Canada NewsWire 11-05-09, TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2009 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX)

TITLE: Breast cancer risk 'virtually eradicated' by elevated vitamin D levels, researchers suggest.
"Breast cancer is a disease so directly related to vitamin D deficiency that a woman's risk of contracting the disease can be 'virtually eradicated' by elevating her vitamin D status to what vitamin D scientists consider to be natural blood levels. That's the message vitamin D pioneer Dr. Cedric Garland delivered in Toronto Tuesday as part of the University of Toronto School of Medicine's "Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency" conference - the largest gathering of vitamin D researchers in North America this year. More than 170 researchers, public health officials and health practitioners gathered at the UT Faculty club for the landmark event. Dr. Reinhold Vieth, Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at University of Toronto, and Director of the Bone and Mineral Laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital, organized the event in conjunction with Grassroots Health - an international vitamin D advocacy group founded by breast cancer survivor Carole Baggerly. Grassroots Health is trying to raise vitamin D awareness among Canadians. Despite epidemic-level vitamin D deficiency in Canada, fewer than nine per cent of Canadians have ever had their vitamin D levels checked by a professional and most who have do not know their vitamin D blood level. CONTACT: or to set up an interview with Dr. Vieth, please contact: Michelle Di Rocco, (416) 360-6522 ext. 251 or michelle@punchcanada.com Copyright (C) 2009 CNW Group. All rights reserved." http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/cnw/article.jsp?content=20091104_132502_4_cnw_cnw