Lately, I’ve been getting people writing in asking if they should worry if they Store Vitamin D. Now, I’m not sure where people have got the idea that storing vitamin d is something that is worrisome or something harmful, but let me set the record straight that you should not worry if you store vitamin d.

Vitamin d is a FAT SOLUBLE vitamin and you do not excrete it through the sweat, urine or stool as you would if it were a Water Soluble vitamin. Vitamins and minerals such as the B vitamins, magnesium and Vitamin C Supplements must be taken on a daily basis because they get excreted if you do not use them in a short period of time (a few hours to a few days depending upon the vitamin). But the fat soluble vitamins like vitamin d are not excreted this way. In fact it is a GOOD thing that you store vitamin d because this was how humans were designed!

 

When we evolved as humans, we did not always have consistent sunlight- and for most populations, sunlight was the only way to obtain vitamin d. Only populations, such as the Inuit and Sami people of the far Northern parts of the world have access to abundant year round vitamin d food sources- and ‘NO’, milk in its natural form is NOT a food source of vitamin d, it has had synthetic vitamin d supplements added artificially.

Since Vitamin D and Sun is an inconsistent way to obtain vitamin d, nature designed us to be EXTREMELY efficient at collecting the vitamin d that we do get when we get it. And the way that we do that is to Store Vitamin D when there is an excess of it. And we DO store vitamin d in our fat and it gets sort of ‘time- released’ as we need it. In fact the ‘half-life’ of natural vitamin d from sun or from Vitamin D3 Supplements is a long 3 WEEKS in order to get us through monsoon season or a long and snowy winter.

 

In fact, to illustrate this point, Dr. Robert Heaney, one of the foremost Vitamin D Researchers, found that if you take 2,200 IU per day, you only have about 12 days supply of vitamin D in your body. “What this indicates,” he explained, “… is that fat reserves of the vitamin are essentially running on empty.” So, according to Dr. Heaney, storing only 12 DAYS of vitamin d is inadequate to really meet your needs.

 

 

Sometimes doctors will give extremely large-sounding dosages, up to as much as 600,000 IU’s all at once, and some forums out there are saying, “Oh no, that’s bad because you store the Vitamin D”, there is just simply no worry about this. To store vitamin d when it’s in excess is what our bodies do. While certainly too high of dosages for too long can lead to Vitamin D Toxicity, but that is NOT the same thing as storing vitamin d. Too much is TOXIC, but storing vitamin d is a natural healthy body process that no one should ‘Worry’ about.

 

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System

 

 

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported the results of a study that says that the Elderly With Chronic Pain Fall More. This is NOT news at all, and while they claim, “Despite a growing body of scientific evidence supporting associations between a number of risk factors and falls, efforts to translate these findings into effective fall prevention strategies have been limited.”

 

Are they just not reading the literature? There is a LARGE body of evidence from peer-reviewed double blind placebo controlled trials that Vitamin D Helps to Relieve Pain in those who are Vitamin D Deficient- which is nearly ALL elderly, and also that Vitamin D Prevents Falls.

While that sounds CRAZY that these older people who have pain and are falling could be helped by the administration of Vitamin D, it is absolutely true and doctors are simply ignoring the evidence. In fact, This Study Reported in JAMA was an analysis of 5 studies on the subject of Vitamin D and Falls in the elderly. They ONLY included high quality studies that met peer reviewed criteria. And their conclusion was ” Vitamin D supplementation appears to reduce the risk of falls among ambulatory or institutionalized older individuals with stable health by more than 20%.”.

 

 

So, we ALREADY have an effective way to reduce fall risk in the elderly by 20% AND the same intervention could reduce pain in many of them, but no one really cares. They would rather continue to spend money on studies, give narcotic pain relievers and try to get throw rugs out of their houses than to actually get down to the REASON why these elderly people are in pain and are falling.

ONE simple intervention could fix both of these problems at once. Are you listening out there. The elderly are Vitamin D Deficient and are in pain and falling because of it. Is anybody really out there. Does anybody really care?

 

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

 

 

When you think of ‘Prescription Strength’, most of us will think, somehow, that it is automatically better or stronger than a similar ‘Over the Counter’ variety. But with prescription vitamin D supplements, this is far from the case. In fact, these prescription vitamin D supplements are Completely inferior to the vitamin D3 supplements that you can buy in any health food store in many ways. They are less potent, have more potential for toxicity, don’t have the ‘active’ component that regular vitamin d does and they have a shorter shelf life. Do you STILL want prescription strength vitamin D?

