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Vitamin D, Magic Mushrooms


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I scared:eek2: myself so much doing this little bit of research for someone that I had to garden topless yesterday (Winter is a sunny 18C).

 

I thought some here might also be interested in Vitamin D

 

Multiple Sclerosis

Sunlight might help MS

It is fascinating that the further you get from the equator, the greater the incidence of MS

See

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:rF5omxTywkwJ:info.anu.edu.au/discover_anu/University-wide_Publications/_media/_September2005/ResearchReview050713.pdf+MS+latitude&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=9&client=firefox-a

 

It is not clear how sun light effects the expression of a genetic disorder.:)

Vitamin D is involved in cell differentiation so this might be the clue.:)

Perhaps is regulates what bits of DNA are turned off or on.

It could, of course, be due to some other variable that we haven't thought of yet

Seehttp://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

 

"Active vitamin D functions as a hormone because it sends a message to the intestines to increase the absorption of calcium and phosphorus [3 ].

 

The major biologic function of vitamin D is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus [ 3-4]. By promoting calcium absorption, vitamin D helps to form and maintain strong bones.

Vitamin D also works in concert with a number of other vitamins, minerals, and hormones to promote bone mineralization. Without vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen.

Vitamin D sufficiency prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, two forms of skeletal diseases that weaken bones [5-6].

 

 

Research also suggests that vitamin D may help maintain a healthy immune system

and:eek_big:

help regulate cell growth and differentiation, the process that determines what a cell is to become [3, 7,8]. "

 

 

Surprisingly deficiency of D vitamin is not uncommon (see above article) especially among vegans.

The best source is cod liver oil and of course sunlight.

 

Osteoporosis and Vitamin D Supplements

 

Vitamin D deficiency is quite common in cases of hip fractures. A look-back study of 548 patients older than 60 years of age who were admitted at South Glasgow University Hospital in Scotland in the previous 4 years, showed that 97 percent of the patients had vitamin D levels below normal.:)

 

From :http://www.raysahelian.com/osteoporosis.html

 

Where you live is important

If you live in the north, have dark skin, or are rarely outdoors, it's harder for your body to make enough D.

In Canada and the northern U.S. there isn't enough sunshine in winter to stimulate sufficient D production in the skin.

In Boston, Detroit, and Chicago, for example, there's enough sunshine only from April through October; in the southern U.S. there's enough sunshine year round. However, many people stay indoors, or always use sunscreen when outside.

In addition, if you have dark skin, you need longer exposure to sunlight--perhaps up to twice as much--to produce the same amount of D as a light-skinned person, since pigmentation screens out sunlight and reduces D production.

Sunscreen is still a good idea when you're out in the sun for more than short periods.

But experts now argue, sometimes angrily, over whether total sun avoidance is such a good idea after all.

 

Increasingly, scientific evidence suggests that for many people the optimal dietary intake of vitamin D is higher than the current recommended levels. Thus, the government's new dietary guidelines highlighted recommendations of 1,000 IU a day for older people and other high-risk groups. Some researchers think that levels as high as 2,000 IU a day should be considered.

 

* http://health.ivillage.com/eating/evitamins/0,,bw_96p87md5,00.html

 

 

 

Herb/plant wise Ergosterol is the basic building block of vitamin D in plants.(Found in wheat:- )

Triticum aestivum L. -- Wheat Seed 12 ppm DUKE1992A

Mushrooms are the best non animal source of vitamin D. But those produced commercially in the dark may have much lower levels than those that receive natural sunlight

 

The ongoing work so far has found that a single serving of white button mushrooms the most commonly sold mushroom will contain 869 percent the daily value of vitamin D once exposed to just five minutes of UV light after being harvested . If confirmed, that would be more than what's in two tablespoons of cod liver oil, one of the richest and most detested natural sources of the vitamin, according to the National Institutes of Health.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1853516

Most of our store -bought mushrooms are grown in the dark so would have little/much less Vitamin D

 

I don't know of any other high plant sources.(cooked greens?)

Lack of vitamin D can also lead to osteoporosis :D

.

Cholesterol is the basic building block of vitamin D in humans. When ultraviolet light from the sun hits the leaf of a plant, ergosterol is converted into ergocalciferol, or vitamin D2

.http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=110.

--

Michael

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FROM:http://www.niichro.com/Child/child2.html

 

Vitamin D and Calcium:

 

Rickets still exists in some Aboriginal communities.

