Loading...
 
Toggle Health Problems and D

Vitamin D Blog

Recordings of Vitamin D conferences to be on VitaminDWiki

Sunday April 1, 2012

There is an explosion of vitamin D information, including many vitamin D conferences

VitaminDWiki is uploading and hosting the conferences/workshops/presentations/symposiums/ . . . for free

To minimize the cost of recording and hosting and make them quicker to download, conferences are being audio recorded.

How you might browse the vitamin D presentations

  1. Click on a presentation set (for example: Texas workshop)
  2. Select an interesting title/abstract, then Click to see details and any comments by others
  3. Click on the PDF – if interested in it
  4. Click and download the MP3 (audio)

Presentations anticipated to be on VitaminDWiki later in the year (as of April 2012) include:

We encourage other vitamin D events to be recorded on hosted on VitaminDWiki

  • particularly if not in English (so few are now available)
  • especially if aimed at the general public

Why the Middle East is so vitamin D deficient

Sunday April 1, 2012

Context

  • In March 2012 there was a Vitamin D Symposium for the Middle East
  • The proceedings of which will be available in the VitaminDWiki by mid April
  • VitaminDWiki got to wondering why they are so so deficient (many have less than 10 nanograms)

Compact list of reasons for vitamin D deficiency

ME = especially likely in the Middle East

    Less time in the SUN

  1. Air conditioning - to avoid the hot sun ME
  2. Increased use of multi-media indoors
  3. More indoor jobs - more office workers, fewer farmers ME
  4. Living in cities more ME
  5. Want whiter skin - especially women ME
  6. Fear skin cancer
  7. Cholesterol reduced
  8. More Obesity
  9. Soft drink cola
  10. Meat from factory farms
  11. Some drugs consume or block vitamin D
  12. increased use of polyunsaturated fats
  13. More windows which appear to destroy vitamin D
    Other than sun
  14. Eat less liver - which used to have very large amounts of vitamin D ME
    Unsure how the meat was killed
  15. Less Magnesium in foods
  16. More Seniors
  17. Excessive clothing (burka) ME
    Note: Women in ME have much less vitamin D than men
  18. Have a condition which Consumes vitamin D
  19. Have a condition which Prevents Adsorption in the gut
  20. Have a condition which Prevents Conversion to active form
  21. Have a condition which requires more vitamin D
  22. Lactose Intolerance or Vegan
  23. Health reasons to avoid sun
  24. Work long hours or night shift
  25. Live far from equator NOT ME
  26. DDT in bodies reduce the vitamin D
  27. Myths about vitamin D
  28. Dark Skin ME
  29. Use vitamin D2 avoiding D3 from wool and gelatin typically made from animals ME
    Note: D2 is known to have less benefit than D3, and it may actually DECREASE D3 levels
    Note: As of 2012 many companies make Kosher/Vegan Vitamin D3
    Note: Vegi-caps do exist
  30. Lack vitamin D fortification of food and drinks ME

Details on the list CLICK HERE
Details on Vitamin D in the Middle East CLICK HERE

1600 IU vitamin D minimum for high risk in New Zealand

Sunday April 1, 2012

Consensus statement for New Zealand: March 14, 2012

Summary:

  • ALL people at high risk of being vitamin D deficient in NZ should have a 50,000 IU vitamin D3 monthly prescription
  • Future Consensus statement for pregnancy
  • 32% of New Zealand had vitamin D levels less than 20 nanograms/ml in 2009

It is important to note what is missing:

  1. A great many organizations and countries place 30 nanograms as the minimum
  2. Winter would increase the percentage (less sun)
  3. They failed to mention such high risk groups as seniors
  4. Higher percentage would be deficient in their island which is further from the equator (less sunshine)
  5. Probably more New Zealanders have become deficient by 2012 (it has been 3 years since the study)
    26 reasons for deficiency - 12 of which are new in the past 40 years

Based on data from many other countries, VitaminDWiki anticipates:

