The vitamin D miracle: Is it for real?

Globe and Mail ^ | 3-30-09 | Martin Mittelstaedt

[STARWISE]

The claims have been sensational. Martin Mittelstaedt checks up on the research behind the hype

###

In the summer of 1974, brothers Frank and Cedric Garland had a heretical brainwave.

The young epidemiologists were watching a presentation on death rates from cancer county by county across the United States.

As they sat in a lecture hall at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore looking at the colour-coded cancer maps, they noticed a striking pattern, with the map for colon cancer the most pronounced.

Counties with high death rates were red; those with low rates were blue. Oddly, the nation was almost neatly divided in half, red in the north and blue in the south. Why, they wondered, was the risk of dying from cancer greater in bucolic Maine than in highly polluted Southern California?

*snip*

Exposure to sunshine varies dramatically depending on the latitude. What if that's what was behind the varying cancer rates?

Their hypothesis, painstakingly developed and published six years later in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was that sunlight has a powerful anti-cancer effect through its role in producing vitamin D in bare skin.

Those living at northern latitudes, they theorized, receive less sunlight and make less of the vitamin, which in turn increases their risk of dying from cancer.

Today, with vitamin D so much in the news, it's hard to believe that it took decades for the Garlands' hypothesis to gain traction in the mainstream medical community.

But the benefits of vitamin D are no longer restricted to cancer prevention:

Studies have linked a shortage of the compound to such serious, chronic ailments as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, heart disease, influenza and schizophrenia.

Rest @ link

[djf]

It’s not the Vitamin D in flax, actually, I think it’s very low in Vit D.

It’s the Omega 3 fatty acids, the DHA and EPAs.

An astounding fact is that the human brain, by weight, is something like 30% DHA.

And human breast milk is positively loaded with DHA.

But few vegetables have it in significant quantities - we’re back to the fish and milk and eggs realm again!

[calex59]

Yeah, right, so that means Aficans live longer and have fewer diseases than people in the Northern climes, right? So I guess you are saying turning white is a disease now?

[djf]

He’s totally right.

Worldwide, native people who live in tropical areas have much more pigment in their skin that those who live at the southern or northern extremes.

[grannyheart2000]

Another non-statin that I take is Zetia.....no side effects that I’ve noticed after 4 years. Took lipitor and zocor for number of years with debilitating side effects. I also take the Co-enzyme Q-10. And the zetia works better for me than the statin did.......some people take both zetia and a statin as the zetia works in a different way..from what I understand the zetia works good for people whose bodies are prone to producing cholestrol (inherited tendancies) versus those who build up the cholestrol mainly from eating high cholestrol fooods.......

[RightField]

bump for later reading

[RightField]

bump for later reading

[STARWISE]

Yes ... will say Vit D3 on the bottle front - 1,000IU dose.

This is what I usually get .. especially if they're buy one, get one.

[nagdt]

Thanks for the Ping. Very interesting info in the article and other Freeper posts as well! I take Caltrate D which is a combo of Calcium and D3 - so I guess I’m good to go.

Free Republic is a great info source for all kinds of things.

[blam]

Human Skin Color

[STARWISE]

Thanks

cholecalciferol = Vit D3

[STARWISE]

I’m not happy unless I look *after* and see yellow ... ;)

I also take a lot of B complex during the day.

[Pharmboy]

Vitamin D is a complicated story; first, it's not really a vitamin at all--it is a pro-hormone. The activated form of vit D is called calcitriol and has profound effects on calcium and phosphorous metabolism and, of course, the bone. But it does much more, and has effects on cells within the immune system and cardiovascular system.

The D3 made in the skin (from that evil molecule cholesterol) is changed first in the liver and then in the kidney into the hormone. As far as toxicity, one has to really work at it.