Dr. Moffatt reported that deficiencies in vitamin D

and calcium are very prevalent in Manitoba and announced

that rickets still exists.

 

Rickets is a bone disease of children that is caused by a lack of vitamin D.

Symptoms include poor growth of skull bones, delayed teething, deformed

chest, potbelly, bow legs, and swollen wrists and ankles. Giving a concentrated supply of vitamin D in addition to an adequate diet is a standard treatment for rickets. Calcium supplements may also be prescribed to help restore the normal calcium. Any deformities usually disappear if the condition is treated in the early stages. 6

 

 

 

In 1986, 48 rickets cases were reported in Manitoba over a 15-year period. Forty of these were from Aboriginal communities with almost half coming from the Island Lake area. In the 1990s, studies of calcium intake of northern populations showed an intake of 50 per cent or less of the recommended amounts. These findings are not surprising because dairy products, which are a good source of calcium, are not widely used and not very available there.

 

 

 

Dietary calcium is needed during growth for bone development

and for maintenance of skeletal integrity later in life to prevent

osteoporosis, which is the loss of normal bone density, mass

and strength, leading to increased porousness and vulnerability

to fracture.7

 

 

 

The community of Garden Hill in the Island Lake area has a

particular problem with rickets. In the 1980s, a survey in two

of the communities in this area showed that the majority of children had vitamin D levels well below the normal range.

In 1993-94, the incidence appears to have been in a range of

85 per 1,000. Dr. Moffatt concluded that this is a community whose members have very low vitamin D stores in the body.

 

 

 

Treating rickets:

 

 

To treat the problem of rickets, "Stoss Therapy" was

introduced in Garden Hill, in which mothers were given

100,000 units of vitamin D at the diagnosis of pregnancy.

Babies were given 100,000 units at the age of 1 month

and again at 4 months. The result of that program actually

has been the virtual elimination of rickets from this community.

The only cases seen have been in children whose mothers either missed the program or refused to take part in it. As a result, since

1995 there haven't been rickets cases in this community, since 1995. To determine community and risk factors that might be responsive to change, three Manitoba Aboriginal communities were recently looked at and compared:

 

Garden Hill (high incidence of rickets)

St. Theresa Point (lower incidence)

Norway House (no rickets cases)

 

Surprisingly, the percentage of women in Norway House

with blood levels of vitamin D below accepted standards

was almost 80 per cent. This was in the summer, when the level

should have been the highest due to increased exposure

to sunlight.

 

The body produces Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin,

when exposed to the sun's ultraviolet light.8

 

Dr. Moffatt thinks that what is probably happening in these

two communities, one with high incidence and the other

with none, is common to other northern communities:

high geographic latitude with decreased exposure to sunlight

and therefore few external sources of vitamin D and calcium.

 

He speculated, "The curve is shifted just enough in Norway

House to avoid seeing rickets. The breastfeeding rates are

lower in that community and that is almost certainly a risk

factor as well." He added that in many other northern

communities, there might be vitamin D deficiency in many people,

including pregnant women who may be passing on very

low supplies to their infants.

 

 

 

Consequences of low vitamin D levels:

 

The following have been linked to vitamin D deficiency:

 

Osteoporosis results in the long term, because of the

small bone masses accumulated prior to birth and early in childhood.

 

Vitamin D may play a role in resistance to infection.

 

There is potential of baby bottle tooth decay.

 

There is scientific evidence that decreased insulin production may exist in the presence of low vitamin D stores.

 

Some cancers have been potentially associated with vitamin D definciency.

 

In regard to baby bottle tooth decay, a low level of calcium

in the blood can cause both tetany and poor tooth development. At birth, even a short period of calcium deficiency, called

hypocalcemia, can affect the development of tooth enamel.

 

 

 

Hypocalcemia is a condition in which abnormally low amounts of calcium in the blood. It is extremely serious in newborn babies; particularly those fed on cow's milk. In babies, hypocalcemia causes vomiting and breathing problems. In severe hypocalcemia, the patient may suffer a seizure, or tetany, with muscular spasms of the hands, feet and jaw. 9

 

 

There is a high rate of tooth decay in northern Aboriginal communities. Noting that educational programs have not been very successful in reducing this problem, Dr. Moffatt stressed the need for a method of prevention.

 

He believes that the problem is related to deficiencies of

vitamin D and calcium and that improvement will be seen

with better nutrition. He concluded that such deficiencies

in these communities are probably widespread.

