Ontario cancels vitamin D testing for all [View All]

[SidDithers]

Ontario is bucking the vitamin D trend and will no longer pay for testing to determine whether patients are lacking in the supplement that is hailed by some as a powerful cancer fighter.

From fighting high blood pressure to protecting against colorectal cancer and boosting the body’s immune system, vitamin D has become the latest cure-all.

But that claim is currently more fiction than fact, said Dr. Les Levin, an oncologist at Princess Margaret Hospital and a member of the Ontario government’s medical advisory secretariat - the group responsible for informing the health ministry on latest technologies. “There is a lot of misinterpretation out there concerning the link between vitamin D and non-bone related diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease,” Levin said in an interview.

The popular press, word of mouth and a proliferation of unscientific evidence on the internet are largely to blame for the claim the vitamin can do many things, he said. “Requests for these tests are escalating rather deeply.” Levin said. “The medical evidence isn’t there to justify it.”

http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/847806--ontario-cancels-vitamin-d-testing-for-all?bn=1

I found the statement about "proliferation of unscientific evidence on the internet" particularly interesting.

Sid