Vitamin D is more than a glass of milk

Most people miss the sun during the winter when it hides behind snow clouds.

They miss the warm rays on days when temperatures reach 17 below zero and the wind is howling.

They miss sun tans, pool parties and flip flops.

Even on days when the sun shines during the winter, people of Wyoming are missing something much greater than the warmth the sun brings and the fun activities associated with it, said Dr. James Maddy of Casper.

They're missing vitamin D.

It's impossible to absorb any vitamin D from the sun's rays between October and March in places as far north as Wyoming, Maddy said. In warmer months, people absorb a good portion of their vitamin D from the sun.

It's very difficult, if not impossible, to consume enough vitamin D everyday through a person's diet, even if it is a well-balanced, healthy diet, said Maddy, a retired Casper internal medicine physician.

Researchers estimate between 40 and 60 percent of people in the United States are vitamin D deficient and they have linked the deficiency to a variety of ailments, including bone diseases, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and multiple sclerosis.

"There is an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency in the world, especially in the United States," Maddy said.

Current recommended daily allowances for vitamin D are between 400 and 600 International Units, which measure vitamin D. For example, a glass of vitamin D-fortified milk has about 98 IUs. However, most researchers in the field recommend at least 1,000 IUs for someone without adequate sun exposure.

Maddy said there is a group of doctors and scientists trying to raise the recommended daily allowance to 2,000 IUs

"Basically, no one in the United States is getting 1,000 IUs and we are asking for 2,000," Maddy said.

"They say, 'I eat a healthy diet. But most diets contain very little vitamin D. You would have to eat salmon every day, three to four glasses of milk, some vitamin D-fortified orange juice and you still probably wouldn't get enough."

Maddy and other Casper physicians recommend people take a vitamin D supplement or at least a multivitamin to increase their vitamin D levels.

Rita Elmore, an office manager in Maddy's Wyoming Osteoporosis Center, said she had her vitamin D level checked after hearing her boss talk about the deficiency.

"And sure enough, it was in the dumper," Elmore said. After Elmore began taking vitamin D supplements, she said some of her problems, such as tingly hands, disappeared.

She now makes her husband and son take vitamin D supplements.

Some patients of Dr. Cindy Works have seen a "huge difference" in their overall well-being after increasing their levels of vitamin D, said Works, a primary care physician who specializes in geriatric care at the Community Health Center of Central Wyoming.

Her elderly patients have seen the greatest benefit.

Doctors have always known vitamin D was connected with bone diseases, but symptoms of aging, such as muscle weakness and loss of balance, can actually be due to vitamin D deficiency, Works said.

"Studies have shown that fall rates go down in nursing homes where there is adequate vitamin D replacements," Works said.

Almost all patients who enter a nursing home are vitamin D deficient, because they either do not go outside, eat three healthy meals a day or take a supplement, she said.

"When we were made, we were outdoors people -- we weren't indoors all the time," Works said. "Vitamin D kept us healthy. It's one of those things that makes sense."

She said people who live near the equator do not experience the same problems because they receive the vitamin D they need from the sun year round. Very few people who live near the equator have multiple sclerosis, she said.

Maddy said prescription drugs for someone with osteoporosis will not work if someone is vitamin D deficient.

During the summer months, people can absorb a good amount of vitamin D from ultraviolet rays in the sun.

To have your vitamin D levels checked, Maddy recommends talking to a physician about a simple blood test.

"Physicians are astounded now that they have been checking," Maddy said. "It makes no sense not to have it checked and it makes no sense not to take a safe supplement."

Finding vitamin D

Current recommended daily allowances for vitamin D are between 400 and 600 International Units, but some doctors and scientists believe people should be getting closer to 2,000 IUs per day. Especially in the winter, that can be hard to do.

Here are some suggestions for getting enough vitamin D.

* Take a supplement. Vitamin D supplements can be purchased over-the-counter at most grocery stores and pharmacies.

Most over-the-counter supplements contain 1,000 IUs of vitamin D and are not very expensive, said Dr. James Maddy of Casper.

* Take a multivitamin. Multivitamins have about 400 to 500 IUs, Maddy said. But, do not take two multivitamins to get enough vitamin D, because you could overdose on other vitamins.

While it is difficult to overdose on vitamin D because the toxic levels are very high, levels should be monitored.

* Consume more foods and drinks fortified in vitamin D. But, be aware that vitamin D found in milk and other foods is more difficult to absorb than vitamin D received from the sun or supplements.