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There is a video here for those with broadband

http://www.abc.net.au/health/minutes/video/series2/default.htm?clip=story12

 

Vitamin D could help prevent falls

 

27 May 2004

 

I once thought that all vitamin D was good for was your bones. But over the years, vitamin D has been associated with all sorts of things including lower rates of various cancers.

 

Now there's a new finding which some experts have suspected for a while. Vitamin D may prevent falls in the elderly - yes, the falls themselves, irrespective of whether vitamin D prevents a fracture once you've hit the floor – which it probably does.

 

Fall prevention is important as people age, as falls cause hospitalisation, nursing home admission and death.

 

The theory behind vitamin D preventing falls is that it may actually strengthen muscles in its own right.

 

So a group in Boston brought together all the trials of vitamin D and falls and found that it reduced the risk of a fall by about 20 per cent, and that 15 people aged around 70 needed to take vitamin D for anything up to three years for one person to avoid a fall.

 

Most of the research was in women so the effectiveness in men isn't known, nor is whether there should be calcium supplementation as well.

 

But it could be a cheap and relatively safe solution as long as you don't take huge amounts.

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  • 1 month later...

ANTARCTIC RESEARCHERS RISK BONE LOSS (Health & Medical News, 19/7/06) Scientific researchers spending winter in Antarctica might be at increased risk of osteoporosis unless they take vitamin D supplements, new research suggests.

http://abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1690741.htm

 

Why do we get more colds in Winter?

Is it because of less vitamin D (less sunlight=less vitamin D?)

Vitamin D, Linus Pauling Institute - 23 Jul

Vitamin D in the form of 1,25(OH)2D is a potent immune system modulator. The VDR is expressed by most cells of the immune system, including T cells and ...

lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminD/ - 57k

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  • 7 months later...
Shedding light on suicide and schizophrenia: hormonal changes and vitamin deficiencies are implicated - Patterns - vitamin D deficiency - Brief Article

Psychology Today, May-June, 2002 by Anna Schneider-Mayerson

 

Find More Results for: "schizophrenia vitamin D catalyst "

Blood, Sweat and Tears...

Hypochlorhydria: A...

 

MORE REASONS TO LOVE AND HATE OUR favorite star. Sunlight is positively, if counterintuitively, linked to an increased risk of suicide, while too little sun causes vitamin D deficiency, a factor newly implicated in schizophrenia.

 

Suicides peak in May and June in the Northern Hemisphere and in November and December in the Southern Hemisphere.

Indeed, the risk increases between 8 and 50 percent in each of the 20 countries surveyed by Dimitrios Trichopoulos, M.D., a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "My suspicion is that sunlight affects suicide risk through hormonal factors like melatonin," says Trichopoulos. Melatonin is suppressed by sunlight and is known to play a role in mood regulation. The hormones cortisol, serotonin and tryptophan may be affected by sunlight, as well.

 

There is also a seasonal pattern in the births of schizophrenics. Studies confirm a 10 percent increase in these births in the Northern Hemisphere between February and April.

This trend, coupled with findings that children of dark-skinned immigrants to northern countries have high rates of schizophrenia, led scientists to surmise a shortage of sunlight as a possible factor in the illness.

Shedding light on suicide and schizophrenia: hormonal changes and vitamin deficiencies are implicated - Patterns - vitamin D deficiency - Brief Article Psychology Today - Find Articles

 

 

Supplements for babies may be helpful too

Objective: Based on clues from epidemiology and animal experiments, low vitamin D during early life has been proposed as a risk factor for schizophrenia

 

Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life is associated with a reduced risk of schizophrenia in males. Preventing hypovitaminosis D during early life may reduce the incidence of schizophrenia.

ScienceDirect - Schizophrenia Research : Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life and risk of schizophrenia: a Finnish birth cohort study

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Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

Vitamin D Revolution Underway -- Vanquishes Both Major Causes of Mortality; Will Modern Medicine Follow?

 

 

Humanity is on the verge of a gigantic leap forward in health promotion, says health journalist Bill Sardi ( Bill's Sardi Knowledge of Health ).

Rapid-fire discoveries point to a single vitamin D pill that may vanquish cancer and heart disease, the two leading causes of mortality in the U.S., as well as quell autoimmune disease (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus), diminish the occurrence of diabetes, reduce obesity, and effectively treat multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and high blood pressure, plus conquer the common cold and even defeat tuberculosis, an infectious lung disease that affects one-third of the people of the world.

