What vitamin do we need in amounts up to 25 times higher than the government recommends for us to be healthy?
What vitamin deficiency affects over half of the population, is almost never diagnosed, and has been linked to many cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic muscle pain, bone loss, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis?
What vitamin is almost totally absent from our food supply?
What vitamin is the hidden cause of so much suffering that is so easy to treat?
The answer to all of these questions is vitamin D.
Over the last 5 years, I have tested almost every patient in my practice for vitamin D deficiency, and I have been shocked by the results. What’s even more amazing is what happens when my patients' vitamin D status reaches optimal levels. Having witnessed these changes, there's no doubt in my mind: vitamin D is an incredible asset to your health.
Two recent studies in the journal Pediatrics found that 70 percent of American kids aren't getting enough vitamin D, and this puts them at higher risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lower levels of good cholesterol. Low vitamin D levels also may increase a child's risk of developing heart disease later in life.
Overall, 7.6 million, or 9 percent, of U.S. children were vitamin-D deficient, and another 50.8 million, or 61 percent, had insufficient levels of this important vitamin in their blood.
How Vitamin D Regulates Your Cells and Genes
Vitamin D has a huge impact on the health and function of your cells. It reduces cellular growth (which promotes cancer) and improves cell differentiation (which puts cells into an anti-cancer state). That makes vitamin D one of the most potent cancer inhibitors -- and explains why vitamin D deficiency has been linked to colon, prostate, breast and ovarian cancer.
Many of us are deficient for one simple reason ...
Your body makes vitamin D when it's exposed to sunlight. In fact, 80 to 100 percent of the vitamin D we need comes from the sun. The sun exposure that makes our skin a bit red produces the equivalent of 10,000 to 25,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D in our bodies.
The problem is that most of us aren’t exposed to enough sunlight.
Overuse of sunscreen is one reason. While these products help protect against skin cancer -- they also block a whopping 97 percent of your body's vitamin D production.
If you live in a northern climate, you're not getting enough sun (and therefore vitamin D), especially during winter. And you're probably not eating enough of the few natural dietary sources of vitamin D: fatty wild fish like mackerel, herring, and cod liver oil.
Plus, aging skin produces less vitamin D -- the average 70 year-old person creates only 25 percent of the vitamin D that a 20 year-old does. Skin color makes a difference, too. People with dark skin also produce less vitamin D. There can be very severe deficiencies in Orthodox Jews and Muslims who keep themselves covered all the time.
Our government currently recommends 2,000 IU as the upper limit for vitamin D -- but even that may not be high enough for our sun-deprived population! In countries where sun exposure provides the equivalent of 10,000 IU a day and people have vitamin D blood levels of 105 to 163 nmol/L, autoimmune diseases (like multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus) are uncommon.
Don't be scared that amounts that high are toxic: One study of healthy young men receiving 10,000 IU of vitamin D for 20 weeks showed no toxicity.
The question that remains is: How can you get the right amounts of vitamin D?
6 Tips for Getting the Right Amount of Vitamin D
Unless you're spending all your time at the beach, eating 30 ounces of wild salmon a day, or downing 10 tablespoons of cod liver oil a day, supplementing with vitamin D is essential. The exact amount needed to get your blood levels to the optimal range (100 to160 nmol/L) will vary depending on your age, how far north you live, how much time you spend in the sun, and even the time of the year. But once you reach optimal levels, you'll be amazed at the results.
In the Nurses' Health Study (a study of more than 130,000 nurses over 3 decades), vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of multiple sclerosis by 40 percent.
I've seen many patients with chronic muscle aches and pains and fibromyalgia who are vitamin D deficient -- a phenomenon that's been documented in studies. Their symptoms improve when they are treated with vitamin D.
Finally, vitamin D has been shown to help prevent and treat osteoporosis. In fact, it's even more important than calcium. That's because your body needs vitamin D to be able to properly absorb calcium. Without adequate levels of vitamin D, the intestine absorbs only 10 to 15 percent of dietary calcium. Research shows that the bone-protective benefits of vitamin D keep increasing with the dose.
So here is my advice for getting optimal levels of vitamin D:
1. Get tested for 25 OH vitamin D. The range should be 100 to 160 nmol/L or 40 to 65 ng/ml. In the future, we may raise this "optimal" level even higher.
2. Take the right type of vitamin D. The only active form of vitamin D is vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Look for this type. Many vitamins and prescriptions of vitamin D have vitamin D2 -- which is not biologically active.
3. Take the right amount of vitamin D. If you have a deficiency, you should correct it with 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day for 3 months -- but only under a medical provider’s supervision. For maintenance, take 2,000 to 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D3. Some people may need higher doses over the long run to maintain optimal levels because of differences in vitamin D receptors, living in northern latitudes, indoor living, or skin color.
4. Monitor your vitamin D status until you are in the optimal range. If you are taking high doses (10,000 IU a day) your provider must also check your calcium, phosphorous, and parathyroid hormone levels every 3 months.
5. Remember that it takes up to 6 to 10 months to "fill up the tank" for vitamin D if you're deficient. Once this occurs, you can lower the dose to the maintenance dose of 2,000 to 4,000 IUs a day.
6. Try to eat dietary sources of vitamin D. These include:
• Fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil: 1 TBSP (15 ml) = 1,360 IU of vitamin D
• Cooked wild salmon: 3.5 oz = 360 IU of vitamin D
• Cooked mackerel: 3.5 oz = 345 IU of vitamin D
• Sardines, canned in oil, drained: 1.75 oz = 250 IU of vitamin D
• One whole egg = 20 IU of vitamin D
This vitamin is critical for good health. So start aiming for optimal levels -- and watch how your health improves.
