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What is Vitamin D and Why is It Important?

Vitamins are nutrients that the body needs that it can't make on its own. Vitamin D3 is unique, because the body has the ability to produce the nutrient naturally, but most people still don't get enough of it.

The human body can produce its own Vitamin D using two primary ingredients: Cholesterol and Sunlight. Vitamin D is actually a steroid hormone, in the same category as other hormones such as Testosterone, Cortisol, and Estrogen. Vitamin D is important because it protects the body from a number of medical conditions, and it also has a strong impact on our genetic expression. Vitamin D is incredibly important for the body to function properly, encouraging optimal health and wellness.

Vitamin D Deficiency Common Throughout the World

Scientists have understood the importance of Vitamin D for decades, but new research continues to unearth new benefits, showing that the nutrient is vitally important for both preventing premature aging and softening the effects of the aging process itself. Even though our body does have the capacity to create its own Vitamin D, there are millions upon millions across the world that experience negative effects directly as a result of Vitamin D Deficiency.

This isn't just a 3rd world problem either, Vitamin D Deficiency is a major problem in America and across the world. Medical research has shown than if everyone on earth got the Vitamin D that they needed throughout their lives, the risk of various forms of cancers would drop by 50%!

How Does Sunlight Produce Vitamin D?

Like the vast majority of mammals, humans can produce their own Vitamin D3 as long as they expose themselves to sufficient sunlight. This is an effective way for most people to get sufficient Vitamin D, at least until around the fifties. The problem with this method is that too much exposure to ultraviolet light can lead to an increased incidence of skin cancer, and it also prematurely ages the skin. Because of these two reasons, most medical professionals and nutritionists advise against getting Vitamin D primarily through sunlight, and recommend Vitamin D supplements as a safer and healthier alternative.

When was Vitamin D Discovered?

The scientific name for Vitamin D3 is Cholecalciferol, and it is undeniably important for optimal health. Like most complex nutrients, Vitamin D was not discovered until just over one hundred years ago, when physicians were attempting to discover a useful medical treatment for rickets, which is a dangerous bone disease that commonly affected pediatric patients.

Vitamin D and Rickets

The disease began to reach epidemic levels in the 19th century, in the heart of the Industrial Revolution. During this period, agricultural economies across the western world quickly converted from farming work to factory work, and everyone, even children, began to work in dark factories, away from sunlight. These factories were poorly lit and dirty, and major industrial cities quickly became highly polluted, diminishing the influence of sunshine, even outdoors.

Medical scientists discovered that men, women, and children that lived and worked in sunshine were at significantly less risk of rickets than those that lived in industrial cities or cloudy cities further north. Using this demographic evidence, doctors were able to deduce that rickets was caused by a lack of sunlight, and they also found that a prescription of cod liver oil could safeguard the patient completely from the disease. Via this cure, physicians were able to prove that Vitamin D deficiency was a condition of deficiency, rather than a disease caused by a bacterium or virus. Although it would be years before researchers discovered Vitamin D, effective treatment via supplementation was already discovered.

How Common is Vitamin D Deficiency?

Even today, Vitamin D deficiency is still remarkably common. A French study demonstrated that fourteen percent of adults were suffering from exceptionally low Vitamin D levels. In another piece of research, it was discovered that more than forty percent of physicians that did not take Vitamin D supplements had clinically low levels of Vitamin D by the last days of winter. Physicians that did supplement their natural Vitamin D production over the course of the winter only experienced Vitamin D Deficiency at a rate of around ten percent.

Vitamin D Deficiency Easily Prevented

Based on the history of Vitamin D, it is crystal clear that Vitamin D Deficiency is a significant medical condition. Even though this condition is highly preventable, there are millions across America that don't get the Vitamin D that they need. Rickets may be the most obvious symptom of Vitamin D Deficiency, but there are many other issues related to the condition as well. As mentioned earlier, Vitamin D Deficiency can cause the body to age more quickly.

The vitamin also has significant anti-inflammatory benefits as well, and the nutrient also impacts psychological health and can reduce the effects of depression. There is even strong evidence that Vitamin D can enhance the human lifespan and even increase the longevity of the neurons in the nervous system and the brain.