 

San Dimas, CA PRWEB) February 21, 2007 -- Literally leading medicine "out of dark ages" is the sunshine vitamin --- vitamin D. Long mischaracterized as a vitamin that can be toxic if taken in amounts that exceed what is found in common multivitamins, and mistakenly said that vitamin D must be chemically altered to produce a man-made version that does not induce over-calcification, most physicians, pharmacists and dietitians have been incorrectly trained to warn the public away from higher doses of vitamin D.

 

Most multivitamins provide no more than 400 IU (international units) of vitamin D, and the National Academy of Sciences says 2,000 IU is the safe upper limit, with toxicity beginning around 10,000 IU. In many European countries, consumers cannot purchase more than 200 IU of vitamin D in a pill.

 

But Reinhold Vieth Ph.D., researcher at the University of Toronto, notes that blood levels don't even measurably rise till 4,000 IU is consumed and toxicity begins at 40,000 IU only after many weeks of use.

 

To demonstrate just how ridiculous the warnings of vitamin D overdose have been, says Sardi, a person standing in the summer sun for an hour at noontime in a Southern latitude (Arizona, Florida) in swim trunks would naturally produce about 10,000 IU of vitamin D through skin exposure.

Sun poisoning from vitamin D overdose has never been reported.

 

Vitamin D and heart disease

 

It is increasingly becoming apparent that it is excessive calcium, and not cholesterol, that causes hardening of the arteries and heart attacks,

MORE AT:-

Vitamin D Revolution Underway -- Vanquishes Both Major Causes of Mortality; Will Modern Medicine Follow?

 

The full referenced text version of this press release can be viewed at Bill's Sardi Knowledge of Health

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Thanks Chacmool.

 

This was a show on the ABC this week

SCHIZOPHRENIA UPDATE (Catalyst: 15/03/2007)

In the year 2000, Quantum met a couple of QLD scientists who had a

bizarre theory, which linked schizophrenia to a lack of sunlight. They

believed that mums who didn't get enough sunlight during pregnancy could

result in a vitamin D deficiency - which in turn could affect their

baby's brain development.

Catalyst: Schizophrenia Update - ABC TV Science

They say they have proved the case for animals.

Now to extrapolate that research to humans.

To be on the safe side you would think Mum's organisations should be told about this?

I wonder how this could be done?

 

I wonder too, how the mental health of David Hicks is a after being locked up for 23 hours a day?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thx M for your posts as the more they research the more they find connections with what one eats and general habits. Vitamin D is activated and can be metabolised with sunlight. There are also many connections with S.A.D., seasonal affective disorder,in the colder months or lack of exposure to sunlight and the lack of sun exposure. Recently I was reading some other articles about schizopgrenia and deficiencies of mineral/vitamin and the frequency of this disorder showing a common deficiency.

 

Even in SIDS there have been correlation with autopsies showing a significant deficiency of Vitamin C...so with all the shortages/deficiencies it is prudent to take a supplement to help cover any holes in the diet. Take care, SD:)

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  • 1 month later...

Even in SIDS there have been correlation with autopsies showing a significant deficiency of Vitamin C...so with all the shortages/deficiencies it is prudent to take a supplement to help cover any holes in the diet. Take care, SD:)

Interesting thanks

For pensioners, like me, supplements are too expensive

Although I once went to an orthomolecular specialist and was taking a handful of supplements three times a day. After about 3 months I certainly felt healthier but a lot poorer

 

SIDS must be the worst thing that could happen to any body.

My baby daughter had a fit caused by high temp. caused by a cold. she looked limp and dead.

I yelled for my wife for help Rushed her to hospital etc

This is common in babies they say. just put the baby in a tepid bath! I wish they would warn every new parent though

I could not talk for a week because my throat was raw from yelling for help.

My wife was a paddock away but at first thought my yell was from a wounded animal.

This from a guy who didn't want babies.

 

So how do babies get C? It is water, not fat, soluble so would it be in fatty breast milk?

 

I was a bit amazed by the research that showed mushroom Vit D shot up 4? times after exposure to a bit of sunlight. Most mushrooms here are grown in caves; so you wonder how much D they contain. Maybe there is a lot more vit. D deficiency out there than we realise..

I read the US FDA is going to ask mushroom growers in the Stales to give mushrooms a burst of sunlight before harvesting them. I wonder how long "D" lasts in supermarket shelves?

