Originally posted by Dr. Davis on 2017-06-13
on the Wheat Belly Blog,
sourced from and currently found at: Infinite Health Blog.
PCM forum Index
of WB Blog articles.
Although the video is freely available on YouTube,
mirroring it here makes it available to site searches,
and provides a means for IC members to discuss it.
How important is Vitamin D?
FACT: A vitamin D deficiency may result in
as much as a 50 percent increased potential for diabetes.
FACT: A vitamin D deficiency puts you at a
higher risk for cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and melanoma.
VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY is a widespread
phenomenon with significant implications for health. In modern society
vitamin D deficiency is the rule, rather than the exception. While we
can blame more severe cases of deficiency on grains, it also commonly
occurs independent of grain consumption. The restoration of vitamin D
levels is second only to grain elimination when considering the most
powerful healthy lifestyle strategies.
Modern lifestyles have compromised our
vitamin D status. How? Over the centuries we began inhabiting cold
climates depriving ourselves of year-round sunlight, wearing clothes that
cover our skin, and increasing out time spent indoors. This is crucial
since exposure to sunlight is necessary to activate the vitamin D
in our skin. We have also adopted an aversion to organ consumption.
Many organ meats contain high levels vitamin D, especially liver.
Let’s not forget aging, which is associated
with a progressive loss of the ability to activate vitamin D in the
skin. An interesting fact is that, after age 40, the majority of us
experience decreased ability to activate sufficient amounts of
vitamin D in our skin from the exposure to sunlight. Living in the
tropics is no guarantee of adequate vitamin D status. A recent
assessment of elderly males living in a tropical climate revealed that
66.7 percent were vitamin D deficient.
Vitamin D deficiency allows a number of abnormal
health phenomena to occur:
- Greater inflammation, as is reflected in higher C-reactive protein levels,
tumor necrosis factor, and others
- Higher blood sugar and resistance to insulin (conditions that lead to diabetes)
- Injury to pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin
- Weight gain
- Greater risk for osteoporosis and fractures
- Periodontal disease
- Higher risk for cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and melanoma
- Higher risk for heart attack, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality
- Preeclampsia and eclampsia during pregnancy
- Depression and seasonal affective disorder
- Autoimmune/inflammatory diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus
erythematosus, multiple sclerosis)
For many of these, the association between lower
levels of vitamin D and disease is powerful. For example, a
vitamin D deficiency may result in as much as a 50 percent
increased potential for diabetes. Accordingly, all of the above phenomena
are improved or reversed with the restoration of vitamin D to healthy
levels, including the facilitation of weight loss.
Please note that achieving an ideal level of
vitamin D is key— not too low, but also not too high. The ideal level
of vitamin D, measured as 25-hydroxy remains open to debate. However,
applying epidemiological observations to the above diseases, combined
with studies that demonstrate vitamin D’s relationship to minimizing
unhealthy levels of parathyroid hormone that can impair bone health,
suggest that 60 to 70 ng/ml is the ideal range.
Too much vitamin D is also not a good idea. Besides
provoking abnormal calcium deposition in tissues, vitamin D levels that
exceed 100 mg/dl are associated with increased potential for the
abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation.
The majority of people require vitamin D
doses of 4,000 to 8,000 international units (IU) taken in an oil-based
gelcap form to achieve the target value of 60 to 70ng/ml.
Vitamin D should be taken as D3, or cholecalciferol,
which is the form that naturally occurs in the human body and is widely
available as a nutritional supplement. You do not want the form found in
mushrooms (D2 or ergocalciferol), which is also the form in prescription
vitamin D. In this instance, the nutritional supplement form is
superior to the prescription form.
Ideally, your vitamin D level should be reassessed
every 6 to 12 months to maintain desired levels, as your needs may change
over time. And, if you have an uncooperative or uninformed doctor, you can do
it yourself, as discussed in the video above.
Transcript:
Let’s talk about DIY vitamin D: getting
vitamin D right, and restored properly, all on your own. These are the
sorts of conversations, by the way, that I talk about a lot in my new book
Undoctored — Why Health Care Has Failed You And How You Can Become
Smarter Than Your Doctor. And I really mean that. You can become
more knowledgeable, more capable, in matters of health, because we
have a sad situation in health care where the doctors and hospitals
are largely built on profit; on generating revenues, and the doctor’s
very good at dispensing medications, and getting you into the hospital for
revenue-generating procedures, but he’s lousy at giving you information
tools for health.
So don’t be surprised if your doctor knows
almost nothing about vitamin D, or brushes it off; dismisses it: says “It’s stupid.” It is not. It’s so important to
get your vitamin D exactly right because it plays such a big role in
so many facets of health; literally hundreds of health conditions, and
every organ of the body. So getting it right is critical. I count
vitamin D second only to wheat and grain elimination in the menu of
strategies in the Undoctored Wild-Naked-Unwashed list of
strategies; it’s so powerful.
