Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Disease in Two Big Studies

[Anti Federalist]

Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Disease in Two Big Studies

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/0...ype=blogs&_r=0

People with low vitamin D levels are more likely to die from cancer and heart disease and to suffer from other illnesses, scientists reported in two large studies published on Tuesday.

The new research suggests strongly that blood levels of vitamin D are a good barometer of overall health. But it does not resolve the question of whether low levels are a cause of disease or simply an indicator of behaviors that contribute to poor health, like a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and a diet heavy in processed and unhealthful foods.

Nicknamed the sunshine nutrient, vitamin D is produced in the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight. It can be obtained from a small assortment of foods, including fish, eggs, fortified dairy products and organ meats, and vegetables like mushrooms and kale. And blood levels of it can be lowered by smoking, obesity and inflammation.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and is an important part of the immune system. Receptors for the vitamin and related enzymes are found throughout cells and tissues of the body, suggesting it may be vital to many physiological functions, said Dr. Oscar H. Franco, a professor of preventive medicine at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands and an author of one of the new studies, which appeared in the journal BMJ.

“It has effects at the genetic level, and it affects cardiovascular health and bone health,” he said. “There are different hypotheses for the factors that vitamin D regulates, from genes to inflammation. That’s the reason vitamin D seems so promising.”

The two studies were meta-analyses that included data on more than a million people. They included observational findings on the relationship between disease and blood levels of vitamin D. The researchers also reviewed evidence from randomized controlled trials — the gold standard in scientific research — that assessed whether taking vitamin D daily was beneficial.

[Zippyjuan]

The new research suggests strongly that blood levels of vitamin D are a good barometer of overall health. But it does not resolve the question of whether low levels are a cause of disease or simply an indicator of behaviors that contribute to poor health, like a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and a diet heavy in processed and unhealthful foods.

Important question.

[donnay]

Yet Another Reason to Keep Your Vitamin D Levels High

by Paul Fassa
April 4th, 2014

Slowly, mainstream medicine is catching on to the multipurpose importance of a hormonal nutrient called vitamin D. While maintaining higher levels of the vitamin in your body has repeatedly been tied to improved mood and reduced risk of depression, there are indeed other benefits associated with the sunshine vitamin. Three studies, two in the USA and one in Finland, have shown that individuals who are vitamin D3 deficient are at an increased risk of stroke.

A Johns Hopkins Medical Institution study may have been the largest such of epidemiological studies on vitamin D, tracking nearly 8,000 subjects over 14 years to confirm the results of other similar but smaller scale testing in Finland and elsewhere. Information on that study can be found here.

At least the co-lead author of that Johns Hopkins study, cardiologist Erin Michos, M.D., discarded the conventional conservative dogma on vitamin D supplementing. She feels most would be better taking 2,000 iu (international units) or more daily and ignoring the government’s “Recommended Dietary Allowance” (RDA) of 600 iu. She also recommend testing your vitamin D3 as a point of reference.

There is not much agreement in mainstream medicine regarding what those vitamin D3 blood levels should be. And most studies, especially those concerning EU nations, have the bar set too low for what should be the threshold for vitamin D deficiency. So the vitamin D deficient population may be even higher.

Testing Vitamin D in the Body

Most alternative health practitioners and the few nutritionally aware MDs recommend having your blood serum tested for 25-hydroxy vitamin D or 25(OH)D. This is the type of vitamin D that circulates in your blood to be converted into the active forms of vitamin D3 by various receptor cells in your body.

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