Published at http://campisechiropractorfresno.blogspot.com/ Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Vitamin D has been known to be an essential nutrient since we discovered that its absence leads to the bone disease called Rickets in the early 1900s. But not until epidemiological studies over the last 2-5 years have we known the unusually wide impacts vitamin D has on the human organism.
The following are now known to be caused in large part by vitamin D deficiency: Cardiovascular disease; all cancers; autoimmune diseases including diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatism; osteoporosis; autism; arthritis; obesity; and lowered immunity such as chronic colds, flus, and bronchitis, and chronic sinus, bladder, and vaginal infections.
As you can see, a simple vitamin supplement or a simple behavior change of going out in the sun with exposed skin may be able to prevent most of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. Imagine if in 50 years the #1 cause of death is old age where people die in their sleep, just from adding a single nutrient to our diets!
Change #1:
Don’t be afraid of the sun causing skin cancer. Those who use sunscreen are at greater risk of melanoma. It is still not a good idea to get sunburned, so either slowly increase your sun exposure so you build a tan to prevent burn, or if you can’t tan, then cover up with clothes or go back indoors to prevent burning. If you are very fair skinned and don’t tan, then you likely make more D in your skin from sun per minute than the rest of us so the amount of time you need to spend in the sun is less than most anyway.
Change #2:
Those north of San Diego cannot make vitamin D from the sun in the winter. Supplementing with D or eating D rich foods is a must. Foods such as wild salmon and other wild fatty fish have enough D for the day per serving. But that means you would have to eat fish every day all winter. So a vitamin supplement is the most efficient and effective method for most in the winter.
Change #3:
Testing your blood levels one to two times per year is a must. It is a hundred times more important than most any other test your doctor may want to perform on you including cholesterol level. You will not know if your sun exposure or supplements are keeping your D levels in optimal range unless you check. Go towww.grassrootshealth.net to mail order a home test.
Change #4:
Dosage. The old recommended dosage was 400 IU per day. Now it is closer to 4000 IU per day! A ten fold increase. Pregnant women should take 6000 IU per day through pregnancy and until the child is weaned. Children under the age of one should take 1000 IU per day and those between 1 and 13 should take 2000 IU per day.
Change #5
Blood levels. The old minimum blood level was 20 ng/ml. Now it is 80-100 ng/ml. To raise your blood levels 10 ng/ml take 1000 IU per day. So if your blood test shows 30 ng/ml then you need to take an additional 5000 IU per day on top of what you are already getting from the sun and diet and pills, in order to reach 80 ng/ml. But, if you are obese or if you are ill then you may need twice this dose until you become well. The bottom line is check your blood levels and keep upping the dosage of D until your blood level rise to 80-100. No toxic changes occur in the literature until blood levels reach 200 ng/ml.
Change #6
Skin color. Those at greatest risk of the above mentioned diseases happen to be those living in northern climates with dark skin. The darker your skin, the longer you need to be in the sun to make vitamin D. It is now thought that a black person living in Chicago cannot physically make enough D for 9-10 months out of the year by the sun alone. So without frequent tanning bed visits, blacks living in the north need to supplement with vitamin D more than anyone. It’s a matter of life and death, or at least a matter of a healthy life or an ill life. This may explain why blacks in the U.S. have a higher incidence of many diseases than whites.
-Yours in Health
Dr. Campise, D. C. Fresno
Visit us at www.drjohnusa.com
or call (559) 930-1034 to make an appointment