>90% of those in high risk groups on the South Island will have < 30 nanogram in the winter
   Hhigh risk group examples: dark skin, senior, pregnant, obese

Consensus statement does NOT recommend widespread testing vitamin D levels (we agree – not needed)
They recommend getting it only by prescription (we disagree)

CLICK HERE for details and what other countries do

Percent of populations with less than 20 ng of vitamin D

Friday March 30, 2012

see wikipage: http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=2533

Large % of people in many countries have less than 20 nanograms:

Australia 31, Canada 61, China 45, India 75, Korea 56, Malaysia 74, Middle East 90, Mongolia 98, New Zealand 56, North Africa 60, Northern Europe 92, United States 36
Source of data for the chart March 2012

US vitamin D deficiency vs skin color details were reported by CDC March 2012

Image

The lack of vitamin D is even worse than the chart shows because:

  1. It does not show the vitamin D levels for those at high risk of vitamin D deficiency
    such as seniors, dark skinned, and obese
  2. It does not show the decrease during the winter for countries which are far from the equator
    Note: The Middle East has the lowest vitamin D during the summer - when they totally avoid the hot sun
  3. It does not show how many have less than 30 ng
    Which even US govt publication said was needed just a few months before
  4. It does not show current vitamin D deficiency, which is getting about 2X worse every 10 years

See also VitaminDWiki

http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1586

Image

   Notional Graph of Expert Opinions of vitamin D levels
see wikipage: http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1293

Consensus: 0 ng is bad and 30 ng is good/ok

Short URL = http://is.gd/20ngvitd

It takes more than just Vitamin D to build bones

Monday March 26, 2012

Calcium (alone) does not reduce risk of bone fracture: CLICK HERE for details

There are many studies which have found that just adding vitamin D does not always build bones

One study specifically showed that co-factors are required

While vitamin D is needed to build bones, also required are the following co-factors:

  1. Calcium: 500 mg daily
  2. Magnesium: 500 mg daily
  3. Vitamin K2: 5-10 mg daily
  4. Boron: 5-10 mg daily
  5. Silicon: 2 mg daily
  6. Strontium: 10 - 100 mg daily - confusion

CLICK HERE for details about the low-cost co-factors

The co-factors cost as little as 30 cents per day - in solid and liquid form

The Vitamin D, which is stored in the body, can be taken daily, weekly, and perhaps monthly

File not found.

The co-factors appear to be needed daily. There are hints that less frequent is OK

Two common errors when taking > 3000 IU of vitamin D daily (average)

  1. Too much Calcium can be deposited in the Kidneys (stones), Arteries, etc.
    should have a maximum of 500 mg Calcium element from all sources
    Vitamin D makes Calcium much more bio-available - perhaps 3X more
  2. Take too little Magnesium
    Need about a 1 to 1 balance between Calcium and Magnesium
    The old rule of thumb of 2 to 1 balance was based on bodies lacking vitamin D
    Must balance co-factors page has the following graph
File not found.

Even the US made the mistake on not considering the interactions between Calcium and Vitamin D see following graph
released Nov 30, 2010

Co-factors also aid

See also VitaminDWiki

Increase your inheritance - encourage your senior parents take more vitamin D

Saturday March 24, 2012

Having a good level of vitamin D will:

Extend the lives of your parents - at least 2 years

Reduce your parent's health and housing expenses -the final years with vitamin D are NOT the declining years

While vitamin D will delay getting it,

      less will be spent on health and housing,

            so you will end up getting more inheritance


Vitamin D should reduce medical costs

(To further maximize YOUR inheritance, DISCOURAGE the siblings from taking any vitamin D)  wink

See VitaminDWiki

Vitamin D can even fortify beer

Saturday March 24, 2012

Schlitz beer had been fortified with about 200 IU of vitamin D2

Image





Vitamin D can be added to food very easily

  • Very low cost to add vitamin D3
  • Can even add vitamin D3 to clear beverages


However, Govt restricts what can be added to food which is sold

  • Possible opportunity to adding vitamin D to the feed of chickens, etc
  • Anyone can add vitamin D to the food which they consume at home
  • Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (holder of patent on Vitamin D fortification), contested the Schlitz claims

