Top Vitamin D Review Just Published

March 13, 2004

http://www.mercola.com/2004/mar/13/vitamin_d.htm

Findings from a review on vitamin D showed the various health benefits provided

by vitamin D and the consequences of vitamin D deficiency. Without vitamin D,

the small intestine would only be able to absorb 10 percent to 15 percent of our

dietary calcium intake, which could lead to osteoporosis. Other health

consequences of vitamin D deficiency include:

Common cancers

Multiple sclerosis

High blood pressure

Psoriasis

Type 1 diabetes

Rheumatoid arthritis

Exposure to sunlight supplies us the majority of our vitamin D our bodies

require. Darkly pigmented skinned people are the exception because they require

10 to 15 times exposure to the sun to get the same effect as lighter skinned

people.

For those people who don’t get adequate amounts of sunlight, experts recommend a

minimum of 1,000 IU vitamin D to maintain healthy levels in their blood. A high

number of vitamin D deficiency cases have been found in infants who are solely

breastfed from adults who have darker skin or lower exposure to the sun. Vitamin

D has also often been misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.

Many studies have shown how effective sunlight is with producing vitamin D in

the skin. Since few foods contain vitamin D, sunlight provides us with most of

the vitamin D we need.

Vitamin D deficiency has been becoming a growing epidemic across the world and

is contributing to many chronic debilitating diseases.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March, 2004;79(3):362-371

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

This is probably one of the best summaries on vitamin D published to date as it

chock full of exciting tidbits on vitamin D. Dr. Michael Holick is the author

and he is one of the top experts on vitamin D in the world. You can read a

review of his excellent new book " The UV Advantage " in next week's newsletter.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), in which this review was

published, is one of the leading nutritional journals in the world.

During exposure to sunlight, a form of cholesterol is actually activated through

the sunlight to form vitamin D3. Interestingly, lifeguards and sun worshippers

have never been reported to suffer from vitamin D intoxication due to excessive

exposure to the sun. It would appear that there is a feedback mechanism that

limits too much vitamin D from being produced due to excessive sun exposure.

However, this is not true from taking oral vitamin D supplements, which is why

testing of vitamin D levels is highly advised if you are taking oral vitamin D

supplements.

Interestingly, people with very darkly pigmented skin require 10 to 50 times the

exposure to sunlight to produce the same amount of vitamin D3 in their skin as

does a white person. This is important as very few foods naturally contain

vitamin D. Good sources of vitamin D are:

Cod liver oil

Oily fish such as clean salmon, mackerel and sardines

So why do we need vitamin D? For a variety of reasons. Without vitamin D, the

small intestine absorbs no more than 10 percent to 15 percent of dietary

calcium. This can lead to secondary hyperparathyroidism that can cause

osteoporosis. However there are major additional consequences of vitamin D

deficiency such as those mentioned in the review.

One of the most intriguing, important and unappreciated biologic functions of

vitamin D is its ability to down-regulate hyperproliferative cell growth. Normal

and cancer cells that have a vitamin D receptor often respond to vitamin D by

decreasing their proliferation and enhancing their maturation.

Although breastfeeding has become very popular it has actually increased vitamin

D deficiency as there is very little vitamin D in breast milk. Kids were

designed to get it from the sun, not from the breast, and that really is the

ideal source to get it from and the one that we should all really strive for.

However, for those of us unable to get sun exposure the cod liver oil certainly

makes a lot of good sense.

Related Articles:

Breakthrough Updates You Need to Know on Vitamin D

Vitamin D for Cancer

Odds are You Need Additional Vitamin D, and Cod Liver Oil is Not Sufficient

Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency

RDA for Vitamin D Too Low for Those with Little Sunlight Exposure

Vitamin D May Prevent Skin Cancer

Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam

March 13, 2004

Frank & All

Also more information on vitamin D. I find it facinating that we can

natually generate 20,000 IU safely from Sunlight, whereas 'man made'

vitamins can become toxic.

Excerpt from abstract:

" The single most important scientific fact about vitamin D is that

young adult Whites make about twenty thousand units of vitamin D in

their skin within minutes of wholebody, summer-sun. This is one-

hundred times the Adequate Intake (AI) recommended by the Institute of

Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board for young adults. Therefore,

many Americans greatly exceed the IOM's safety recommendations by

simply spending a few minutes outside in their swimming suits! This

extraordinary rate of natural vitamin D production in the skin (20,000

IU) leading to the production of a potent endocrine, paracrine and

autocrine steroid hormone leads one (as T.S. Eliot once said), " to an

overwhelming question. " Why did Nature design such a complex system

resting on bountiful natural skin production of cholecalciferol?

