Vitamin D - Vitamin Sunshine

The vitamin D is more important than originally thought.

Deficiency can lead to many health problems: cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, asthma, cancer, rickets, loss of bone density and contributes to osteoporosis(more than 40 million adults in US are at risk) which leads to fractures, older adults risk hip fractures, bones can become thin, brittle or misshapen.

If exposure to sunlight is limited, the kidneys cannot convert 25(OD)D to its active form, could affect higher cancer risk such as: colon, prostate, breast and pancreatic. Low vitamin D play a role in diabetes 2, hypertension, glucose intolerance, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, upper respiratory infection and brain impairment.

If you experience: fatigue, blurry vision, dizziness or vertigo, brain fog, often sick, unexplained aches and pains, bone, back and/or joint pain, dry eyes, low immunity or low energy, fatigue you might have a vitamin D deficiency.
Additional symptoms include: blood sugar issues, hair loss, wound healing, mood swings, depression, anxiety, weight gain, muscle, leg, hand or feet cramps, can’t sleep, dry eyes, tinnitus, hearing loss, or have Staph or Strep infection.

NOTE: The most common and overlooked symptom of low vitamin D is ‘fatigue”. “Even modestly low levels of vitamin D can have an impact on energy levels”. According to Dietitian Gillean Barkyoumb

Why is this included in the Vitamin D article?

Easy, when people suffer with this problem and it can be cleared up getting the correct amount of this vitamin – I wonder why this message hasn’t gotten out before!

If you have IBS you experience a lot of discomfort with diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain that can make you bend over and almost fall down and it comes on suddenly without much warning.

One more problem corrected with the correct dosage – so including this message here is very appropriate.

Roughly 3 out of 4 people in the US and Canada have low levels of vitamin D (according to Joshua Corn in stopagingnow.com/vitamin D). Our body produces vitamin D in response to ultraviolet rays.

North American usually doesn’t receive enough sun exposure. We need several hours per midday in the winter and 10 – 30 minutes per midday in the summer (according to Reader’s Digest March 2017). Vegan dieters contribute to vitamin D deficiency.

According to Vitamin D Council there are more than 1 billion people around the world deficient. More and more people are using sunscreens making them vitamin D deficient, we can’t make vitamin D naturally in our skin and vitamin D levels drop rapidly as the sun becomes weaker in the Autumn.

Vitamin D Council warns people that they probably aren’t taking enough vitamin D and need to increase their dosage.

Cantonmercy.org says 42% of US population is low in Vitamin D.

Our Public Health officials have been waging war on the sun for decades. Their advice: avoid the sun and use sunscreens.

NOTE: Using sunscreen blocks the vitamin D production. The problem with trying to get enough sun – means you take the risk of damaging your skin and developing some kind of skin cancer.

“The active form of vitamin D is not a pure vitamin, it’s a hormone that has the ability to turn genes on and off,” says Dr. Chabrashvili.

New research finds that vitamin D deficiency affects a type of brain “scaffolding” that supports the neurons.

"Vitamin D also may protect the brain through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties," says Majid Fotuhi, MD, PhD, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

Low vitamin D concentrations have also been associated with the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

"Studies suggest that vitamin D protects against dementia by helping to break down and sweep out Alzheimer's disease-related proteins and by enhancing blood flow to the brain," says Dr. Llewellyn.

Total intake includes: 1. Sunlight

2. Diet and 3. Supplements.

North of the 35 degrees latitude (This would be slightly north of New Orleans or LA) no vitamin D is possible according to sunsaferx.com/health-and wellness.

If you stay in your house most of the time – you might consider supplements or if you have several vitamin D systems.

1. 1. Prednisone and other corticosteroid medicines impair vitamin D.
2. 2. Weight loss drug orlistat (Xenical and Alli) and cholesterol lowering drug cholestyramine (Questran, LoCholest, Prevalite) reduces absorption of vitamin D.
3. 3. Phenobarbital and phenytoin (Dilantin) used to prevent and control epileptic seizures increase the breakdown of vitamin D and reduces calcium absorption.