rpautrey2
Guest
|
 Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:25 am Post subject: Vitamin D Is A Key Player In Your Overall Health |
 |
|
Vitamin D is a Key Player in Your Overall Health
Vitamin D, once linked to only bone diseases such as rickets and
osteoporosis, is now recognized as a major player in overall human
health.
In a paper published in the August issue of the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, Anthony Norman, an international expert on vitamin
D, identifies vitamin D>s potential for contributions to good health
in the adaptive and innate immune systems, the secretion and
regulation of insulin by the pancreas, the heart and blood pressure
regulation, muscle strength and brain activity.
Access to adequate amounts of vitamin D is also believed to be
beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer.
Norman also lists 36 organ tissues in the body whose cells respond
biologically to vitamin D, including bone marrow, breast, colon,
intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and uterine
tissues.
According to Norman, deficiency of vitamin D can impact all 36 organs.
Already, vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle strength
decrease, high risk for falls, and increased risk for colorectal,
prostate and breast and other major cancers.
An unrelated study also suggests that low vitamin D is associated with
Parkinson’s disease. The majority (55 percent) of Parkinson>s disease
patients in the study had insufficient levels of vitamin D.
Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatrics has doubled its
recommendation for a daily dose of vitamin D in children, in the hopes
of preventing rickets and promoting other health benefits.
The new guidelines now call for children to receive 400 international
units (IU) of vitamin D per day, beginning in the first few days of
life.
“ … Evidence has shown this could have life-long health benefits,"
said Dr. Frank Greer of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Sources:
Eurekalert October 9, 2008
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition August 2008, Vol. 88, No. 2,
491S-499S
Archives of Neurology October 2008, Vol. 65, No. 10
Reuters October 13, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Mercola>s Comments:
It’s a tragedy that dermatologists and sunscreen manufacturers have
done such a thorough job of scaring people out of the sun. Their
widely dispersed message to avoid the sun as much as possible,
combined with an overall cultural trend of spending more time indoors
during work and leisure time, has greatly contributed to the
widespread vitamin D deficiency that’s seen today.
There are only 30,000 genes in your body and vitamin D has been shown
to influence over 2,000 of them. That is one of the primary reasons it
influences so many diseases (as seen in the table below).
Cancer Hypertension Heart disease
Autism Obesity Rheumatoid arthritis
Diabetes 1 and 2
Multiple Sclerosis
Crohn>s disease
Flu Colds Tuberculosis
Septicemia Aging Psoriasis
Eczema Insomnia Hearing loss
Muscle pain
Cavities Periodontal disease
Athletic performance
Macular degeneration
Myopia
Pre eclampsia
Seizures Fertility
Asthma Cystic fibrosis
Migraines
Depression Alzheimer>s disease
Schizophrenia
Vitamin D really isn’t a vitamin at all but a potent neuroregulatory
steroidal hormone. It has become very clear that vitamin D deficiency
is a growing epidemic across the world and is contributing to many
chronic debilitating diseases.
In the United States, the late winter average vitamin D is only about
15-18 ng/ml, which is considered a very serious deficiency state.
Meanwhile, it’s thought that over 95 percent of U.S. senior citizens
may be deficient, along with 85 percent of the American public.
Further:
• Vitamin D deficiency is epidemic in adults of all ages who have
increased skin pigmentation, such as those whose ancestors are from
Africa, the Middle East, or India, who always wear sun protection, or
who limit their outdoor activities.
• African Americans and other dark-skinned people and those living in
northern latitudes make significantly less vitamin D than other
groups.
• 60 percent of people with type 2 diabetes have vitamin D
deficiency.
• Studies showed very low levels of vitamin D among children, the
elderly, and women.
• One U.S. study of women revealed that almost half of African
American women of childbearing age might be vitamin-D deficient.
Vitamin D and Cancer
Given that cancer, heart disease and diabetes are three of the top
causes of death in the United States, ensuring that you are getting
enough of this crucial vitamin should be a top priority.
A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized
research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent
of cancer deaths -- which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000
in the United States -- could be prevented each year with higher
levels of vitamin D.
