vitamin d

Vitamin D - The Wonderful Healing Properties Of The Sunshine Vitamin By Brenda Skidmore Brenda Skidmore Level: Platinum Brenda Skidmore can attest to the many positive results natural health cures can bring to human health. Along with the many medical professionals, whose published ... ...

Vitamin D is mother nature's all natural substance, coming through in the healing properties of the sun's ultraviolet rays. When used intelligently, sunlight exposure provides most people with their entire vitamin D requirements. The skin alone, as the body's largest organ, is responsible for producing and providing our body with this important nutrient.

According to Dr. Michael Holick author of “The UV Advantage”, and one of the world's most respected experts on vitamin D and the healing benefits of natural sunlight, if one has liver or kidney disease you will become vitamin D deficient. You will need to take either activated vitamin D or one of its analogs to maintain healthy bones.

As a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Holick and his roommate worked on isolating and identifying the active form of vitamin D for their PhD project. Over a two year time period, they managed to synthesize it. This synthesized form of vitamin D was given to patients while Dr. Holick was in medical school. Patients that had bone diseases associated with kidney failure, that were wheelchair bound and with severe bone pain, started walking again.

This active form of vitamin D that is made by the kidneys, is called 125-dihydroxy vitamin D. It can not be found in dietary supplements and is available only by prescription.

Vitamin D production first begins when you expose your skin to sunshine's ultraviolet rays. It is also worth mentioning here, that you can not get vitamin D when you are behind glass, so sitting in a sun room in your house, or the warmth of sunlight streaming through your car's windshield will not be beneficial skin exposure for producing vitamin D. After skin exposure to outdoor sunlight, vitamin D then takes a circuitous journey to the liver to get hydroxylated (called 25-hydroxy vitamin D). This inactive form of vitamin D then goes on to the kidneys, from there vitamin D becomes modified again, to its active form, which is then called 125-hydroxy Vitamin D.

Several years later, it was discovered that other organs in the body such as the prostate, breast, and colon can also activate vitamin D. It is this activated form of Vitamin D that is responsible for the intestines to efficiently absorb calcium from one's diet. Having a vitamin D deficiency puts you at risk for many diseases such as diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and depression to mention only a few.

Many Americans simply take for granted the importance of this free and natural necessary nutrient. Vitamin D deficiencies in the United States are now in epidemic proportions, and in all age groups. Wearing sunscreen, which has been promoted as healthy by the medical establishment because it protects the skin from cancer and is a lucrative business for sunscreen manufacturers, is the main reason for this shocking trend. We have been bought, sold, and paid for on avoiding sunshine exposure for fear of getting skin cancer, and this is why 40-60% of people are at risk for having a vitamin D deficiency.

When you slather on sunscreen even as low as 8 SPF every time you go outside, you reduce your ability to make vitamin D in your skin by more than 95%. When you need to be out doors for long periods of time in the sun, do not let your skin burn. Sunburning will increase your chances of developing skin cancer. Get into the shade, go indoors, or apply sunscreen after you have given your skin a chance to make vitamin D for your good health. Only 20 to 30 minutes three to five times a week of sensible sun exposure is necessary for the average caucasian, longer for darker skin and overweight individuals. Dr. Holick's book outlines the details on this to lessen any confusion.

You can not overdose on vitamin D, nature has provided smart safe guards on this. When you expose your skin to adequate amounts of sunlight in the spring, summer, and fall, the vitamin D that is produced will last you two to three months. This should get you through the winter. If you are concerned about this issue though, supplement with krill oil or cod liver oil through the winter months. This will help you keep up your reserves.

Vitamin D is not easily obtainable from our diets. Only cold water, oily fish is a good source, but you would have to eat this three to five times a week. Cod liver oil is a good source of vitamin D and omega-3, but it also contains vitamin A which can be toxic if too much is taken. Milk fortified with vitamin D is not a good source, as too much would have to be ingested to benefit.

Vitamin D is dependent on adequate calcium intake for it to work, and vise versa, calcium needs vitamin D to be adequately absorbed by your body. Keep this fact in mind if you are supplementing with extra calcium. Another interesting fact about vitamin D is, it really is not a vitamin in the true sense, but more like a hormone by definition in how it is produced and distributed throughout your body.

To get you thinking more about this poorly understood nutrient, here are some startling facts about vitamin D deficiencies in the United States:

1.32% of doctors and med school students are vitamin D deficient.

2.40% of the U.S. Population is vitamin D deficient.

3.42% of African American women of child bearing age are vitamin D deficient.

4.48% of young girls (9-11 year olds) are vitamin D deficient.

5.Up to 60% of hospital patients are vitamin D deficient.

6.76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing wide spread vitamin D deficiencies in their unborn babies, which predisposes them to type-1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and schizophrenia later in life. 81% of children born to these mothers were deficient.

7.Up to 80% of nursing home residents are vitamin D deficient.

The message seems rather clear and simple, sensible skin exposure to natural outdoor sunlight during the warm months of the year is one of the cheapest, easiest, and healthiest ways to improve one's health and avoid a vitamin D deficiency. Along with a healthy diet, exercise, and proper hydration with nothing more than plain water, there is really no one magic single bullet answer to maintaining or regaining great health. Nature is a multi-complex system that requires a myriad of nature's natural nutrients to keep a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

vitamin d health

Vitamin D - What You DON'T Know By R. Edward Jones

The benefits of Vitamin D are not much talked about in the press. That could be why most folks are unaware of the major benefits of Vitamin D. But please don't think that Vitamin D is not for you.

