Vitamins are good for you…who knew??

It was bound to happen!  Medicine has caught up with the notion that proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices help your body fight disease.  The latest cure all for most disease that medicine “discovered”, Vitamin D.  If I sound bitter it’s because I am.  I have been in practice for over 16 years educating my community that taking a wellness approach to their health is far superior to fighting disease with drugs and surgery and now doctors are claiming they “discovered” that Vitamins have a health benefit.  Even though that is a very true statement and one could look at this “latest discovery” as an advancement in medical science, I would like to be the voice of all my colleagues, patients, and anyone who has chosen to live their lives in a holistic way by saying “DUHHHH”.

Now that that is out of the way I would like to share information on vitamin D and it’s benefits.  How to get it, how much do you need, and why it’s so important.  Keep in mind, I am coming from a standpoint of having proper nutrition (vitamin D levels) for proper body function and not from a treatment of disease standpoint.  That may sound like semantics but it’s very important to understand that EVERYONE should have proper Vitamin D,B,C,E, etc..  in their bodies regardless of and condition they have or don’t have.

Let’s start with some science.  The latest research out of the UC San Diego School of Medicine says:

• Some 600,000 cases of breast and colorectal cancers could be prevented each year if vitamin D levels among populations worldwide were increased, according to previous research by Dr. Garland and colleagues. And that’s just counting the death toll for two types of cancer.
• Optimizing your vitamin D levels could help you to prevent at least 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin cancers.
• A large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled study on vitamin D and cancer showed that vitamin D can cut overall cancer risk by as much as 60 percent! This was such groundbreaking news that the Canadian Cancer Society has actually begun endorsing the vitamin as a cancer-prevention therapy.
• Light-skinned women who had high amounts of long-term sun exposure had half the risk of developing advanced breast cancer (cancer that spreads beyond your breast) as women with lower amounts of regular sun exposure, according to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
• A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths -- which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 in the United States -- could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D.

Even more exciting evidence shows that the type of cancer is not that important because vitamin D plays a key role in the development of ALL types of cancer.  Once again this is proof that having the right nutrients in your body at all times allows your body to function properly and avoid MOST diseases that exist today.  But wait doc, not heart disease, that’s from being fat and being lazy and genetics right?  WRONG!  Research shows that vitamin D drastically lowers your risk of heart disease.  Women who take vitamin D supplements lower their risk of death from heart disease by one-third.  Low levels of vitamin D in the blood have previously been correlated with higher risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Dr. Paul D. Varosy set out to determine if taking vitamin D supplements decreases this risk.  His team analyzed data from nearly 10,000 women over the age of 65 who were enrolled in a study of how often osteoporosis causes broken bones. Of these, more than 4,200 women reported that they took vitamin D supplements at the time of the study, and another 733 reported a prior history of supplement use.  After following the women for an average of nearly 11 years, researchers found that the risk of heart disease death was 31% lower in those women who were taking vitamin D at the time of the study.  The researchers note that calcium supplements, education, self-reported health status or health-related behaviors had no effect on the protection afforded by vitamin D.

So it’s clear you need vitamin D and you can avoid the big killer diseases if you have enough.  How much is enough?  Based on the latest research the recommended dosage is 35units per pound of body weight.  However it is important to understand we get most of our vitamin D from sunlight.  That’s right, it’s so important that your body can make it, pretty cool.  So when determining how much you should supplement, factors such as exposure to sunlight and skin tone must be considered.  The only way to know what your vitamin D count is, is by getting  a blood test.  Your results should be between 50-65ng/ml.  Once you know your level you can adjust your intake and/or sun exposure accordingly.  Research has found that most people make 20,000 units of vit D under regular sun exposure, summer time.  That being said and accounted for I recommend 5,000 units per day.  That will help 90% of the people reading this article.  10% may need to take a super dose of 30,000 units for 2-3 weeks to build up their blood vit D levels and then taper back to 5,000/day.  By the way, another extra-ordinary body function is   you can’t really overdose on vitD.  While the UVB rays of the sun produce vitD in your skin the UVA rays of the sun tend to destroy any excess vitD circulating in your blood.  Isn’t nature awesome!

So what have doctors really discovered?  Vitamins are good for you!  We don’t need random clinical trials to convince us and we don’t need to spend more money to prove it scientifically.  Eat well everyday, move a little each day, and keep yours thoughts positive and healthly, you’ll be surprised what your body can protect itself from.  Until next time, Be Well…   The Wellness Doc