See also VitaminDWiki

Vitamin D Deficiency - 27 reasons - 13 are recent

Saturday March 24, 2012

http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1586

Less time in the SUN (13 of 27 reasons)

  1. Air conditioning - to avoid the hot sun
  2. Increased use of multi-media indoors
  3. More indoor jobs - more office workers, fewer farmers
  4. Living in cities more
  5. Want whiter skin - especially women
  6. Fear skin cancer -
  7. Cholesterol reduced
  8. More Obesity
  9. Soft drink cola
  10. Meat from factory farms
  11. Some drugs consume or block vitamin D
  12. increased use of polyunsaturated fats
  13. More windows appear to destroy vitamin D (added March 2012)

    14 reasons are more than 40 years old
  14. Eat less liver - which used to have very large amounts of vitamin D
  15. Less Magnesium in foods
  16. More Seniors
  17. Excessive clothing (burka, nun habit, . . .)
  18. Have a condition which Consumes vitamin D
  19. Have a condition which Prevents Adsorption in the gut
  20. Have a condition which Prevents Conversion to active form
  21. Have a condition which requires more vitamin D
  22. Lactose Intolerance or Vegan
  23. Health reasons to avoid sun
  24. Work long hours or night shift
  25. Live far from equator
  26. DDT in our bodies reduce the vitamin D
  27. Myths about vitamin D

See VitaminDWiki

MS relapse reduction: low-cost vitamin D or high cost new drug

Wednesday March 21, 2012

BG-12 (dimethyl fumarate) drug submitted to FDA March 2012

BG-12 provides about 50% reduction of MS relapses.
Raising vitamin D by 20 ng provides about 50% reduction in MS relapses
BG-12 is patented, so the company can charge a lot of money and make huge profits
$3 billion annual revenue anticipated Bloomberg Nov 2011

Guess at the annual costs for similar 50% reduction in MS relapses

       $10 Vitamin D: many POSITIVE side effects
$10,000 BG-12: possible NEGATIVE side effects

See VitaminDWiki

Majority of those living in the ozone hole lack vitamin D

Thursday March 15, 2012

Australia and New Zealand adopted the Slip-Slop-Slap campaign about 30 years ago.

They have been “protecting” themselves with sun screen at all times of the day, not just the middle of the day.
As a result, they have gotten very little vitamin D from the sun.

In Dec 2011 Australia reported 73% of population had less than 30 nanograms of vitamin D based on a study made in 2000

In March 2012 New Zealand reported 32% of population had less than 20 nanograms of vitamin D based on a study made in 2009

Based on many studies from many other countries around the world we can expect that in 2012

80% of Australia and New Zealand will have < 30 nanograms of vitamin D

Even higher percentage (probably >90%) of certain groups will be vitamin D deficient:

Australia has not changed their recommendations since 2008 - still have 200 IU daily

New Zealand has made a small step in the right direction with 1,600 IU daily (50,000 IU monthly)

However: UVB (vitamin D) has not increased, though UVA did increase

UVB still does not get thru
Would have been nice to have had a sunscreen which blocked just UVA,
Unfortunately, most suncreens block both UVA and UVB
Some sunscreens block UVB more than UVA - the exact opposite of what is wanted
Sunscreen wanted

Sunscreen in some pills may block UVA but not UVB - which would be GREAT!!

These pills might provide more of the wanted spectrum (UVB) instead of the actual sunscreen spectrum (UVA)

- - - - - - - - -

Perspective: The Middle East has even less Vitamin D

Many people in the Middle East now have less than 10 nanograms

They managed to become deficient without applying sunscreen cream

  • Dark skin (natural sunscreen)
  • concealing clothes (wearable sunscreen)
  • very hot sun
  • air conditioning, etc.