The presenter is Robert P. Heaney, Creighton University.
“In the absence of Vitamin D, none of our body systems works
well.” Vitamin D is necessary in order to absorb enough calcium from the
food we eat.
“In all of these actions, Vitamin D is not causative;
rather, it is enabling—necessary for cell action—but not its cause.”
Some vitamin D but not enough? The size of the
response shrinks. Still get the response but if you’re severely depleted,
you get none at all.
Vitamin D exists in two chemically distinct forms:
Vitamin D2:
ergocalciferol
Vitamin D3:
cholecalciferol.
D3 is the natural form in animals.
Our skin makes D3 on exposure to UV-B light.
10:19 He explains that we need 4000 to 6000
IU/daily.
VITAMIN D3 DEFICIENCY & CHRONIC DISEASE
Chronic disease is the breakdown of the structure and/or of a
body system.
Its origin is usually multifactorial: Genes, Environment, Nutrition, Infection,
Toxins, and Injury.
The body has mechanisms to repair this damage or to fight
it at its origin.
And vitamin D is an essential component of many of these
mechanisms.
Low Vitamin D status impairs this protective/reparative
activity.
The higher the amount of Vitamin D in your system, the better
you do when encountering causes.
WORKING DEFINITIONS
1. A
deficiency is a condition in which an inadequate intake of a nutrient results in
significant dysfunction or disease.
2. Nutrient
adequacy is the situation in which further increases in intake produce no
further reduction in dysfunction or disease. Nutrient adequacy is not the same as optimal health, as
non-nutrient factors also affect the function of body systems.
“All studies, in virtually all nations, irrespective of
latitude, show that the majority of the world’s population has inadequate
Vitamin D status.”
What are the consequences?
VITAMIN D IMPROVES THESE CONDITIONS
1. Bone diseases, falls,
& fractures.
2. Hypertension.
3. Increased risk of
cardiac disease & death.
4. Prematurity, low
birth weight, & Caesareans.
5. Diabetes &
metabolic syndrome
6. Periodontal disease.
7. Decreased resistance
to infection.
8. Various cancers.
9. Increased risk of
multiple sclerosis.
10. Increased risk of
schizophrenia.
Vitamin D is necessary for all of these tissues to function
optimally.
Vitamin D is an integral component of the mechanism whereby
cells control gene transcription in response to a variety of extracellular
stimuli.
Adequate Vitamin D status enables optimal response to a
broad variety of signals.
A deficiency will manifest itself differently, depending upon
the tissue being stressed, thus explaining the diversity of responses.
ON FRACTURES: 65 to 85-year-old Brits on adequate Vitamin D showed a 30%
reduction in fracture risk. Not bad.
ON FALLS: 63 to 99-year-olds on falling. Calcium alone had no effect on
falling. Vitamin D plus Calcium showed a 50% reduction in falling
risks.
BREAST CANCER: Cites a study that showed Vitamin D provides a 70% reduction
in breast cancer.
CANCER RISK: 77% reduction in cancer risk.
Outdoor summer workers commonly have Vitamin D values of
60-80 ng/ml of vitamin blood serum.
Age, 51-70, says you need more vitamin D3. Tolerable upper intake
levels: 10,000. He states that vitamin D3 needs to be taken with magnesium, but also take it with vitamin K2.
WHAT ABOUT ADVERSE EFFECTS?
Adverse effects begin to occur . . . when? Adverse effects from vitamin D3 can occur after daily 50,000IU for several months, anywhere between 8 to 11 months. The adverse effect is hypercalcemia, which is excess calcium in the blood where it can harden blood vessels. You don't want excess calcium in your blood, you want the calcium in your tissue . . . but you don't want excess. So if you're taking megadoses of vitamin D3 for 8 to 11 months, then back off the vitamin D and incorporate Quercetine into your supplement regime, that or apples or onions.
PHYSIOLOGY: Health is more than the absence of
disease.
