin D intake is beneficial to preventing illnesses and should be prescribed by the NHS.
In an observational study, the academic would observe an effect taking place without intervening.
Dr Campbell said that observational studies focussing on the benefits of Vitamin D have shown encouraging results.
He said: “There’s a 76 per cent reduction in the progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes between people with the highest level of Vitamin D, compared to people with the lowest level of Vitamin D. The risk of prostate cancer goes down by nine per cent.”
He added that Vitamin D supplementation can also slow the development of colon cancers, dementia and heart disease.
Conflicting views
A hospital ward. (Image: File)
Dr Campbell said: “But they’re pretty much correlation studies so the people that don’t like the Vitamin D supplementation say ‘those are just observations.’
“Those with higher levels of Vitamin D have lower rates of colon cancer, there’s a correlation between the two but it may be that the Vitamin D is merely acting as a marker, for exposure to sunlight for example.”
However, he said: “There’s so many of those studies, you put them together and it’s fairly conclusive.”
Dr Campbell said: “Some of my mates say, ‘I don’t feel right in winter, David, my thinking’s a bit groggy.”
He suggests to increase their dosage of Vitamin D through supplementation and they all see a marked improvement.
Bradford Hill Criteria
The Cumberland Infirmary hospital in Carlisle. (Image: Archive)
The Bradford Hill Criteria can be used alongside findings from observational studies to determine if one factor is the cause of another.
Dr Campbell said: “One of the The Bradford Hill Criteria is, ‘do you get the same affect anywhere you carry out this research?’
“This criteria are so effective they used it to discover smoking causes lung cancer. The Bradford Hill Criteria are met but then ignored.”
He added that the National Institute of Health based its guidance on Vitamin D intake on 10 studies, finding that 600 units per day is optimal.
Great Britain set its own levels at 400 but in 2014, it was found that 8500 per day is required.
“This statistical error was pointed out in 2014 but they haven’t corrected it.”
What needs to change?
A GP writing out a prescription. (Image: PA)
Dr Campbell said that to irrefutably prove the effectiveness of a drug, pharmaceutical companies would carry out “large scale interventional studies.
“But whose going to bother? Because you can’t patent Vitamin D.”
Interventional studies would see an academic administer a drug to their test subject and observe the affect.
Dr Campbell said: “But people don’t want to do that because it’s a lot of money on new drugs they can’t get income from. The patent on a drug lasts only 15 years.”
“Vitamin D you would call ‘generic,’ anyone could set up a factory and make it by the ton.”