When we speak of disease and health, we often think that people who are healthy are ‘lucky’ and people who are unhealthy as ‘unlucky’. But the debate is beginning to tip towards the fact that environmental factors influence genetics more than we can ever imagine, and luck of the genes has less to do with health than environmental factors. Vitamin D as an environmental factor in our health is not debated, only HOW MUCH of a factor in our health is what is debated.

Vitamin D deficiency has long been associated with osteoporosis, but most of us think of osteoporosis as starting in older age. Since women are particularly affected, it’s often that vitamin d and calcium supplementation is begun after menopause to help prevent the associated fractures of osteoporosis. But women in their pre reproductive and reproductive years need to be supplemented too, less for themselves, but more for the health of their offspring. Several studies have shown that Levels of Vitamin D During Pregnancy can determine bone mass and risk of fracture as an adult! Disturbingly, Deficiency of vitamin d and pregnancy is rampant among pregnant women and it could be having devastating consequences on the youngest generations.

Bone strength isn’t the only health issue that seems to be already determined by our mother’s intake of vitamin D and pregnancy, our mental health is also affected. Schizophrenia has long been associated with vitamin d levels due to its odd characteristic of occurring more frequently in those born in winter or early spring. This association is not just coincidental; vitamin D levels in the womb affect the health of the baby, even much later in life. Even a child’s lungs are affected by a mother’s vitamin D levels. Asthma, a common childhood problem, has been linked to Low Vitamin D and Pregnancy. The Journal ‘Clinical and Experimental Allergy’ published an article entitled, ‘Childhood asthma is a fat-soluble vitamin deficiency disease.’ which outlines this strong link between vitamin D and childhood asthma.

An even larger health problem in the younger generations could also be the result of maternal vitamin D deficiency or Deficiency of Vitamin D and Breastfeeding. ‘Syndrome X’ is a collection of signs that include:

Increased insulin resistance
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Central obesity

Together, these problems give sufferers an increased risk of acquiring diabetes and heart attacks later in life. Children are acquiring Syndrome X at such an alarming rate and at younger and younger ages, that public health policies and awareness campaigns are being put into place in many areas to deal with this dangerous problem. None of these, however, mention vitamin D supplementation as a possible solution to this growing problem.

These diseases are only the beginning of the conditions that researchers have put forward as problems of Low Vitamin D and pregnancy. Multiple sclerosis, diabetes, breast cancer, colon cancer, autism and autoimmune disorders have all been associated with vitamin d deficiency and are candidates for future long term studies of how vitamin d deficiency in infants could affect their incidences in later life.

Unfortunately, these long term studies, even if started immediately, wouldn’t yield conclusive results for decades. In the meantime, women are simply not getting enough vitamin D during pregnancy. With current recommendations in the US for pregnant women at only 800 IU’s per day, this is in stark contrast to many studies that urgently recommend dosages of between 4000 IU’s to 6500 IU’s a day for pregnant and lactating women. This suggests that a woman needs Vitamin D Supplements in an amount eight times higher than she is getting in order to prevent vitamin d deficiency in infants and herself to prevent many of these chronic illnesses that plague so many of us, and that are growing by leaps and bounds in ever younger and younger children.

With all of the research that is coming out about vitamin D and so many other diseases, it’s likely that the link between vitamin d and pregnancy and diseases such as diabetes and cancer later in life is much stronger than we know. But without swift policy changes by medical associations and governments the spread of these vitamin D related diseases will continue to rise, even as these incredibly inexpensive Vitamin D Supplements are literally just a click away.

Resources

Vitamin D Supplements for Adults – Now in a clinically useful 5000 IU Supplement
Sunshine Mist Vitamin D Spray- Infants and children need Vitamin D too. This spray is GREAT for kids. No pills to swallow.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

Kids get so little Vitamin D these days, that Rickets- a disease that was thought to be virtually eradicated over 50 years ago in developed countries- is back again. Rickets,  with it’s characteristic bowed legs from improper bone hardening, is caused by a simple nutritional deficiency. Yet children right here in the US are getting this easily preventable disease in numbers never thought possible.

Vitamin D, which is naturally present in few foods except for Fatty Fish like Sardines and Salmon is made naturally when the skin is exposed to sunlight.

But Rickets became prevalent during the Industrial Revolution in England when the already weak British sun’s rays were blocked entirely by the incredible pollution in the air. Scientists were able to make a synthetic form of Vitamin D and quickly began fortifying milk products, solving the rickets problem for good- or so they thought.

But now, rickets is back…

Dr. Laura Tosi, bone health chief at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington says, “I am now treating rickets in a way that I never treated it 20 years ago,” Possibly even more alarming is a new epidemic where bone formation in children appears normal, but is actually much softer than it should be.

As such, girls today break their arms 56% more often than their peers did 40 years ago- and boys break them 32% more often!

A  long term Bone Health Study of US Children is now being done in response to this phenomenon- and researchers are concerned that widespread osteoporosis may be waiting for this younger generation in adulthood.