Vitamin D Benefits

The following is just a short list of the benefits of Vitamin D3:

• Osteoporosis is one of the most life-changing issues faced by aging women, which significantly increases frailty and the danger of experiencing bone fractures and breaks. The most dangerous of these breaks is hip fracture, which severely increases mortality among aging patients. In one piece of research, financed by the Women's Health Initiative, it was discovered that older female patients taking both calcium carbonate and Vitamin D3 supplements experienced twelve percent fewer fractures of the hip than patients in the control group. The dose which produced these benefits was 800 IU daily.

• Vitamin D3 is an integral nutrient which protects the health of the immune system, and helps the body ward off a wide variety of diseases. Each of the active cells of your immune system have receptors for Vitamin D, and there is clear evidence that Vitamin D deficiency impairs the body's resistance to infection and boosts the chances of symptoms of a number of autoimmune disorders.

• In particular, Vitamin D is effective and protecting the respiratory system from viral infection. Patients with Vitamin D Deficiency are more likely to come down with the flu, and are also more likely to become a victim of tuberculosis. Deficiency also impacts the severity of both diseases.

• A recent study presented at the American College of Cardiology in 2010 provided powerful evidence that patients with Vitamin D Deficiency were more likely to experience cardiovascular disease. Just taking an effective Vitamin D3 supplement was sufficient to reduce the risk of death via cardiovascular disease by thirty percent!

• There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that Vitamin D has the ability to prevent cancer cells from proliferating. Although it is true that excessive exposure to sunlight increases the chances of experiencing skin cancer, there are many types of cancer that are mitigated by sunlight therapy which enhances Vitamin D synthesis. Among the types of cancer which sunlight therapy proves beneficial include cancers of the kidneys, pancreas, and small intestine, as well as myeloma and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Vitamin D Supplementation and sun exposure are also valid aspects of the treatment of prostate, rectal, stomach, uterine, bladder, colon, and cancer of the vulva.

• Vitamin D Supplementation also reduces the risk of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease, although the connection is not yet fully understood. In one survey, fifty-five percent of patients with Parkinson's Disease experienced Vitamin D Deficiency, and over forty percent of Alzheimer's patients experienced a similar deficiency.

• Vitamin D supplements also prove beneficial for patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Patients treated with Vitamin D were more able to walk and engage in daily activities. They also had fewer lesions. Patients with Vitamin D Deficiency are also more likely to experience Multiple Sclerosis relapses. There is demographic evidence that people that live closer to the equator are less likely to experience Multiple Sclerosis, which also suggests a strong connection between Vitamin D and the condition itself.

• Overall, simultaneous Calcium and Vitamin D3 supplementation have been clinically shown reduce general mortality risk in elderly patients by around nine percent.

How to Get Enough Vitamin D

The most obvious way to make sure you get sufficient Vitamin D is to make sure you get a reasonable amount of sunlight each day. It's important to be cautious when utilizing this natural method, however. Spend no more than fifteen minutes in unscreened, direct sunlight. More has been shown to increase the risk of experiencing skin cancer.

We recommend getting in direct sunlight around 5-10 minutes three times per week. You don't have to walk around with your shirt off, however. Sunlight exposure to your face, hands, and arms should be sufficient to provide for optimal Vitamin D Synthesis.

Vitamin D Boosting Foods

You can also increase your body's capacity for Vitamin D if you consume particular foods. Fatty fish are some of the best options, and they include sardines, mackerel, salmon, tuna, catfish, and eel. If you don't eat meat, some of the best sources include egg yolks and fortified foods such as milk, cheese, and cereal.

How Much Vitamin D Do I Need?

Different groups have different recommendations for optimal Vitamin D supplementation. The International Osteoporosis Foundation suggests 800-1000 IU of Vitamin D per day, and the U.S. Institute of Medicine suggests 600 IU of Vitamin D for individuals up to seventy years of age, and 800 IU for older men and women.