* Spend time outdoors in the summer months. People cannot absorb any vitamin D from the sun between October and March.

Maddy recommends people spend about 15 to 30 minutes in the sun during peak hours about twice a week without sunscreen.

Sunscreen blocks vitamin D, but people should apply sunscreen if they are going to be outside longer than 30 minutes, Maddy said. People must be safe in the sun despite its benefits to decreasing rates of vitamin D deficiency

* Use a tanning bed briefly during the winter.

Few foods contain vitamin D, but try adding some of these foods to your regular diet.

Foods with vitamin D, serving, units of vitamin D per serving

-- Cooked salmon, 3.5 ounces, 360 IUs

-- Cooked mackerel, 3.5 ounces, 345 IUs

-- Canned tuna fish, 3 ounces, 200 IUs

-- Canned sardines, 1.75 ounces, 250 IUs

-- Milk, 1 cup, 98 IUs

-- Margarine, 1 tablespoon, 60 IUs

-- Fortified cereal, 1 cup, 40 IUs

-- Egg, 1 whole, 20 IUs

-- Swiss cheese, 1 ounce, 12 IUs

Source: Casper Star-Tribune

Millions of needless deaths

It is hard to imagine, but it was not until 1867 that Joseph Lister published his findings about the critical need of using sterile procedures in the surgical setting. Back then, doctors seldom washed their hands prior to surgery, let alone sterilize the instruments they had used on the previous patient.

Before Dr. Lister’s sterile techniques were adopted, patients frequently died from infections introduced during surgery.

Joseph Lister had little interest in financial or social success. These traits enabled him to endure the criticisms hurled by the medical establishment about the extra steps he took to ensure his surgical environments were clean.

One of Dr. Lister’s greatest challenges was to persuade his colleagues that germs did in fact exist. Back then, most doctors still believed in the theory of spontaneous generation.1

Convincing today’s medical establishment about proven methods to save lives may be less daunting than what Dr. Lister encountered, but it is still nonetheless challenging.

Today’s Body Count

Back in 2007, I urged the federal government to declare a national emergency. My rationale was that millions of Americans were going to needlessly die if the epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency was not immediately corrected.2

My article was based on irrefutable scientific evidence documenting how vast numbers of lives could be spared if everyone took at least 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 each day.2

I went a step further and showed how mandatory vitamin D supplementation could resolve today’s health care cost crisis by slashing the need for expensive prescription drugs and hospitalizations.2

I took it two steps further and offered to donate 50,000 one-year-supply bottles of vitamin D3 so the government could give these away to those who could not afford this ultra-low cost supplement.2

It is now 16 months later. The federal government has done nothing to inform the public of the opportunity to radically reduce their risk of dying by taking a supplement that costs less than 6 cents a day!

Vitamin D More Effective Than Previously Known

A large number of new vitamin D studies have appeared in the scientific literature since I wrote my plea to the federal government. These studies don’t just confirm what we knew 16 months ago—they show that optimizing vitamin D intake will save even more lives than what we projected.

For instance, a study published in June 2008 showed that men with low vitamin D levels suffer 2.42 times more heart attacks. Now look what this means in actual body counts.3

Each year, about 157,000 Americans die from coronary artery disease-related heart attacks.4 Based on this most recent study, if every American optimized their vitamin D status, the number of deaths prevented from this kind of heart attack would be 92,500.

To put the number of lives saved in context, tens of millions of dollars are being spent to advertise that Lipitor® reduces heart attacks by 37%. This is certainly a decent number, but not when compared with how many lives could be saved by vitamin D. According to the latest study, men with the higher vitamin D levels had a 142% reduction in heart attacks.3

This does not mean that you should stop taking medications if you can’t get your cardiac risk factors under control by natural methods. It does mean that you should make certain you are not vitamin D-insufficient.

Please note that all forms of heart disease kill over 869,700 Americans each year.4 These lethal forms of heart disease include cardiomyopathy, valvular insufficiency, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, coronary thrombosis (blood clot in coronary artery), and coronary atherosclerosis (narrowing or blockage of coronary arteries). There is reason to believe that vitamin D could help protect against most of these forms of cardiac-induced death.5

Billions of Dollars in Health Care Savings

There are 920,000 heart attacks suffered in the United States every year.4 According to the American Heart Association, the annual cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity related to these heart attacks is over $156 billion.4

The annual retail cost of all 300 million Americans (including children) supplementing with 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day is $6.6 billion.