Vitamin D has become somewhat famous lately, with tons of studies showing that millions of otherwise ‘healthy’ people are vitamin D deficient, in many cases SEVERELY so, and that the consequences are diseases like cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis. As clinicians become more aware of the problems associated with vitamin D deficiency, more are testing for and treating it. And while awareness of vitamin D is GREATl, it will also bring more prescription vitamin D supplements- which may NOT be so great.

 

 

The most common form of prescription vitamin D is in the form of Vitamin D2, also called Ergocalciferol. This is also the same type of vitamin D that is used for the ‘fortification’ of most milk and cereal products. But the ‘over the counter’ formulation of vitamin D in the form of Vitamin D3, also called Cholecalciferol, is far superior to the prescription formula that is routinely prescribed. First of all, prescription vitamin D is at least one-half as effective as vitamin D3 and possibly even up to one-tenth as effective. In ‘The case against ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) as a vitamin supplement’, the authors state, “50 000 IU vitamin D2 should be considered equivalent to 15000 IU vitamin D3, and likely closer to 5000 IU vitamin D3″. That’s One-Tenth as effective as vitamin d that you can buy in stores. When these differences were discovered in the 1950′s, Germany reformulated their prescription vitamin D to vitamin D3, but almost 60 years later, the United States is still using prescription vitamin D that doesn’t work.

And it really doesn’t work. One consequence of vitamin D deficiency is an increase in parathyroid hormone levels which alters calcium metabolism and preventing calcium from building bones. Studies measure the effectiveness of vitamin D treatment by measuring vitamin D levels increasing AND parathyroid hormone levels decreasing. In studies that compare the two different types of supplements, vitamin D3 supplements decreased parathyroid hormone while vitamin D2 didn’t. Another extremely important function of vitamin D, one that can’t be understated, is vitamin D’s ability to bind to ‘Vitamin D Receptors’ in the body. These receptors, also called VDR, are present in almost every tissue in the body and are one possible explanation for the extremely diverse health effects of the vitamin. When VDR’s are bound with an active form of vitamin D, it can help to prevent the expression of a mind boggling array of disease causing genes. Yet, vitamin D2 produces an active hormone that has 40% less binding ability to VDR’s than does the hormone produced from vitamin D3. This makes vitamin D2 much less ‘Biologically Active’ than a Vitamin D3 Supplement and leads to the possibility that prescription vitamin D doesn’t even prevent the diseases and problems that treatment of vitamin D deficiency is supposed to alleviate!

Another disadvantage of prescription vitamin D , is that it has a shorter half life in the body. Water soluble vitamins need to be replenished continually; for instance B vitamins and vitamin C are best metabolized in small doses throughout the day. But fat soluble vitamins like vitamin D do NOT need to be taken every day. In fact the half life of vitamin D3 supplements is 3 weeks. This means that 3 weeks after you take one dose, one half of that dose is still left in your body. This is true whether you get it from the sun, food or supplements. But prescription vitamin d has a much shorter half life, which means that you not only need more of the vitamin to prevent or treat deficiency, but you also need to take that higher dose more OFTEN.

 

“…the vitamin D of irradiated ergosterol [vitamin D2],
exerts greater toxic effects at lower levels than do the vitamins D
of fish liver oil [vitamin D3].
‘ A Comparison of the Hypervitamoses Induced by
Irradiated Erogsterol and Fish Liver Oil Concentrates’

 

But these higher doses could cause more problems. Researchers since the 1930′s have found higher potential for toxicity, more impurities and less consistent formulations in vitamin D2 preparations than in Vitamin D3 Supplements . In fact, researchers interpreting studies on vitamin D find that the studies done using vitamin D2 have less consistent results and recommend that all vitamin d research be done using vitamin D3 supplements for its more consistent results, better method of action in the body, lower toxicity levels and its improved shelf stability.

So while progress is being made in the awareness of the widespread problem of vitamin d deficiency, doctors who actually test for and treat vitamin D deficiency most often choose to ignore the advice of vitamin D researchers Dr’s Houghton and Vieth who state, “… vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, should not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for supplementation…”. It seems that patients would be better served if their doctors, instead, recommend their patients go to the local health food store to treat their vitamin D deficiency.

 

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

 

 

Question:

I have been Vitamin D deficient now for almost a year. They have had me on 50,000 units once a week until recently and have now bumped me up to 50,000 twice a week.

