VITAMIN D, the SUNSHINE VITAMIN: It’s that time of year in the northern hemisphere when there is cloud cover about 70% of the time, and many people begin to feel dreary.
I started taking 5000 international units of vitamin D3 every day exactly one year ago in January 2009. I wrote the first of 4 posts about the amazing healing properties of Vitamin D3. My main purpose was to offset this feeling of gloom that I feel in the depth of winter.
After only one week, my mind became clearer and that clarity has lasted. I didn’t expect that result, nor did I figure I’d notice any changes that quickly. It was as though a light had been turned on. (more…)
Lenora's Italy Retreat blog | Lenora's Change Limiting Beliefs Website
I don’t usually write about nutrition, but the value of taking vitamin D seems so important to our health and well-being, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it again. You may read more about Vitamin D in my January 2009 original Vitamin D post and my second entry May 18.
In this article I’ll focus on Vitamin D and its ability to lower the risk of cancer.
More than 60 epidemiology studies conducted over the last 30 years have indicated that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of more than 16 different types of cancer.
According to research from the newly published study by Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H., FACE, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and Moores Cancer Center of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), “It is projected that raising the minimum year-around serum 25(OH)D level to 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three quarters of deaths from these diseases, in the US and Canada.”
Most experts recommend getting blood tests to evaluate Vitamin D levels, and taking up to 2000-5000 IU of Vitamin D each day to help increase your levels. As I first mentioned in my January ‘09 post, I checked my Vitamin D level when I had lab work done for my annual cholesterol test. However, I had to ask my doctor to specifically request the test from the lab (they don’t automatically check your Vitamin D levels). If you’d like to test yourself and send to a lab, check out Track Your Plaque. Click on the menu in the left sidebar.
My Vitamin D level was 24ng/ml (the healthy therapeutic range is 50-65 ng/ml). After one week of taking 5000 IU per day, I felt clearer and happier, even though I wasn’t expecting to feel anything dramatic, and especially that soon, so it was not a placebo effect. My follow up appointment is scheduled at the end of summer.
There is now overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that many of the 560,000 cancer deaths expected to occur this year could have been safely prevented with one simple lifestyle change – sun exposure.
If health officials would simply recommend that you get some sensible sun exposure, or supplement with oral vitamin D3 if you can’t get out into the sun, there could be major advances made in the fight against cancer.
One recent study also points out vitamin D’s potential in treating breast cancer; not just in preventing it. They found that calcitrol (the active form of vitamin D) can induce a tumor-suppressing protein that inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells specifically.
Calcification of blood vessels and other tissues is much more common with low intakes of vitamin D-3 than high intakes.
According to an article by Dr. Mercola, “it’s important to realize that even if you live in a perpetually sunny environment but work the entire week indoors and don’t make a conscious effort to go outside during the weekends you can, and probably will, become vitamin D deficient.It is simply not enough to walk from your car to work and home and expect to get enough sunshine to alter your vitamin D levels.
In order to reap any and all the benefits that vitamin D has to offer you need to make sure your levels are within the therapeutic range of 50-65 ng/ml.”
Dr. Mercola again stated in an article, “According to Dr. Heaney — whom I interviewed for my Inner Circle expert segment on the topic of sun exposure and melanoma, earlier this year — your body requires 4,000 IU’s daily just to maintain its current vitamin D level.” So in order to actually raise your levels, you’d have to increase either your exposure to sunshine, or supplement with oral vitamin D3.
Remember, if you chose to take an oral supplement it’s essential that you get your levels tested regularly by a proficient lab to make sure you’re within the therapeutic range. In the U.S. Dr. Mercola recommends using LabCorp.”
One of my blog readers recommended this Vitamin D site that is free and chockfull of information about vitamin D.
Have you experienced greater health and well-being using Vitamin D?
Lenora's Italy Retreat blog | Lenora's Change Limiting Beliefs Website
Here I am soaking up the sunshine this winter allowing my skin to to produce some Vitamin D in Arizona, while visiting my friends, Dena and Len. The sunshine and friendship were nourishing after a long cold winter here in Iowa.
My first blog post about Vitamin D was in January. Now I’m just reporting my experiences since I started taking 5000 IU per day–increased energy, greater clarity and happiness.I wasn’t expecting any of that. It’s as though someone turned on the light! Although some scientists have called Vitamin D the Sunshine vitamin, I’m dubbing it the Happiness Vitamin. Vitamin D is critical for everything from immune health to bone strength and cardiovascular function, and more research supporting its health benefits emerges every day. But it’s almost impossible to get enough from the foods you eat. In fact, over one-third of Americans are now deficient in Vitamin D.
In addition, vitamin D supports cellular integrity, improves muscle function and agility, enhances heart health, and even helps your body process sugar properly, therefore Vitamin D is helpful for diabetics.
Dr. Mercola, online health advisor and osteopathic physician, says,
“Get plenty of vitamin D! Vitamin D — which your body produces naturally when you expose your skin to sunlight — optimizes and up-regulates over 2,000 genes in your body. One study mentions up to 3,000 genes, but it may be even greater than that. I have written extensively about the health benefits of optimizing your vitamin D levels, and the dangers of being deficient in this essential nutrient. I recommend viewing my one-hour video lecture.”
However,in order to watch the video, you need to register by giving your email, but it’s well worth it. You can always unsubscribe at any time in the future after you watch it.
You can listen to a radio show here to hear a discussion about Vitamin D with naturopathic Doctor Dan Carver. You may also take cod liver oil to ingest your allotment of Vitamin D.
For over half a century vitamin D was thought only to mineralize bones. But studies indicate that it does much more:
Regulates calcium in all cells, especially brain cells, protects the immune system, regulates cell growth and cell death, provides antioxidant and antiviral benefits.
Dr. David Williams suggests using a $65 home test for Vit. D testing. This is normally a $100-200 dollar test from with a doctors visit fee and probably not paid by insurance. Get results in a week. You’ll need a two months supplementation to get a good reading as it is fat-soluble and takes a while to replenish. The suggestion is 4000 IU per day for 130-170 pound person and levels should be 50-80 ng/ml year round. Please do your research and decide for yourself.
I am not an expert nutritionist but it’s hard to keep quiet about something so well researched by both the medical and alternative communities, especially if it can make a huge difference in your emotional health and well-being.
Have you improved your health through Vitamin D? Let us know.
Lenora's Italy Retreat blog | Lenora's Change Limiting Beliefs Website
My main expertise is in helping individuals uncover and dissolve limiting beliefs so they can be happier. In addition, I’m always keeping my eyes open for other ways to enhance emotional well-being.
In the winter (and most of the Fall and early Spring) in Iowa, the skies are gray. Being of Mediterranean descent, I thrive on sunshine, so when my friend, Sheila, shared her research with me about taking higher doses of Vitamin D, I tried it. Those of us who live in the northern Hemisphere, north of a line running from New York City west across to upstate California, are not able to get 15 minutes of sun a day, so we are more than likely low in Vitamin D. In addition, the ability of skin to convert vitamin D to its active form decreases as we age. The kidneys, which help convert vitamin D to its active form, sometimes do not work as well when we age also. (more…)
Lenora's Italy Retreat blog | Lenora's Change Limiting Beliefs Website
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