Vitamin D and Parkinson’s
The latest from ongoing research investigating vitamin D’s seemingly limitless effect on health comes from Emory University School of Medicine, where researchers found that Parkinson’s patients are more likely to be deficient than healthy people. What’s more, the Parkinson’s patients were running significantly lower on vitamin D than Alzheimer’s patients tested: 55 percent were deficient, compared to 41 percent of the Alzheimer’s group and 36 percent of healthy controls. Although these findings suggest a deficiency in this vitamin might contribute to neurological problems, we still don’t know if low vitamin D actually increases the risk of Parkinson’s or if taking supplements will ease symptoms. The study was published in the October, 2008, issue of the Archives of Neurology. More on “D” was presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, including two new studies. The first reported that deficiencies are likely to develop among people with inflammatory bowel disease, and the other showed that more than 92 percent of 118 patients with chronic liver disease were deficient, about one-third severely so. Researchers noted that these findings indicate an added risk of osteoporosis in these patients.

Chronic Pain
In a study involving 150 children and adults with unexplained muscle and bone pain, almost all were found to be vitamin D deficient; many were severely deficient with extremely low levels of vitamin D in their bodies.
Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and pain in children and adults. Muscle pain and weakness was a prominent symptom of vitamin D deficiency in a study of Arab and Danish Moslem women living in Denmark (20).

In a cross-sectional study of 150 consecutive patients referred to a clinic in Minnesota for the evaluation of persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain, 93% had serum 25(OH)D levels indicative of vitamin D deficiency.

Osteoporosis
Maintenance of serum calcium levels within a narrow range is vital for normal functioning of the nervous system, as well as for bone growth, and maintenance of bone density. Vitamin D is essential for the efficient utilization of calcium by the body.

A recent study found that supplementation of elderly women with 800 IU/day of vitamin D and 1,200 mg/day of calcium for three months increased muscle strength and decreased the risk of falling by almost 50% compared to supplementation with calcium alone.

Mental Function and Moods 
Recent research indicates vitamin D deficiency is associated with low mood and cognitive impairment in the elderly. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in various psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression. 

Diabetes
Vitamin D helps maintain adequate insulin levels. Preliminary evidence suggests supplementation can increase insulin levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Prolonged supplementation may help reduce blood sugar levels.

Immune Function
There is considerable scientific evidence that 1,25(OH)2D has a variety of positive effects on boosting the immune system. Additionally, there is growing evidence that maintaining vitamin D levels in the body during the winter prevent the flu and other viral infections by strengthening the immune system. 

Heart Disease
Activated vitamin D has been shown to increase survival in patients with cardiovascular disease.

Hyperparathyroidism
Low plasma vitamin D3 has been found to be a major risk factor for hyperparathyroidism.

High Blood Pressure
Clinical and experimental data support the view that vitamin D metabolism is involved in blood pressure regulation and other metabolic processes.

Melanoma
An inability to tan is the number one risk factor for melanoma. Those who tan easily or who have darker skin are far less likely to develop the disease. A new theory is that melanoma is actually caused by sunlight (vitamin D) deficiency and that safe sun exposure actually helps prevent the deadly disease.

Multiple Sclerosis
Vitamin D supplementation may help prevent the development of MS as well as provide for additional treatment.

Osteoarthritis
Low intake and low serum levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with an increased risk for progression of osteoarthritis.

Osteoporosis
Vitamin D deficiency is extremely prevalent in the elderly. Most often the first symptoms are muscle pain, fatigue, muscular weakness, and gait disturbances. More severe deficiency causes osteomalacia (bone weakening and loss) with deep bone pain, reduced mineralization of bone matrix, and bone fractures.

 

Evidence Vitamin D Beats the Flu

In April 2005, an influenza epidemic started sweeping through the maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane where Dr. John Cannell worked.

As the epidemic progressed, he noticed something unusual: although wards all around his became infected, no patients on his ward became ill, despite intermingling of both patients and nurses.

The only difference was that all of the patients on Dr. Cannell's ward had been taking 2,000 units of vitamin D every day for several months or longer.

Shortly after the epidemic, a paper in the journal Nature showed that vitamin D was a potent antibiotic, working by increasing the body's production of proteins called antimicrobial peptides. Antimicrobial peptides destroy the cell walls of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, including the influenza virus.

Dr. Cannell posits that this explains such matters as:

• Why the flu predictably occurs in the months following the winter solstice, when vitamin D levels are at their lowest
• Why influenza is more common in the tropics during the rainy season
• Why children exposed to sunlight are less likely to get colds
• Why cod liver oil (which contains vitamin D) reduces the incidence of viral respiratory infections
• Why the elderly who live in countries with high vitamin D consumption, like Norway, are less likely to die in the winter

Epidemic influenza kills roughly a million people every year worldwide, usually by causing pneumonia.

Sources:

• Epidemiology and Infection September 7, 2006
• Medical News Today September 15, 2006

In the summer, those with at least 15 minutes of sun exposure on their skin most days should take around 1,000 mg of vitamin D3 each day. In the winter, those with dark skin, or those who have little sun exposure on their skin, should take up to 4,000 mg each day. Those who have darker skin, are older, avoid sun exposure or live in the northern US should take the higher amounts, around 2,000mg a day.

People consuming only government-recommended levels of 200-400 IU/day often have blood levels considerably below 50 ng/ml. This means the government’s recommendations are too low, and should be raised for optimal health function.

The good news about vitamin D continues to roll in. The latest finding is that high blood levels of “D” seem to help prolong survival in colon cancer patients.

 

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston analyzed data from two long-running health studies and tracked the cases of 304 men and women diagnosed with colorectal cancer from 1991 to 2002. They found that those with the highest vitamin D levels were almost 50 percent less likely to die during the study from colon cancer or other causes than those with the lowest vitamin D levels.

 

Patients with the highest vitamin D levels also tended to have lower body-mass index (BMI) and also were more physically active than those with low levels of “D.” However, even after the researchers took into account the benefits of lower BMI and physical activity, as well as other contributing factors, higher vitamin D levels were still independently associated with better survival rates.

 

Now the same investigators are planning to study whether colon cancer patients do better if they receive supplemental vitamin D in addition to chemotherapy after surgery or with chemo alone. Earlier studies have shown that vitamin D is protective against colon, breast and ovarian cancers. The new study was published in the June 20, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Ecology.

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