Most Senior Citizens Have Vitamin D Deficiencies

RTT News ^ | 2015 September 17 | RTT Staff

[CutePuppy]

Most seniors may suffer from some degree of vitamin D deficiency, according to a study from researchers at University of California at Davis and Rutgers University. For the study the researchers surveyed 400 men and women with an average age of 76 in either good health or with mild cognitive impairment.

They found that nearly all of the participants showed low levels of vitamin D with 26 percent displaying a deficiency and 35 percent show what they classified as insufficiency.

"This work, and that of others, suggests that there is enough evidence to recommend that people in their 60s and older discuss taking a daily vitamin D supplement with their physicians," says Joshua Miller of Rutgers. "Even if doing so proves to not be effective, there's still very low health risk to doing it."

Charles DeCarli, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at UC Davis adds, "We expected to see declines in individuals with low vitamin D status. What was unexpected was how profoundly and rapidly [low vitamin D] impacts cognition."

[meowmeow]

I take 8000 to 10,000 units of vit D daily and have for about three years now. I haven't had a cold - not even the winter sniffles for the last two years. Had a physical this year and my vit D level was right in the MIDDLE of the healthy range.

So that's how much it took to get to that level. I also avoid the sun because I hate age spots. Wrinkles and gray hair are ok but age spots are gross :)

[Yaelle]

Calcium supplementation causes kidney stones. Don’t ever supplement calcium. Vitamin d3, the small gelcaps, will not.

[xzins]

people in their 60s and older discuss taking a daily vitamin D supplement with their physicians

I think they should take their pill with their friends and family.

:>)

[JJ_Folderol]

I used to suffer from Seasonal Adjustment Disorder — depression/illness/malaise from around September to March when the sun is low and the days are short.

Vitamin D was the simple cure.

Also, Beta Carotene (the precursor to vitamin A) is stored in the skin as a yellow pigment that prevents deep penetration of UV and reduces sunburn and skin damage. It takes about 45,000 units a day and a week or so to build up the level. Or a lot of carrots!

[arthurus]

If you take enough D as D3 or as sunshine you won’t get flu or colds. I take D3 supplements through the winter when the sun is at a less effective angle and I have my skin all covered up when outdoors. I have not had a flu shot since 1966 and have had no virus malady of any sort since I started with the D3 9 years ago. All of my family take the D3. None of us get the shots. None of us gets flu or colds, even when it is laying out half the kids in the school where wife is a teacher. I have anecdotal observations that it has seemed to be effective in one case against a nastier virus than flu.

[Yaelle]

Omgosh, I read the long thread(s) about this on freetheanimal.com ! It was such news to me and I’m astounded. Our government may be literally killing us and making us sick, with this ENRICHING they do with flours and cereals and other grain products.

Iron. We are gathering too much iron. When I read that into commercial cereals they literally pour tiny iron shavings I was appalled. My kids have loved certain cereals for their whole lives. My littlest is the only one born since I went organic and gluten free so she has not been exposed to all this enrichment.

For anyone wondering about this, go to Www.freetheanimal.com and the post in question is on iron and how the USA “enriches” flour with it and other substances that could be causing a myriad of ills.

It opened my eyes to the fact that it might not be gluten I am so sensitive to. I can now eat things that I make myself, with organic whole wheat flour - but I still cannot tolerate commercial bread so it may be the extra gluten they do put in that.

How sad, though, for my parents. They both have Alzheimer’s, maybe from all this enriching. Who knows. I’d like to know if neurodegenerative diseases are any less frequent in non-fortifying countries.

[Yaelle]

You are so lucky. My cousin suffered a head injury last month in the prime of his life, I call it iatrogenic even though he was at home (on vacation). He was taking diuretics which made him get up at night to pee, and a new blood pressure medication that made him dizzy upon standing up, and he passed out in the night after standing up from bed, his wife head the thud, he fell straight backward and hit his head on the floor. The baby aspirin he took daily as a preventative wouldn’t allow his brain bleed to be stopped. For a few days we were all praying for what would be a loooong wait for partial recovery.... But he didn’t make it.