 

You can buy 'mushroom -growing kits' here at nurseries

I grew one one once.Fun, and probably well worth the money.

 

If I was in Canada or a Guantanamo Bay Cell I would take a supplement or eat lots of field mushrooms.

But even in Australia now people, more and more, are avoiding the sun for fear of skin cancer.

 

This was interesting:-

What is Mushroom Mania?

 

Mushroom Mania is a free food service campaign, conducted by the Australia Mushroom Growers to help the dining sector of the food service industry sell more mushrooms dishes.

Special Offers

 

Mushroom Mania

Just joined their 'mushroom lover's club.'

Yet another newsletter

mushroom recipe library

The web caters for everyone doesn't it?

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Interesting thanks

For pensioners, like me, supplements are too expensive

Although I once went to an orthomolecular specialist and was taking a handful of supplements three times a day. After about 3 months I certainly felt healthier but a lot poorer

Funny, as I always saw magic mushies as richer in vitamin whee. :)

 

Per the vitamin D, here's a nifty site you may enjoy. It seems that salmon is the breakfast of champions... Complete with vita A, vita C, vita E, vita D, and even the wonderous omega-3.

 

 

WHFoods: vitamin D

Although typically categorized as a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin D actually functions more like a hormone. Calcitriol, the most metabolically active form of vitamin D, works with parathyroid hormone (PTH) to maintain proper levels of calcium in the blood. Low levels of calcium in the blood stimulate the secretion of PTH from the parathyroid gland. PTH then stimulates the conversion of inactive forms of vitamin D to calcitriol. Calcitriol acts to increase the intestinal absorption of calcium, increase the resorption of calcium by the kidneys, and stimulate the release of calcium from the bone, thereby increasing blood calcium levels. Alternatively, when blood levels of calcium are too high, calcitriol decreases the intestinal absorption of calcium and stimulates the bones to take up calcium, thereby decreasing blood calcium levels.
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Funny, as I always saw magic mushies as richer in vitamin whee. :D

LOL

A new vitamin?:doh::)

 

Thanks some interesting links.:)

I don't eat a lot of fish these days since they found out Sydney fishermen and their children, where full of chlorinated hydrocarbons from an old ICI plant (making agent orange for Viet-nam war??). They had to send the fisher-folk's blood to Germany to get tested; so that means the Health Department here is/can not monitoring the situation.

 

I love raw tuna as served in Japanese restaurants

But Japan is buying soo much Oz fish that the price has gone through the roof

It all starts at $20 a kilo, and the sky is literally the limit.

 

A STORY

Having lunch at Terrigal Beach one day and a high-tech, super-boat road into the beach. The men in the boat carefully lifted something out of the boat with uncharacteristic gentleness and care.

"Look!" my imaganative wife said" "Drug runners!"

"Eh?! " I said

"How else would they afford a boat like that and why are they being so precious about unloading it?"

I had another look.

They were unloading a huge blue fin Tuna that that afternoon would be on a first class QUANTAS plane flight to Japan.

 

"Catalyst" a very good ABC science show is doing a doco. on Japan and its insatiable love of fish this week.

If it is any good, I will post it on the "So long, and thanks for all the fish" thread

 

I was interested in this comment:-

In addition, breast milk may not contain a sufficient amount of vitamin D, so exclusively breast-fed infants may require supplemental vitamin D.

:hyper: this annoyed me.

The SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IS Part of the planet too.:cup:

It is particularly important for individuals with limited sun exposure to include good sources of vitamin D in their diets. Homebound individuals, people living in northern latitudes, individuals who wear clothing that completely covers the body, and individuals working in occupations that prevent exposure to sunlight are at risk for vitamin D deficiency.

 

Ignorance and neglect of this fact just leads to this sort anger and perhaps a little anti-social behaviour You must check out this link to see what I mean..

SatireWire | Australia Gets Drunk, Wakes Up in North Atlantic

 

This was an interesting quirky fact too :0176:

Obesity is also associated with vitamin D deficiency. Since vitamin D is fat-soluble, it can be taken into fat cells and stored, thus making it potentially less available in our body's metabolism.

the drug interactions were a bit scary too especially with such widely (universally ?) used drugs like ant acids

Hormone replacement therapy may increase blood levels of vitamin D.

I'll bet there is a lot more vit. D deficiency than we realise.

A Muslim woman, wearing purdah, living in high latitudes?

