Vitamin D, the powerful “sunshine” nutrient, is now known for many benefits including protection from multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases. Although Vitamin D deficiency had been noted more than a hundred years ago, it is only recent research that has unearthed the wide-ranging impact of D deficiency.
So get tested now to find if you have a D deficiency!
As you know, Dr Jamieson is an advocate of light. Although we have to be careful not to get burnt, because of both aging and skin cancer, sun has had too hard a rap in recent years! Besides sunlight, there are natural food sources as well as dietary supplements -see below.
A BIT OF HISTORY…..
As the Industrial Revolution moved families from farms to factories, pioneering doctors noticed that the serious bone deformities of childhood rickets were epidemic in polluted European cities but not in rural areas.
They treated the disease with sunlight but were ignored by the medical community until X-rays proved the case in the 1920s. The deforming disease Rickets disappeared. Recently, the workings of Vitamin D -activated in the kidneys and critical for metabolizing calcium to build and maintain bones- had been unraveled.
Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered that Vitamin D -technically not a nutrient at all but a hormone –regulates about 2,000 genes in different ways.
It plays a role in cell growth and death, and so has been linked to numerous cancers. It affects blood vessels, connecting it to high blood pressure and heart attacks. Its involvement with inflammation and the immune system brings an association with allergies and asthma, infections such as influenza and tuberculosis, and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.
In his recent book, The Vitamin D Solution, physician and researcher Michael F. Holick cites studies finding that the incidence of many of these conditions – hypertension, MS, nine kinds of cancer – is greater the farther you live from the equator.
-Vitamin D is an immune system regulator.
-It may be an important way to arm the immune system against the common cold.
-It may reduce the risk of developing MS. MS is much less common the nearer you get to the tropics.
-It may have a key role in helping the brain to keep working in old age.
-It is probably linked to maintaining a healthy body weight.It can reduce the severity and frequency of asthma symptoms
-It has been shown to reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women.
-People with adequate levels of D have a lower risk of developing cancer, compared to people with lower levels.
Natural sources of D:
-Sunlight
-Fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, tuna, mackerel, catfish and eel.
-Eggs
-Beef liver
-Cod liver oil
-Mushrooms
Make an appointment with our family doctors to get your vit D levels measured. Call Holistic Central at 2523-8044