However, I am still deficient. I am always tired, have to force myself to do things most days, and have major mood swings… My body hurts all over, so they said, “oh you have Fibromalagia.” Now this new Doctor says it’s all caused from the lack of vitamin D…..

Do you have any suggestions, or help for me? I am at my wits end!

Sincerely,
K
Dallas, Texas

 

Answer:

Hi K,

Wow, that sounds like it hasn’t been a very fun year. At least your doctors were aware enough to check for Vitamin D Deficiency, but it sounds like they are missing a few things.

First, a possible solution

Since you live in Dallas, you might be able to remedy this situation in a few weeks by GOING OUT IN THE SUN! Get outside in a bikini, or nothing at all if you have some privacy and are inclined to do so- and get as much sun as you can every day to the point of BEFORE you get burned.

Sun is the way that we were MEANT to get vitamin D. So, if that is at all a possibility, then do that. You can protect your face with sunscreen and a big hat, but otherwise, let your entire body get as much sun as you possibly can- just don’t burn.

You can make up to 20,000 IU’s of Vitamin D per day by exposing your skin in this very efficient Vitamin D Deficiency Treatment.

 

What your doctor is doing wrong

So, one of the things that your doctors are not doing right is giving you a PRESCRIPTION for your Vitamin D. Prescription Vitamin D is in the form of Vitamin D2 and researchers have stated, “Vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, should not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for supplementation”. So, print out this study, sit down with a highlighter pen and highlight any questions that you may have for your doctor and ask him why he chose to use Vitamin D2 to treat you instead of the far superior form of Vitamin D3 that he can’t write a prescription for, but nonetheless is widely available and inexpensive.

 

 

Why You Might be Deficient

So, one of the reasons that you may still be deficient is that you are taking Vitamin D2 which has up to one-tenth the bioavailability to the body. The other reason that you may be deficient is that you are not ABSORBING the vitamin D that you ARE getting, and THAT is a critical component of illness that doctors almost always completely overlook.

You see, under certain circumstances (and I’ll talk about those in a minute), it’s possible for people to develop a condition called Increased Intestinal Permeability or “Leaky Gut Syndrome”. Doctors seem to think that this condition is something that alternative practitioners made up, but there are THOUSANDS of references to increased intestinal permeability in the literature and several different easy to do tests to test for this.

 

It is very real and can cause you not to be absorbing nutrients.

 

Also, if you have been unable to absorb vitamin D, what ELSE have you not been absorbing? Doctors seem to think that if they find vitamin D deficiency, then they have found “The Answer”, because they haven’t been able to find anything else wrong with you. But really, that should provoke a lot more questions- like WHY you are not absorbing your vitamin D and what else are you deficient in. Your doctor says that your problems are all because of the vitamin D, but has he tested your Vitamin B12 level? How about your Carnitine level, coenzyme q10, folic acid, RBC Magnesium and other nutrients?

So, you might want to ask him why he hasn’t tested you for any of those, even though you can test all of those and many more in an inexpensive in-home urine test called The Organix Profile. This is not some “woo-woo” test, although your doctor will make you believe that it is. It is based on years of research on substances called Organic Acids that are produced and excreted in urine in differing amounts depending upon what is going on in the body. This test is has published PEER-REVIEWED studies as to its accuracy, and yet your doctor just simply will not do it because he has not been told about it.

But you ABSOLUTELY need to insist that your doctor test you for Vitamin B12 deficiency using a test called a METHYLMALONIC ACID TEST, or MMA. HE will WANT to get a “Vitamin B12 Level”, but don’t let him. That is NOT the test that you want to get, you want an MMA. It is much more accurate and many studies show that it is MUCH more sensitive for vitamin B12 deficiency than is a “Vitamin B12 Level”.

 

What is Causing this Malabsorption

So, if you get back your MMA and it is HIGH (HIGH MMA is indicative of LOW Vitamin B12), then you are not ABSORBING properly. Why wouldn’t you be absorbing nutrients? Well, a couple of possible reasons.

1) You might have Undiagnosed Celiac Disease. Undiagnosed Celiac Disease is a HUGE problem, even though your doctor will think that it is “RARE”. It is NOT rare, it is common- possibly up to 1 in every 33 people! So, if your MMA is high, you should INSIST on being tested for Celiac Disease, and here are Some Research Studies for you to print out and take to your doctor.