 

What a long list!

Vitamin D may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

 

  • * Atherosclerosis
  • * Breast cancer
  • * Colon cancer
  • * Ovarian cancer
  • * Depression
  • * Epilepsy
  • * Hypertension
  • * Inflammatory bowel disease
  • * Kidney disease
  • * Liver disease
  • * Multiple sclerosis
  • * Osteoporosis
  • * Periodontal disease
  • * Preeclampsia
  • * Psoriasis
  • * Tinnitus
  • * Ulcerative colitis

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  • 3 weeks later...

Vitamin D on the news last night.

Minister for Health talking about it

Good Grief The world has gone Vitamin D mad

Finally catching up with me!

Last Update: Sunday, June 17, 2007. 10:45pm (AEST)

Aussies issued vitamin D guidelines

 

The Cancer Council has issued new guidelines to tell Australians how much sunlight they need to avoid vitamin D deficiency without increasing their risk of skin cancer.

 

New data shows many Australians are deliberately seeking sun exposure without protection because they are worried about vitamin D.

 

The Cancer Council says fair-skinned people can maintain adequate vitamin D levels in summer from a few minutes of exposure to sunlight on their hands, arms and face on either side of the peak UV index periods.

 

In winter, when UV radiation levels are less intense, people need about two or three hours of sunlight to the hands, arms or face over a week.

 

Those most at risk of a vitamin D deficiency are naturally dark-skinned people, who need more UV exposure.

 

People who cover their skin for cultural reasons and those who are housebound or in institutional care also face a high risk of deficiency.

Low vitamin D linked to increased CV risk factors

 

June 15, 2007 Shelley Wood

 

Los Angeles, CA - Adults with low serum levels of vitamin D are more likely to have hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and high triglycerides than are adults with higher vitamin-D levels, an analysis of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) shows[1]. Authors of the new analysis say their findings add to growing evidence suggesting it may be time to revisit public-health recommendations for vitamin-D intake.

 

"There's been more and more evidence that vitamin D is involved in a variety of bodily functions, including heart health," senior author on the study, Dr Keith Norris (Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA), told heartwire. Current recommendations—ranging from 400 to 800 units in healthy adults to 1200 units in women with osteoporosis—are based on the relationship between vitamin D and parathyroid function for calcium regulation, he explained. "The recommended level of serum vitamin D is the level at which the parathyroid level does not become hyperactive, but we now know that vitamin D affects not only the parathyroid gland, but all these other systems in the body, and it appears we need even higher levels to have a positive effect on these other systems," he said.

 

The study appears in the June 14, 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

 

Vitamin and Supplements > Health Benefits Of Vitamin D

Run on vitamin D after study

Run on vitamin D after study

Andy Riga, CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette

Published: Monday, June 18, 2007

 

MONTREAL - The Jean Coutu pharmacy in Montreal is a long way from the bucolic cornfields of Nebraska. A simple little pill is what they have in common.

 

The drugstore's vitamin D supply ran dry after the release of a small but groundbreaking study last week involving 1,179 white, older Nebraskan women. It found the vitamin can dramatically cut the risk of cancer.

 

The run on vitamin D reported in Canadian pharmacies - after the Canadian Cancer Society, reacting to the study, recommended all adults consider taking the supplement - is just the first ramification of a report that may profoundly affect efforts to prevent cancer.

 

In the wake of the Nebraska study, researchers are scrambling to organize an international meeting later this year to make a plan on how to best exploit recent vitamin D discoveries.

 

Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs

Mushrooms might serve as bio-factories for the production of various beneficial human drugs, according to plant pathologists who have inserted new genes into mushrooms.

Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs

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VITAMIN D TABLETS FOUND TO CUT THE RISK OF PANCREATIC CANCER

24 June 2007 - American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

According to a study led by researchers at Northwestern and Harvard universities, consumption of Vitamin D tablets was found to cut the risk of pancreatic cancer nearly in half.

 

The findings point to Vitamin D’s potential to prevent the disease, and is one of the first known studies to use a large-scale epidemiological survey to examine the relationship between the nutrient and cancer of the pancreas. The study, led by Halcyon Skinner, Ph.D., of Northwestern, appears in the Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.

 

The study examined data from two large, long-term health surveys and found that taking the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of Vitamin D (400 IU/day) reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 43 percent. By comparison, those who consumed less than 150 IUs per day experienced a 22 percent reduced risk of cancer. Increased consumption of the vitamin beyond 400 IUs per day resulted in no significant increased benefit.

