Vitamin D3…Is the USDA recommended amount right?…How much is?

Video discusses vitamin d3 and the government recommended amounts (USDA)…Is that enough or not?

The latest on vitamin D and cancer: Dr William Grant’s brilliant review.

Dr William Grant, who writes and compiles research as fast as I can read it, gave me a tremendous assist in keeping me abreast of the current research as I wrote my book.

His latest paper is entitled “How strong is the evidence that solar ultraviolet B and vitamin D reduce the risk of cancer?

An examination using Hill’s criteria for causality[1]” Although the link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer should well-established, there are those who stubbornly demand more proof while millions more die of cancer caused by vitamin D deficiency.

In this paper, there is sufficient proof to convince all but the most biased reader.

He uses a well-accepted scientific assessment, known as Hill’s criteria for causality, which determines whether the presence or absence of one factor causes the presence of another.

In this case the “causal” factor is vitamin D deficiency, and the caused factor (result) is cancer.

Here are the qualifications for causality as established by Dr. A Bradford Hill:

1. Strength of association

2. Consistency (repeated observation)

3. Specificity (one agent, one result)

4. Temporality (exposure precedes effect)

5. Biological gradient (dose-response relation)

6. Plausibility (e.g., mechanisms)

7. Coherency (no serious conflict with the generally known facts
of the natural history and biology of the disease)

8. Experimental verification (randomized, controlled trial)

9. Analogy with other causal relationships

Using these criteria, Dr. Grant discusses the voluminous research pointing out that the vitamin D-deficiency theory of cancer causality in most deadly cancers satisfies most, if not all, of Hill’s criteria.

In other words, there is little doubt that vitamin D deficiency is a primary cause of cancer.

For those who are scientifically inclined, I suggest you read the paper, which you can find online by searching the citation below.

If you are not so inclined, take my word for it; this paper makes an irrefutable case.

Neglect your sunlight and your optimal vitamin D levels at your peril.

But remember, never burn!

[1] Grant, W. How strong is the evidence that solar ultraviolet B and vitamin D reduce the risk of cancer? An examination using Hill’s criteria for causality Dermato-Endocrinology 2009:1:14-21.

Great news! An inexpensive vitamin D test is now available.

When I first started advising people to have their blood levels of vitamin D tested [25(OH)D or calcidiol], the cost for the test at our local LabCorp was about $150, which was prohibitively expensive. Though the prices have come down rapidly, most labs still charge as much as $60-$100. The great news is that Carol Baggerly, through her non-profit organization, Grassroots Health, has arranged for tests for only $30. The following is an excerpt from an email I received from Carol today:

1. Sign up to participate in an international effort to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic now.
2. Get your vitamin D tested for only $30 with a blood spot test from ZRT
logon to www.ordervitamindtest.org
3. Fill in the health questionnaire
4. Order your test kit–choose your subscription option; it’s a 5 year project and we need to have vitamin D measurements each 6 months for that period
Spread the word: get at least two more people to do the same.

The importance of this test cannot be overemphasized; it is the most critical of all blood tests, even surpassing tests for cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.

I have no financial interest in this testing and post this information simply to do my part in enhancing human health through vitamin D awareness. I also attest that at that price, Carole and her organization are making nothing; hers is a labor of love.

The test is available in every state but New York.

Vitamin D, Flu and the Immune System: Part 2…The Answer!

We now have the answer to preventing the next flu pandemic. This is the second part of the blog on flu. See the first for the background information.

Dr. John Cannell and his colleagues wrote a remarkable paper[1] showing that cold and flu outbreaks are almost completely seasonal.

In the northern hemisphere, they occur in December through March.

In the southern hemisphere, outbreaks occur June through September—almost exclusively in winter in both hemispheres.

The outbreaks of flu and colds in each case occur in times of lowest UVB light and therefore the time of least vitamin D production.

It follows then, that essential cathelicidin production is also extremely low during winter, which dramatically dampens the immune response. It would stand to reason, if the theory is correct, that flu and cold outbreaks would occur mainly in winter in both hemispheres.