You’re lucky. I am so afraid of brain injury now. We worry too little about our noggins. Whatever people take baby aspirin for, do they have a greater chance of clotting into a stroke, or do they have a greater chance of a bang to the head, THAT WONT STOP BLEEDING? I wouldn’t take baby aspirin for anything.

[Yaelle]

I too have to take 10,000 or more to keep my levels as high as I want them. Anyone with anything chronic may well need to get closer to 80 on the blood test. If I had cancer I would want it just under 100. Yes, D fights cancer. No one on with cancer should go without supplementing D.

[Spartan79]

The body synthesizes vitamin d from cholesterol. I’ve read somewhere that some people have cholesterol levels so low that their body’s ability to produce vitamin d when exposed to sunlight can be significantly impaired. You don’t mention your cholesterol level in your comment, but if is very low, this issue might be worth exploring. We’ve all had “high cholesterol bad, low cholesterol good” drilled into our thoughts for so long that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that cholesterol can be TOO low.

[dp0622]

I am so sorry for your loss. I know a number of people who took aspirin or even advil, meds that thin the blood, and they couldn’t stop the bleeding from injury.

I fainted after taking losartin for BP about three weeks ago. Turns out I didn’t really need it.

What a shock for your family. My prayers are with you.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Great for people who live below 30 degrees latitude.

For the rest of us not so much.

[upchuck]

I don’t know what a “d25 hydroxy blood test” is (I’ve forgotten a lot since I graduated from medical school :), but my Dr had the lab test my Vit D level. It was slightly elevated.

[SisterK]

Neurodegenerative diseases are exponentially less in countries that eat a lot of curry (turmeric).

[Atomic Vomit]

I’m getting a “page not found” message on your link. Sounds like very interesting study, so I hope to be able to read it.

Mrs. Av

[Yaelle]

Thank you. I’m so glad you survived. And your weight loss is great!

I agree that looking to our gut biome’s health will lead to ours. It is amazing what I have learned, and so very little so far, about how our individual populations of bacteria (we are, by weight, more them than us - how dare we think we are in charge alone? Lol) determine our mental and physical health. Very soon we will be curing mental illnesses and disease by feeding and accumulating the right bugs and excluding the wrong ones.

I was able to completely rid my biome of a very bad agent that was 75% of the population in my gut (as far as noninvasive testing goes). Never needed one antibiotic. I took a soil based probiotic daily for 9 months and I slowly fed good starches to the right populations, and it worked. Symptoms gone. No trace of that bacteria in me.

We have so much to learn and it is fascinating.

[Yaelle]

You are right. I love turmeric — I sometimes forget to cook with it.

[Black Agnes]

Look into vitamin K2 along with D3 supplements.

[goodnesswins]

If you take vitamin D3 be sure to get enough vitamin K....or hardening of the arteries could be a problem

[PA Engineer]

They are. The food pyramid goes back to 68 (typing on iPad). That is when the real "fad" diet began. They have now tied metobolic syndrome into blood brain barrier (BBB) inflamation and ongoing damage and leakage. The information has been in front of them for a long time. They are finally using the term Diabetes Type III. I use "they" as the medical community. There is nothing nefarious there, however there is with our government and parts of the NIH.

Iron itself is not the the primary culprit, however it is a contibutor. The type of iron. Non-heme iron (vegitable) and heme (animal based) also contribute, with vegitable based playing a greater role. Insulin resistance is one of the greatest contributors.

Dementia may be very preventable. I'm working on another iron based disorder and only briefly investigated primary dementia.

[CutePuppy]

uh.....26% have a deficiency. Another 31% have an insufficiency. The title says "most seniors have a deficiency".

Although often used interchangeably, vitamin D "insufficiency" and "deficiency" are defined differently. Vitamin D insufficiency is commonly defined as a [25(OH)D] level of less than 32 ng/mL; deficiency is defined as a 25(OH)D level of less than 20 ng/mL. Thus, patients who are vitamin D deficient are a subset of patients who are vitamin D insufficient.

The math seems to be correct. 25% + 36% = 61% = "most."