2) You might also have the H Pylori Bacteria causing inflammation and malabsorption in your stomach- EVEN IF you have no stomach problems!! Doctors seem to think that you MUST have stomach problems for H pylori to be a problem, but research just doesn’t show this to be the case. People with ASYMPTOMATIC H pylori can have inflammation and malabsorption.

So, there is SO much more that I could tell you, but that is a start. So, here is your action plan:

1) Print out the study, “The Case Against Vitamin D2′ and ask your doctor WHY he is choosing to use it when researchers say that he shouldn’t be.

2) Insist on getting tested for MMA or Methylmalonic Acid. Your fatigue is certainly a justifiable reason to test for Vitamin B12, as if your malabsorption of Vitamin D.

Good luck,

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

 

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.

 

“Careful attention to maternal vitamin D status
could translate into diverse improvements in health
outcomes for the following generation”
Professor John McGrath
Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research,
Wolston Park Hospital, Wacol, Queensland, Australia

 

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.

 

“Vitamin D supplementation of pregnant women,
especially during winter months, could lead to
longlasting reductions in the risk of
osteoporotic fracture in their offspring.”
‘Maternal vitamin D status during pregnancy and
childhood bone mass at age 9 years: a longitudinal study’

 

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.

 

“Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy not only
is linked to maternal skeletal preservation and fetal skeletal formation but also is vital
to the fetal “imprinting” that may affect chronic disease susceptibility
later in life as well as soon after birth”
Bruce W Hollis, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Director, Pediatric Nutritional Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina

 

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

 

 

Question:

Why is 50,000 prescribed once a week,instead

of 7000 units per day?

Does the body store

the surplus and release it daily into the

body?

 

Answer:

Vitamin D is a Fat soluble Vitamin and it does, indeed, store it up and ‘time release’ the Vitamin D into the body.

HOWEVER, the Vitamin D that your doctor is prescribing you is Vitamin D 2 and not the superior form of Vitamin D that you can get at your drugstore, Vitamin D3! Researchers have stated, “Vitamin D2 should
not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for supplementation or
fortification.”

But if you are taking Vitamin D3 (NOT Prescription Vitamin D), you do not even need to take Vitamin D as often as once a week. Many studies have been done on vitamin D showing that giving at much as 300,000 IU’s and up to 600,000 IU’s of Vitamin D at a time ONLY ONCE is sufficient for 3 to 6 months of treatment! In many places, they will give 600,000 IU’s of Vitamin D once YEARLY to the elderly in nursing homes to simply PREVENT vitamin D deficiency.

So, while I’m happy that you are being treated for your Vitamin D deficiency, you may want to speak to your doctor about getting on Vitamin D 3 Supplements instead of your Prescription Vitamin D2 Supplements that your doctor gave you!

 

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

 

 

Multiple Sclerosis is a horrible disease with few treatment options except hope. It often strikes at a young age and leaves the afflicted unable to care for themselves when they should be in the prime of their lives. It gets its name from the ‘sclerosed’ appearance that the fatty outer layer of the spinal cord, the myelin sheath, has when viewed on medical scans. These patches slow down- and even stop- electrical transmissions from the brain to the rest of the body and vice versa. Over time, strength and movement slow and are lost entirely.

 

Treatments for multiple sclerosis haven’t worked very well, but drug manufacturers and researchers are always attempting to develop treatments to, if not cure the disease, at least give sufferers relief from their symptoms. Some drug treatments that have seemed to show promise are, as usual, being found to have serious consequences like: brain infections from the drug Rituximab and an increase in cancer from a class of drugs called beta interferons! What a choice to have to make for better functioning.

 

 

But it seems that MS sufferers may not have to make that choice any more. A new study shows that those taking VERY high doses of Vitamin D Supplements, about 14,000 IU’s per day on average, prevented the frequent relapses that occur with the disease. These high doses of Vitamin D Supplements significantly helped the patients in the study to maintain their current level of functioning with virtually no adverse effects. But it’s somewhat baffling that the researchers warned other MS sufferers not to take more than 4000 IU’s of Vitamin D per day until the treatment was proven to be safe.

This is baffling for two reasons. One because the much lower dosages of 4,000 IU’s that was used in the study showed absolutely no benefit; and two because study after study has already shown that high dose Vitamin D IS safe. In fact the University of Toronto, the research facility for THIS study, had stated previously in a DIFFERENT study that there is “no evidence of adverse effects from taking 10,000 IU of Vitamin D a day”.