 

“Because there is no effective screening for pancreatic cancer, identifying controllable risk factors for the disease is essential for developing strategies that can prevent cancer,” said Skinner. “Vitamin D has shown strong potential for preventing and treating prostate cancer, and areas with greater sunlight exposure have lower incidence and mortality for prostate, breast, and colon cancers, leading us to investigate a role for Vitamin D in pancreatic cancer risk. Few studies have examined this association, and we did observe a reduced risk for pancreatic cancer with higher intake of Vitamin D.”

 

Skinner, currently in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and his colleagues analyzed data from two long-term studies of health and diet practices, conducted at Harvard University. They looked at data on 46,771 men aged 40 to 75 years who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and 75,427 women aged 38 to 65 years who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study.

VITAMIN D TABLETS FOUND TO CUT THE RISK OF PANCREATIC CANCER

 

 

This one is from left field

Combining his agricultural knowledge with colleague Gavin McIntyre's interest in sustainable technology, the two created their patented "Greensulate" formula, an organic, fire-retardant board made of water, flour, oyster mushroom spores and perlite, a mineral blend found in potting soil. They're hoping the invention will soon be part of the growing market for eco-friendly products.

green building :: Eben Bayer grew up on :: ENN

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Seems we need about an hour aday of sun depending on many other variables. :shrug:

When the skin is exposed to ultraviolet light, it creates a reaction in the body that makes vitamin D. How much vitamin D is produced depends on skin color, latitude, age, time of year and diet. Generally, about 15 - 20 minutes a day on your face, arms and hands will produce about 200 IU. If you wear a bathing suit and get several hours of exposure in a day without suntan lotion, you will produce about 5,000 - 10,000 IU per day.* (The U.S. RDA is 400 IU per day.)

I might try it for my Blood Pressure, out with the bathing suit in -winter?:turtle:

It is common to see blood pressure increase in the winter and decline in the summer and increase at greater distances from the equator. I have seen several cases of high blood pressure that were unresponsive to many therapies. When individuals supplemented with 4,000 IU per day of vitamin D, their blood pressure returned to normal.

I have a friend with diabetes, he is an actor and playwright and rarely sees the sun.:eek:

Vitamin D is also very helpful in treating diabetes and blood-sugar problems. Several studies demonstrated that taking about 1,300 IU of vitamin D per day for 30 days changed insulin levels by almost 25 percent.

How much is enough?:hyper:

How much is too much?:eek2::smilingsun::lol:

If you do not go out in the sun and/or wear sun block when you are outside, then you most likely will need about 2,000 - 3,000 IU per day as an adult (1,500 - 2,000 IU for children three to ten years old). These are very safe levels. If you are in the sun for at least an hour a day, and you are getting tan on your arms, legs and face, then most likely you don’t need any supplemental vitamin D. If there is a deficiency, I have found supplementing with vitamin D to be the safest and easiest way to remedy the deficiency.

 

I also recommend that you get a blood test to check your vitamin D status. Ask your healthcare practitioner to check for 25(OH)D (this measures the most active form of vitamin D). The optimal range is 40 - 65 ng/mL. Below 40 is a sign of mild deficiency, below 30 is worse and below 20 indicates an all-out vitamin D deficiency. In the last 50 people we tested, only two people came back with normal levels — they were both very tan (from frequent trips to California and Mexico). If you are deficient, then I recommend that you take about 5,000 IU per day for 2 - 3 days and then re-check your levels.

From the archives of a great website

Issue 8

Vitamin D Delivers

by Dr. David Ramaley

Polishing Stone

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Again avery small sample.

Can't see any racial or religious variable.

How poluted is air in Hawaii?

The 93 participants in the study spent an average 22.4 hours per week outside without sunscreen and 28.9 hours per week outside with and without sunscreen. This translates to a mean of 11.1 hours per week of total body skin exposure with no sunscreen used, the authors calculate.

 

Despite this abundant sun exposure, 51 percent of these individuals were found to have low vitamin D levels, the researchers found.

 

“This implies that the common clinical recommendation to allow sun exposure to the hands and face for 15 minutes may not ensure vitamin D sufficiency,” Binkley and colleagues report.

 

It should not be assumed that individuals with abundant sun exposure have adequate vitamin D status,” the team concludes.

Catching rays won’t guarantee vitamin D - More Health News - MSNBC.com

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