Researchers from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute are set to conduct a world-first trial into the link between prenatal vitamin D levels and schizophrenia prevalence.

Funded by the NHMRC and led by QBI’s Dr Darryl Eyles, a team of four researchers will study blood spots taken from newborn babies who have gone on to develop schizophrenia in early adulthood.

“Undeniably, low maternal vitamin D affects the way the brain develops,” Dr Eyles said.

“Over the past four years we’ve been able to show that low vitamin D intake in animals during pregnancy results in offspring with brain abnormalities similar to those seen in patients with schizophrenia.”

The next step of the research process involves testing the hypothesis on human samples.

By analysing the blood spots of newborns the team will have a good indication of the baby’s vitamin D status at the time of birth.

This type of study is possible thanks to a biobank located at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen where the Danish authorities have not only stored newborn blood spots since 1981, but kept ongoing medical records which accompany each sample.

“This is a true test of the hypothesis,” Dr Eyles said.

“The Danes are only able to give us 1.6 microlitres of plasma so we’ve had to come up with a method of determining the vitamin D levels in that tiny amount of blood.

“In collaboration with Alun Jones at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, we’ve developed a way to easily measure low levels of vitamin D using mass spectrometry.”

It is expected that the team will begin analyzing 2000 Danish blood spots (1000 cases and 1000 matched controls) in September.

“If we establish the link in this huge patient cohort, we will be able to show that having low maternal vitamin D does not necessarily mean a child is going to develop schizophrenia but, if a child has a particularly vulnerable genome, the low maternal vitamin D may be the environmental trigger,” Dr Eyles said.

“It’s the combination of gene and environment which triggers the disease.”

Schizophrenia affects approximately one percent of the world’s population and is characterised by disruptions in language, thought, perception, social activity, and volition.

UQ has conducted research in this area since 2001 when Professor John McGrath, also of the QBI, suggested a lack of sunlight exposure on pregnant women could account for the higher incidence of schizophrenia during winter months and in colder climates.

Source: UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute

So there’s this new EPA sun safety program in Washington State. When you read the article, it’s clear that there’s still a lot of confusion surrounding the topic of safe sun exposure and vitamin D.

Although I completely agree that people need to BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO GET A SUNBURN, the outreach specialist for this program says “he echoes scientists who say that about 10 minutes of sun a day on your arms and legs in the summer will give you plenty of vitamin D.” This is just baloney. At our clinic in the middle of summer most people are testing abnormally low with regard to vitamin D. Mind you, these are folks who are getting plenty of time outside in the mid-day summer sun. What’s a possible explanation for this phenomena? We stand by our belief that we just don’t get the UVB rays that we need at our latitude to generate adequet vitamin D levels, but we do get ample damaging UVA rays - hence the high incidence of melanoma.

So, two big tips for today:

1. Check your vitamin D levels and treat low vitamin D levels adequetly.

2. Always avoid getting a sunburn!

Later,
Darcy

Here’s a case report that appeared as “Lesson of the Week” in the British Medical Journal.

A 53 year old woman of Pakistani origin who had been treated for breast cancer went to her doctors regularly over the next two years with severe widespread muscuIo skeletal pain. When it was misdiagnosed as metastatic bone disease, she was put on the usual drugs for that condition. Her pains worsened, but prior to going on a planned combination chemotherapy treatment, she went for a six-week summer trip to visit her family in Pakistan. On her return to the U.K., her symptoms had completely resolved. Chemotherapy was delayed, and a whole body CT scan showed no evidence of metastasis. Symptoms showed up again after another British winter. Eventually, her severe vitamin D deficiency was recognized and treated appropriately.

You can read more details about this important lesson here.

Source: redorbit

Just loved writing this headline

Testing for vitamin D deficiency skyrockets

Testing for vitamin D levels, once uncommon, has skyrocketed as medical studies raise awareness about vitamin D deficiencies, according to three of the USA’s largest medical diagnostic labs. Physicians agree that they’re increasingly using the blood test to find out whether their patients are low on the vital vitamin.

Most of us get tired of the gray and rainy weather we’re subject to for so much of the year here in the Pacific Northwest, but did you know it could make you fat?

Scientists are finding that people who are overweight have lower levels of vitamin D, which is created when skin is exposed to sunlight.

The study found that low levels of the vitamin in blood interfered with the function of a hormone called leptin, which tells the brain when the stomach is full.

Read more why lack of vitamin D makes you fat

This may just help explain my mouth full of childhood cavities…how about YOU?

Vitamin D during pregnancy may impact baby’s teeth

If that headline doesn’t get your attention I’m guessing nothing will……

New research shows that having low vitamin D levels leads to an increase risk of death.

OMG - This new 2008 paper is fantastic!

Expert Opinion Paper on Vitamin D Deficiency
Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency is a new paper by four vitamin D experts.
JJ Cannell†, BW Hollis, M Zasloff & RP Heaney

A new study has come out about kids and vitamin D deficiency that will soon be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Here’s the headline from this important research:

Raising current vitamin D levels from 200 International Units (IU) to 2,000 IU could boost bone health amongst children and have long-term health benefits, says new research.

Now that is exciting stuff!!

New research shows a connection between low vitamin D and back pain in older women.

Here’s a quote from the study:

“Given that low vitamin D status is fairly prevalent in older adults and that there are significant functional consequences to untreated chronic pain, these findings argue strongly for querying adults about their pain and potentially screening older women with significant back pain for vitamin D deficiency,” Dr. Gregory E. Hicks of the University of Delaware in Newark and his colleagues write.

There’s more information coming out with regard to vitamin D being connected to various pain problems. There was a recent pilot study completed at a Multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation center. The study was call - Prevalence and Clinical Correlates of Vitamin D Inadequacy among Patients with Chronic Pain

Here’s the conclusion of that study:

Conclusion: The prevalence and clinical correlates identified in this pilot study provide the basis for the assertion that vitamin D inadequacy may represent an under-recognized source of nociception [feeling pain] and impaired neuromuscular functioning among patients with chronic pain.

How about you? Have you noticed any reduction in pain by taking vitamin D?