I'm still fraught with getting caught up after being away for two weeks, but here's something I can get out quickly which I saw pop up in my Google alerts a few days back.
Here's an article worth reading by William Faloon in Life Extension Magazine. Key excerpts:
For instance, a study published in June 2008 showed that men with low vitamin D levels suffer 2.42 times more heart attacks. Now look what this means in actual body counts. [...]
To put the number of lives saved in context, tens of millions of dollars are being spent to advertise that Lipitor® reduces heart attacks by 37%. This is certainly a decent number, but not when compared with how many lives could be saved by vitamin D. According to the latest study, men with the higher vitamin D levels had a 142% reduction in heart attacks. [...]
Vitamin D-deficient women, for example, have a 253% increased risk of colon cancer. [...]
A study published in January 2008 showed that women with the lowest level of vitamin D were at a 222% increased risk for developing breast cancer. [...]
Men with higher levels of vitamin D have a 52% reduced incidence of prostate cancer. [...]
During winter months in Canada, for instance, an estimated 97% of the population is vitamin D-deficient. [...]
In a study published in September 2008, blood indicators of vitamin D status were measured in 3,316 patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The subjects were followed for 7.75 years. For every small decrease in blood indicators of vitamin D status, there was a startling 86% increase in the number of fatal strokes. [...]
According to John Jacob Cannell, MD, founder of the non-profit Vitamin D Counsel: "Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing seventeen varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease."
Dr. William Davis also remarked on this article (with additional info). Here's the Carlson supplements I take, each gelcap being the size of a raindrop. Currently, I take three per day, 6,000 IU. A bottle of 120 of those babies, a 40-day supply, runs under $10. Under $10!
Let's put it another way. In terms of epidemiological correlation, you can reduce your risk of cancer 30% by stopping smoking if you smoke. But if you're vitamin D deficient, you can reduce your risk of cancer by 50% just getting your level above 30 (serum 25 (OH) D, ng/mL), and getting it above 60 virtually eliminates risk (in terms of associative correlation, i.e., epidemiological risk factors). Bottom line? If you have vitamin D levels below 30, you're at a higher risk of cancer than for a smoker with vitamin D levels above 30. More here, particularly the last two graphs.
You might also like
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Vitamin D and Disease Incidence Prevention
- Good News & Bad News: Vitamin D vs. Statins
- Vitamin D and All-Cause Mortality
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Vitamin D Deficiency and Type 1 Diabetes
- D
Please spread the word
You and Stephan had me convinced a month or so ago about the Vitamin D supplementation. I started and have my kids and wife supplementing. Especially in the great north east we need to have something as we just can't get enough sunshine. Thanks for the great post with all the important links included.
Absolutely fascinating! Thanks for sharing this.
Have been browsing on the internet, and found out that there is vit D2 & D3, apparently D3 is the one that is easily used by the body. I have a reaction to fish oil capsules and read that you can get allergy-free vit D3 (without fish oil and vit A) – has anyone had any experience or feedback on this. I have emailed an online natural remedy site and hopefully they will respond soon.
I've not heard anything about this. Perhaps it's one or more type of fish oil and not others? What's in the Carlson caps? I couldn't find specific info. Is there fish oil in it?
I googled non allergic Vit D3 and found this quote on someone's blog, they had a reaction to Vit D3 in fish oil and quoting from their blog : "I purchased vitamin D3 allergy caps. These are purified vitamin D without fish oil or vitamin A". And he had no bad response to it. He went onto extol the virtues of taking it and what health benefits he had experience. I bought Vit D 1000iu pills today from a local healthshop in the UK, but trying to find out if its different to the gel capsules in terms of content. I get a reflux reaction to fish oil caps and feel nauseous when I take them and the one's you recommend are capsules which I suspect may be from fish oil but I am not sure.
Natures Remedy wrote back and said their Vit D3 is made from sheeps wool not fish oil. After googling about that I discovered the dry pill form of Vit D3 is made from Lanolin from the wool taken off sheep, which is chemically processed into Vit D3. Apparently in the USA many Vit D supplements contain Vit D2 which is not as accessible to the body as Vit D3. It also mentioned that most oil forms of Vit D3 come from fish, so this would include Vit A. I think you need to be aware of how much Vita A you take. Any thoughts or feedback
You might try Carlson to see what theirs is.
http://www.carlsonlabs.com/
Normally, inflammation is the way the body responds to an injury or to the presence of disease agents, such as viruses or bacteria. During this reaction, many cells of the body’s defense system (called the immune system) rush to the injured area to wipe out the cause of the problem, clean up damaged cells and repair tissues that have been hurt. Once the “battle” is won, the inflammation normally goes away and the area becomes healthy again.
i get my vitamin D from http://www.vitaminD3world.com Tiny micro tablets that you dont even need to swallow-fantastic, and 400 in a bottle