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Vitamin D deficiency and bone health in healthy adults in Finland: could this be a concern in other parts of Europe? Lamberg-Allardt CJ, Outila TA, Kärkkainen MU, Rita HJ, Valsta LM. J Bone Miner Res. 2001 Nov;16(11):2066-73. PMID: 11697803 Low vitamin D status was prevalent in these young adults in northern Europe in winter, although the vitamin D intake met the recommendation. This probably is not a local problem for northern Europe, because the natural sources of vitamin D are scarce and fortification is not very common in Europe, and with the exception of the southern part of Europe, sunshine is not very abundant in this part of the world. Thus, the results of this study indicate that more attention should be focused on vitamin D status and the sources of vitamin D in these countries.

"One of the surprises over the past year has been all the research regarding Vitamin D and brain health. Give that many people are spending less time outdoors and more time in front of their computers, we all should be concerned, as Vitamin D comes in part from our exposure to the sun. Low Vitamin D levels have been associated with pain, depression, MS, cancer and now perhaps even dementia. Here are the results of a new study that should cause all of us to pay attention. I frequently check the Vitamin D levels in my patients and frrequently see that they are below the optimal level. Get your levels checked if you have any of these concerns. A new large-scale senior population study has found that a lack of vitamin D in the elderly could be linked to cognitive impairment. The study, conducted on almost 2,000 adults over the age of 65, is the first of its scale to identify this relationship, and prompted researchers to suggest vitamin D supplementation as a possible means of reducing the risk of dementia. "

Nutritional vitamin D status during pregnancy: reasons for concern. Hollis BW, Wagner CL. CMAJ. 2006 Apr 25;174(9):1287-90. PMID: 16636329 doi:10.1503/cmaj.060149.

Gonzalez G, Alvarado JN, Rojas A, Navarrete C, Velasquez CG, Arteaga E. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Chilean healthy postmenopausal women with normal sun exposure: additional evidence for a worldwide concern. Menopause. 2007 May-Jun;14(3

A vitamin D nutritional cornucopia: new insights concerning the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status of the US population. Norman AW. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Dec;88(6):1455-6. PMID: 19064502 doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27049 In summary, the report of Looker et al should be required reading for all nutritionists, clinicians, and vitamin D aficionados who are decision makers with regard to 25(OH)D assays, vitamin D nutritional policy, and the care of patients with vitamin D-related diseases.

Life has no certainty, you never know, when your destiny will turn around and provides you unwanted health trouble. Today if we look into our lifestyle then we can realize it that we are so much busy in our day to day lives that we do not even have time for healthier food, and so the reason we somehow rely on the meals which are not excellent for our health. Perhaps our stressful lifetime don't let us a chance to take in, but still it is always essential that we should give main concerns to our health so that we can do our jobs nicely.

Nutrients, endpoints, and the problem of proof. Heaney RP. 2008 W. O. Atwater Memorial Lecture J Nutr. 2008 Sep;138(9):1591-5. PMID: 18716155 To sum up, I think that there would be general agreement to the effect that nutrition is important, despite the fact that the still growing number of failed trials of individual nutrients might suggest that no nutrient actually made much of a difference, a conclusion that is absurd on its face and ought to have alerted us to the possibility that there was something wrong with how we were investigating the matter. To provide the proof needed to sustain revised intake recommendations, we shall have to find a design better suited to nutrients than the randomized controlled trial as currently implemented, and we need to develop a series of global indices, nutrient by nutrient, which better capture the polyvalent nature of most nutrients. Perhaps it would be useful for the ASN, in collaboration with concerned governmental entities such as the USDA, to convene a workshop to address these structural issues. Such deliberation may well be arduous and frustrating, but it is terribly important and, in my view, well worth the effort.

