Can vitamin D supplements cure cancer prevent heart attacks and improve immunity?
What is vitamin D what happens if i do not get enough vitamin D what proportion vitamin D. Do i want can vitamin D supplements cure cancer prevent heart attacks and improve immunity and eventually do i want to require a vitamin D supplement. A big thank you to one of our early supporters Natalie for suggesting this topic now, there's a lot to get through. So let's get cracking. Vitamin D isn't just one thing. It's actually a set of molecules vitamin D made in our skin or absorbed from food starts off as inactive vitamin D it then travels to the liver where it is packaged into the circulating sort of vitamin D . This is what doctors measure when they order a vitamin D blood test. Finally the circulating vitamin D is unpacked in the kidney to form active vitamin D, which is more than 100 times more. And then circulating vitamin D the most well understood effect of vitamin D is on the bones. It helps absorb minerals like calcium phosphorus and magnesium to assist maintain strong bones vitamin D also helps the body break down old worn-out bone and build new bone in its place. The major source of vitamin D is direct sunlight when sunlight reaches us on surface , it contains two sorts of UV light UVA and UVB. UVB light from the sun interacts with a type of cholesterol in the skin to make vitamin D an important Point here is that glass? Let's UVA pass through but blocks UVB. This means that sunbaking behind your office window or in your car won't help you make vitamin D, but the UVA will still accelerate skin aging and can increase the risk of carcinoma some foods do contain vitamin D the highest three Natural food sources are oily fish like salmon and tuna beef liver and ingredient . If your mom wont to offer you cod liver oil it had been because it's the richest concentrated sort of food vitamin D . Have you heard of rickets? Well vitamin D was originally discovered as a treatment for rickets. Rickets is a condition in children where bones are soft and weak children with rickets have deformed bones that can fracture easily. In adults, this condition of weak bones is called osteomalacia Osteo means bone and Malaysia means soft many people with this condition have no symptoms at all. But if the bones still weaken over time, then people can develop deep and dull aching pain in their bones and even get fractures in unusual places like the ribs or spine people with osteomalacia have very low vitamin D levels in the body. There is a lot of Buzz around the effects of vitamin D and other aspects About health like immune function heart health and even cancer, but I'll get to that in just a moment. Our skin may be a vitamin D making machine. Now. There are two things that influence the amount of vitamin D that our body is able to make the first is our skin type and the second is the amount of UV exposure. I looked at Fitzpatrick skin types and changes in the amount of UV exposure around the world in my previous video. I'll leave a link in the description below. If you haven't seen that one yet exposure to UV light is a balancing act too little and you risk becoming vitamin D deficient but too much increases your risk of skin cancer and accelerates skin aging it is really tricky to give specific recommendations on the amount of sunlight that each person needs and that's because people's skin types can vary so dramatically as can the amount of UV in the environment, but overall, you don't need that much sunlight to get enough vitamin D. Here is a quick formula that you can use as a guide. Just remember this guide is most applicable for people with fair skin, which means Fitzpatrick skin types 223 first find out the maximum UV index in your city. The atomic number is 3 if the utmost UV index is a smaller amount than 3 then about half an hour within the sun is suggested and you do not got to use sun protection if the utmost UV index is 3 or more. People with fair skin can produce enough vitamin D very quickly. Just 5 to 10 minutes of sunlight is enough for adults children and infants. There is a relatively high risk of getting sunburned. So you ought to use sun protection if you propose to spend quite a couple of minutes outside. Now remember these guidelines are for people with fair skin people with darker skin tend to be more UV resilient some studies suggest that Asian Indians need up to three times more sun and those with African ancestry need up to six to ten times more son. Now some of you may not be able to get that much sunlight either because of we live because of the type of job that you do or certain health conditions, assuming that you simply get practically no sunlight then for adults. The recommended amount of vitamin D from your diet is 600 international units per day Vitamin D supplements can vary in their dose, but the most common ones available from the pharmacy usually contain one thousand international units per capsule. The short answer at this stage is no vitamin D works by binding to a receptor called a vitamin D receptor this receptor sits on the nucleus of pretty much everybody cell. So in theory vitamin D can have lots of effects in the body.
There have been many studies looking at the relationship between vitamin D and other health conditions like cancer heart disease and immune base conditions like asthma but the results so far do not convincingly show that giving vitamin D reduces the risk of these conditions. Let me explain a study in 2012 combine the results of 19 different studies to see if vitamin D levels are linked with heart disease. They found that as vitamin D levels go up. The number of people with heart disease goes down. So more vitamin D must protect against heart disease right building on this clue researchers tested whether giving Vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk of heart disease, but disappointingly. There was no effect the same thing happened with cancer large population level studies found that there may be a link between vitamin D and bowel cancer, but in Trials where people were given Vitamin D supplements, there was no Difference in cancer rates you might be thinking. Well, why what one of the many reasons might be the age-old problem of correlation versus causation when researchers do these big population level studies. They try to join the dots between two things to see if there is a link now, even if we do find a link We may miss some information in between going back to the example about heart disease. We found that more vitamin D was linked with Risk of heart disease. Well, what do we know about vitamin D. We know now that the major source for us is direct sunlight and for people to get enough Sun. They need to be fit enough to spend time outside. Is it possible that people who have enough vitamin D tend to be people who are fitter and healthier and that's why they don't get heart disease. Vitamin D may be a marker of someone who is healthy and active rather than something that prevents heart disease in itself. This is just one theory of what might be going on. There's a lot more research coming out and we're constantly learning new things as of 2018. We know that having enough vitamin D is important for our health, especially Albert, but any other health claim made about vitamin D just doesn't stack up yet. For most healthy adults and children sunlight in moderate Amounts is all that's needed to get enough vitamin D. In fact the benefits of sunlight May extend beyond Vitamin D. It means that you're getting outside and getting some exercise and just being out in the sun can improve your mood. Another thing to remember is that vitamin D is one of the four Fat soluble vitamins this means that the body can store vitamin D and then release it slowly. This means you don't need sunlight every day the vitamin D that your body makes and stalls in summer can be released slowly over up to a couple of months to get you through winter. There are definitely some people who are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency and may benefit from taking Vitamin D supplements. This includes older people who are at risk of fractures people who are naturally very dark-skinned and live unless Sunny climates those who spend long hours indoors and women that are already vitamin D deficient and are planning a pregnancy. If you think that you or a family member are at risk of vitamin D deficiency have a chat to your doctor to see if a supplement may help you. Oh and one last thing because vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin your body can't get rid of it. If you take too much vitamin D from sunlight can never reach toxic levels, but Vitamin D from supplements can especially if taken in large doses. You should be especially careful with babies and children. They have small bodies and if they're given too much vitamin D through supplements. It can quickly become toxic. There have been cases of children who suffered from a condition called hypercalcemia because of excess vitamin D given by their parents. Remember to talk to your pediatrician or your GP before you give your children any kind of vitamin D supplement? The overall message for you is that vitamin D is a balancing act.
