Know the Vitamin D Facts
Your Health
Depends Upon It
Vitamin D facts are not well known - even though this fat soluble vitamin is essential to our good health. As more and more Vitamin D facts are being discovered in Vitamin D research, Vitamin D therapy is being found to be IMPERATIVE to our good health in many different ways. Vitamin D Therapy is essential for everything from bone health, to the immune system, to heart disease, Antiaging even many types of Cancer.
MOUNDS of research supports its importance- yet it is still being overlooked by doctors everywhere. It is becoming more and more apparent to researchers that the vast majority of people are Vitamin D deficient - up to 70% or even 85% in some regions - and that Vitamin D deficiency is contributing to many of the chronic illnesses in western countries.
Vitamin D Deficiency
The Vitamin D facts are that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a host of chronic illnesses that seem to have nothing to do with each other:
• Diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Breast Cancer and Vitamin D
• Heart Disease
• Vitamin D and Cancer
• Infertility
• High Blood Pressure
• Acne
• Chronic Pain
• Decline in physical functioning in the elderly
• Decline in mental function
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Deep Vein Thrombosis
• Heart Failure
In the US, the RDA is between 200 – 600 IU per day, while in Europe it is 400-800 IU per day. As more and more Vitamin D Research comes out, it seems that scientists are realizing that these numbers are WAY too low. So low in fact that the newest studies are saying that our
Vitamin D Requirements
are almost 10 times the governmental recommended dosages- even higher in people with Vitamin D Absorption problems or severe deficiency. In many cases, smart doctors are now realizing that people very often need doses of up to Vitamin D 50,000 IU per DAY for short periods of time to bring levels up to where they should be!
“Vitamin D deficiency is the single
most important dietary deficiency in the world
today. It has already been linked to prostate cancer,
colon cancer and breast cancer. After almost 35 years
of increases in allergic and autoimmune disease,
we are beginning to understand the causes
of the epidemic”.
- Harvard Medical School, Respiratory,
Environmental and Genetic Epidemiology,
Channing Laboratory, Brigham & Women’s Hospital,
Boston, Massachusetts,
Vitamin D, really a 'prohormone' and not a vitamin, has kept its classification as a vitamin due to our bodily needs for it that can be supplied in our diet. But we actually create vitamin d. The activation of sunlight on your skin creates your own homemade Vitamin D Therapy right in your body- nd Vitamin D therapy definitely regulates the activity of other cells in the body.
What Does Vitamin D Therapy Do?
More Vitamin D facts
Immune system Control
Vitamin D facts that most people don't know is that it is a powerful immune system controller. Some recent
Vitamin D Research
led the journal 'Science News' to call it "The Antibiotic Vitamin!" Vitamin D Therapy acts on the
Immune System
through nuclear receptors called Vitamin D Receptors or VDR’s. Nuclear Receptors are substances that attach to genes and affect their EXPRESSION of that particular gene depending upon environmental inputs. Only VDR's are specific to Vitamin D, but there are thousands of different nuclear receptors that gather information from the environment and tell genes what to do
The discovery of Nuclear Receptors really tipped the ‘nature vs. nurture’ argument in favor of the nurture side. Since the discovery of nuclear receptors and findings on how widespread they are, some scientists estimate that genetics influence the expression of disease about 20% with environment influences contributing 80%.
Most cells, if not ALL cells in the body have Vitamin D Receptors - making the influence of Vitamin D widespread. VDR's do many things depending upon where they are located and what is currently needed in the body, but one of their major functions is regulation of many antimicrobials that the body produces.
VDR’s have been linked to over 10,000 genes including the genes that control inflammation - which is present in nearly ALL chronic diseases! These genes are activated MUCH more strongly by the form of Vitamin D called Vitamin D3. Unfortunately, if you get diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency by your doctor, it's likely that you will get Vitamin D Therapy with an INFERIOR form of vitamin d, called Vitamin D2, Prescription Vitamin D or Vegan Vitamin D, that activates these genes MUCH more weakly- and so doesn't provide the health benefits that vitamin d is supposed to provide!