So if vitamin D’s only benefit was to reduce coronary heart attack rates by 142%, the net savings (after deducting the cost of the vitamin D) if every American supplemented properly would be around $84 billion each year. That’s enough to put a major dent in the health care cost crisis that is forecast to bankrupt Medicare and many private insurance plans.

Sparing Countless Numbers From the Agonies of Cancer

The evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in preventing common forms of cancer is now overwhelming.2

Vitamin D-deficient women, for example, have a 253% increased risk of colon cancer.6 Colon cancer strikes 145,000 Americans each year and 53,580 die from it.7 Based on these studies, if everyone obtained enough vitamin D, 38,578 lives could be saved and medical costs would be reduced by $3.89 billion.8,9

A study published in January 2008 showed that women with the lowest level of vitamin D were at a 222% increased risk for developing breast cancer.10 Most studies show that higher levels of vitamin D can reduce breast cancer incidence by around 30-50%.11-14

Each year, approximately 186,800 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,950 perish from it in the United States.15 This needless toll of suffering and death caused by insufficient intake of vitamin D is unconscionable.

Prostate cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 189,000 American men this year. Almost 30,000 will die from it.16 Men with higher levels of vitamin D have a 52% reduced incidence of prostate cancer.17

The first-year costs of prostate cancer treatment are approximately $14,540.18 If all aging men achieved sufficient vitamin D status, about $1.4 billion could be saved each year.

So as you can see, there is no real health care cost crisis. What the population suffers from is frighteningly low blood levels of vitamin D. During winter months in Canada, for instance, an estimated 97% of the population is vitamin D-deficient.19

Vitamin D Protects Against Stroke

Stroke is the number three cause of death in the United States.20 It is also one of the most feared diseases because of its high incidence of permanent disability.

In a study published in September 2008, blood indicators of vitamin D status were measured in 3,316 patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The subjects were followed for 7.75 years. For every small decrease in blood indicators of vitamin D status, there was a startling 86% increase in the number of fatal strokes.21

The doctors who conducted this study concluded: “Low levels of 25(OH)D* and 1,25(OH)2D* are independently predictive for fatal strokes, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation is a promising approach in the prevention of strokes.”21

*Note: 25 [OH] D and 1,25[OH]2D are blood markers that measure vitamin D status in one’s body.

If all that vitamin D did was to reduce stroke risk, it would be critically important for every American to ensure optimal blood levels.

Low Vitamin D Doubles Death Rate

Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide problem. Yet no conventional medical organization or governmental body has declared a health emergency to warn the public about the urgent need of achieving sufficient vitamin D blood levels.

According to John Jacob Cannell, MD, founder of the non-profit Vitamin D Counsel: “Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing seventeen varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease.

This does not mean that vitamin D deficiency is the only cause of these diseases, or that you will not get them if you take vitamin D. What it does mean is that vitamin D, and the many ways in which it affects a person’s health, can no longer be overlooked by the health care industry nor by individuals striving to achieve and maintain a greater state of health.”22

Vitamin D seems to reduce the risk of almost every killer disease of aging. In fact, a recent study shows that humans with low vitamin D status are twice as likely to die over a seven-year time period!5

Each year, the federal government spends $1 billion in research aimed at finding ways to prevent or cure the killer diseases of aging.23 Yet the government is oblivious to the most medically effective and cost-effective way of preventing needless death. This is analogous to how the establishment ignored Joseph Lister’s pleas for a sterile environment in the surgical arena.

Difference Between “Deficiency” and “Insufficiency”

Doctors are not trained to recognize a vitamin D deficiency until rickets develop in children or osteomalacia (softening of the bones) develops in adults. Clinical vitamin D deficiency is diagnosed when blood levels of a vitamin D metabolite (25-hydroxyvitamin D) drop below 12 ng/mL.

According to the world’s foremost experts, however, optimal blood levels of vitamin D are between 30 and 50 ng/mL and higher.24,25 Those with blood levels below 30 ng/mL are considered to have insufficient vitamin D.

These widely varying numbers explain why mainstream medicine is at a loss to understand the widespread health problem created by less than optimal vitamin D levels. If physicians view a patient’s medical chart and see a vitamin D blood level of 18 ng/mL, they will think this person has adequate vitamin D. The reality is that a vitamin D blood level this low predisposes this patient to virtually every killer disease of aging and may in fact be the reason that individual has become a “patient” instead of remaining healthy.