Vitamin D is another one of those fat soluble vitamins. Fat soluble means that Vitamin D (along with Vitamin A and E) are stored by your body.

Vitamin D is the only vitamin that your body can manufacture. Your body needs exposure to sunlight (without sunscreen) for this to occur.

Your body can also get benefits of Vitamin D from food sources or from supplements. Food sources of Vitamin D include cod liver oil, fatty fish like sardines, tuna or salmon, milk that is Vitamin D fortified and eggs.

However, most folks do not get the required amount of Vitamin D from their diet or exposure to sunlight.

Can't I Get the Benefits of Vitamin D from My Diet Alone

An article in the READER'S DIGEST titled "The Healing Vitamin" states that "Even with a healthy diet, you may be D-ficient (get it? D-ficient?)." The article argues that Vitamin D is not found in many foods and the foods that it is found in, people don't eat enough of.

In addition, folks are using sunscreen to keep the sun from damaging their skin. And even sunscreen with an 8 SPF cuts the UV rays necessary to make your Vitamin D to almost nothing.

An article in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION titled "Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults" points out the benefits of Vitamin D. It states that "low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia (comes before osteoporosis) and fractures."

This same article goes on to state that "most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone" and "pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements."

Benefits of Vitamin D in Preventing Osteoporosis

Another article appearing in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION titled "Osteoporosis, Prevention, Diagnosis and Therapy" tells us that "adequate calcium and vitamin D intake is crucial to develop optimal peak bone mass and to preserve bone mass throughout life."

The major benefits of Vitamin D is in enabling your body to use calcium and phosphorous. Without Vitamin D, your body cannot process the calcium in your diet and starts taking it from your bones.

In adults, this results in the bone disease called osteoporosis. In children, a severe Vitamin D deficiency causes what's called rickets.

Rickets is a softening of bones in children and is rare in the industrialized nations though.

An article in the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE titled "What Was Wrong With Tiny Tim" amusingly argues that Tiny Tim of the Charles Dickens’s "A Christmas Carol" fame is thought to have suffered from Rickets.

That's Not Very Funny

Although Rickets is rare in the industrialized world, osteoporosis is not. In the U.S. it is estimated that 10 million folks have osteoporosis. 18 million more have low bone mass making it highly likely that they too will eventually have this crippling disease.

Osteoporosis is a major health concern and major source of suffering for us older folks. It is estimated that one in two women and one out of every eight men over 50 years of age will have a fracture related to osteoporosis.

300,000 fractures of the hip, 700,000 fractures of the vertebrae, 250,000 fractures of the wrist and over 300,000 other fractures happen every year related to this disease.

Again, the major benefits of Vitamin D is that it enables your small intestine to absorb calcium from the foods you eat. Calcium is required by your muscles and nerves as well as for bone formation.

When your muscles and nerves are not getting enough calcium because of low Vitamin D levels, your body robs it from your bones.

Your bones then become porous and brittle. This does not happen overnight but over the course of your lifetime. That is why prevention of osteoporosis should begin at childhood. And making sure you get the benefits of Vitamin D along with an adequate supply of calcium is one way to do so.

Benefits of Vitamin D in Slowing Progression of Osteoarthritis

Another Osteo you say? Sorry! This time it's osteoarthritis (OA). This disease is a gradual deterioration of the cartilage in the joints. It is the most common form of arthritis.

Another of the benefits of Vitamin D is that it has been shown to lessen the severity of the pain and disability of this disease. The Arthritis Foundation has also reported on the link between low levels of Vitamin D and the increased progression of osteoarthritis of the knees.

Also, in an article in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION titled "Steps Toward Understanding, Alleviating Osteoarthritis Will Help Aging Population," we are advised that "preliminary results appear particularly strong for vitamin D."

Are There Other Benefits of Vitamin D? What About Vitamin D and Cancer?

More research is needed but preliminary studies have shown benefits of Vitamin D in areas such as high blood pressure, cancer of the colon as well as breast cancer and diabetes.

Can I Get My Benefits of Vitamin D Without Taking Too Much?

Dr Reinhold Vieth, Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto argues that the Recommended Dietary Allowance (birth to 50 years - 200 IU, 50+ years - 400 IU) may keep you from getting osteomalacia. But he feels more is needed to keep you from getting osteoporosis and secondary hyperparathyroidism.

In an article published in THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION, titled "Vitamin D supplementation, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, and safety," he argues that our ancestors were "naked apes in tropical Africa (his words)." And as such they enjoyed full body exposure to the sun on a daily basis. This, he stated, could give them the equivalent of 10,000 IU every day (and possibly a severe sunburn - my words).

A Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) has been set by The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine. This is the level of Vitamin D that they suggest you do not exceed. The UL for infants 0 to 12 months old is 1000 IU. The UL for both children as well as adults is 2000 IU.

Studies done since 1997 suggest that the current UL is conservative and that Vitamin D is safe below levels up to as high as 10,000 IU.

Since multivitamins supply Vitamin D in doses of 400 to 800 IU as do the single supplements, you should feel more than safe getting your benefits of Vitamin D.