It's in your best interest to take the maximum daily recommendation that you find from a respected source, because Vitamin D has a very low toxicity. It is considered dangerous to take 10,000 IU daily for three months, or 300,000 IU in a single day, far above any recommended dose. When taking any supplement, it's important to understand that too much of even the most beneficial medication can be harmful to your health.

Vitamin D: An Easy Way to Safeguard Your Health and Enhance Longevity!

Unlike pharmaceuticals, Vitamin D is a natural nutrient. It's absolutely vital to your health, and you have the ability to make it on your own in the presence of sunlight. We need the vitamin all throughout our lives, and our need for supplementation grows as our body becomes less efficient at naturally producing the nutrient. Luckily, it's cheap and easy to get all the Vitamin D you need to maximize your vitality and minimize the associated health risks!

References

Aranow, C. "Vitamin D and the immune system." Journal of Investigative Medicine. 2011 Aug;59(6):881-6

Evatt, M.L., et al. "Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Patients With Parkinson Disease and Alzheimer Disease." Archives of Neurology 2008; 65(10):1348-1352

Holick, M.F. "Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004 December; 80(6 Supplement):1678S-88S

Jackson RD, et al. "Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of fractures." New England Journal of Medicine. 2006;354:669-83

Mohr, S.B. "A brief history of vitamin D and cancer prevention." Annals Epidemio. 2009 Feb; 19(2):79-83.

Regulska M, et al. "Involvement of PI3-K in neuroprotective effects of the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 analogue - PRI-2191." Pharmacology Reports. 2006 Nov; 58:6,900-907

Rejnmark, L., et al. "Vitamin D with Calcium Reduces Mortality: Patient Level Pooled Analysis of 70,528 Patients from Eight Major Vitamin D Trials." Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2012 May 17

Schleithoff S.S., et al. "Vitamin D supplementation improves cytokine profiles in patients with congestive heart failure: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2006 Apr; 83:4, 754-759

Tangpricha V, Pearce EN, et al. "Vitamin D insufficiency among free-living healthy young adults." American Journal of Medicine 2002; 112:659-62

Vitamin D Council, "Am I getting too much Vitamin D?", http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/am-i-getting-too-much-vitamin-d/, retrieved 22 March, 2014

Juicing Pros and Cons

by Dell Allen

Juicing machines, books about juicing - even juice bars - are starting to pop up all over the place. And the claims made about juicing are amazing, enticing, and provocative. People in the developed world eat far too few fruits and vegetables (and way too much processed and junk foods), and juicing can make up for that by making it possible to get the food value of many, many servings of fruits and vegetables in a single glass. The proponents of juicing - which involves removing all or almost all pulp and fiber from these foods and making them into a drinkable "juice" - have said that drinking these juices allows greater nutrient intake and density, more exposure to antioxidants (which can retard the aging process), can kill pain, and reduce the need for medication. What's the real story?

Pros of juicing:

1. Some people simply don't like to eat fruits and vegetables. So they avoid them as much as possible, missing out on a lot of good basic nutrition and trace elements. Such people also tend to fill up on other foods to compensate, which in some cases can lead to excessive calorie intake, weight gain, and nutritional imbalance. Juicing can make it quick and simple to get many servings' worth of vegetable or fruit goodness in a single quickly-prepared glass. For example, it's quite possible for a large serving of juice to contain all the enzymes, calories, water, trace elements, and natural sugars from five full pounds of fruits and vegetables. Can you imagine trying to eat five pounds of anything for breakfast - and succeeding? I didn't think so.

2. Not only are the "juiced" nutrients more densely packed than they are in the whole fruit or vegetable, but for many people juicing is easy and fun and encourages them to try out new and potentially healthy additions to their diets that they wouldn't have tried otherwise. There are now a huge number of juicing recipes that you can find on the Internet, and thousands of other juicing enthusiasts have discovered combinations that, they say, make the most prosaic of veggies taste delightful. And, whatever recipes you might find, you can add your favorite ingredients to the blend and find the mix that's just right for you!