There clearly is a need for a new consensus in the medical community to redefine vitamin D deficiency as a blood reading below 30 ng/mL. As we at Life Extension long ago learned, it can take decades for the establishment to change its reference ranges to reflect scientific reality.

What Can be Done?

Despite the startling number of needless deaths, the federal government has done nothing to warn the public of the lethal dangers associated with vitamin D insufficiency.

We will distribute my original 2007 article along with this editorial to every member of the new Congress and the President in January 2009. Hopefully someone will understand the urgency of declaring a health emergency and advise that every American maintain a vitamin D blood level of at least 30 ng/mL.

If the government continues to ignore our pleas, perhaps private insurance companies will consider sending free bottles of vitamin D supplements to all of their subscribers. The outlays for medical procedures and prescription drugs would be expected to plummet in groups who took their vitamin D supplement each day.

The media has done a good job in reporting on the numerous positive findings about vitamin D over the past two years. Sales of vitamin D supplements have been increasing, so at least some Americans are getting the message and taking steps to guard against vitamin D insufficiency.

In the meantime, Life Extension will continue to report on new findings about vitamin D. We have found that if we repeat a message long enough, much of the public will wake up to scientific reality and the desire for self-preservation.

Source: Life Extension

Research Finds Healthy Use For Tanning Beds As Pain Treatment

Winston-Salem, NC-- Ultraviolet light may help relieve pain in fibromyalgia syndrome patients, according to a preliminary study at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center conducted by dermatology, rheumatology, and public health sciences researchers.

A report on the study appears in the January issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Steven R. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Dermatology Research at Wake Forest Baptist, said that this study was an outgrowth of a previous tanning addiction study in which participants reported anecdotally some improvement in their back pain.

"We decided to look at fibromyalgia patients because there is such a big need for treatment," Feldman said. "We knew from the tanning addiction study that the UV light was doing something for participants beyond the obvious."

The recent study included 19 fibromyalgia patients who were exposed to both UV and non-UV rays in tanning beds for two weeks. Then they were divided into UV and non-UV groups for the next four weeks. All of the fibromyalgia patients received light treatments three times a week for a total of six weeks.

The participants were treated with sunless tanning lotions to tan all participants because tanning might have indicated which group was receiving exposure to UV light. They were asked to report on their levels of pain as well as their moods. UV exposure resulted in limited improvement in pain, well-being and relaxation compared with the non-UV group.

"People in the UV group reported a modest improvement," Feldman said. "This was a small study and may indicate the need for a larger study."

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness in localized areas of the neck, torso and extremities. In addition to pain, patients can experience stiffness, fatigue, sleep disturbances and other symptoms. Other pain syndromes, such as irritable bowel syndrome or migraine headaches, are seen in individuals affected by fibromyalgia. The majority of the three to six million people who have fibromyalgia are women.

"Fibromyalgia syndrome is the most common cause of chronic diffuse pain. Unfortunately, currently available medical therapies offer meaningful improvement in symptoms for less than half of the patients," according to Kenneth S. O'Rourke, M.D., a rheumatologist at Wake Forest Baptist and a researcher on the study. "The evaluation of alternative therapies for patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, based on our increased understanding of how pain signals are generated and sustained, is an important pursuit at many clinical research centers."

Traditional treatments for fibromyalgia are medications, such as antidepressants, analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and non-pharmacologic approaches, most importantly regular participation in an exercise program.

In a previous tanning addiction study, participants getting UV light treatments reported improvement in their arthritis and back pain, Feldman said. That earlier study found that frequent tanning bed users may get more out of the experience than darker skin - exposure to ultraviolet light may produce a "relaxing" effect that lures tanners back to the beds.

According to Feldman, this cannot be just a direct effect of warmth causing an increase in blood flow and a decrease in muscle spasm and tension because there was greater relaxation with UV compared to the non-UV bed users.

Dermatology fellow Sarah Taylor, M.D., participated in the study, as well as former Wake Forest Baptist researchers Fabian Camacho, M.D., and Mandeep Kaur, M.B.B.S., Joy Willard, R.N., and medical student Kristen LoSicco.

For more on this study and others at WFUBMC click here.

Source: click here.

What you need to know about Vitamin D

How Long is Too Long in the Sun?

This is the tricky part and most often misunderstood. Obviously, there’s plenty of data to back up that being in the sun too long without protection can lead to skin cancers. The flipside is that being in the sun too little might lead to cancer as well.

