Posted on 09/01/2009 9:02:04 AM PDT by neverdem
A deficiency of the sunshine vitamin may worsen plaque accumulation in vessels of diabetes patients
Vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate the excess heart disease risk that people with type 2 diabetes face, a new study in the Aug. 25 Circulation suggests. In lab tests, researchers demonstrate that immune cells with very low vitamin D levels turn into soggy, cholesterol-filled baggage that can become building blocks of arterial plaques.
Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, an endocrinologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and his colleagues found that people with diabetes seem more susceptible than nondiabetics to the negative cardiovascular effects attributable to a vitamin D shortage. Larger studies may clarify whether the shortage’s effects extend to nondiabetics, Bernal-Mizrachi says.
Previous studies have tied vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease risk, but the cell biology underpinning this link has been gauzy. “Now we’re figuring out the mechanisms behind how this works,” Bernal-Mizrachi says.
The team tested blood samples from 76 obese people, average age 55, who had high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and low vitamin D levels. As a comparison, the scientists tested blood from 15 similar people who had normal vitamin D levels and another 45 people with normal blood pressure.
From these blood samples, the scientists cultured immune cells called macrophages and exposed the cells to an oxidized form of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind). Because macrophages are immune cleanup crews that normally snag and engulf LDL molecules, this test mimicked the goings-on in the walls of a blood vessel.
But in these tests, macrophages from the type 2 diabetes patients were more likely to absorb LDL cholesterol in excess when they were cultured without vitamin D than when they were bathed in vitamin D.
Macrophages low on vitamin D become indiscriminate devourers, gobbling up too much LDL and...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among those with diabetes mellitus. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in this population. To determine the mechanism by which vitamin D deficiency mediates accelerated cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus, we investigated the effects of active vitamin D on macrophage cholesterol deposition. METHODS AND RESULTS: We obtained macrophages from 76 obese, diabetic, hypertensive patients with vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D <80 nmol/L; group A) and 4 control groups: obese, diabetic, hypertensive patients with normal vitamin D (group B; n=15); obese, nondiabetic, hypertensive patients with vitamin D deficiency (group C; n=25); and nonobese, nondiabetic, nonhypertensive patients with vitamin D deficiency (group D; n=10) or sufficiency (group E; n=10). Macrophages from the same patients in all groups were cultured in vitamin D-deficient or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) [1,25(OH)(2)D(3)] -supplemented media and exposed to modified low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) suppressed foam cell formation by reducing acetylated or oxidized low-density lipoprotein cholesterol uptake in diabetic subjects only. Conversely, deletion of the vitamin D receptor in macrophages from diabetic patients accelerated foam cell formation induced by modified LDL. 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) downregulation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase activation reduced peroxisome proliferated-activated receptor-gamma expression, suppressed CD36 expression, and prevented oxidized low-density lipoprotein-derived cholesterol uptake. In addition, 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) suppression of macrophage endoplasmic reticulum stress improved insulin signaling, downregulated SR-A1 expression, and prevented oxidized and acetylated low-density lipoprotein-derived cholesterol uptake. CONCLUSIONS: These results identify reduced vitamin D receptor signaling as a potential mechanism underlying increased foam cell formation and accelerated cardiovascular disease in diabetic subjects.
You are correct.
So, please. Continue to slather your bodies in sunblock.
I didn’t see where it states how much Vitamin D you’re supposed to take.
Good catch. Thanks for posting it.
bump!
Get your Vit D levels tested....then you’ll know....I think the test is Vit D(OH) something or other.. here’s some info...• If you totally avoid the sun, recent research indicates you need about 4,000 units of vitamin D a day. Which means you can’t get enough vitamin D from milk (unless you drink 40 glasses a day) or from a multivitamin (unless you take about 10 tablets a day), neither of which is recommended.
• Most of us make about 20,000 units of vitamin D after about 20 minutes of summer sun. This is about 100 times more vitamin D than the government says you need every day.
• The only way to be sure you have adequate levels of vitamin D in your blood is to regularly go into the sun, use a sun bed (avoiding sunburn), or have your physician administer a 25 hydroxyvitamin D test. Optimal levels are around 50 ng/mL (125 nM/L).
• If you don’t get vitamin D the way Mother Nature intended, from sunshine, you need to take supplemental vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. Since most of us get a lot more vitamin D from sunshine than we realize, most of us need about 2,000 units a day extra.
“I didn’t see where it states how much Vitamin D you’re supposed to take.”
If you look at various multivitamin bottle labels, you’ll see contents of somewhere between 400 and 800 units, 600 being 150% of reco daily use. I have heard claims that between 20 and 60 minutes in the sun can generate between 5000 and 15000 units. Which is quasi-unbelievable to me, but I am not a biochemist nor a nutritionist so I don’t know. Point being, the vitamin D3 advocates say that type of level (5000+) is what’s called for.
I bought some of this a short while ago, this was about the cheapest source I found, FWIW.
http://www.iherb.com/Vitamin-D
bookmark
you don't hear many flu cases in summer
In the winter or during streaks of bad weather, you certainly need to take more of it. I think that 2-3000 IU is safe at any time, and most likely 4000 IU in winter or if the weather is overcast for a stretch.
Just my personal opinion, after reading around. And I would add that it’s probably the best single thing to take as a swine flu preventive or ameliorative. Having enough vitamin D, which very few people get these days, is a big help in flu season.
I didn't either. I guess the point was to shine some light on our ignorance about vitamin D, inflammation, inflammatory response and immunology with respect to macrophages and their transformation to foam cells in vitamin D deficiency states. Macrophages are like the infantry in your immune system's army of white blood cells. It's called pathophysiology, a combined term from pathology and physiology.
I'm not diabetic. I take a Vitamin D3 supplement with 1000 international units(IU) of D3 and a multivitamin that includes 400 IU of D2. If you get plenty of sunshine, you probably get all of the vitamin D that you need.
Excess Vitamin D makes your doctor think you have cancer, or hypothyroidism. Mad me quit taking it.
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/Search?doSearch=true&keyword=Vitamin+D
Cheapest place I have found for all spplements.
Vitamin D also makes you omit ltters when typing.
Without having compared every item in their catalog, I think iherb is a tad cheaper UNLESS you’re buying a pile of things from your dudes and can combine shipping. I bot 200 qty 5000 U D3 for $10.20 and $2 shipping. Got here in 2-3 days & they ack’ed the order and ship date. This was my first and only order with them, so I don’t have boundless experience with them, but they nailed it.
http://www.iherb.com/Country-Life-Vitamin-D3-5-000-IU-200-Softgels/18038?at=0
We’re talking about nickels, here. Both sources are very competitive. Hey, I know! Let’s get the government involved, shall we?
I take 1000 of D3 every day. I read another article a month ago that said vitamin D can help with metabolic syndrome too.
As a side note . . . I finally have a reason to run around nekked. [grin]
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