3. It's possible to add protein to the mix for more complete nutrition and even better flavor. Some high-protein ingredients are yogurt, flax seed, peanut butter, finely ground nuts, and almond milk.

Cons (and things to watch out for):

1. Juiced fruits and vegetables can go bad very quickly. The same good stuff that your body craves is attractive to microorganisms too. And juiced veggies and fruits don't have the chemical preservatives that processed foods and drinks do, so they start to rot almost immediately. So, to prevent your new juice blend from going bad, make sure and make just enough for you and your family to drink that same day (and immediately freeze whatever portion you're going to drink later). In fact, for maximum freshness it's best to make just enough to consume right there on the spot (and make sure your sources, like your farmers' market or grocery store, provide absolute freshness too). Frozen juice can keep its full food value for up to three days.

2. Though juicing fanatics might regard this as blasphemy, consider blending (yes, in a common kitchen blender) instead of juicing on some occasions. Blenders retain the fiber, unlike juicers which remove it. And fiber is very, very good for you. So why eliminate all of it, all the time? Fiber adds bulk and helps fill you up too (especially important if you're trying to lose weight).

3. Be very skeptical of "too good to be true" claims: they probably are "too good" and "not true." High-pressure sales of juicing products, even sometimes with celebrity endorsements and multi-level marketing, accompanied by claims of "total life-changing" or "cheating death" experiences, should make you leery. These kinds of sales pitches are almost always linked with wildly overpriced juicing products. And you should discount claims that you ought to avoid solid food and subsist only on juice; that could lead to serious nutritional deficiencies. Claims that juicing gives you more nutrients than you'd get from eating the same foods whole (because, supposedly, the fiber that juicing removes "gets in the way" of absorption) are also suspect, and decrease the credibility of those making them.

4. Look around the major online marketplaces like Ebay and Amazon to see what price ranges the different kind of juicing supplies are falling into these days. Then you'll know what's out there and how much it usually costs if you decide to explore the many juicing specialty sites that are online these days.

5. Don't neglect health and juicing discussion forums on the Internet. There you can find uncensored and (usually) unbiased personal stories and reviews by those who've tried juicing and juicing products.

6. If you concentrate your juicing efforts mainly on fruits (and many do), you'll be getting a lot of sugar in your diet, and that can add up. Try to strike a balance between fruits and vegetables. (And nutritionists recommend varying the colors of the foods you choose, too, to get a good mix of nutrients.) These days, there are many sites on the Internet which give calorie counts for almost any conceivable food. Remember, you're in charge, and you're doing this to take control of your own nutrition, so take the job seriously and do the research.

7. Make sure and thoroughly clean your juicer after each use. The bad bacteria that can make your juice start to go bad after sitting out for even as little as half an hour also start working - just as fast - on the food residues and particles in all the nooks and crannies of your juicing machine. You don't want to be adding this morning's bacteria population to this evening's juice! Also wash all utensils, wash the fruits and vegetables themselves to remove any dirt, pesticides, or bacteria, and also keep all your implements and cutting boards scrupulously clean at all times.

Bottom line: Juicing doesn't give you anything that eating non-juiced whole veggies or fruits wouldn't give you. And there's a lot of healthy fiber that you don't get if you just consume juiced fruits and vegetables - the juicing process removes it all. But, if you already have enough fiber in your diet, and if you have historically been doing very poorly at eating a healthy number of servings of these essential foods, then juicing can be an easy way to ramp up your consumption of some of the healthiest foods you can eat, and you can have a lot of fun in the process! Just don't go too hog wild on the fruits and ignore the vegetables, since many fruits have a high sugar content that can lead to weight gain and other problems if carried to excess. Juice away!

REFERENCES

Nguyen, Anna. "Juicing for Health and Weight Loss," WebMD, http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/juicing-health-risks-and-benefits, retrieved April 5, 2014.

O'Neil, C.E., et al. "100% Orange juice consumption is associated with better diet quality, improved nutrient adequacy, decreased risk for obesity, and improved biomarkers of health in adults," National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003-2006. Nutrition Journal. 2012;11:107

Duyff, R.L., American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons; 2012.