You may think that applying some sunscreen will get you the best of both worlds, but sadly sunscreen has been shown to block upwards to 95% of vitamin D uptake from the sun.(6)

What are you to do?

A good solution is to spend fifteen minutes in the sun and then apply your sunscreen. It’s suggested that fifteen minutes a day can be enough. However, for a lot, that isn’t the case. And unless you’re living below 42 degrees North latitude (a line approximately between the northern border of California and Boston), in the wintertime you aren’t going to get it at all.(7)

Studies also show that if you’re African America or Hispanic then you need near double what Caucasians need.(8,9)

The Do’s and Don’ts of Vitamin D

If you find yourself stuck inside, above the magic line, or of darker skin, then you might need to look at better options of getting vitamin D.

1. Don’t be obese: Obesity blocks vitamin D intake by as much as 55%.

2. Don’t be scared of the sun: We’re a culture of extremes and look at where it’s got us. You need some sun, so don’t be afraid of it. Just call it quits before you burn like a lobster.

3. Do eat cod liver oil: Cod liver oil in supplement form is a really simple and easy way to get in lots of D3 during those months when you may not be able to.

4. Don’t be scared of the tanning bed: If you’ve ever known a friend with an iguana or turtle, then you know that in order to survive they need those ultraviolet exposures. Well, so do you!

Exposure to tanning beds resulted in a 100% increase in blood concentrations of vitamin D.(10) The problem is, just as with the sun, people take things too far. It’s a great way to get what you need in the winter months, but the same “don’t overdo it” rules apply.

5. Do get tested: In general, you should be getting a full vitamin and mineral testing every six months. Is it time for a checkup?

6. Do hit the numbers: While 400 IU is the recommend dosage, there’s nothing wrong with getting 1,000 IU, especially from D3, and namely during the “off season.”

7. Do take this seriously: I’m not usually one for dramatics, but there are so many low level health problems that can lead to higher level problems, and issues from a vitamin D deficiency can be really simple to solve.

Take it seriously; get in your sun, get in your oils, and take advantage of the problems you can fix every chance you get.

—

References

1. An evaluation of the vitamin D3 content in fish: Is the vitamin D content adequate to satisfy the dietary requirement for vitamin D?

2. Nutrition Coordinating Center. Nutrition Data System for Research (NDS-R). Version 4.06/34. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2003.

3. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page, 2003.

4. Houghton LA, Vieth R. The case against ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) as a vitamin supplement. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;84:694-7.

5. Nesby-O’Dell S, Scanlon KS, Cogswell ME, Gillespie C, Hollis BW, Looker AC, et al. Hypovitaminosis D prevalence and determinants among African-American and white women of reproductive age: third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994. Am J Clin Nutr 2002;76:187-92.

6. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/80/6/1678S.pdf

7. Cranney C, Horsely T, O’Donnell S, Weiler H, Ooi D, Atkinson S, et al. Effectiveness and safety of vitamin D. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 158 prepared by the University of Ottawa Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-02.0021. AHRQ Publication No. 07-E013. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2007.

8. Nesby-O’Dell S, Scanlon KS, Cogswell ME, Gillespie C, Hollis BW, Looker AC, et al. Hypovitaminosis D prevalence and determinants among African-American and white women of reproductive age: third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994. Am J Clin Nutr 2002;76:187-92.

9. Yetley EA. Assessing vitamin D status of the U.S. population. Am J Clin Nutr. In press.

10. Holick, M. F. (2004). Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 79, 362-371.

Source: Examiner.com

Vitamin D on the MSNBC

Click on the image to view the video.

Stop chronic aches and pains with vitamin D

As the winter approaches, aches and pains increase as vitamin D levels, already too low in most people, begin to plummet. Bringing vitamin D levels up can often alleviate or eliminate the pain.
For instance, Dr. Stewart Leavitt recently posted the results of a review of 22 scientific studies on the relationship of vitamin D deficiency to chronic pain. (http://Pain-Topics.org/VitaminD). This 2008 analysis is just the latest of many studies on vitamin D and pain, most of which have been ignored by the physicians that treat the disorder. In total, there were 3,670 patients with chronic pain, and 48% of them showed significant vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D supplementation was very helpful in alleviating the pain. Dr. Leavitt states: “When supplementation was provided for improving vitamin D status, pain and/or muscle weakness were resolved or at least subsided in most cases, and there were associated improvements in physical functioning.”

