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Vitamin D, A Gene-Regulating Super Nutrient 11-06-08
by: Byron J. Richards
Vitamin
D has long been known to assist healthy bones by helping to stimulate bone cells
to make new bone while enhancing the uptake of calcium into bones. Its role in
boosting immunity, hormone regulation, brain health, metabolism, diabetes
prevention, cancer prevention, and cardiovascular health are just now becoming
clear. The sunshine vitamin appears poised to claim its crown.
All your body organs and cells have receptors for vitamin D, meaning that
vitamin D communicates all around your body. Your cells use vitamin D to
directly regulate your genes, making it one of the most powerful compounds in
human health. In fact, one study with 2100 female twins showed that having
adequate vitamin D extends life by five years. This is because vitamin D
prevents excessive wear and tear to the telomers that are attached to the ends
of your chromosomes that enable cell division (determining potential cell
lifespan). This is truly a new era of nutritional science.
Vitamin D Basics
Vitamin D3 is produced in your skin when exposed to sunlight. Extra vitamin D
from prolonged sun exposure is converted to non-biologically active lumisterol,
which can also be converted back to D3 when sun exposure levels drop. Prolonged
sun exposure results in tanning (extra melanin synthesis), which is a natural
sunscreen (like clothing) and reduces the amount of vitamin D3 that is made in
the first place. There is no such thing as getting too much vitamin D3 from the
sun.
Vitamin D must be converted into its biologically active form (1,25(OH)2D)
before it goes to work. Your kidneys are the main organ that does this for your
body as a whole, but it is now recognized that many cells have the enzymes to
directly activate vitamin D. For example, cells lining your lungs and digestive
tract can activate vitamin D to help fight infection. The vitamin D receptors
around your body are capable of binding both the active and inactive forms of
vitamin D. Cells that activate vitamin D can also inactivate it, forming a
convenient system of self-regulation based on a variety of needs.
Once vitamin D is active in cells it has one made job, activating genes. In
other words, the basic role of vitamin D in your body is to help regulate its
functions at the level of gene transcription. Because so many different tissues
and types of cells use vitamin D, it can be assumed that this is a fundamental
need for survival.
Your body places a high value on vitamin D and has made provisions to store it
in your liver and the lining of your digestive tract. This savings account of
vitamin D can be called into action during times of need, such as the long
winter months. It is interesting that deficiencies of vitamin D in your liver or
digestive tract are associated with the poor health of both organ systems.
When your skin makes vitamin D then the vitamin D turns on antioxidants within
your skin to deactivate the free radicals coming from the sun's UV radiation.
This is a natural defense mechanism (a built in sunscreen). The new science
shows that only 9% of the population has vitamin D receptors that don't do a
good job of this. It is ridiculous to make 100% of the population think that
routine sun exposure is a major health risk when such advice applies mostly to a
small group.
How Much Supplemental Vitamin D Do You Need?
It is widely recognized that vitamin D is low in many Americans. Government
levels for vitamin D dietary intake are 400 IU to 600 IU per day and may be
lacking based on a significant body of vitamin D science. Many vitamin D
researchers believe that 2000 IU are needed on a daily basis, especially in the
winter months in the U.S.
Vitamin D intake of 2000 IU has been safely tested in children ages 10-17. In
fact, only the dose of 2000 IU was able to bring the common vitamin D deficiency
in children up to normal levels.
In a study of overweight African-American children it was found that 57% who
were overweight lacked vitamin D, compared to 40% of the control group. However,
1 month of vitamin D intake at 400 IU per day failed to bring vitamin D levels
into normal range, indicating that current government recommendations are
inadequate.
A randomized study of 180 pregnant women found that 800 IU of vitamin D per day
improved their blood levels, but only a few of them and their babies reached
normal levels of vitamin D on this dose. In another study with 206 pregnant
women only 10% had adequate vitamin D levels. Those with the lowest D had
children who experienced tooth enamel abnormalities and cavities early in life.
A new study with young healthy men found they needed 700-800 IU of vitamin D per
day in the winter to maintain optimal bone health. You can imagine that someone
older, most woman, or individuals in poor health would need a higher amount.
Even the Mayo Clinic is churning out press releases telling everyone to take
800-1000 IU of vitamin D per day. They are telling people that Vitamin D can
improve muscle strength and help older people not fall, reduce the risk of some
cancers, help chronic pain, protect against autoimmune disease, and reduce the
risk for cardiovascular disease. Wow – even mainstream medicine is on the
vitamin D bandwagon.
In my view, part of the issue of how much Vitamin D you should take is based on
the symptoms you have that indicate likely deficiency. Keep in mind that these
symptoms may crop up as winter moves along and your vitamin D savings account is
depleted. Thus, I will review some of the key findings of recent vitamin D
research.
Vitamin D and Your Immunity
The front line troops of your immune system (innate immunity) use vitamin D to
help mount an immune response for their foot soldiers. These immune cells use
vitamin D to produce a germ-killing compound called cathelicidin. Your immune
cells then release cathelicidin to kill bacteria, a process that does not work
if there is a lack of vitamin D. The bacteria killing properties have been known
for some time and have even been used to help kill tuberculosis.
Many chronic skin problems are associated with increased infection. In a recent
small study of patients with atopic dermatitis it was found that taking 4000 IU
of vitamin D per day for 21 days restored their skin's production of
cathelicidin to normal – offering protection from infection.
A new study shows that vitamin D is directly activated by cells in your lungs to
help combat infection. The researchers showed that this not only boosted the
bacteria-killing cathelicidin but also improved the ability of immune troops to
identify invaders.
