Posted on 10/26/2016 4:00:18 AM PDT by blam
October 25, 2016
A simple Google search for "what does vitamin D do?" highlights the widely used dietary supplement's role in regulating calcium absorption and promoting bone growth. But now it appears that vitamin D has much wider effectsat least in the nematode worm, C. elegans. Research at the Buck Institute shows that vitamin D works through genes known to influence longevity and impacts processes associated with many human age-related diseases. The study, published in Cell Reports, may explain why vitamin D deficiency has been linked to breast, colon and prostate cancer, as well as obesity, heart disease and depression.
"Vitamin D engaged with known longevity genes - it extended median lifespan by 33 percent and slowed the aging-related misfolding of hundreds of proteins in the worm," said Gordon Lithgow, PhD, senior author and Buck Institute professor. "Our findings provide a real connection between aging and disease and give clinicians and other researchers an opportunity to look at vitamin D in a much larger context."
Study links to human disease
The study shines a light on protein homeostasis, the ability of proteins to maintain their shape and function over time. It's a balancing act that goes haywire with normal agingoften resulting in the accumulation of toxic insoluble protein aggregates implicated in a number of conditions, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, as well as type 2 diabetes and some forms of heart disease. "Vitamin D3, which is converted into the active form of vitamin D, suppressed protein insolubility in the worm and prevented the toxicity caused by human beta-amyloid which is associated with Alzheimer's disease," said Lithgow. "Given that aging processes are thought to be similar between the worm and mammals, including humans, it makes sense that the action of vitamin D would be conserved across species as well."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I remember that thread. Thanks. Taking a D3 right now.
I take about 7,500 IU daily to maintain a level around 50-60 ng/ml. I used to stop in the summer because I’m outside a lot then, but my level would drop, so now I just take it year round. The older you are, the less able your skin becomes to convert sunlight to D3.
As for the K2, there’s a fairly expensive brand out there, BioTech’s D3 Plus, that has several cofactors believed to work in concert with D3. It has vit K, magnesium, zinc, and boron included in the mix. Because it’s expensive, I mix in a straight vit D3 of a good, but cheaper, brand along with the BioTech product. If cost isn’t an issue, I’d just go with BioTech’s product.
A good source of information is this site: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org
On that page you can sign up for a regular email newsletter. After you’ve browsed several issues, you’ll be convinced to consider D3 supplementation or getting more sun. They cover many of the recent studies as they come out and it’s interesting how many medical issues correlate with D3 deficiency. And it’s not a site that just publishes the pros. If studies are inconclusive, or show a disadvantage, or no effect, they cover those too.
One of the main reasons so many studies are now being done is that the government doubled the Tolerable Upper Limit to 4,000 IU just a few years ago. That enabled scientists to ethically administer those higher doses in studies, and that’s why they’re finding more results. The lower levels wouldn’t get D3 levels high enough to be effective.
I was wondering if 5000 iu / day was too much... then I found this:
If you’re fair skinned, experts say going outside for 10 minutes in the midday sunin shorts and a tank top with no sunscreenwill give you enough radiation to produce about 10,000 international units of the vitamin.
Grabbed some cheap cod Liver Oil and it says “plus vitamins A and D”.
Cod liver oil with A and D added...
I have no idea what this is. Next time I’ll read the fine print before I buy.
flr
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