 

But even if you are skeptical about taking high doses of Vitamin D in pill form, where there IS the chance of taking too much if you don’t get a regular Vitamin D blood testing, you can get high dose Vitamin D for FREE just by exposing your skin to sunlight.

If you are light skinned and expose the majority of your body to direct sunlight for the amount of time that it takes you to get the slightest bit pink, you will make up to 200,000 IU’s of Vitamin D. Interestingly, even though the body makes such a large amount of Vitamin D all at once, there has NEVER been a recorded overdose of Vitamin D from too much sun.

 

While this may be the first study to show the effectiveness of Vitamin D to prevent relapses in MS, there is already precedent for the use of Vitamin D in the disease. Several studies have shown that higher levels of Vitamin D are effective at PREVENTING Multiple Sclerosis in the first place. Another study showed that the number of sclerosed areas on the spinal cord could be reduced by as much as HALF using the same high dose Vitamin D used in this study!! In fact, Vitamin D researchers such as Oliver Gilley, who did extensive studies on Scotland’s high rate of Multiple Sclerosis, has been urging higher levels of Vitamin D for years in order to ward off this preventable disease.

 

So, while drug researchers continue looking for the latest greatest drug treatment, Great Britain urges its Prime Minister to devote millions of pounds for stem cell research and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada creates new training centers designed to “boost our capacity to conduct MS research through training of the next generation of MS researchers”; the “next generation” for the prevention AND treatment of this ‘incurable’ disease is sitting right in front of us right here, right now. While you may have to weigh the risks and benefits of getting your Vitamin D through the sun, this safe and effective treatment for Multiple Sclerosis is completely free of charge and no insurance is required.

 

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune 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 Fisk like Wild Salmon and Sardine Snacks, 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 Calcium
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

A recent study shows that Lung Tumors Destroy Vitamin D

The researchers stated that the chemoprotective effects of Vitamin D were being thwarted by the cancer and that they were investigating what the right level of Vitamin D would be to help fight lung cancer. They stated,

 

 

“…one day Vitamin D could be used as a
chemopreventive agent to improve patient outcomes.”

 

Well, what are they waiting for…. that day is NOW!

They are not talking about some far off drug that has not been through FDA testing or that is still in clinical trials. The “drug” that they have with “chemoprotective effects to one day help improve outcomes” is sitting right in the grocery store on the counter waiting to be taken.

 

This is not the first or only study showing Vitamin D’s anticancer and chemoprotective effects. In fact, there are dozens, if not HUNDREDS of studies showing the benefits of Vitamin D and cancer.

The researchers have been saying it for years, if not DECADES- “TAKE VITAMIN D”!

But instead of using our existing knowledge of the right amount of Vitamin D to take and the already decades old technology of doing a Vitamin D blood test along with researchers recommendations of appropriate blood levels of the Vitamin, it appears that we are waiting for drug manufacturers to patent a “Vitamin D analog” much as they have done in the treatment of eczema.

 

But WHY are we waiting?

 

Doctors just don’t seem to “get it”. Doctors still think that Vitamin D deficiency is ‘rare’ and that you can get all of your Vitamin D if you eat a ‘balanced’ diet- what balanced diet? 20 glasses of milk or 12 ounces of salmon per day is there uneducated “balanced diet” to get Vitamin D- unless you happen to sun dry your own mushrooms or you happen to import your own Reindeer Meat- there IS NO BALANCED DIET THAT WILL GET YOU ENOUGH VITAMIN D!

In SEVERE cases, like in advanced osteoporosis, doctors MIGHT recommend 800 IU’s per day, the upper limit of the grossly outdated RDI’s of the Vitamin.

But the ‘new’ RDI ‘should be’ AT LEAST 2000 IU’s per day of Vitamin D, with higher dosages tailored to an EASY TO DO Vitamin D Blood Test. There are even Vitamin D blood test Kits that can be done right in your own home and MAILED back to the company!

 

But doctors still don’t get it….

 

At  GrassrootsHealth, an interview with researcher Dr. Cedric Garland makes the claim that we can PREVENT 75% of breast and colon cancer deaths with Vitamin D Blood Levels between 40-50  ng/ml – yet doctors still don’t even check Vitamin D blood levels routinely despite reseacher recommendations that a Vitamin D blood test should be checked at every single yearly physical exam.

Colon cancer
Breast cancer
Lung cancer

Even SKIN CANCER believe it or not- along with:

Heart disease
Diabetes
Periodontal disease
Multiple sclerosis
chronic pain

and a whole host of other “diseases of civilization” can be cured, prevented or treated to some degree with varying levels of Vitamin D that are KNOWN.