Ideally, you start with a blood level of vitamin D,
before you start taking vitamin D, and that’s because it will give
you an indication of what your dose should be. You don’t have to have a
starting level, but it does help, ideally. And the test you want is a
25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level; very easy to get. And the level will
give you an indication of how much you need.
Let’s say your starting level is 20 (ng/mL),
which is moderate deficiency, and you’re an average-sized person.
A dose of 6000 to 8000 IU (International Units) oil based gel cap
vitamin D (our preferred form, not tablets, and preferably not drops
because those are very erratically absorbed) but 6000-8000 generally gets
you to our target blood vitamin D level, which is 60 to 70 nanograms
per milliliter — the level at which ideal health from vitamin D can emerge.
What if your level is 5 — severe, profound deficiency.
You might need a little more: 10,000 to even 12,000 units is a typical
dose required to get your level up to 60-70. What if your starting
level is 47? Oh, you might only need 3000 units, or 2000, and
it’s easy to get to 60 or 70. That starting level indicates
to you how much you’re going to need.
Once you start your vitamin D, take your dose. If you
don’t have a starting blood vitamin D level, you can just pick a
dose: 6000 units is the most commonly chosen dose, because that’s
about the average need. Individual needs vary widely, but the average need is
around 5000 to 6000. Let’s just say you start 6000. You’re going
to want a blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D down the road, but no
sooner than three months, okay? No sooner than three months, because it takes
that long for the blood level to stop rising and plateau, or level off to a
steady state, we say. You can even wait six months; that’s okay. And
once again, get that blood level of vitamin D. If it’s not at
60-70, adjust your dose.
So if it’s 43, increase your dose. If you were
taking 6000 for only 43, maybe add another 4000, make a 10,000 a day dose.
Or if your level is 92 — doctors all say
“oh, stop the vitamin D” — no don’t do that. Just
cut the dose back. If 6000 got you to 93, cut it down to 3000 units —
you have a more modest need for vitamin D. It’s very rational.
Now when you change the dose (either increase the dose
or decrease the dose) once again, wait three months before you check a blood
level again, because it takes that long to, once again, plateau. It also helps
to get a blood level vitamin D every six months, ideally, or at least
once a year. And try to be aware of what time of year you got it, because some
people do activate vitamin D in the skin from sun. So if you’re
staying at the same dose, let’s say 8000 units a day, and your blood
level is a nice comfortable 63 in the winter time, but in the summer time
goes to 93, you retain some of the capacity to activate vitamin D
in the skin. And you (most of us don’t have to do this by the way, but
some people do) you’ll have to decrease your dose, from 8000 maybe to
5000, in the summer time.
Recall that most of us lose the capacity to activate
vitamin D in the skin over about age 40 or so. So most of us
don’t have to do this. But if you’re among the few who do show
seasonal fluctuation, you may have to adjust the dose somewhat.
Now, it’s also worth knowing that about two years
or longer into your vitamin D restoration experience, most people
experience reduced need. So you’ll know this because you were taking
the same dose, let’s say 6000 — your last level was 63, very good.
Six months, a year later, it’s 71; still good, right? Another
year later it’s 92. There’s nothing wrong; it just means your
body has built up its stores. You can reduce the dose, say, from 6000 maybe to
4000, and then once again, another level down the road six months or so;
very easy.
Now to get your own blood vitamin D level — for
one, even if the doctor is uncooperative, sometimes he or she will still order
you the tests. But you have to specify a 25-hydroxy vitamin D ,because
they’ll often order the wrong test, like a 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D,
which does not indicate your vitamin D status (it’s a kidney test, in
effect, so you want the 25-hydroxy vitamin D), it’s very easy.
If the doctor won’t comply, and you can’t
find a health care practitioner to order for you, it’s very easy to get
on your own. You can get a ZRT test kit, and you do your own finger stick in
your own living room or kitchen; very easy — get your results back in couple
of weeks, and reasonably priced. The {former}
Vitamin D Council {at one time made}
makes a test kit available to you.
Just google “Vitamin D Council”. And there are many direct
consumer lab testing services, such as EverlyWell and Direct Labs, that will direct you to a
laboratory in your neighborhood. Get the blood drawn. Get the results back,
and it’s very easy. You’ll have to pay for it yourself, though
you can submit it to your health insurance company if you want that hassle.
You can do that, and sometimes you get your money refunded.
Getting vitamin D is easy, and it’s so
critical for your health. It’s one of those things you want to get
just right, because the price of not getting it just right can be osteoporosis,
hip fractures, heart disease, higher blood sugar, mental/emotional issues,
more seasonal affective disorder, greater risk for dementia, greater heart
disease risk, greater potential for inflammation, autoimmune diseases; so
getting your vitamin D is crucial. It’s important. It’s
a crucial part of your Undoctored Wild-Naked-Unwashed strategy
Tags: 25OH-D3,D3,PCM,Vitamin,WBB