Vitamin D supplementation. Eveleigh B. Can Fam Physician. 2007 Sep;53(9):1435; author reply 1435. PMID: 17872869 My concern regarding vitamin D2 is that it is a synthetic analogue and might interact with the vitamin D receptor differently in various cell systems. It has been reported that vitamin D3 might improve glycemic control.7 Vitamin D2 has been reported to cause worsening of glycemic control in people of East Indian descent.8 Is this because of vitamin D receptor polymorphism, or because of enhanced 24-hydroxylase enzyme activation, or is it due to how vitamin D2 interacts with the receptor? Until this has been sorted out, I feel safest using vitamin D3. There are about 2000 synthetic analogues of vitamin D. The search is on for one that can cross the blood-brain barrier to treat certain types of brain cancers without causing hypercalcemia.9 But then again, what other effects would this compound have? There are still so many unknowns

Sunlight, vitamin D and the prevention of cancer: a systematic review of epidemiological studies. Rhee HV, Coebergh JW, Vries ED. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2009 Aug 26. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19730382 We, therefore, conclude that there is accumulating evidence for sunlight as a protective factor for several types of cancer. The same conclusion can be made concerning high vitamin D levels and the risk of colorectal cancer. This evidence, however, is not conclusive, because the number of (good quality) studies is still limited and publication biases cannot be excluded. The discrepancies between the epidemiological evidence for a possible preventive effect of sunlight and vitamin D and the question of how to apply the findings on the beneficial effects of sunlight to (public) health recommendations are discussed.

Despite inadequacies in information concerning the minimum prophylactic requirement of vitamin D for all age groups beyond infancy, there is no doubt that a total intake of 400 I.U. per day is adequate to prevent vitamin D deficiency in substantially all normal children from birth through adolescence. Evidence derived from the study of idiopathic hypercalcemia suggests that certain infants excessively sensitive to the toxic action of vitamin D may, on rare occasions, be adversely affected by daily intakes of 3,000 to 4,000 I.U. and sometimes considerably less. Because of the prevalent practice of food fortification in the United States and Canada, there is now a definite possibility that the individual, even the young infant, may ingest considerably more than the recommended vitamin D allowance, and intakes of 2,000 to 3,500 I.U. per day are possible, particularly beyond infancy. Although there has been no specific evidence that intakes of this order produce deleterious effects beyond infancy, it is pointed out that the long-term consequences of this new nutritional situation on older children or adults are entirely unknown.

Vitamin D Toxicity Fears Unwarranted Is vitamin D toxic? Not if we take the same amount nature intended when we go out in the sun. Vieth R. Vitamin D supplementation, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration, and safety. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:842-56. Vieth attempted to dispel unwarranted fears in medical community of physiological doses of vitamin D in 1999 with his exhaustive and well-written review. D-Lite, Renew, & SunSplash UV/Tanning Systems Sunsplash Tanning System Is toxicity a concern for you? If so, then increase your levels the way nature intended, with ultraviolet B light! His conclusions: fear of vitamin D toxicity is unwarranted, and such unwarranted fear, bordering on hysteria, is rampant in the medical profession. Vieth R, Chan PC, MacFarlane GD. Efficacy and safety of vitamin D3 intake exceeding the lowest observed adverse effect level. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Feb;73(2):288-94. Even Ian Monroe, the chair of the relevant IOM committee, wrote to the Journal to compliment Vieth's work and to promise his findings will be considered at the time of a future Institute of Medicine review. Munro I. Derivation of tolerable upper intake levels of nutrients. Letter, Am J Clin Nutr. 2001;74:865. That was more than two years ago.

