Nutrition

Defining Adequate Vitamin D Intake : Cross-sectional and Intervention Studies Viljakainen, Heli Tuulikki University of Helsinki 2008-05-23 Doctoral dissertation (article-based) Vitamin D is required for normal bone growth and maintenance of the skeleton throughout life. In Finland, like in many other Western countries, the population suffers from inadequate or deficient vitamin D status, especially during winter, which is thought to increase the risk of osteoporosis. New strategies to prevent osteoporosis are actively being sought. The main objective of this thesis was to determine whether vitamin D is feasible in the primary prevention of osteoporosis; does it affect bone mineral accrual during the growth period? A second goal was to ascertain whether seasonal variation in calcitropic hormones affects bone remodelling, and to elucidate the vitamin D intake needed to overcome this variation in different age groups. In summary, vitamin D intake remains inadequate among the target groups of this thesis, as reflected by seasonal variation in calcitropic hormones and bone metabolism. Dietary intake of vitamin D should be increased to achieve at least an adequate vitamin D status (S-25-OHD>50 nmol/l) and possibly an optimal vitamin D status (S-25-OHD>80 nmol/l) throughout the year. This could be accomplished by introducing new vitamin D-fortified foods to the market."

Meta-analysis of vitamin D, calcium and the prevention of breast cancer. Chen P, Hu P, Xie D, Qin Y, Wang F, Wang H. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009 Oct 23. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19851861 These results provide strong evidence that vitamin D and calcium have a chemopreventive effect against breast cancer.

Higher serum vitamin D concentrations are associated with longer leukocyte telomere length in women. Richards JB, Valdes AM, Gardner JP, Paximadas D, Kimura M, Nessa A, Lu X, Surdulescu GL, Swaminathan R, Spector TD, Aviv A. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Nov;86(5):1420-5. PMID: 17991655

Food Choices and Coronary Heart Disease: A Population Based Cohort Study of Rural Swedish Men with 12 Years of Follow-up. Sara Holmberg, Anders Thelin and Eva-Lena Stiernström. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6(10), 2626-2638; doi:10.3390/ijerph6102626 - published online 12 October 2009 Coronary heart disease is associated with diet. Nutritional recommendations are frequently provided, but few long term studies on the effect of food choices on heart disease are available. We followed coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality in a cohort of rural men (N = 1,752) participating in a prospective observational study. Dietary choices were assessed at baseline with a 15-item food questionnaire. 138 men were hospitalized or deceased owing to coronary heart disease during the 12 year follow-up. Daily intake of fruit and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease when combined with a high dairy fat consumption (odds ratio 0.39, 95% CI 0.21-0.73), but not when combined with a low dairy fat consumption (odds ratio 1.70, 95% CI 0.97-2.98). Choosing wholemeal bread or eating fish at least twice a week showed no association with the outcome.

"People with coeliac disease may be more susceptible to osteoporosis because their own immune system attacks their bone tissue, a study suggests. Osteoporosis is a known risk of coeliac disease and has been explained by a failure to absorb calcium or vitamin D. "

"This is not one of our usual hour-long live discussions. Rather, this is an online question-and-answer session. Your questions and Dr. Vieth's answers will appear at the bottom of this page after 1 p.m. EDT today."

"In one room on the last day of the conference, four invited faculty members meticulously made the case for an already-available substance as an example of the kind of agent the others were looking for. Their message: omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), usually derived from fish oil, garner far less attention as a heart-failure therapy than they deserve, given the wealth of laboratory and clinical evidence supporting a treatment effect."

Coronary calcium as a predictor of coronary events in four racial or ethnic groups. Detrano R, Guerci AD, Carr JJ, Bild DE, Burke G, Folsom AR, Liu K, Shea S, Szklo M, Bluemke DA, O'Leary DH, Tracy R, Watson K, Wong ND, Kronmal RA. N Engl J Med. 2008 Mar 27;358(13):1336-45. PMID: 18367736

"LOS ANGELES (September 29, 2009) -- A simple, non-invasive test appears to be an effective screening tool for identifying patients with silent heart disease who are at risk for a heart attack or sudden death. Coronary artery calcium scans can be done without triggering excessive additional testing and costs, according to the multi-center EISNER (Early Identification of Subclinical Atherosclerosis by Noninvasive Imaging Research) study, led by investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. The findings appear in today's issue of the findings appear in today's issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology."

