IMPORTANCE of Vitamin D!!

FROM  THE  BOOK  "FOREVER  YOUNG"  by  Nicholas Perricone, M.D.

Vitamin D 

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that functions as an important hormone. Vitamin D communicates to the intestines to increase the absorption of calcium by as much as 80 percent. Vitamin D is also well known for maintaining normal calcium levels. These are just a few of the extremely important functions of this essential nutrient.

Vitamin D Deficiency

In March 2006, Mayo Clinic Proceedings printed an alarming article about the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. The highly respected author, Michael Holick of the Boston University School of Medicine, stated, "Vitamin D inadequacy has been reported in approximately 36 percent of otherwise healthy young adults and up to 57 percent of general medicine inpatients in the United States and even higher percentages in Europe. Low sunlight exposure, age-related decreases in vitamin D synthesis in our skin, and diets low in vitamin D contribute to the high prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy."

Supplemental doses of vitamin D (taken together with calcium and magnesium) and sensible sun exposure could prevent deficiency in most of the general population, according to Holick. In this section we will learn which forms of vitamin D are most effective, starting with the most natural: the sun.

Vitamin D Sources

Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D. It can provide you with your entire vitamin D requirement. Children and young adults who spend a short time outside two or three times a week will generally synthesize all the vitamin D they need. If you are older, you have diminished capacity to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight exposure. Many of us use sunscreen and/or wear protective clothing in order to prevent skin cancer and sun damage, depriving ourselves of vitamin D. In these instances it is important to consider getting your vitamin D from food and supplements. Vitamin D is unique among vitamins in that it can be provided to the body through food or by exposure to the sun. Sunshine is a significant source of vitamin D because ultraviolet rays from sunlight trigger vitamin D synthesis in the skin. I recommend spending fifteen minutes a day in the sun without sunscreen. This will increase vitamin D production, known to reduce the risk of many internal cancers as well as the risk of osteoporosis. Although sun exposure has been greatly vilified in the past decades, exposure to the sun is our most important source of this critical vitamin.

The application of sunscreen with an SPF factor of 8 reduces the production of vitamin D by 95 percent. In latitudes around 40 degrees north or 40 degrees south (Boston is 42 degrees north), there is insufficient UVB radiation available for vitamin D synthesis from November to early March. Ten degrees farther north (Edmonton, Canada), this "vitamin D winter" extends from mid-October to mid-March. According to Dr. Holick, as little as five to ten minutes of sun exposure on arms and legs or face and arms three times weekly between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. during the spring, summer, and fall at 42 degrees of latitude should provide a light-skinned individual with adequate vitamin D and allow for storage of any excess for use during the winter with minimal risk of skin damage.

Vitamin D Supplements

There are many health benefits of vitamin D, and, as mentioned in chapter 2 and this chapter, I recommend that we get it from sunlight. However, when this is not practical, a vitamin D supplement maybe a strategy to ensure adequate levels. But what vitamin D supplement is best? Since a large body of science shows that vitamin D works closely with calcium and magnesium, it is best to take vitamin D in combination with calcium and magnesium to maintain a proper balance. Recent literature shows that most calcium supplements have too little vitamin D to be effective. And some of them use synthetic vitamin D2. A much better form is natural vitamin D3, which stays in your system longer and with greater effect.

Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency

A deficiency of vitamin D can result in the following conditions:

RICKETS In infants and children, severe vitamin D deficiency results in the failure of the bone to mineralize. Rapidly growing bones are most severely affected by rickets. The growth plates of bones continue to enlarge, but in the absence of adequate mineralization, the weight-bearing limbs become bowed. Although fortification of foods has led to complacency regarding vitamin D deficiency, nutritional rickets is still being reported throughout the world.

OSTEOMALACIA Although adult bones are no longer growing, they are in a constant state of turnover. In adults with severe vitamin D deficiency, the collagen bone matrix is preserved but bone mineral is progressively lost, resulting in bone pain and osteomalacia (soft bones).

MUSCLE WEAKNESS AND PAIN Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and pain in children and adults. In a cross-sectional study of 150 patients referred to a clinic in Minnesota for the evaluation of persistent muscle and bone pain, 93 percent had vitamin D deficiency! Muscle pain and weakness were prominent symptoms of vitamin D deficiency in a study of Arab and Danish Muslim women living in f Denmark. Another trial found that supplementation of elderly women \ with 800 IU per day of vitamin D and 1,200 milligrams per day of calcium for three months increased muscle strength and decreased the risk of falling by almost 50 percent compared with supplementation with calcium alone. This is an extremely significant finding and a compelling case for supplementation.

Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency

If you are in any of the categories below, you would be well advised to get a blood test to determine your vitamin D levels.

 TOTAL COVERAGE OF SKIN, OR OVERUSE OF SUNSCREEN.  Osteomalacia has been documented in women who cover all of their skin whenever they are outside for religious or cultural reasons. The application of sunscreen with an SPF factor of 8 reduces the production of vitamin D by 95 percent, creating a problem similar to that of covered skin.

DARK SKIN.   People with dark skin synthesize less vitamin D on exposure to sunlight than those with light skin. The risk of vitamin D deficiency is particularly high in dark-skinned people who live far from the equator.

BREAST-FEEDING. Infants who are exclusively breast-fed are at high risk of vitamin D inadequacy, particularly if they have dark skin and/or receive little sun exposure. Human milk generally provides 25 IU of vitamin D per liter, which is not enough for an infant if it is the sole source of vitamin D. Older infants and toddlers fed exclusively milk substitutes and weaning foods that are not vitamin D-fortified are also at risk of vitamin D deficiency. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all infants who are not consuming at least 500 milliliters (16 ounces) of vitamin D-fortified formula or milk be given a vitamin D supplement of 200 IU per day.

AGING 

The elderly have reduced capacity to synthesize vitamin D in the skin when exposed to UVT3 radiation and are more likely to stay indoors or use sunscreen. Institutionalized adults are at extremely high risk of vitamin D deficiency without supplementation.

INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

 If you suffer from an inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease, you may be at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, especially if you have had small-bowel surgery.

FAT MALABSORPTION SYNDROMES 

Cystic fibrosis and cholestatic liver disease impair the absorption of dietary vitamin D.

OBESITY

Being overweight increases the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Once vitamin D is synthesized in the skin or ingested, it is deposited in body fat stores, making it less bioavailable if you have large stores of body fat.

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IT  IS  OBVIOUS  THAT  IT  IS  IMPORTANT  TO  MAKE  SURE  YOU  ARE  GETTING  VITAMIN  D,  EITHER  IN  THE FOODS  YOU  EAT,  A  CERTAIN  AMOUNT  OF  SUN  EXPOSURE,  AND  A  VITAMIN  D  SUPPLEMENT.

I  DO  RECOMMEND  THE  BOOK  "FOREVER  YOUNG"  BY DR. PERRICONE.  SHOULD  BE  A  PART  OF  YOUR  HOME  LIBRARY  FOR  YOUR  FAMILY  AND  FRIENDS.

Keith Hunt