If you have recurring skin problems or if your lungs are a friendly place for
bugs to live (especially a winter-time weak spot) then it is likely you need
more vitamin D.
Autoimmune Problems
Vitamin D has a dampening effect on excessive and inappropriate behavior of
immune cells. It helps reduce the amount of inflammation produced by immune
cells. In fact, a deficiency of vitamin D may be an underlying and possibly
causative issue for almost any autoimmune problem and a theory can be put forth
that vitamin D adequacy is required to prevent your immune system from going
into an improper hyperactive and excessively inflammatory state – a problem that
is at least a part of all diseases of aging.
Studies show the ability of vitamin D to help prevent as well as improve such
issues as arthritis, autoimmune type I diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease.
Any person with any autoimmune disease should have their vitamin D levels tested
by their physician and these should be corrected as a first step in seeking to
improve any problem.
It is an interesting point that vitamin D helps both a lacking and hyper-active
immune system work well. A key theme of nutrition is that it works in your body
to promote efficiency of healthy function. In the case of vitamin D it not only
boosts up underperformance, it quiets down excessive and improper activity.
Obviously, no drug has such intelligence.
Vitamin D and Cancer
One of the main functions of vitamin D is telling your genes what to do. Many of
these functions relate to cell growth and division. For example, adequate
vitamin D is crucial to the healthy growth of your skin and hair. In fact, a
lack of vitamin D can result in an autoimmune reaction that makes your hair fall
out or in disruptions to consistent skin pigmentation.
Cancer problems imply that cell division has gotten out of control in an
inappropriate way. Just as vitamin D is needed by immune cells so they don't
become hyperactive and inappropriate, so it is that vitamin D may be needed to
help regulate cell growth and differentiation to keep it in a healthy condition.
A number of precise cell growth factors are favorably influenced by vitamin D,
which is likely to have benefit for many kinds of cancer. Current vitamin D
cancer research has tended to focus on colon, breast, and prostate cancer.
One aspect of the current research shows that vitamin D is a partner in the
antioxidant defense system of cells, helping to clear them of free radicals and
thereby protecting them from DNA damage that can lead to mutation.
Interestingly, vitamin D is smart enough not to protect cancer cells. That
finding, along with earlier work, led this research group to claim "Our findings
reflect what we see in those studies and demonstrate that vitamin D not only can
be used as a therapy for prostate cancer, it can prevent prostate cancer from
happening."
Some of the newer colon cancer research finds that vitamin D turns on death
signals in colon cancer cells and works synergistically with calcium to help
prevent colon cancer cells from spreading.
A definitive German study has now proven that low levels of vitamin D in
premenopausal women are associated with an increased risk in breast cancer.
Compared to the women with the highest vitamin D, the increased risk ranged from
45% - 68%, depending on the amount of deficiency.
Vitamin D, Diabetes and Obesity
Vitamin D levels are low in obese adults. It is well known that vitamin D helps
stimulate the release of insulin from your pancreas. A lack of vitamin D
drastically increases the risk for type I diabetes and is likely involved with
the insulin and leptin resistance that eventually causes type II diabetes. There
is a lot more work needed in this area to fully understand these issues, but
here is what we know so far.
The further you live from the equator the higher your risk for getting type I
diabetes. If you live in Finland your risk goes up 400 fold. How vitamin D
protects the beta cells of your pancreas is not known, but it likely dampens
inflammatory immune signals and boosts antioxidant protection – as it has been
shown to do in other areas of your body.
Pooled data from existing studies shows that a child supplemented with vitamin D
is 30% less likely to develop type I diabetes even as an adult. In a very large
Finnish study those infants and children who consistently took 2000 IU of
vitamin D per day had a 78% reduced risk of type I diabetes.
Many overweight people are low in vitamin D and correcting vitamin D deficiency
has been shown to improve insulin resistance, giving vitamin D a role in also
helping to prevent type II diabetes (the most common form in society).
New research shows that vitamin D is metabolically active within your stored
fat, although we don't know exactly what it is doing. We know from earlier
research that vitamin D helps reduce excess leptin from fat. High leptin lowers
another fat hormone called adiponectin which we know must be at higher levels to
prevent insulin resistance and type II diabetes. While there is a lot more about
this to learn, it does appear that adequate vitamin D is helpful for healthy
metabolism of blood sugar and fat.
If you are struggling with weight or the health of your pancreas it may be
another sign that some extra vitamin D is needed.
Vitamin D and Heart Health
Researchers at the University of Michigan have nick-named vitamin D "the heart
tranquilizer" because it helps keep your heart from working so hard and swelling
in size. Their findings indicate that vitamin D can help prevent heart failure.
Vitamin D has been shown to improve blood flow in your extremities, helping to
improve what researchers call peripheral artery disease (PAD). The researchers
evaluated 4839 U.S. adults and found those with the best vitamin D levels had
the least amount of PAD.
Vitamin D and Brain Health
Research with animals has shown that low vitamin D during pregnancy causing
brain abnormalities similar to those seen in patients with schizophrenia.
Because vitamin D is involved with gene transcription in the evolving nervous
system a lack of it is bound to cause some kind of problems.
In older Americans low vitamin D is associated with depression. I think just
about everyone feels better when there is more sun.
An interesting study compared vitamin D levels in older Americans to Parkinson's
and Alzheimer's disease. Patients with Parkinson's were 55% more likely to be
low in vitamin D.
Thus, if your hands are a bit shaky and/or your mood is a bit off then maybe you
could use a little more vitamin D.
Summary
Vitamin D does so many things helpful to your health that you absolutely do not
want to run short. Government recommendations for dietary intake of vitamin D
are too low, especially for the winter months when vitamin D is so important to
the function of your immune system.
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