Posts Tagged ‘vitamin D’

TANNING BENEFITS

It is estimated that the elderly are more at risk of having a vitamin D deficiency. The national percentage of adults in the United States who are low of vitamin D is anywhere from 25% to over 50%. This vitamin is known to protect you from type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and help prevent many types of cancer from prostate to breast. Because vitamin D is only found in a few food sources that include tuna, sardines, herring and mackerel, supplementation is usually recommended. Natural tanning benefits include a lower risk of many age related diseases.

Supplementation is risky,  if you do not monitor your intake you can wind up with too much vitamin D. The only way to avoid that is to get your vitamin D from the sun. This means that those who live outside the tropics are probably not getting enough sun from late fall to early spring. Here is where you  can pick up the slack, by getting outdoors between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.  With all the warnings about the risk of getting some sun, the public has been kept in the dark about the dangers of not getting enough. Having low levels of vitamin D has been associated with higher risk of prostrate and breast cancer in ecological studies.

AGING

As you age, your skin’s ability to convert vitamin D to its active form decreases significantly. By the time you are 65 your skin will reduce production of vitamin D by up to 60%. The baby boomers and beyond can get many benefits from some sun exposure. The reason that vitamin D deficiency is a silent epidemic is basically because of the guide lines that the public has followed concerning sun exposure. This has also influenced how much time people spend outdoors. This is a viable choice; get a healthy tan with some vitamin D.

The baby boomers and the retired crowd should consider tanning as a health issue, information is emerging that people need higher levels of vitamin D than were established by the National Academy of Sciences. It is becoming established fact that higher levels of vitamin D is needed to prevent and reverse some of the top chronic illnesses of the 21^st century. The outdoor life is protective because you are exposed to the sun.

VITAMIN D DEFINCENCY

Vitamin D plays a role in regulating cell division and differentiation. These findings link the danger of a vitamin D deficiency to common age related health problems. The cells division and differentiation ability is problematic as you age. The dangers of not getting vitamin D from the sun is real. Studies now show that sun actually cuts your risk of most diseases. With that in mind, getting enough sun exposure should become a priority. Natural tanning benefits; it provides a powerful weapon against age related conditions, and supports health.

The cancer and vitamin D connection is finally getting the coverage it deserves.  It has been known that people in more industrialized northern countries have higher cancer rates than those in developing countries and there are many theories from dangerous pollutants spewed out by industry, food supply, stress levels etc. 

But research into vitamin D is suggests that cancers and other disorders in rich countries aren’t caused mainly by pollutants but by a vitamin deficiency known to be less acute or even non-existent in poor nations. This again proves being overfed does not mean all nutritional needs are addressed.

The medical establishment theories behind the development of chronic conditions have looked at everything except nutrition. From all kinds of studies they are “looking for a bogeyman that doesn’t exist,” argues Reinhold Vieth, professor at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s top vitamin D experts. Instead, he says, the critical factor “is more likely a lack of vitamin D.”

Low vitamin D status is tied to a host of serious ailments, including multiple sclerosis, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, influenza, osteoporosis and common infections.  Professor of medicine Robert Heaney of Creighton University in Nebraska says vitamin D deficiency is showing up in so many illnesses besides cancer. 

In the last few years scientists have been able to validate the role vitamin D plays in regulating a host of body functions. Men who have a deficient vitamin D level have a greater risk of myocardial infraction then men who had a sufficient amount. Harvard researchers reported this in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The authors cited vitamin D’s effect on smooth muscle cell proliferation, inflammation, vascular calcification, and blood pressure as possible protection against heart attacks.

Vitamin D deficiency may be a major player in the many illnesses. However the cancer connection is intriguing, in that the sun is blamed for causing it in the case of skin cancer. The main way to get enough vitamin D is thought sunlight without suntan lotion, which blocks vitamin D synthesis. People through the ages have been exposed to the sun without suntan lotion, or a great deal of protective clothing.

Being exposed to sunlight reduces breast, prostate, and colon cancers. The sun advice has been misguided information “of just breathtaking proportions,” said John Cannell, head of the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit, California-based organization. “Fifteen hundred Americans die every year from [skin cancers]. Fifteen hundred Americans die every day from the serious cancers.”

This is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Melanoma the most dangerous kind of skin cancer rarely occurs on the face and hands, it appears on areas of the body not sun exposed as often. There are more cases of melanoma in people living at northern latitudes, where the sun is less intense.

Vitamin D from food sources are inadequate compared to what is needed for cancer prevention, and what we produce in our skin. Humans in the past have spent much more time outside, and had a lower incident of all kinds of cancer including skin.

Vitamin D is converted into a hormone, and it has role in fixing damaged cells, and maintaining the cells health. The cancer and Vitamin D connection is being established by researches. What this says is nutrition is the most underused tool in preventing and treating cancer, and a host of other ailments.

VITAMIN D

A new study has found that vitamin D has the ability to regulate anti-bactericidal proteins. This is a key part of our immune response. Sunlight and health is a topic that until now has not been given much attention. The biological importance of adequate levels of vitamin D can not be overstated. “The sunshine vitamin” is needed in sufficient levels to protect us from all sorts of pathogens. Experts say that more than 50 percent of children and adults in the U.S. are deficient in this vitamin.

In humans vitamin D is produced in large amounts as a result of exposure to the sun. Dietary sources are available in small amounts. Vitamin D boosts the immune response, and also can prevent the immune system from overreacting, and thus reduces inflammation. This is helpful for autoimmune disorders, and degenerative diseases. Sunlight and health has important implications in combating some of the prevalent chronic conditions. Diabetes is significantly more prevalent in people who are vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D helps prevent osteoporosis, is important for calcium uptake, and inhibits cell growth. It helps regulate cell differentiation, and helps the immune system do its job. Where you can get good sunshine year round is where you want to reside. There are lower rates of cancer among people who are exposed to sunlight all year long.

Also, vitamin D promotes the development of blood vessels, and helps with the healing of wounds. Vitamin D is a hormone that is involved in mineral metabolism. It is involved with facilitating the intestinal absorption of calcium, and it helps with the absorption of phosphate and magnesium ions. Without vitamin D, dietary calcium is not well absorbed. Most cells in the body have vitamin D receptors.

HEALTH

Sunlight and Health has been well studied. Serum vitamin D levels correlate with blood pressure and other cardiovascular risks. Studies suggest that older adults need to get sunlight, to keep healthy.