Answer, " Probably for a very good reason. "

http://www.sperti.com/pdf%27s/Info%20On%20VITAMIN%20D.pdf

Rick

, Frank

<califpacific> wrote:

> http://www.mercola.com/2004/mar/13/vitamin_d.htm

>

> Top Vitamin D Review Just Published

>

> Findings from a review on vitamin D showed the various health

benefits provided by vitamin D and the consequences of vitamin D

deficiency. Without vitamin D, the small intestine would only be able

to absorb 10 percent to 15 percent of our dietary calcium intake,

which could lead to osteoporosis. Other health consequences of vitamin

D deficiency include:

>

> Common cancers

> Multiple sclerosis

> High blood pressure

> Psoriasis

> Type 1 diabetes

> Rheumatoid arthritis

>

> Exposure to sunlight supplies us the majority of our vitamin D our

bodies require. Darkly pigmented skinned people are the exception

because they require 10 to 15 times exposure to the sun to get the

same effect as lighter skinned people.

>

> For those people who don't get adequate amounts of sunlight, experts

recommend a minimum of 1,000 IU vitamin D to maintain healthy levels

in their blood. A high number of vitamin D deficiency cases have been

found in infants who are solely breastfed from adults who have darker

skin or lower exposure to the sun. Vitamin D has also often been

misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.

>

> Many studies have shown how effective sunlight is with producing

vitamin D in the skin. Since few foods contain vitamin D, sunlight

provides us with most of the vitamin D we need.

>

> Vitamin D deficiency has been becoming a growing epidemic across the

world and is contributing to many chronic debilitating diseases.

>

> American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March, 2004;79(3):362-371

>

> Dr. Mercola's Comment:

> This is probably one of the best summaries on vitamin D published to

date as it chock full of exciting tidbits on vitamin D. Dr. Michael

Holick is the author and he is one of the top experts on vitamin D in

the world. You can read a review of his excellent new book " The UV

Advantage " in next week's newsletter. The American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition (AJCN), in which this review was published, is one of the

leading nutritional journals in the world.

>

> During exposure to sunlight, a form of cholesterol is actually

activated through the sunlight to form vitamin D3. Interestingly,

lifeguards and sun worshippers have never been reported to suffer from

vitamin D intoxication due to excessive exposure to the sun. It would

appear that there is a feedback mechanism that limits too much vitamin

D from being produced due to excessive sun exposure. However, this is

not true from taking oral vitamin D supplements, which is why testing

of vitamin D levels is highly advised if you are taking oral vitamin D

supplements.

>

> Interestingly, people with very darkly pigmented skin require 10 to

50 times the exposure to sunlight to produce the same amount of

vitamin D3 in their skin as does a white person. This is important as

very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. Good sources of vitamin D

are:

>

> Cod liver oil

> Oily fish such as clean salmon, mackerel and sardines

>

> So why do we need vitamin D? For a variety of reasons. Without

vitamin D, the small intestine absorbs no more than 10 percent to 15

percent of dietary calcium. This can lead to secondary

hyperparathyroidism that can cause osteoporosis. However there are

major additional consequences of vitamin D deficiency such as those

mentioned in the review.

>

> One of the most intriguing, important and unappreciated biologic

functions of vitamin D is its ability to down-regulate

hyperproliferative cell growth. Normal and cancer cells that have a

vitamin D receptor often respond to vitamin D by decreasing their

proliferation and enhancing their maturation.

>

> Although breastfeeding has become very popular it has actually

increased vitamin D deficiency as there is very little vitamin D in

breast milk. Kids were designed to get it from the sun, not from the

breast, and that really is the ideal source to get it from and the one

that we should all really strive for. However, for those of us unable

to get sun exposure the cod liver oil certainly makes a lot of good sense.

>

> Related Articles:

>

> Breakthrough Updates You Need to Know on Vitamin D

>

> Vitamin D for Cancer

>

> Odds are You Need Additional Vitamin D, and Cod Liver Oil is Not

Sufficient

>

> Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency

>

> RDA for Vitamin D Too Low for Those with Little Sunlight Exposure

>

> Vitamin D May Prevent Skin Cancer

>

> Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam

>

March 13, 2004

Thanks for posting that.

" I have provided guidelines for the amount of sun exposure needed by

people of all skin types to achieve their vitamin D requirement

without significantly increasing the risk of skin damage and skin cancer "

This is a statement that was at the bottom that I could not find where

he had posted the guidelines. Did you see it anywhere?

Del