Vitamin D: vital to your health

There is no shortage of advertisements for vitamins and nutritional supplements. Just try to eat dinner while watching the news and you’ll be bombarded with ads for Balance of Nature or Nature Made. The vitamin and supplement industry is worth $35.6 billion, and 77% of Americans take at least one supplement.

Vitamin D deficiency is widespread worldwide and affects nearly one billion people. In the 1930s, the decision to fortify milk with vitamin D was effective in eliminating rickets, a bone deficiency in children. However, digestive disorders such as malabsorption, celiac disease, and the aftermath of weight-loss surgeries are some of the reasons for the continued deficiency.

What is so important about vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that occurs naturally in some foods and has a significant impact on cell health. It reduces cell growth (which promotes cancer) and enhances cell differentiation (which puts cells in an anti-cancer state). This makes vitamin D one of the most powerful cancer inhibitors and explains why vitamin D deficiency is linked to colon, prostate, breast and ovarian cancer.

This supervitamin helps regulate calcium metabolism, which is necessary for bone development. But did you know that it is also involved in immune function? In addition to cancer, it helps prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, autoimmune diseases and some forms of dementia. Vitamin D helps fight inflammation in your body. It modulates the immune system by regulating cell signaling pathways through vitamin D receptors (VDRs) found in bone, muscle, kidney, skin and digestive tract.

Inflammation is a defense mechanism of our body against phenomena that it recognizes as foreign. However, as with any complex security system, error can occur. Inflammation helps our body fight bacteria, viruses and other toxins. However, if our immune response continues after the threat has passed, it can damage our healthy tissue, as is the case with autoimmune diseases. Interestingly, in countries where sun exposure leads to high levels of vitamin D in the population, autoimmune diseases are rare.

Effect of vitamin D on inflammatory bowel disease

Vitamin D inhibits the production of inflammatory mediators that are involved in the development of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. As discussed in a previous post, inflammation in the gut leads to increased permeability of the intestinal protective barrier. This can lead to what’s known as “leaky gut syndrome,” where harmful bacteria can leak into the bloodstream and travel to distant locations to cause tissue damage. Vitamin D can help maintain gut integrity by keeping inflammatory mediators at bay. Research shows that higher levels of vitamin D deficiency are found in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Vitamin D and cancer

Although the exact mechanism by which vitamin D may affect cancer outcomes is still unknown, recent evidence suggests that it may be involved in modulating your body’s inflammatory response. Markers of inflammation are associated with cancers, higher tumor grades, and increased mortality. Therefore, it seems reasonable that vitamin D3 supplementation would be a potential means of improving cancer outcomes.

In a study published in Clinical nutrition, researchers reviewed clinical trials in which cancer patients were given vitamin D3 supplementation along with chemotherapy or standard chemotherapy alone. They found that patients who took vitamin D supplements showed significant reductions in some of the inflammatory markers associated with cancer and precancerous lesions.

Vitamin D and depression

Vitamin D receptors are found in the central nervous system and play a role in brain function. The receptors are particularly prevalent in an area of ​​the brain involved in memory and emotions. Vitamin D deficiency can make it harder for your body to produce a neurochemical known as serotonin, which is involved in many human behaviors and mental disorders. In the older population who have co-existing cardiovascular disease, vitamin D deficiency is significantly associated with depression.

Low levels of vitamin D in pregnant patients are associated with an increased risk of depression. In one study, vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy was associated with reduced perinatal depression. In another study, patients with depression were divided into two treatment groups. One group was treated with antidepressants alone, the other with antidepressants and 1,500 units of vitamin D. Subjects in the group who had supplemental vitamin D had lower depression scores at the end of the trial than those who were treated with antidepressants alone. .

How to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D

The best way to get vitamin D naturally is through sun exposure. During exposure to sunlight, a substance in our skin called 7-dehydrocholesterol absorbs ultraviolet B radiation, which turns into the precursor of vitamin D3 and then into its active form. The very effective campaign to prevent skin cancer has contributed to the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. People who avoid the sun are three times more likely to have vitamin D deficiency than those who enjoy being outdoors on sunny days .

Jean Tang is a professor of dermatology at the Stanford School of Medicine. “There is a possibility that we are inadvertently putting some of our patients at risk for vitamin D deficiency because they avoid sunlight, put on sunscreen, stay in the shade,” said Tang, the lead researcher on the study, published in The Archives of Dermatology. Basal cell skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the United States, is usually not fatal. Therefore, it is important for patients to take care of their overall health. So going outside in the sun is a good idea. Just remember to take precautions, especially if you are prone to or have been diagnosed with skin cancer.

Ask your doctor to test your vitamin D level at your annual medical exam. If you are deficient, take the right amount of vitamin D—5,000 to 10,000 IU daily. Monitor your vitamin D status until you reach the optimal range. It can take six to 10 months to restore your vitamin D stores.

Some people may need higher doses long-term to maintain optimal levels due to differences in vitamin D receptors, older age, living in areas with less sunlight, skin pigment, and ethnic origin. Aging skin produces less vitamin D. The average 70-year-old makes only 25 percent of the vitamin D a 20-year-old does. Skin color also matters. People with dark skin produce less vitamin D. In populations where traditional clothing is worn to limit skin exposure (some Muslim groups and Orthodox Jews), there is a higher incidence of vitamin D deficiency.

Finally, try including vitamin D-rich foods in your diet. These include:

• Fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil.
• Boiled wild salmon.
• Boiled mackerel.
• Sardines.
• eggs.
• Canned tuna.
• Mushrooms (wild ones are best)

References