Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in dogs - correlation with health and cancer risk.
Vet Comp Oncol. 2016 Sep;14(3):295-305. doi: 10.1111/vco.12101. Epub 2014 Jul 8.
Selting KA1, Sharp CR2, Ringold R3, Thamm DH4, Backus R1.
1 Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
2 Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, MA, USA.
3 Veterinary Diagnostics Institute, Simi Valley, CA, USA.
4 Department of Clinical Sciences, Animal Cancer Center, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
- Companion animals (dog, cats) need vitamin D too – March 2016
- Animals get a lot more vitamin D than minimum recommended for humans – 2016
- Hospitalized cats 8X more likely to die if low vitamin D (Vit. D helps humans too) – May 2015
- National requirement of vitamin D for pigs increased by 4X, (4X more than for humans) - Jan 2014
Notice the 4X decrease in HUMAN health problems with higher level of vitamin D
Click on chart for details
- Cancer risk reduced 65 percent by vitamin D levels greater than 40 nanograms – April 2016
- Vitamin D proven to treat or prevent many cancers in animals, but only breast cancer in humans so far – Jan 2014
- Off topic – More money to be made in TREATING cancer than PREVENTING it – NYT Dec 2015
Humans as well as animals
Overview Veterinary and vitamin D
Most vets have found that animals need 30 IU per kg
15 kg pet ==> 450 IU: 5,000 IU once every 10 days
30 kg pet ==> 900 IU: 5,000 IU once every 5 days
45 kg pet ==>1350 IU: 5,000 IU once every 4 days
Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life
Relative risk of the disease group compared with that of the control group
25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) is important in bone health as well as many diseases including cancer. Supplementation may increase responsiveness of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Serum 25(OH)D, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and canine C-reactive protein (c-CRP) were measured in healthy dogs and dogs with haemoabdomen. Regression analysis determined optimal 25(OH)D concentrations. In healthy dogs (n = 282), mean iPTH concentrations correlated inversely (r(2) = 0.88, P < 0.001) to 25(OH)D concentrations. Variation in both iPTH and c-CRP plateaued at 25(OH)D concentrations of 100-120 ng mL(-1) . Haemoabdomen dogs (n = 63, 43 malignant and 20 benign) had 25(OH)D concentrations ranging from 19.4 to >150 ng mL(-1) .
Relative risk of cancer increased with decreasing 25(OH)D concentrations [RR = 3.9 for 25(OH)D below 40 ng mL(-1) (P = 0.0001)]. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations in dogs vary widely, and are influenced by dietary VitD content. Serum vitD measurement can identify dogs for which supplementation may improve health and response to cancer therapy.
PMID: 25041357 DOI: 10.1111/vco.12101
Clips from the study
- “This data has been previously presented at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum, June 2013, Seattle, WA, USA”
- “It should be noted that dogs with insufficient vitamin D, despite a 6–12 month follow-up period, should still be considered at risk for the development of disease such as cardiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer as previously published.42– 46”
- As the majority of these dogs eat commercial dog food diets, our data likely reflect the level of vitamin D supplementation that exists today, rather than what should be considered adequate. “
Note by Vitamin D Life: Many farm-animal and zoo-animal vets have found that they need to give 3X the amount of vitamin D to keep the animals healthy than what the US govt recommends. Suspect that the pets also need more, but pet vets get more income when if there is poor health, thus they have a negative incentive to keep the pets healthy