Vitamin D isn't just one thing. It's actually a set of molecules vitamin D made in our skin or absorbed from food starts off as inactive vitamin D it then travels to the liver where it is packaged into the circulating sort of vitamin D.
This is what doctors measure once they order a vitamin D biopsy.
Finally, the circulating vitamin D is unpacked within the kidney to make active vitamin D, which is quite 100 times more. And then circulating vitamin D the most well-understood effect of vitamin D is on the bones.
It helps absorb minerals like calcium phosphorus and magnesium to assist maintain strong bones vitamin D also helps the body break down old worn-out bone and build new bone in its place.
The major source of vitamin D is direct sunlight when sunlight reaches us on Earth's surface, it contains two types of UV light UVA and UVB.
UVB light from the sun interacts with a kind of cholesterol within the skin to form vitamin D a crucial Point here is that glass?
Let's UVA pass through but blocks UVB.
This means that sunbaking behind your office window or in your car won't help you make vitamin D, but the UVA will still accelerate skin aging and can increase the risk of skin cancer some foods do contain vitamin D the top three Natural food sources are oily fish like salmon and tuna beef liver and egg yolk.
Have you heard of rickets?
Well vitamin D was originally discovered as a treatment for rickets.
Rickets may be a condition in children where bones are soft and weak children with rickets have deformed bones which will fracture easily.
In adults, this condition of weak bones is called osteomalacia Osteo means bone and Malaysia means soft many people with this condition have no symptoms at all. But if the bones still weaken over time, then people can develop deep and dull aching pain in their bones and even get fractures in unusual places like the ribs or spine people with osteomalacia have very low vitamin D levels within the body.
Our skin is a vitamin D making machine.
Now. There are two things that influence the quantity of vitamin D that our body is in a position to form the primary is our skin type and therefore the second is that the amount of UV exposure.
People with fair skin can produce enough vitamin D very quickly.
Just 5 to 10 minutes of sunlight is enough for adults children and infants.
There is a relatively high risk of getting sunburned.
So you ought to use sun protection if you propose to spend quite a couple of minutes outside.
There have been many studies looking at the relationship between vitamin D and other health conditions like cancer heart disease and immune base conditions like asthma but the results so far don't convincingly show that giving vitamin D reduces the danger of those conditions.
They found that as vitamin D levels go up. The number of people with heart disease goes down.
So more vitamin D must protect against heart condition right building on this clue researchers tested whether giving vitamin D supplements can reduce the danger of heart condition, but disappointingly.
There was no effect an equivalent thing happened with cancer large population-level studies found that there could also be a link between vitamin D and bowel cancer, but in Trials where people were given Vitamin D supplements, there was no Difference in cancer rates you might be thinking. Well, why what one of the many reasons might be the age-old problem of correlation versus causation when researchers do these big population-level studies.
We know now that the main source for us is direct sunlight and for people to urge enough Sun. They need to be fit enough to spend time outside.
Is it possible that folks who have enough vitamin D tend to be people that are fitter and healthier and that is why they do not get heart condition?
Vitamin D could also be a marker of somebody who is healthy and active instead of something that forestalls heart condition in itself.
We know that having enough vitamin D is important for our health, especially Albert, but any other health claim made about vitamin D just doesn't stack up yet.
For most healthy adults and youngsters sunlight in moderate Amounts is all that's needed to urge enough vitamin D .
In fact the advantages of sunlight May extend beyond vitamin D . It means you're getting outside and getting some exercise and just being call at the sun can improve your mood.
Another thing to remember is that vitamin D is one of the four Fat soluble vitamins this means that the body can store vitamin D and then release it slowly.
This means you don't need sunlight every day the vitamin D that your body makes and stalls in summer can be released slowly over up to a couple of months to get you through winter.
There are definitely some people that are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency and should enjoy taking vitamin D supplements.
This includes older people who are at risk of fractures people who are naturally very dark-skinned and live unless Sunny climates those who spend long hours indoors and women that are already vitamin D deficient and are planning a pregnancy.
Oh and one last item because vitamin D may be a vitamin your body can't get obviate it. If you're taking an excessive amount of vitamin D from sunlight can never reach toxic levels, but vitamin D from supplements can especially if taken in large doses.
There have been cases of children who suffered from a condition called hypercalcemia because of excess vitamin D given by their parents.
Remember to talk to your pediatrician or your GP before you give your children any kind of vitamin D supplement?
The overall message for you is that vitamin D may be a balancing act.
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