Rampersaud, G. "A comparison of nutrient density scores for 100% fruit juices," Journal of Food Science. 2007;72:S261

by Tracy Smith

Technically, Vitamin D is not a true vitamin because, under the right circumstances, the body can synthesize its own using sunlight and cholesterol. It 's really a steroid hormone that strongly affects gene expression and resistance to multiple diseases. It 's vitally necessary for life and health, and new discoveries show that it 's more important for vibrant, youthful health than we ever thought before. Vitamin D deficiency is chronic around the world, even in developed countries. It 's estimated that the incidence of many cancers could be cut in half if we all got enough of this important nutrient. (ILLUSTRATION: Vitamin D3 is often available in gel caplet form.)

Humans and, in fact, most mammals create their own Vitamin D when exposed to direct sunlight. But, because excessive exposure to the Sun is known to increase the risk of skin cancer, doctors generally don 't recommend being out in the sunlight as a way to get adequate Vitamin D. Instead, supplements are called for.

Vitamin D, in its D3 form known to chemists as cholecalciferol (don 't worry, I won 't force you to pronounce it!), is absolutely necessary for health. It was first discovered over a century ago when doctors were trying to find a cure for rickets, a serious bone disease that often affects children. It was noticed that this disease started to become much more common during the Industrial Revolution, when large numbers of people moved from the countryside and outdoors work to polluted cities where they worked in dark, dingy factories. Scientists also found that those living in warm, sunny places were much less likely to contract rickets than those living in cloudy, northern, high-latitude climates. Eventually it was discovered that Sun exposure or the taking of cod liver oil could absolutely prevent the disease, proving it to be a deficiency disease, meaning that it is not caused by a virus or other microorganism, but by a simple lack of something essential in the victim 's diet. That "something " proved to be Vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency is very common. A study in France showed that fully 14 percent of otherwise healthy adults had extremely low levels of Vitamin D. Another study, this one of medical professionals living in New England, indicated that 42 percent of them had a Vitamin D deficiency by the end of Winter among those who did not take D3 supplements. But among those who did supplement their diet with D3, the deficiency rate was only 11 percent!

It 's pretty clear that without enough of this vitamin, you can get very sick indeed. And it 's also clear that many of us, in fact, aren 't getting enough. But there 's a lot more to Vitamin D3 than preventing rickets. The vitamin has anti-aging and anti-inflammatory aspects, and it has been shown to positively affect your mental outlook, too, helping to combat depression. Vitamin D3 can even help improve the lifespan and survival of the neurons which make up your brain and nervous system. Let 's take a look at what it can do for you!

One of the major problems faced by older women is osteoporosis, which greatly increases the risk of bone fractures and hip fractures late in life can sometimes amount to a death sentence. In a study commissioned by the Women 's Health Initiative, it was found that women on a Vitamin D3 and calcium carbonate supplementation program had 12 percent fewer hip fractures that women taking a placebo. These effects were seen on fairly high doses of D3 over 800 IU per day.

Vitamin D3 boosts your immune system and your body 's ability to fight off all kinds of diseases. Immune system cells have structures with Vitamin D receptors, and it 's been shown that being deficient in this vitamin increases your risk of of infection generally and especially increases your risk of autoimmune diseases.

Vitamin D3 helps your body fight off viral respiratory infections.

Vitamin D3 also has been shown to be beneficial in helping your body fight off the flu.

Vitamin D3 can help your body fight off tuberculosis.

In 2010, a presentation at the American College of Cardiology showed that patients with low Vitamin D levels who were suffering from the leading cause of death among human beings worldwide cardiovascular disease were about 30 percent less likely to die if they took Vitamin D3 supplementation.

Studies suggest that Vitamin D has a role in inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells: Even though high sunlight exposure increases the risk of skin cancer (and a few other kinds), a large number of cancers have a risk profile that is actually decreased with large amounts of sun exposure (which increases the body 's own Vitamin D production). Hodgkin 's lymphoma and myeloma, cancers of the small intestine, pancreas, and kidneys; as well as cancer of the colon, bladder, vulva, uterus, stomach, rectum, and prostate all have this inverse relationship with sun exposure and Vitamin D production.