It also stands to reason that increasing vitamin D blood levels by supplementation would be able to reduce the incidence of colds and fly in winter. This is exactly the case.

Shortly after this paper’s publication, other researchers reported results of a three-year study of African-American women.[2]

One group was given a placebo and another group received 800 IU per day for two years and 2,000 IU during the third year.

The placebo group experienced three times as many cold and flu cases as those who received 800 IU. The 2,000-IU group had only one cold or flu case the entire year, and none in winter. The placebo group had 24 cases in winter—that is a 24:0 ratio!

These findings are especially important because flu shots are not very effective.

A review in the British Medical Journal came to the following conclusion: “Evidence from systematic reviews shows that inactivated vaccines [flu shots] have little or no affect on the effects measured.”[3]

Perhaps flu shots do save some lives, but there is little doubt that vitamin D does a profoundly better job. Considering that daily supplementation with 2,000 IU per day of vitamin D can cost as little as $10.00 per year, a tremendous financial burden could be lifted from the health-care system and from the budget of elderly persons!

Approximately 36,000 people die yearly from flu in the USA, and it is estimated that a pandemic similar to the one in 1918 could kill a billion people worldwide.

It simply does not need to happen.

The solution: maintain higher vitamin D levels. This can be done during winter by vitamin D3 supplementation of at least 2,000 IU, and as much as 5,000 IU per day in the absence of UVB exposure.

Do not use vitamin D2; it is not nearly as effective.

The flu season is upon us. This year, work to maintain adequate vitamin D levels and kiss the flu goodbye!

[1] Cannell, J. et al. Epidemic Influenza and vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect 2006;134:1129-40.
[2] Aloia, J. et al. Colds and Flu. Letter to the editor. Epidemiol Infect Jan 15, 2007.
[3] Jefferson, T. et al. Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence. BMJ. 2006;333::912-15.

Vitamin D, the Immune System and the Yearly Outbreaks of Flu…Is the solution to good to be true?

Vitamin D boosts the immune system and enhances the body’s ability to kill bacteria or viruses—intercellular invaders—that make their way into body cells.

When a mechanism known as a toll-like receptor (TLR) recognizes the invaders, it causes direct anti-germ activity by stimulating the action of peptide proteins that bind to and kill viruses, bacteria and fungi.[i] [ii] [iii]

The peptides are called cathelicidins, and they do their work by breaking down the cell walls of viruses and bacteria.[iv] The gene that turns on cathelicidin is a direct target of vitamin D. Therefore, it is vitamin D that triggers the action of cathelicidins against all of these “invaders, [v] including the viruses that cause flu and colds.

It is important to understand that ultraviolet B light (UVB) is the wave length of sunlight that, when it contacts the skin, stimulates the skin to produce vitamin D.

The skin does not produce any vitamin D unless UVB is available. UVB, plentiful in summer sunshine, is filtered out in winter at high latitudes because of the sun’s position in the southern sky (northern sky in the southern hemisphere).

This is called “vitamin D winter.” Blood vitamin D levels, therefore, become very low in winter unless some other method is used to keep them at desirable levels. So what does all this have to do with flu and colds?

I will post the answer in my next blog.

This year, kiss the flu goodbye!

[i] Zhang, L. et al. Contribution of Human -Defensin 1, 2, and 3 to the Anti-HIV-1 Activity of CD8 Antiviral Factor. Science 2002;298:995-1,000.
[ii] Wang, T. et al. Cutting edge: 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 is a direct inducer of antimicrobial peptide gene expression. J Immunol 2004;173:2909-12.
[iii] Herr, C. et al. The role of cathelicidin and defensins in pulmonary and inflammatory diseases. Expert Opin Biol Ther 2007;7:1449-61.
[iv] Liu, P. et al. Toll-like receptor triggering of a vitamin D-mediated human antimicrobial response. Science 2006;311:1770-73.
[v] Gombart, A. et al. Human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene is a direct target of the vitamin D receptor and is up-regulated in myeloid cells by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. FASEB J 2005;19:1067-77.