This has actually been known for about 25 years, but because it sells no drugs, it has been virtually ignored. Vitamin D sufficient to keep optimal levels in the blood can be purchased at Bio-Tech Pharmacal for about $10.00 per year, and sunlight—the most natural way to increase vitamin D, is free. Unfortunately, sunlight produces vitamin D only during the late spring through early fall in high latitudes.

The Powers of Darkness (the pharmaceutical/medical complex that has succeeded in frightening most people out of the sunlight) have created a shocking and widespread vitamin D deficiency that is manifesting itself in increased rates of cancer, heart disease, autism, diabetes and myriad other maladies, not the least of which is chronic pain.

Other research has shown similarly impressive results. In one interesting study, conducted on chronic pain patients in Minneapolis, Minnesota (45 degrees north latitude), it was found that 100% of African Americans, American Indians, East Africans and Hispanics were vitamin D deficient, as were most Caucasians.[1] In summer sunlight, dark-skinned people take up to 6 times as long to produce the same amount of vitamin D as light skinned people, making dark skinned people much more susceptible to vitamin D deficiency. Indoor lifestyles and the advice to slather with sunscreen, which can reduce vitamin D production during sunlight exposure by 99.5%[2] puts dark-skinned people at a considerable vitamin D deficiency disadvantage. In addition, during the winter at high latitudes in areas such as Minneapolis, there are several months where little or no vitamin D is produced by the skin due to the sun’s position in the southern sky; the UVB portion of sunlight that stimulates vitamin D production is filtered out by the atmosphere during those months. This is known as “vitamin D winter” and is especially important in the northern US, northern Europe and all of Canada. It is absolutely essential for dark-skinned adults to take vitamin D supplementation of 4,000 to 5,000 IU per day year around or regularly use a tanning bed to stave off pain and to reduce the excessive risk of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, etc., that plague them. It is also critical for most Caucasians during winter.

Another impressive result comes from a clinical observation of five vitamin D-deficient patients who suffered from myopathy, a disease of bone and muscle tissue. They were confined to wheelchairs and experienced severe fatigue, weakness, and chronic pain. After receiving 50,000 IU per week of vitamin D, all regained enough strength and energy within four to six weeks to be mobile and functional, and their aches and pains disappeared.[3] Other research reported that five chronic-pain patients at John Hopkins University Medical School were treated with vitamin D, and their pain resolved within a week![4]

Vitamin D is a potent anti-inflammatory and also helps to strengthen bone, joint and muscle tissue. Be sure to maintain optimal levels (50 ng/ml or 125 nmol/L) in order to avoid the aches and pains of winter.


[1] Plotnikoff G. et al. Prevalence of severe hypovitaminosis D in patients with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Mayo Clin Proc. 2003;78:1463-70.
[2] Matsuoka, L. et al. sunscreens suppress cutaneous vitamin D3 synthesis. J Clin Endocrinology & Metab 1987; 64:1165-68.
[3] Prabhala, A. et al. Severe myopathy associated with vitamin D deficiency in western New York. Arch Intern Med 2000;160:1199-1203.
[4] Gloth, F. et al. Can vitamin D deficiency produce an unusual pain syndrome? Arch Intern Med 1991;152:1662-4.

Source: drsorenson.blogspot.com

Vitamin D Directly Affects Thyroid Function in Mice

FRIDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin D may directly affect thyroid function, according to research in a preclinical animal model published online Oct. 16 in Endocrinology.

Alexander Misharin of the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles and colleagues tested the role of vitamin D in a mouse model of Graves' disease, in which hyperthyroidism is induced by immunization with an adenovirus encoding the thyrotropin receptor. Because it was previously established that vitamin D enhances regulatory T cells, the authors hypothesized that decreasing vitamin D through a controlled diet would intensify the severity of Graves' disease in the model.

Vitamin D deficiency induced only small immunological changes. Unexpectedly, the vitamin D-deprived mice developed persistent hyperthyroidism following immunization, unlike their vitamin D-sufficient matched controls. This disparity was not explained by any immunological difference, and the authors speculated that the persistent hyperthyroidism was instead caused by an increased sensitivity of the thyroid to the antibodies directed against thyrotropin.

"Rather than affecting the immune response, the most important effect of vitamin D deficiency was on the thyroid," the authors write, providing evidence for the role of an environmental factor, vitamin D, on thyroid function.

Abstract