Vitamin D has a protective effect against cancer in several ways,
including:
• Increasing the self-destruction of mutated cells (which, if allowed
to replicate, could lead to cancer)
• Reducing the spread and reproduction of cancer cells
• Causing cells to become differentiated (cancer cells often lack
differentiation)
• Reducing the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones,
which is a step in the transition of dormant tumors turning cancerous
Beyond cancer, the researchers pointed out that increasing levels of
vitamin D3 could prevent diseases that claim nearly 1 million lives
throughout the world each year! And other studies showed that you can
decrease your risk of cancer by MORE THAN HALF simply by optimizing
your vitamin D levels with sun exposure.
Worried About Getting the Flu? Optimize Your Vitamin D
As we enter into flu season in the United States, you should know that
your vitamin D levels play a direct role in your risk of getting the
flu.
Vitamin D levels in your blood fall to their lowest point during flu
seasons. If you have low vitamin D, you will not be protected by your
body’s own antibiotics (antimicrobial peptides), which are released by
vitamin D. This means that a person with a low vitamin D level is more
vulnerable to contracting colds, influenza, and other respiratory
infections.
Unfortunately, conventional medicine’s answer to preventing the flu is
the flu shot. What they don’t tell you is that flu shots don’t work.
A recent study published in the October issue of the Archives of
Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found that vaccinating young children
against the flu appeared to have no impact on flu-related
hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons. And
no studies have conclusively proven that flu shots prevent flu-related
deaths among the elderly, yet this is one of the key groups to which
they’re pushed.
Aside from not working, flu shots contain dangerous additives, like
mercury-containing thimerosal, formaldehyde, aluminum, phenol and
detergents. The idea that nearly every man, woman and child in the
United States should voluntarily line up to be injected with this
concoction, as the CDC strongly recommends, is illogical, pointless
and dangerous.
What can you do instead to safely prevent, and even treat, the flu?
As I reviewed in this video last month, getting enough vitamin D will
nearly eliminate your risk of getting the flu.
But don’t listen to the RDAs spouted by the public health agencies.
They are not nearly enough to keep you healthy. In order to prevent
the flu, children need 2,000 IU a day of vitamin D, while adults need
5,000 IU to 10,000 IU.
So even though the American Academy of Pediatrics just announced that
they’re doubling the RDA of vitamin D for children to 400 IU, their
new guidance still falls absurdly short of what’s needed to keep kids
healthy.
If you do come down with a case of the flu this year, vitamin D can
also help to eliminate the illness. The dose of vitamin D is 2,000 IU
per kilogram of body weight, taken as one dose, every day for three
days. If you start this program early on in the illness, it should be
able to completely wipe out the flu.
The Best Source of Vitamin D, and What Level You Need to Stay Healthy
Exposing your skin to sunlight is the best way to get vitamin D.
Sun exposure (without sunscreen) of about 10 to 15 minutes a day, with
at least 40 percent of your skin exposed, is a general guide of how
much you need, although people with dark skin will need to stay out
significantly longer. Please read this past article for a list of safe
tanning guidelines.
If you’re able to get out in the sun for an adequate time period each
day, your vitamin D levels should be naturally optimized.
However most of us struggle with seasonal vitamin D winters in which
we may not be able to get enough sun exposure during certain parts of
the year. In that case, I also advise using a safe tanning bed (one
that has the harmful emissions shielded) to have your own body produce
vitamin D naturally.
A third option is taking a high-quality vitamin D supplement. The most
important thing to keep in mind if you opt for oral supplementation is
that you only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3
(cholecalciferol), which is human vitamin D. Do NOT use the synthetic
and highly inferior vitamin D2.
How do you know if you’re getting the right amount of vitamin D?
You need to have your blood levels tested, but not just any test -- or
any lab -- will do.
I’ve discussed exactly what you need to know to get the right vitamin
D test, with accurate results, here. The OPTIMAL level of vitamin D
you’re looking for is 50-65 ng/ml.
Though it may seem like a hassle to go out and get a blood test done,
then continue to have your vitamin D monitored as you increase your
sun exposure or supplementation, I can confidently say that it is one
of the most important things you can do for your health.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/11/01/Vitamin-D-is-a-Key-Player-in-Your-Overall-Health.aspx |
|
