I love it when I get comments and feedback on the blog! Here’s what one reader recently sent me:

_______________________________________________________________

I agree, 1000 IU/day is not enough. I have many subfertile women come to me, I teach them to chart their cycles and work with an OB/GYN with diet and lifestyle plus Vit. D. Since we added in the Vit. D a year ago, we have seen all women return to fertility who were previously infertile, usually within a short 3-6 weeks. They also follow our diet and lifestyle. We had been using diet and lifestyle for the past three years with good results, but none compared to adding in the Vit. D. Most need several thousand a day of Vit. D. I have one woman who came to me last February, who has been on 12,000/day since February and her last 25(OH)D was in the 30’s. Yes, she is overweight, which contributes significantly. She conceived for the first time in 3 years on the Vit. D, but miscarried. Her level is still too low.
Another woman had no cycles for three years: She went doctor to doctor, but no answers other than “stress”! She is not an anxious person, but said she was going to become one if one more doctor told her it was stress. In May she started on the vitamin D plus daily sunshine exposure, and 3 weeks later her cycles returned. They are still very fertile and regular(we know by the charting– I use the Billings Ovulation Mehtod which gives an accurate hormonal profile), she is single and not trying to conceive, she was only trying to restore herself to health.
_______________________________________________________________
If you’d ever like to comment on a blog post please go for it! I’m always curious to hear from others about their doses, symptoms, blood levels, etc.

Colorectal Cancer Patients on Chemotherapy Lack Enough Vitamin D:

Patients receiving chemotherapy for colorectal cancer are likely to have severe vitamin D deficiency and may need high-dose vitamin D supplements to bring their levels up to normal, according to a study published online October 2 in the International Journal of Colorectal Disease. (read the whole article)

by the way, I love this quote from the above study!
Dr. Fakih believes chemotherapy patients should have their vitamin D levels regularly tested—a practice that is not common in the United States. “The reason we test them is that there really is not a whole lot to lose here,” he says. “Replacing vitamin D in patients with vitamin D deficiency may also have positive effects on bone health, as well as on the cardiovascular and immune systems.”

This is very cool! More allies in the battle to spread the word about this epidemic. Two brothers (ages 17 and 23) with a history of being vitamin D deficient, made an education film about vitamin D deficiency. Here’s a news story about them in USA Today. This is perfect. These guys are young and have the ability to connect with an entire generation of kids low in vitamin D. They also appear to be social media savvy which should certainly help. I’d like to also see them tap into youtube to help market their free film.

Here’s a quote from their site:
“Vitamin D For Me is your one-stop online Vitamin D guide.
From educational films, to interactive lesson plans, we strive to increase awareness about Vitamin D deficiency: a prevalent, preventable condition. Have fun, and remember to spread the knowledge!”

Some of the dosage recommendation stuff discussed in the film and how to correct deficiency I have to take issue with. At our clinic and after running thousands of vitamin D blood tests we’ve yet to see 1,000 IU’s take anyone from low into normal ranges. That being said, from a public awareness standpoint, especially in terms of reaching a younger generation, the film is outstanding!

Great job guys!

There’s a fantastic new report about vitamin D deficiency that I heard about from Dr. Cannell. This report written by Oliver Gillie focuses on an entire countries low vitamin D crisis - Scotland. It’s chalk full of some really good information. Check it out (it’s 95 pages long and takes a little while to open after you click on it, but it’s well worth the wait) Scotland’s Health Deficit: an Explanation and a Plan.

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism October 2008

New research by scientists (Dr. Stefan Pilz and his team) at the University of Heidelberg in Germany shows that vitamin D deficiency, which is known to affect the ability of the heart to contract, is associated with heart problems, sudden cardiac death, and heart failure.

This study was an almost 8 year study of 3,299 patients.

The bottom line:

Having severe vitamin D deficiency resulted in a 3 fold increase in the risk of dying from heart failure and a five fold increase risk of sudden cardiac death.

“These data strongly indicate that the maintenance of an optimal vitamin D status may be a promising approach for the prevention and/or therapy of (heart) diseases, warranting confirmation in interventional trials with vitamin D supplementation,” Pilz said in the study.

WOW!!!! This is a very exciting study that could really help spread the word about the vitamin D epidemic!

Here are a few headlines for you from this past weekend:

UCR researcher: Humans need more vitamin D
All cancer cells, including breast cancer, have receptors. With hormone D attached to a cancer cell, it can thwart the cell’s ability to grow and multiply, thus causing it to die, Norman said.

Low vitamin D linked with high blood pressure
Lower blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a protein that provides an acquire measure of vitamin D in the blood, are independently associated with an increased risk of developing high blood pressure, according to findings published in Hypertension.

Statement about vitamin D and breast cancer prevention
“The recent Journal of the National Cancer Institute published study,
only used 400 IU of vitamin D - an amount we know has no affect on vitamin D
blood levels. This research is deceiving. In contrast, the Creighton
University study (released in 2007) used 1,100 IU of vitamin D. People need
vitamin D blood levels around 40-60 ng/ml to achieve optimal anti-cancer
benefit, and we know that 400 IU won’t get you there - in fact, it is barely
enough to prevent rickets. In the winter in Canada, every adult needs about
4,000 to 5,000 IU daily. Vitamin D is called “The Sunshine Vitamin” because
sun or UVB exposure to the skin is by far the most abundant source. Vitamin D
deficiency is a growing concern in Canada, especially during the darker winter
months. Get your levels checked.”

Here are some of the things I wonder about with regard to vitamin D….