Calcium Regulation
Most people are familiar with Vitamin D facts in relation to bones. We think of Vitamin D and calcium for strong bones. But if anything, Vitamin D is UNDERESTIMATED for its role in bone health with calcium getting all of the fanfare. But Vitamin D is really the hormone that regulates calcium. Vitamin D activates the parathyroid glands, that actually control the Blood Calcium Level in the body, and tell them what to do. Lack of Vitamin D from not getting enough in the diet and from long periods without Vitamin D in Winter can prevent the absorption of calcium from the digestive system - no matter how much calcium you take. Therefore, Vitamin D is at LEAST as important as calcium for bones. And one study showed that up to 50% of women being treated for osteoporosis have unrecognized Vitamin D Deficiency.
But the Vitamin D Facts show that calcium regulation isn't JUST for bones. Calcium regulation is just as essential for HEART function as well. Vitamin D Deficiency leads to low calcium levels in the blood and these low calcium levels can affect heart functioning to such an extent that they actually cause the heart muscle itself to become weakened leading to a debilitating condition called Congestive Heart Failure. In children who are born with Vitamin D Deficiency, this weak heart can make these children so ill that they end up in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant! Most of the time, however, children are not diagnosed with Vitamin D Deficiency, but with a condition called Congenital Heart Failure and are left with little hope of ever getting well- all from the lack of a simple vitamin! That is just one of the amazing Vitamin D Facts that no one will tell you about.
Vitamin D Facts about Breastfeeding
While doctors almost NEVER discuss Vitamin D and Breastfeeding except to say that breast milk has no vitamin d and the baby should take supplements, this is a complete MYTH!! Breastmilk is actually an EXTREMELY RICH source of Vitamin d- IF the mother isn't vitamin d deficient. Unfortunately, the RDA of 600 IU's for women is "Woefully Inadequate", according to researchers, and FAR FAR from the amount that needs to be taken to have Vitamin D Rich Breastmilk! See the Vitamin D and Breastfeeding page for more info.
Vitamin D Facts about It's Safety
Vitamin D Therapy is SAFE, in fact it is EXTREMELY safe. It has an extremely bad- undeserved- reputation for having the potential for overdose. But it is MUCH harder to Overdose on Vitamin D than most people think.
In fact, it is SO safe that, in most cases, even if a child took an ENTIRE bottle of vitamin d will not harm him in any way- and actually it's likely that he will have IMPROVED his health by taking a whole bottle of standard dosage vitamin d. Because it's fat soluble, you can divide up all your vitamin d needs for the entire year, split them up and take a large dose every 3 to 4 months. There is really not a more convenient vitamin regimen than that!
Also, Vitamin D Side Effects are minimal and are usually very easy to remedy and the reasons that you CAN'T take vitamin D, officially called Contraindications to Taking Vitamin D, are almost non existent. It can even be given to newborn infants, the oldest elderly and people with kidney and liver failure.
Other Vitamin D Facts That We Don't Understand
The Vitamin D Facts show that this amazing hormone has many functions that are as yet unidentified. One study showed, "Early life vitamin D inadequacy is implicated in the risk of bone disease, autoimmune disease, and certain cancers later in life." Also several studies have concluded that higher total Vitamin D levels lower death rates for any reason. They concluded that low Vitamin D levels is an independent risk factor for early death. Yet, STILL no one is recommending higher doses of Vitamin D for the general population.
"Medical scientists who want more money
before recommending that Vitamin D deficiency
be treated have to assume responsibility.
I am all for more studies but we have to act now,
like we did with cigarettes. Remember, no human
randomized controlled trials exist showing
cigarettes are dangerous, so we have much more
— and better — science than we did
when we warned about smoking."
Dr. John Cannell of The Vitamin D Council
No one is really sure how or why Vitamin D is so important. What no one disputes, however, is that it is VITAL to our good health.
Next --->
Vitamin D and Sun
Vitamin D Resources
- This Vitamin D3 is GREAT for kids. Just a spray a day is all it takes.
