Group items tagged

"If you're running low on vitamin D - as an estimated 70 percent of the U.S. population is - your immune system may not be functioning as well as it should. As a result, you may be more vulnerable to infectious diseases than you would if your vitamin D levels were optimal. Worse, you could be at higher than normal risk of a long list of diseases including heart disease and several kinds of cancer. A report recently published journal, Future Microbiology, highlighted research at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, which has shown that vitamin D induces expression of an antimicrobial peptide gene called cathelicidin that is the "first line of defense" in the immune system's response to minor wounds, cuts and bacterial and viral infections. The regulation of cathelicidin by vitamin D could help explain its vital role in immune function. The report noted that vitamin D is a key cofactor in reducing inflammation, in blood pressure control and helping to protect against heart disease. Author Adrian Gombart explains that there is still much to explore about D's mechanisms of action, the potential use of synthetic analogs of it in new treatments, and its duty in fighting infection."

Is a lower dose of vitamin D supplementation enough to increase 25(OH)D status in a sunny country? Pignotti GA, Genaro PS, Pinheiro MM, Szejnfeld VL, Martini LA. Eur J Nutr. 2009 Nov 28. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19946776 CONCLUSION: The dose given (400 IU/day) was not enough to achieve 25(OH)D concentration, considered optimal for bone health.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of winter-time depression experienced by people those who live in northern latitudes such as those of New York, Seattle, all of Canada, and Northern Europe. I believe it is primarily a disorder of sunlight/vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D, when administered in late winter, produces a positive effect on mood in only five days.[1] One theory for this is that vitamin D stimulates the brain to produce more serotonin. In a wintertime experiment, serum vitamin D levels doubled in six months through supplementation and dramatically increased scores on a wellbeing assessment.[2] Two groups were given either 1,000 IU or 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily. And although both groups improved, the higher dose produced better results.

Using these functional indicators, several studies have more accurately defined vitamin D deficiency as circulating levels of 25(OH)D ≤ 80 nmol or 32 µg/L. Recent studies reveal that current dietary recommendations for adults are not sufficient to maintain circulating 25(OH)D levels at or above this level, especially in pregnancy and lactation. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels indicative of vitamin D sufficiency: implications for establishing a new effective dietary intake recommendation for vitamin D. Hollis BW. J Nutr. 2005 Feb;135(2):317-22. Review. PMID: 15671234 [

Epidemiology of vitamin D insufficiency and cancer mortality. Pilz S, Tomaschitz A, Obermayer-Pietsch B, Dobnig H, Pieber TR. Anticancer Res. 2009 Sep;29(9):3699-704. Review. PMID: 19667167 In conclusion, we still need further studies to evaluate the association of vitamin D insufficiency and cancer incidence and mortality, but the multiple health benefits of vitamin D and the easy, safe and inexpensive way by which vitamin D can be supplemented should already guide current public health strategies to achieve 25(OH)D levels of at least 75 nmol/l (30 ng/ml) in the general population.

Vieth R, Bischoff-Ferrari H, Boucher BJ, Dawson-Hughes B, Garland CF, Heaney RP, Holick MF, Hollis BW, Lamberg-Allardt C, McGrath JJ, Norman AW, Scragg R, Whiting SJ, Willett WC, Zittermann A. \nThe urgent need to recommend an intake of vitamin D that is