Harvard Heart Letter Highly Recommends Vitamin D Supplements 75% People Heart Disease Vitamin D Lack

Because our body needs a huge amount of vitamin D, I strongly suspect that problem women have with osteoporosis is due to our body's need of vitamin D for every tissue in our body.

Consumer Reports Health Letter reported that we can store months of vitamin D to get us through the winter. But because so many use sunscreens all year because they are afraid of skin cancer, no thanks to recommendations given by Dermatologists. Skin cancer including melanoma increased sharply when sunscreens were introduced, especially in sunny Australia and low sun exposure in Scandinavia.

Being low in vitamin D means that calcium/vitamin D supplements will not help keep your bones safe. Putting calcium in the bones needs vitamin D, but our body needs vitamin D to survive so our bones get very little bone buildup because the needed vitamin D has higher priorities for every tissue in our body to maintain our health. Could the toxic bone drugs serve the function of vitamin D? Wouldn't it be cheaper and safer to just go to 5,000 or more IU of vitamin D3.

Lack of enough vitamin D3 leads to "coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, heart failure, muscle pain, infection, some types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, depression, asthma, and memory loss." ... in addition to osteoporosis.

Earlier I reported that Boston University treated people low in vitamin D were given 50,000 IU, yes 50,000 IU weekly until levels high enough to indicate that storage of vitamin D in our tissues for future use. As I roughly recall the supplements were given for 8 weeks. Once the levels were up, they switched to a level of 50,000 IU every other week to maintain adequate vitamin D levels.

A nurse in Eugene, Oregon, was so low in vitamin D that she had to be given daily injections of 30,000 IU vitamin D3! A friend in sunny Southern California was so low in vitamin D due to a lack of enough sun exposure that a conservative doctor gave her 50,000 IU monthly and increased her daily dose. Her frequent colds stopped.

Strongly recommend you go to your primary care doctor for your vitamin D test during your regular health checkup. Since most of you don't go to the doctor often enough, I recommend you go as quickly as possible to test for 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a inactive metabolic product which gives us a clue to the levels of vitamin D3 in our blood streams and tissues.

Jim Kawakami, December 12, 2009, posted http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Boston Univ Found 50,000 IU of Vitamin D2 (D3) Weekly for Eight Weeks Treated Deficiency Then Every Other Week

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2009) — Boston University School of Medicine researchers (BUSM) have found that 50,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D2, given weekly for eight weeks, effectively treats vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D2 is a mainstay for the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in children and adults. Continued treatment with the same dose of vitamin D2 every other week for up to six years after the initial eight-week period prevents vitamin D deficiency from recurring with no toxicity.

The BUSM study appears online in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Vitamin D is essential for strong bones because it helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus from the food we eat. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets in children and the painful bone disease osteomalacia in adults. Vitamin D deficiency can also cause osteoporosis and has been linked to increased risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases including influenza, according to senior author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, director of the Bone Healthcare Clinic and the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University School of Medicine.

Of the 86 patients researchers studied, 41 patients who were vitamin D deficient received eight weeks of 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 weekly prior to starting maintenance therapy. For those patients, the mean pre-treatment 25-hydroxyvitamin D status (25(OH)D) level was 19 ng/ml, which increased to 37 ng/ml after eight weeks of weekly therapy. These patients were then treated with 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 every other week and had a mean final 25(OH)D level of 47 ng/ml.

For the 45 patients who received only maintenance therapy of 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 every two weeks, the mean pre-treatment 25(OH)D level was 27 ng/ml and the mean final level was 47 ng/ml.

"Vitamin D2 is effective in raising 25(OH)D levels when given in physiologic and pharmacologic doses and is a simple method to treat and prevent vitamin D deficiency," said Holick, who is also director of the General Clinical Research Unit and professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at BUSM. "While treating and preventing vitamin D deficiency, these large doses of vitamin D2 do not lead to vitamin D toxicity."

According to Holick, this is the first study demonstrating the efficacy of a prescription therapy to prevent vitamin D deficiency longterm in routine clinical practice.