A few researchers are turning their attention to the sunshine vitamin as a culprit, prompted by the experience of immigrants that have moved from their equatorial country to two northern latitude locations As evidence of widespread vitamin D deficiency grows, some scientists are wondering whether the sunshine vitamin-once only considered important in bone health-may actually play a role in one of neurology's most vexing conditions: autism. The idea, although not yet tested or widely held, comes out of preliminary studies in Sweden and Minnesota. Last summer, Swedish researchers published a study in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology that found the prevalence of autism and related disorders was three to four times higher among Somali immigrants than non-Somalis in Stockholm. The study reviewed the records of 2,437 children, born between 1988 and 1998 in Stockholm, in response to parents and teachers who had raised concerns about whether children with a Somali background were overrepresented in the total group of children with autism

Assessment of dietary vitamin D requirements during pregnancy and lactation. Hollis BW, Wagner CL. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 May;79(5):717-26. Review. PMID: 15113709 We found that high-dose maternal vitamin D supplementation not only improves the nutritional vitamin D status of breastfeeding infants but also elevates the maternal concentrations into the mid-normal range. Thus, a dual benefit is achieved from high-dose maternal supplementation. It is noteworthy that in the Finnish study, the authors added a disclaimer, "A sufficient supply of vitamin D to the breastfed infant is achieved only by increasing the maternal supplementation up to 2000 IU/d. Such a dose is far higher than the RDA [DRI] for lactating mothers [and therefore] its safety over prolonged periods is not known and should be examined by further study." This point of concern was valid when this study was conducted in 1986 (92); however, on the basis of the current findings of Vieth et al (2) and of Heaney et al (3)-which showed that vitamin D intakes <= 10 000 IU/d (250 µg) are safe for prolonged periods (up to 5 mo)-we believe that it is time to reexamine the understated DRI of vitamin D for lactating mothers. This work is now being conducted in our clinics and laboratory.

The Vitamin D Council is a group of concerned citizens that believe many humans are needlessly suffering and dying from Vitamin D Deficiency. We are incorporated as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(e) educational corporation in the State of California. Our Board of Directors currently includes four physicians, including John Cannell as Executive Director. The board will eventually be expanded to 20 members.

"Hi! This is Amy Proal. I wrote the article referenced at the start of the thread about vitamin D. Dr. Marshall is not concerned with vitamin D toxicity. Rather his molecular modeling research has clarified the actions of the two vitamin D metabolites 25-D and 1,25-D. The Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) is a fundamental receptor of the body - it controls the expression thousands of genes, as well as the activity of the innate immune system and the antimicrobial peptides. If you think of the VDR as a switch, 25-D (which is a corticosteroid) turns it off (inactivates it) and 1,25-D turn it on (activates it). What is commonly believed among vitamin D researchers is that if people supplement with extra vitamin D it will be converted into 1,25-D and activate the VDR. Unfortunately, Marshall's work revealed that the type of vitamin D derived from supplements and sun remains, for the most part, in it's precursor form 25-D. This means that the extra vitamin D we get from fortified food products and supplements is turning the VDR off, not on. That causes a decrease in immune function and gene transcription."

The Author The author of this site is the British writer, John Davidson. Please note that the author is neither a doctor, nor a qualified health practitioner. Every cancer patient should always consult his or her medical practitioner with regard to the use of complementary remedies or treatments, and nothing on this site should be construed in any way as medical or therapeutic advice. It is simply the result of one person's search for solutions. Please read our disclaimer. About This Site Internet searches trawl up vast amounts of information about cancer, from a broad spectrum of viewpoints. The information and internet links on this site are for those seeking to augment the treatment offered by their hospital oncology (cancer) unit. Of course, a great many other internet sites concerning cancer can be found by keying the requisite search words into any of the major search engines. The content of this site was initially prepared, at the request of medical and nursing staff and others, some weeks after I had had an emergency operation for the removal of a colon cancer, and while undergoing chemotherapy in case any cancer cells had gone AWOL. There had been some escape of cancer cells into associated lymph nodes (3 out of 17, including the most distal), but no other tumours had been picked up by a CT scan. When I returned home from hospital in September 2005, with the help of friends, I started doing some research on cancer. I was amazed to discover that despite the billions of pounds/euros/dollars etc. spent on cancer research, and the many advances in understanding the numerous variants of the disease, the standard treatment for my stage of colon cancer is still a drug (fluorouracil, also called 5FU) that has been in use for more than forty years, has uncomfortable side effects, and which only increases the chances of survival after five years by 5 to 10%.

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