Check out this “Disease Incidence Table” that shows that researchers ALREADY KNOW what Vitamin D levels prevent what diseases. This is a Well Researched subject- studied by eminent scientists for over 20 years.

But YOU don’t have to wait. The technology and the knowledge is RIGHT HERE,  RIGHT NOW.

Those in the know, KNOW the importance of Vitamin D and YOU can benefit from their knowledge.

Get your Vitamin D Blood Level Checked Today with In Home Blood Spot Testing Technology. It’s quick, it’s accurate and it’s virtually painless. Don’t wait until you get heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer, osteoporosis or simply periodontal disease to start taking Vitamin D.

Get a Vitamin D Blood Level done and Know your Vitamin D level like you know your Cholesterol Level.  It’s really that important!

 

Your doctor may NEVER get it, but YOU can!

 

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

Could Vitamin D be more important in the Long Term than the Short Term?

When Researchers found out that Vitamin D Deficiency was the cause of Rickets, they thought that their problems were solved. Minute amounts of Vitamin D in milk basically solved the Rickets problem. End of story, pat on the back, job well done boys. We can now go solve some more important world health problems, right? Well, so much more research is being found out about Vitamin D, but doctors are still in the “If you Don’t have Rickets then you don’t have Vitamin D Deficiency” mode of the 1800′s and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.
 
 

But what Researchers are now showing is that Certain Vitamins can cause obvious short term problems at ONE LEVEL of Deficiency, and other- no-so-obvious problems if a HIGHER level if not met.
 

 
Vitamin D, along with Calcium and Folic Acid, is one of those Vitamins.
 
 

The US may not have a rickets epidemic anymore, but we still have a RAMPANT EPIDEMIC of Vitamin D Deficiency Diseases. The amount of research is all but SCREAMING this fact, but doctors still can’t see beyond rickets to investigate the LONG TERM INSIDIOUS DISEASES caused by the long term effects of Vitamin D Deficiency!
 
 

These diseases, called Long Latency Diseases, come about only after many years of low level Vitamin D Deficiency.
 
 

Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly to those that follow my blog and website, these diseases look a LOT like the vast majority of chronic illnesses that doctors have had absolutely no success in treating!
 
 

These Diseases include:

Find Out Your Vitamin D Level Today! Check Your Vitamin D Level Right in Your Own Home!

Heart Disease
Diabetes
Periodontal Disease
Chronic Pain Conditions
Fibromyalgia
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
“Dementia” and Mental Decline
Diabetes
Loss of functioning in old age
Breast Cancer
Osteoporosis
Hypertension
Depression
Other Cancers

 
 

None of these diseases are very responsive to drugs- and patients keep going back to the doctor. Sometimes patients go from doctor to doctor and get on an assortment of different drugs- One, and sometimes two drugs, for EACH of these “different” problems. But since doctors are trained in finding a diagnosis and prescribing a drug or recommending surgery for that problem, they rarely look for the underlying root cause of these problems.
 
 

I’m not suggesting that Vitamin D is going to fix all of these problems. It is not the magic bullet that people are looking for to fix all of their problems- another very Western Medicine approach to disease states.

But, in the case of ALL of these diseases, each one individually has been studied using Vitamin D and EACH ONE has had a measure of success being either prevented or improved using Vitamin D.
 
 

Yet doctors, when they have a patient with ALL of these problems together- Not an uncommon situation- refuse to look at Low Vitamin D Levels as a possible cause and as an element of the treatment regimen. The Medical Establishment does not change as quickly as research does- and is often takes Decades or even Centuries for medicine to change in response.
 
 

(For those who think that I am exaggerating, there were studies done as far back as the late 1800′s that showed that smoking contributes to health problems, yet the AMA took no formal stance on smoking until the 1970′s!)
 
 

 

So, unfortunately, it is generally up to the health care consumer (in other words YOU!) to do their own research so that YOU can promote your own health and be proactive. I urge you to get your Vitamin D Level Checked and Take Enought Vitamin D to get your Vitamin D Blood Levels between 50-80 as recommended by many researchers. It could take the Medical Establishment 100 years to come around to understanding the “Long Latency Effects” of Vitamin D on health.
 
 

I for one, don’t want to wait that long and the technology to do this is right here, right now!
 
 

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner
http://www.easy-immune-health.com