1. How many medical conditions will it be shown to help (I’m guessing it will be a very long list).

2. How many medical studies will have to be re-done once the medical community realizes the inaccuracy of all of the studies since they did not account for vitamin D deficiency in the population(s) being studied.

3. What professional athlete will be the first to start spreading the word about this problem? There are good indications that athletic performance can be improved with proper vitamin D supplementation. On this topic, here’s a quote from Dr. Cannell “Can you imagine what will happen in professional sports when athletes realize that vitamin D improves their speed, strength, timing and quickness?”

4. How many people out there are sore, sick and otherwise unhealthy because of undiagnosed vitamin D deficiency? (I tremble at the thought)

5. Should I get bumper stickers and t-shirts to help spread the word about vitamin D deficiency?

How about you? What do you wonder about this intriguing topic?

Wow. Here’s a breast cancer vitamin D study that sounds like a complete waste of time.

They gave women a whopping (cough) 400 IU’s of vitamin D to see if it lessened their chances of breast cancer and determined that it did not. REALLY?? How shocking. Come on 400 IU’s is nothing, you may as well fill the Pacific Ocean with an eye dropper. To be fair to the scientists involved, there’s been a lot of new information since the start of the study that shows a need for much higher vitamin D doses in order to make an impact on deficient blood levels.

Dr. Larry Norton, a breast cancer specialist had this to say about the study:
“The supplementation wasn’t adequate to raise blood levels enough in susceptible individuals to have a biological impact.”

Guys, If I had cancer of any type I would definitely have my doctor check my vitamin D and I would make sure that it was in the mid-normal range asap. As always, be sure to visit the Vitamin D Learning Center for information about testing and treating your vitamin D properly.

Disclaimer
VitaminDblog.com is provided for informational purposes only. No doctor/patient relationship is established by your use of this site. No diagnosis or treatment is being provided. No guarantees or warranties are made regarding any of the information contained within this web site. This web site is not intended to offer specific medical advice to anyone. The information provided is not medical advice, not intended as medical advice, and should not be used as medical advice. Under no circumstances should you change your treatment based on the information provided here without the knowledge of you personal physician.

External Links
VitaminDblog.com contains many links to external sites. VitaminDblog.com is not responsible for the content of sites linked to. Links provided to external sites, reading material, or products and services should not be considered an endorsement by VitaminDblog.com.

Thankfully I’m on the mailing list for the Vitamin D Council. I recieved an email from Dr Cannell yesterday that I thought you’d all appreciate. Dr Cannell is really good about letting people share his info - so here it is:

_____________________________________________________________________

Today, sixteen well-known experts, including professors Walter Willett and Ed Giovannucci of Harvard, Dr. John Hathcock of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, and Professor Reinhold Vieth of the University of Toronto, published an unprecedented warning about the ingestion of cod liver oil and resultant vitamin A toxicity.

Cod Liver Oil, Vitamin A Toxicity, Frequent Respiratory Infections, and the Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic

John J. Cannell, MD; Reinhold Vieth, MS, PhD; Walter Willett, MD, DrPH; Michael Zasloff, MD, PhD; John N. Hathcock, MSc, PhD; John H. White, PhD; Sherry A. Tanumihardjo, MSc, PhD; D. Enette Larson-Meyer, PhD; Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, MD, MPH; Christel J. Lamberg-Allardt, PhD; Joan M. Lappe, PhD, RN; Anthony W. Norman, PhD; Armin Zittermann, PhD; Susan J. Whiting, MSc, PhD; William B. Grant, PhD; Bruce W. Hollis, PhD; Edward Giovannucci, MD

Using the strongest language published to date, the group condemned the current (1997) Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) recommendations for vitamin D, stating “The 1997 FNB recommendations offend the most basic principles of pharmacology and toxicology, leading us to conclude that the current official guidelines and limitations for vitamin D intakes are scientifically indefensible.”

In addition to warning about the consumption of cod liver oil, the above experts recommended healthy children take 1,000 IU/day of vitamin D for every 25 pounds of body weight. In some cases this is more than ten times current recommendations for children by the government and professional organizations.

Finally, the group recommended that “children with chronic illness such as autism, diabetes, and/or frequent infections” may need to take even more vitamin D, “doses adequate to maintain their 25-hydroxy vitamin D in the mid normal of the reference range (65 ng/ml) - and should be so supplemented year around.” Less than one percent of American children currently have such levels.

I’m sorry I can’t send you this paper. Even though I wrote it, I had to pay to download it and agree not to reproduce it.

John Cannell, MD

_____________________________________________________________________

Here’s a few interesting VITAMIN D UPDATES.

TOPIC #1 COLDS AND FLU SEASON!

Cold and flu season reminder…GOOD VITAMIN D LEVELS HELP YOU FIGHT INFECTION! Watch Dr. Cannell’s video about this VERY IMPORTANT topic

Here’s more - how about a little historical information about Superflu and the deadly 1918 Spanish flu pandemic

TOPIC #2 PREGNANCY AND FERTILITY

Vitamin D could boost fertility
So a couple of weeks ago I posted an article about vitamin D helping sperm health. Now theres some preliminary research showing that it could help fertility in women as well. Trying to get pregnant? Might not be a bad idea for both of you to get your vitamin D levels optimized!

TOPIC #3 TANNING BED LAW

Guess the owners of tanning bed salons need to be careful about what they claim that their beds can do:

Tanning Bed Salon Hit With Lawsuit for Vitamin D Claims - under Texas state and federal law, tanning beds are approved only for cosmetic tanning, officials said.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, we’ve seen tanning bed usage increase people’s vitamin D levels.

As always I encourage you to visit the learning center on this blog for more information about vitamin D testing and treatment.