|
|
|||||||||
|
The S-S-S-Summertime Issue Here we are into summer but it appears to be a stuttering start. I was going to save this particular newsletter until fall but the emerging research on Vitamin D deficiencies seem to be a hot topic! |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
It may be time to retest your saliva. give us a call to pick up a saliva kit and to book your follow-up appointment. |
|||||||||
|
Making the most of The Sunshine Vitamin... |
|||||||||
|
|
Here we are into summer and but it appears to be a stuttering start. I was going to save this particular newsletter until fall but the emerging research on Vitamin D deficiencies seem to be a hot topic! Vitamin D is often called the sunshine vitamin, but a more accurate nickname might be the bone-enhancer vitamin. That’s because its primary function is to assist with the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, which ultimately helps build healthy bones and teeth and maintain bone density. It also has hormonal-like effects on mineral absorption, bone mineralization, and secretion. But like most other vitamins, this one offers plenty of other benefits. Most recently The Globe and Mail had a front page article that recited recent medical research, “Vitamin D Casts Cancer Prevention in New Light”. It goes on to say that for decades, researchers have puzzled over why rich northern countries have cancer rates many times higher than those in developing countries – and had laid the blame on dangerous pollutants spewed out be industry. But research into vitamin D is refuting this belief and is now pointing the finger towards a vitamin deficiency known to be less acute or even non-existent in poor nations. Those trying to brand contaminants as the key factor behind cancer in the West are “looking for a bogeyman that doesn’t exist,” argues Reinhold Vieth, professor at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s top vitamin D experts. Instead, he says, the critical factor “is more likely a lack of vitamin D.” But perhaps the biggest bombshell about vitamin D's effects is about to go off. In June, U.S. researchers will announce the first direct link between cancer prevention and the sunshine vitamin. Their results are nothing short of astounding. A four-year clinical trial involving 1,200 women found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn't take it, a drop so large — twice the impact on cancer attributed to smoking — it almost looks like a typographical error. What’s more, researchers are linking low vitamin D status to a host of other serious ailments, including multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, influenza, depression, osteoporosis and bone fractures among the elderly. |
||||||||
Other ResearchThe Institute of Medicine brought experts together recently to explore the question of whether the recommended daily allowance, of vitamin D has been set too low. The impetus for the occasion was the mounting evidence for this vitamin's role in preventing common cancers, autoimmune diseases, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Furthermore, studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is common in the U.S. Because the typical symptoms are aching bones and muscle discomfort, vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, according to Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, of the Boston University School of Medicine. Research with mice at Pennsylvania State University has demonstrated a connection between vitamin D deficiency and two bowel diseases that occur in one out of every 1,000 people in North America and Europe. Margherita T. Cantorna, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutrition and director of the research project, says, "Our experiments show that vitamin D deficiency worsens the symptoms of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Treatment with vitamin D for as little as 2 weeks lessens the symptoms of these inflammatory bowel diseases in mice."
"Vitamin D deficiency is more common in people who have inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, the anti-inflammatory drugs often used to treat IBD can cause bone loss as a side effect," Dr. Cantorna says. "Vitamin D taken in combination with these drugs may be able to reduce the effective dose of anti-inflammatory needed to treat the disease and decrease bone loss as well as treat the vitamin deficiency." |
|||||||||
| Top | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Why the Deficiencies? | |||||||||
|
Vitamin D levels in Canada are also being compromised by a lifestyle change. One survey published in 2001 estimated office and homebound Canadians and Americans spend 93 per cent of waking time in buildings or cars, both of which block ultraviolet light. Unlike previous generations that farmed or otherwise worked outside, most people now spend little time outdoors. Consequently, by mid-winter most Canadians have depleted vitamin D status. "We're all a bit abnormal in terms of our vitamin D," said Dr. Vieth, who has tested scores of Canadians, something done with a simple blood test. Canadians have drawn the short straw on the world's latitude lottery: From October to March, sunlight is too feeble for vitamin D production. During this time, our bodies draw down stores built by summer sunshine, and whatever is acquired from supplements or diet. To achieve the vitamin D doses used for cancer prevention through foods, people would need to drink about three litres of milk a day, which is unrealistic. If health authorities accept the new research, they would have to order a substantial increase in food fortification or supplement-taking to affect disease trends. As it is, the 400 IU dosage included in most multivitamins is too low to be an effective cancer fighter. Dr. Vieth said any new recommendations will also have to reflect the racial and cultural factors connected to vitamin D. Blacks, South Asians and women who wear veils are at far higher risks of vitamin D deficiencies than are whites. Those with very dark skin, whose ancestors originated in tropical, light-rich environments, have pigmentation that filters out more of the sunshine responsible for vitamin D; in northern latitudes, they need more sun exposure — often 10 times as much — to produce the same amount of the vitamin as whites. Dr. Vieth says it is urgent to provide information about the need for extra vitamin D in Canada's growing non-white population to avoid a future of high illness rates in this group. In the body, vitamin D is converted into a steroid hormone, and genes responding to it play a crucial role in fixing damaged cells and maintaining good cell health. "There is no better anti-cancer agent than activated vitamin D. I mean, it does everything you'd want," said Dr. Cannell of the Vitamin D Council. Some may view the sunshine-vitamin story as too good to be true, particularly given that the number of previous claims of vitamin cure-alls that subsequently flopped. "The floor of modern medicine is littered with the claims of vitamins that didn't turn out," Dr. Cannell allowed. But the big difference is that vitamin D, unlike other vitamins, is turned into a hormone, making it far more biologically active. As well, it is "operating independently in hundreds of tissues in your body," Dr. Cannell said. Referring to Linus Pauling, the famous U.S. advocate of vitamin C use as a cure for many illnesses, he said: "Basically, Linus Pauling was right, but he was off by one letter." WHAT TO DO Our bodies are remarkably efficient. During the summer months, even as little as 15 minutes in the sun (without sunblock!) in the early morning and late afternoon is enough for most light-skinned individuals to create an ample supply of vitamin D. Skin with more pigment (melanin) may require up to 40 minutes. When your skin is exposed to ultraviolet light, your body responds by manufacturing vitamin D. The best dietary sources of vitamin D are eggs, liver, fish liver oils, and oily fish such as salmon, sardines, trout, and tuna. But by far, the best source of vitamin D is through sunexposure. Take a top-quality multivitamin every day to fill in any nutritional gaps, preferably one that includes fish oil. In June 2007, the Canadian Cancer Society said that based on current research adults should consider increasing their daily dosage of vitamin D. The society said Canadians should now consume 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily during the fall and winter months, in consultation with a health-care provider. |
||||||||
| Top | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
"HORMONE ISSUES" |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
| Top | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
at ALTERNATIVE HORMONE SOLUTIONS? |
|||||||||
|
We are now offering telephone consultations for those who live outside the Lower Mainland or to clients who do not have transportation to Vancouver. If you know anyone who may be interested please have them call our office at 604.738.3999 |
|||||||||
| Top | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| Top | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Contact Us |
|||||||||
|
|
WEST VANCOUVER CLINIC Suite #9 -636 Clyde Ave, West Vancouver, B.C. Phone: 604-922-3997 Fax: 604-926-3727
E-mail: info@alternativehormonesolutions.ca We’re on the Web... www.alternativehormonesolutions.ca |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Top | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