Here's Michael Holick, the premier authority in the US on Vit D...this is an excerpt from his chapter on the vitamin in the standard medical textbook on nutrition:

Although vitamin D intoxication is of great concern for physicians, in fact it is extremely difficult to become intoxicated with vitamin D. Although the safe upper limit (UL) for vitamin D intake for children and adults was recommended to be 2000 IU/day by the Food and Nutrition Board, mounting evidence indicates that levels greater than 10,000 IU/day of vitamin D are more likely to cause vitamin D intoxication. By definition, vitamin D intoxication means a markedly elevated level of 25(OH)D in conjunction with hypercalcemia and high normal or elevated serum phosphorus levels. The consequence of vitamin D intoxication is similar to the consequences of hypercalcemia. Patients with hypercalcemia often complain of constipation, confusion, lethargy, polyuria, and polydypsia. In addition, vitamin D intoxication and hypercalcemia are associated with an increased risk of nephrocalcinosis, kidney stones, and soft tissue calcifications. Although the upper limit of normal for most commercial 25(OH)D assays is between 55 and 60 ng/mL, it is recognized that sun worshippers and lifeguards can often achieve a blood level of up to 125 ng/mL with no untoward consequences.

Thus, typically patients who are vitamin D intoxicated have blood levels of 25(OH)D levels of greater than 150 ng/mL. To achieve these levels, a person needs to ingest more than 10,000 IU/day of vitamin D for prolonged periods. Recent examples that cause vitamin D intoxication include inadvertent ingestion of hundreds of thousands to a million units of vitamin D a day (134). These individuals achieved blood levels of 25(OH)D greater than 400 to 500 ng/mL.

Deficiency is considered levels below 15, while insufficiency is 15-30. Anything above 30 is good. I hope this is helpful.

Oh...and always take cholecalciferol rather than ergocalciferol supplements...more natural for our species.

[STARWISE]

It's MOST recommended in the winter, in the gloomy northern climes that have very little sun. Leaves ?

[STARWISE]

LOL ... Vit D synthesizing needs bare skin in the sun ...10-15 mins a day .. I think that just gives you 1,000 IU .. but I could be wrong.

[Pharmboy]

You are quite correct. NOBODY over the age of 60 should be without B12 supplementation. Even 100 mcg once/week is better than nothing.

[STARWISE]

Thank you!

[Tribune7]

So . . . now sunbathing is good for you?

[calex59]

Hey, I don't care. Got it? What I do care about is BS about vitamin D curing everything from warts to old age. If it was so great, Africans, people living in the Caribbean and other tropical areas would live longer and have less disease than other people, it isn't true. Yep, lack of Vitamin D(and other Vitamins)can cause many disorders. An over abundance of Vitamin D can't cure anything other than the disorders lack of Vitamin D causes.

Whether lack of Vitamin D caused Caucasians or not(did it also shrink lips and nose size?)I don't care as I said. Prove that taking huge amounts cures anything, which was my point. You started the skin thing on your own.

[STARWISE]

;) We have to almost be our own docs.

My son is an anti-aging doc and gets tons of
info from that organization. The research
on Vit D3’s potency and previously incredibly
amazing unknown benefits has been out there
for several years, so that’s where I first
learned of it.

Since I’ve been taking it, I’ve not had my
typical 1 or 2 severe winter bronchial
infections.

And .. I think I actually got swine flu last
April. Just as the alerts were breaking about
it, I went to Mexico for a wedding.

The VERY day after my return, I awoke with a
strange frog in my throat .. I was croaking ..
no sore throat, no temp, no other symptoms ..
until the 3rd day.

Then the fever started .. 5 days of it.

All told, it lasted about 8-10 days, but my symptoms
were never severe, not even as bad as previous
bronchial infections, and I never did any more than
rest, up my Vit. D3 intake, take more C, added zinc
and fluids, etc.

When I called the ER and told them I might have it,
as they were saying you should call first before going
in, they told me to just walk in .. no special provisions,
even if I might be contagious. I thought: why would I
do that, and my son agreed. It just ran its course.

I’m a HUGE believer. It’s been proven with me.

[STARWISE]

I agree with refined sugar = poison.

Pancreas releases insulin to combat it,
inflammation can occur .. so many other
things.

For those like me who’re hypoglycemic ..it
can turn your life into an emotional and
physical hell.

And it’s addictive ... the less you have it,
the more you forget about it.