Vitamin D also evidently has a role in reducing the incidence of Parkinson 's and Alzheimer 's diseases: 41 percent of Alzheimer 's patients and fully 55 percent of Parkinson 's disease patients were found to be deficient in Vitamin D.

Among Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, Vitamin D3 supplementation was found to both decrease the number of lesions and increase the ability to walk and perform daily tasks. It 's also been discovered that relapses are more common among victims of MS who are deficient in Vitamin D. And it has long been observed that the incidence of Multiple Sclerosis decreases the closer you get to the equator, where there is more exposure to the Sun and hence more natural Vitamin D production.

Vitamin D3 taken in combination with calcium has been shown to decrease mortality in the elderly by some nine percent.

Some call Vitamin D the "sunlight vitamin " because our bodies synthesize it naturally when we are exposed to direct sunlight. The only danger is that too much sunlight isn 't good for you it can increase your risk of skin cancer. So be careful!

One way to insure you 're getting enough Vitamin D is the natural way: Sun exposure. But you have to be careful with this approach, since more than 15 minutes a day of direct, unscreened sunlight on your skin has been shown to increase your chances of developing skin cancer. But getting five to ten minutes a day, two to three times every week, of direct sunlight on your arms, hands, and face should be safe, and should also be enough to prevent any deficiency in the vitamin, according to experts.

The body can also absorb extra Vitamin D if you eat certain foods. Making sure you consume fat-containing fish, like eel, catfish, tuna, salmon, mackerel, and sardines can help. If you 're a vegetarian, cereals, cheese, fortified milk, and egg yolk are also rich in the nutrient.

The United States Institute of Medicine has established a recommended daily intake of Vitamin D3 at 600 IU (International Units) for those 70 and under and 800 IU daily for those 71 and up. The International Osteoporosis Foundation recommends even more, suggesting that Vitamin D levels that require a daily intake of 800 to 1000 IU daily are more appropriate.

Much higher doses can be taken safely, too, but don 't ever get close to 300,000 IU in any 24-hour period or 10,000 IU per day for three months or more: such doses can be toxic. Remember that too much of anything, even the most harmless things like water, can be harmful.

Unlike drugs, Vitamin D is a natural compound one that your body needs and one that your body also makes itself every time you go out in the Sun. You need it, and, thanks to modern technology, you can easily and inexpensively make sure you 're getting the maximum benefit possible from this health-boosting and life-improving nutrient the vitamin that isn 't really a vitamin!

REFERENCES

Tangpricha V, Pearce EN, et al. "Vitamin D insufficiency among free-living healthy young adults. " Am J Med. 2002; 112:659-62
Mohr, S.B. "A brief history of vitamin D and cancer prevention. " Annals Epidemio. 2009 Feb; 19(2):79-83

Schleithoff S.S., et al. "Vitamin D supplementation improves cytokine profiles in patients with congestive heart failure: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. " American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2006 Apr; 83:4, 754-759

Holick, M.F. "Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. " Am. Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004 Dec; 80(6 Suppl):1678S-88S

Regulska M, et al. "Involvement of PI3-K in neuroprotective effects of the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 analogue PRI-2191. " Pharmacol. Reports. 2006 Nov; 58:6,900-907

Jackson RD, et al. "Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of fractures. " New England Journal of Medicine. 2006;354:669-83

Aranow, C. "Vitamin D and the immune system. " Journal of Investig. Medicine. 2011 Aug;59(6):881-6

Evatt, M.L., et al. "Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Patients With Parkinson Disease and Alzheimer Disease. " Arch Neurol. 2008; 65(10):1348-1352

Rejnmark, L., et al. "Vitamin D with Calcium Reduces Mortality: Patient Level Pooled Analysis of 70,528 Patients from Eight Major Vitamin D Trials. " Journ. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 2012 May 17

Vitamin D Council, "Am I getting too much Vitamin D? ", http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/am-i-getting-too-much-vitamin-d/, retrieved 22 March, 2014