Dr. Mercola's Comments:
I've been writing a lot about vitamin D lately, and that's because I
want it to sink in with each and every one of you reading this just how
important it is for your health. I even recorded a one-hour vitamin D
lecture on the topic to help clear up any confusion.
At this time there are at least 36 organ tissues in your body whose
cells respond biologically to vitamin D, including bone marrow, breast,
colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and uterine
tissues.
One of these organs is also your heart, for which vitamin D is
essential.
There are a number of physiological mechanisms triggered by vitamin D
production through sunlight exposure that act to fight heart disease, such
as:
. An increase in your body's natural anti-inflammatory cytokines
. The suppression of vascular calcification
. The inhibition of vascular smooth muscle growth
And according to Dr. James H. O'Keefe, director of preventive
cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City and the lead
author of the above study:
"There are a whole array of studies linking increased cardiovascular
risk with vitamin D deficiency. It is associated with major risk factors
such as high blood pressure, diabetes and stiffening of the left ventricle
of the heart and blood vessels. Inflammation is really important for heart
disease, and people with vitamin D deficiency have increased inflammation."
Aside from heart disease, vitamin D influences up to 3,000 of the
30,000 genes in your body, helping to prevent diseases ranging from cancer
to the flu.
Unfortunately, it's thought that over 95 percent of U.S. senior
citizens and African Americans may be deficient, along with 85 percent of
the American public.
How Much Should You Get (Hint: Don't Listen to the RDA)?
I recently did an expert interview and interviewed one of the top
vitamin D experts in the world, Robert Heaney, MD. He has been studying
vitamin D for over five decades and was one of the consultants that served
on the board in 1997 that actually made the recommendations for our current
vitamin D RDAs.
I won't be posting his interview till the spring but he told me that
over 98% of what is known about vitamin D was learned since 1997. This was
largely because prior to that time there was no simple blood measurement to
detect vitamin D levels.
Be that as it may, the current RDA for vitamin D developed by the Food
and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies
is miserably insufficient as it is only:
. 200 IU for people aged 14-50
. 400 IU for people aged 51-70
. 600 IU for people over 71
The American Academy of Pediatrics has even recently doubled its
recommendation for vitamin D in children to 400 IU a day, and that is also
completely inadequate.
There's simply no way to reap any benefit whatsoever from these
abysmally low amounts.
Consider this -- in the summertime when you put on your bathing suit
and sunbathe, your body produces about 20,000 IUs of vitamin D!
You might wonder how long you need to sunbathe, well the answer is
that it depends and is highly variable. The time you need to generate
maximum vitamin D is how long it takes for your skin to turn the lightest
pink when you are outdoors. This is called the MED or minimal erythemal
dose. For some people it could be a few minutes while for others it may
actually be hours.
Once you have this exposure it makes absolutely NO SENSE to continue
to expose your skin to the sun as you will only increase your risk of
premature skin aging, wrinkling and skin cancer.
During the winter or times when you have no or very limited exposure
to sunshine, you can make up for the lack of sunlight by using a safe
tanning bed or taking a high-quality natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)
supplement.
How much should you take? 4,000-5,000 units per day is appropriate for
most adults. If you are very heavy you may need to double that dose, and for
children the dose can be half that.
Important Information About Vitamin D Testing
It's possible to overdose on vitamin D when you take it in supplement
form. Because of this it's very important that you monitor your vitamin D
levels by blood testing to make sure your levels are therapeutic and not
toxic.
I advocate getting your vitamin D levels tested regularly, but as I
reported recently, you now need to beware of where you're getting your test
done. For an in-depth explanation of what you MUST know before you get
tested, please read my updated article Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin
D Deficiency.
Again, I also strongly suggest that you set aside 60 minutes to watch
my recent vitamin D lecture. I honestly believe that this is one of the MOST
important videos I have ever created.
--
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