But why is this happening?

There is no one answer to that question. But the recommendation of most dermatologists to keep children out of the sun for fear of skin cancer is one reason. The widespread use of sunscreen that effectively blocks the UV rays that allow the skin to make Vitamin D is another. Children’s increased time indoors watching television, playing video games and computer usage is another reason.

Not only does being indoors keep children out of the Vitamin D making rays of the sun, but it also keeps them from doing the essential weight-bearing exercises like running and jumping that encourage young bones to grow denser and stronger.

“Physical activity increases growth in width and mineral content of bones in girls and adolescent females, particularly when it is initiated before puberty,” concluded one study.

Other studies estimate that children and teens, due to poor dietary choices, get 20% less calcium than is recommended.

So the problem is compounded by the perfect storm of:

Not enough Vitamin D
Not enough Magnesium
Not enough Fat Soluble Vitamins
and
Not enough Exercise

Very Long-Term Effects

While these studies are focusing on the possible osteoporosis that these children may be getting later in life, other researchers are concerned about other, less well known effects that low Vitamin D levels may have on these children later in life.

Dr. Cedric Garland, who  has been researching Vitamin D for over 20 years, states, “We estimate that we could prevent 75%of cancers by getting everyone’s Vitamin D Blood Level into the 40 -60 (ng/ml) level.”

There has also been much research into Vitamin D for diabetes and heart disease prevention. An analysis of several studies even claims that sufficient Vitamin D levels can reduce “All cause mortality”, a claim that is somewhat like the “holy grail” as drug research is endlessly in the quest of a patentable drug that can make this claim.

While Dr. Garland and other researchers like Dr. Robert Heaney and Dr. John Cannell have been urging higher Vitamin D levels for years, governments have been slow to respond.

With the Official Recommended Daily Intake  of Vitamin D unchanged in over 50 years despite the mounds of evidence of the benefits of higher Vitamin D intake -our youngest generation may be the ones who are going to be suffering from our governments turning a deaf ear to the cries of researchers worldwide.

What you can do…

Get enough sun and/or Take enough Supplemental Vitamin D to keep your level within the recommended 40-60 ng/ml range outlined by Dr. Cedric Garland and an entire team of Vitamin D researchers.

Kerri Knox, RN -The Immune Queen

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

Gardasil, the new Vaccine that is being recommended for young girls in order to prevent cervical cancer, is back in the news.
After reports of girls becoming ill or even dying after the injection, the National Vaccine Information Center found searched the records and found that the rate of Vaccine Complications after Gardisil is 30 times higher than with the Meningococcal Vaccine.
Many states have already, or are contemplating making the vaccine mandatory for school entrance.

At the same time that states are making it mandatory, Spain has looked at the evidence and has pulled Gardisil off of the market completely due to its safety concerns!

For more information, go to the National Vaccine Information Center website and learn more about the risks of Gardasil. While you are there, please Sign their Petition to have the Federal Government reassess the risks of Gardisil before more girls get injured or die from this dangerous vaccine.

Kerri Knox, RN

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

OK. There is no doubt that vaccination has reduced and even eliminated many diseases in the world. But over the years, my research has led me to believe that vaccinations are NOT all that they are cracked up to be.

In part, this is because I feel that our immune systems can do the job of vaccines as good as, if not better than the vaccines themselves. But in larger part because of the ‘stuff’ that is IN vaccines. Our bodies are just NOT meant to have mercury, coal tar, formaldehyde and other preservatives and toxins injected into it.

No matter that the party line is that this stuff has no effect on our health, from a common sense perspective- it just CAN’T be good for you.

Well, here’s another reason to do your due diligence about vaccination for yourself and your children

http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000647_Bayer_vaccines_HIV.html

This article states that Bayer, the pharmaceutical giant, KNOWINGLY distributed HIV contaminated vaccines!!

Wow! Seriously, how could something like this happen- let alone happen without anyone getting prosecuted AND continuing to be treated as a scion in the health industry.

So, while vaccine manufacturers are knowingly passing off HIV tainted vaccines as ‘safe’, what else are they NOT telling you?!

Always think for yourself and NEVER blindly accept ANY medical advice without doing your own research.

In good health,

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitoner

An advisory panel of scientists and doctors advised the FDA to recommend that over the counter cough and cold medicines should NOT be used for children under 6 years old?

It’s true. They determined that their is no scientific evidence of their effectiveness and that their effectiveness on children was “assumed” because of studies done on adults.

The FDA, the agency that was created to protect us- took this information from its advisory board and made a formal announcement.

They recommended that these medications not be given to children under 2 years old!

Not 6 years old, as the evidence showed, but 2 years old.  The ‘evidence’ for THIS recommendation was borne simply out of thin air and not science.

So, while their is ZERO evidence that cough and cold medicines work for children and there is ZERO safety data on them, doctors continue to recommend them to parents while claiming that everything that they do has a scientific basis to it.

Just another reason to make sure that you do your OWN research when it comes to the health of yourself and your children.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen

Registered Nurse and Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com