Quest Diagnostics, the nation's leading provider of diagnostics testing, information and services, analyzed the specimens used in the study. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026161850.htm

Harvard Heart Letter Highly Recommends Vitamin D Supplements 75% People Heart Disease Vitamin D Lack

The best way to get enough vitamin D is through food, right? No, according to the latest Harvard Heart Letter, which says supplements are the best way for Americans to raise their body’s level of vitamin D, which in most cases too low right this moment.

In fact, the Harvard report notes that at least one-third of Americans and 75 percent of people who have cardiovascular disease are vitamin D deficient. To make that determination, the report states that “deficient” is defined as less than 20 nanograms of 25-hydroxyvitamin D per milliliter of blood (ng/mL); “insufficient” is from 20 to 30 ng/mL, and “sufficient” as any level greater than 30 ng/mL. The Vitamin D Council, however, states that everyone should maintain a level of 50 to 80 ng/mL, which means that according to their standards, a great many more people would be classified as being vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D deficiency is a serious problem, as this vitamin plays a critical role in bone strength (including osteoporosis and fractures associated with falls), coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, heart failure, muscle pain, infection, some types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, depression, asthma, and memory loss. ...

Vitamin D is called the Sunshine vitamin for good reason: the body makes vitamin D (which is really a hormone and not a vitamin at all) in a process that begins when sunlight strikes the skin. That’s when the body converts a type of cholesterol into pre-vitamin D, which they circulates throughout the body in the blood. When it reaches the liver, this organ converts it into a biologically inactive substance called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the substance that is measured to identify your vitamin D level.

The final touch is provided by the kidneys, which adds an ingredient that results in active vitamin D for the body. The majority of people could get all the vitamin D they need if they exposed their skin to sun, without sunscreen, for five to ten minutes daily, depending on the time of year and the distance away from the equator. The Vitamin D Council notes that the skin produces about 10,000 IU vitamin D when it is exposed to 20 to 30 minutes of summer sun, which is 50 times more than the US government’s recommendation of 200 IU daily.

Both Harvard and the Vitamin D Council recommend that individuals have their vitamin D levels checked to determine their level. A physician can order a vitamin D test or tests can be ordered online that consumers can do at home and submit for their results. When it comes to taking vitamin D supplements, recommendations from Harvard are for 800 to 1,000 IU daily, while the Vitamin D Council recommends 5,000 IU daily. Consumers should talk to a knowledgeable medical professional about their supplementation needs. Vitamin D supplements are available alone, while multivitamins often contain 400 IU, and some calcium supplements also contain vitamin D. http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/83/34767/supplements-best-way-raise-vitamin-d-levels.html

University of Nebraska Recommends 2,000 IU (International units) of Vitamin D3 Available at Costco . Vitamin D Council recommends 5,000 IU daily while Boston U Study uses 50,000 IU weekly to bring up the levels and permit storage of vital vitamin D and then biweekly 50,000 IU to maintain adequate levels. Many of the Brain Problems with children may be partially due to inadequate vitamin D in the mother. Brain development and synapse connections need vitamin D.

... Vitamin D is necessary for every tissue in our body, according to Dr. Robert P. Heaney, vice president of research for Creighton University whose research specialty is calcium and vitamin D metabolism. He says we all need more vitamin D than we're getting. Heaney recommends adults take 2,000 IU (international units) each day. However, check with your doctor on your specific need for vitamin D.

“Not getting enough vitamin D lowers our resistance to not only infections but diseases from diabetes to cancer,” he says.

For example, one study shows that having adequate vitamin D could decrease your risk of an influenza-like illness by up to 50 percent, according to Heaney. So if you're traveling and want to avoid the flu, take along plenty of vitamin D.

“Everything is affected by a lack of vitamin D,” he says. “Brain, heart, blood, skin, bones, muscle, reflexes. We've got a lot of machinery in our body, and they all need vitamin D.”

“We in the northern part of the states lack sun exposure,” Bessmer adds. “Even when we have sun, it comes at an inadequate angle to provide enough vitamin D. That's why taking vitamin D, especially during winter months, is a good thing.” ... http://www.omaha.com/article/20091211/LIVING01/712119844