Schizophrenic symptoms and SPECT abnormalities in a coeliac patient: regression after a gluten-free diet. De Santis A, Addolorato G, Romito A, Caputo S, Giordano A, Gambassi G, Taranto C, Manna R, Gasbarrini G. J Intern Med. 1997 Nov;242(5):421-3. PMID: 9408073

"The gluten/schizophrenia connection has been tossed around since the 1970's. It is still controversial. Yet, some with schizophrenia (statistics say around 10-20%) may be miraculously helped by a simple dietary change. It is important to realize that many people have problems with gluten who do not test positive for Celiac Disease. Gluten can cause different types of problems. Casein sensitivity may be involved as well, for some."

I have been reading a case report by Kraft, Westman, 2009 of a 70 year old obese, Caucasian female who was suffering from Schizophrenia since the age of 17. Her symptoms included paranoia, hallucinations (auditory and visual), and many hospitalizations for psychosis and suicide attempts. Her daily diet included "egg and cheese sandwich, diet soda, water, pimento cheese, barbecued pork, chicken salad, hamburger helper, macaroni and cheese, and potatoes." Instead, she was asked to follow a low carbohydrate diet of: "unlimited meats and eggs, 4 ounces of hard cheese, 2 cups of salad vegetables, and 1 cup of low carbohydrate vegetables per day. This diet restricts carbohydrate intake to fewer than 20 grams per day." The diet was also grain free.

"(NaturalNews) People still don't get it: Vitamin D is the "miracle nutrient" that activates your immune system to defend you against invading microorganisms -- including seasonal flu and swine flu. Two months ago, an important study was published by researchers at Oregon State University. This study reveals something startling: Vitamin D is so crucial to the functioning of your immune system that the ability of vitamin D to boost immune function and destroy invading microorganisms has been conserved in the genome for over 60 million years of evolution. As this press release from Oregon State University (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...) explains: The fact that this vitamin-D mediated immune response has been retained through millions of years of evolutionary selection, and is still found in species ranging from squirrel monkeys to baboons and humans, suggests that it must be critical to their survival, researchers say. "The existence and importance of this part of our immune response makes it clear that humans and other primates need to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D," said Adrian Gombart, an associate professor of biochemistry and a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University."

"A recent article in the New York Times highlighted an ongoing problem with the accuracy of vitamin D testing at the largest commercial clinical laboratory, Quest Diagnostics. It has become clear from shared experience among vitamin D experts, including myself, that Quest Diagnostics has a problem with seemingly random over-estimation of vitamin D levels."

African Americans, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and osteoporosis: a paradox. Aloia JF. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Aug;88(2):545S-550S. Review. PMID: 18689399

Measuring 25-hydroxyvitamin D in a clinical environment: challenges and needs. Hollis BW. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Aug;88(2):507S-510S. Review. PMID: 18689391 In this article, I provide an overview of the techniques available for measuring 25(OH)D, compare these techniques with one another, and assess their clinical utility. I also briefly discuss the stability of 25(OH)D in biological media and present an overview of the Vitamin D External Quality Assessment Scheme.

On 29th September, Dr Michael Holick appeared on the "Coast to Coast" radio show, hosted by George Noory: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/holick-dr-michael/41323 As many of you can't afford a subscription to listen to the whole show, I have edited the broadcast into an MP3 file of short snippets, so that we can (intelligently) discuss what was said. There is a "beep tone" to separate each snippet of info. You can download it from: http://MarshallProtocol.com/video/Holick.mp3 First is the introduction, setting out Dr Holick's overview of Vit D.

Calcium and vitamin D intakes may be positively associated with brain lesions in depressed and nondepressed elders. Payne ME, Anderson JJ, Steffens DC. Nutr Res. 2008 May;28(5):285-92. PMID: 19083421 doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2008.02.013 In conclusion, calcium and vitamin D consumption were associated with brain lesions in elderly subjects even after controlling for potentially explanatory variables. These associations may be due to vascular calcification or other mechanism. The possibility of adverse effects of high intakes of calcium and vitamin D needs to be further explored in longitudinal studies of elderly subjects.