NOT JUST FOR STRONG BONES
Can raising low vitamin D levels prevent disease and forestall untimely deaths?
Vitamin D has long been touted for keeping our bones mineralized and our skeletons strong, but did you know research shows that optimizing vitamin D can improve brain disorders, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease? Other studies demonstrate its effect on depression, diabetes and cancer. Cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s shorten the life span, sometimes dramatically. Depression drives many people to suicide.
THE SUNSHINE VITAMIN SHINES
Are you absorbing your vitamins?
Traditionally called the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D is produced in our bodies by a complex reaction that starts when ultraviolet light is absorbed by our skin. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with rickets, a disease in which the bones do not mineralize properly. This leads to soft bones and skeletal deformities. When I was in school we were taught to look for the signs of rickets in younger patients. The stellar results of contemporary vitamin D research had not yet “shed light” on many modern maladies.
NOT WIDELY AVAILABLE FOR CONSUMPTION
No, a drive through fish sandwich doesn’t count!
Vitamin D is available in foods, such as fish, fish liver oils and egg yolks and certain fortified products such as milk. If you don’t eat these foods regularly, and you don’t get outside as much as you should, vitamin D deficiency may be a problem.
THREE D’s AND THE BIG C
1. Dementia
Recent research in the journal Neurology* (1) shows a relationship between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of getting dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, seniors who had low vitamin D levels, increased their risk of dementia by 53% and their risk of Alzheimer’s by 70%. Severely deficient subjects increased their risk of dementia by a whopping 120% and their risk of Alzheimer’s by a huge 125%.
2. Diabetes
If remembering your name in your old age is not enough to send you scurrying to the lab with your arm out, vitamin D levels have been shown to have an effect on diabetes. A study in Nephrology News* (2) shows a link to vitamin D and prediabetes. Among the group studied supplementation with vitamin D decreased the risk of progressing to diabetes by 8%.
3. Depression
Studies indicate a link between vitamin D levels and depression*(3). An eight year-long study at Rush University Medical Center*(4) show that depression and dementia are linked. Those with higher levels of depression had greater risk of dementia later in life. With depression and suicides on the rise, it would be shortsighted not to get a blood test to see if your vitamin D levels are normal.
4. Cancer
A 2007 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition*(5) reported a reduction if all-cancer risk in menopausal women. The statistics show a 77% reduction of cancer rates in women whose vitamin D levels were brought up to 40ng/ml. This study makes us realize that you can’t just assume your vitamin D levels are adequate, you must be tested in order to get results. Other published studies, such as a 2011 report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, show a link to vitamin D levels and colorectal cancer*(6).
THE GRAND DESIGN
Our bodies were designed with a Grand Design for Health. That design wakes us up in the morning and tells us to sleep at night. Modern medicine has been very good at naming and studying all the things that can go wrong with the human body. In recent years, they have begun to look at what keeps the Grand Design on track. It looks like proper vitamin D levels is part of the Grand Design.
Get your vitamin D levels tested and improve your health.
References:
1. http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2014/08/06/WNL.0000000000000755.abstract
2. http://www.nephrologynews.com/articles/110293-raising-low-vitamin-d-levels-lowers-risk-of-prediabetes-progressing-to-diabetes-in-study
3. http://www.timesonline.com/aging/vitamin-d-might-help-fight-symptoms-of-depression/article_249dea15-71c6-5b64-b235-1f1462573d09.html
4. http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2014/07/30/WNL.0000000000000715.short?rss=1
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556697
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21876081