Humanity is on the verge of a gigantic leap forward in health promotion, says health journalist Bill Sardi ( www.knowledgeofhealth.com ). 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, says Sardi. Only about 3% of arterial plaque is cholesterol while 50% is calcium. Vitamin D is an anti-calcifying agent. Kidney disease patients, who are plagued with arterial calcifications, have 10 times the cardiac death rate compared to the general population.
What most doctors and the public have been told is that high-dose vitamin D can induce calcifications of arteries, says Sardi. But Armin Zittermann, Ph.D., of the Northrhine Westfalia Heart Center in Germany, reports that both extremely high and commonly low intake levels of vitamin D induce calcification of arteries. Calcification from overdose of vitamin D requires many hundreds of thousands of international units and is rare, whereas hundreds of millions of adults are deficient in vitamin D and suffer from calcified arteries as a result of deficiency. A study in Japan where adequate vitamin D levels achieved via supplementation reduced the death risk from cardiovascular disease by 70% compared to those who did not use vitamin D supplements.
Cancer reduction
Sardi points to studies published last year that raising vitamin D levels in human populations would reduce the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers by 30-50%.
Sardi says it is estimated that 50,000-63,000 individuals in the United States, and 19,000-25,000 in Great Britain, die prematurely from cancer annually due to insufficient vitamin D.
The common cold
Dr. John Cannell MD, who captains the Vitamin D Council, recently authored a paper which shows the winter increase in colds and flu is attributed to low seasonal vitamin D levels. Dr. Cannell even has a challenge for visitors to the Vitamin D Council website (www.vitamindcouncil.com). He suggests high-dose vitamin D (50,000 IU - 1.25 milligrams) be consumed for 3 days at the first sign of a cold or the flu. So far, Dr. Cannell is receiving many reports of how quickly high-dose vitamin D overpowers the common cold.
How did vitamin D escape notice?
Just how vitamin D has not drawn greater attention is difficult to fathom. In winter, when vitamin D levels are low, death rates around the world rise. Winter is the season for heart attacks. The diagnosis of cancer in winter months shortens survival times.
But are doctors informing their patients of the revolution underway and prescribing vitamin D? Not yet. Will they ever?
Cutting cancer rates by 30-50%, heart disease by up to 70%, may be too much of a shock now that health care is an industry that relies upon volumes of patients to treat, says Sardi. One wonders, will modern medicine ever let this vitamin D revolution happen?
Sun, diet or pills?
Sardi says it's difficult for most people to get optimal amounts of vitamin D. The diet, at best, will only provide a few hundred units of vitamin D. A glass of milk provides only 100 IU (2.5 micrograms).
Fifteen minutes of sun exposure to 40-percent of the body is suggested daily for fair-skinned individuals, and more time for dark-skinned people, says Sardi. Even adults who receive adequate sun exposure have been found to be deficient in vitamin D.
Humans have been made phobic about sunlight exposure, fearful of skin cancer and deadly malignant melanoma. But it is interesting to note that mortality rates for melanoma rose steeply after sunscreens came into common use, not before, says Sardi. Sunscreen lotion blocks the vitamin D-producing UV-B rays, while allowing the deeper-penetrating, cancer-causing UV-A rays to burn the skin.
Calculating the cost of deficiency
Sardi says cancer researchers estimate the provision of 1,000 IU of vitamin D would cost about $1 billion a year for all adult Americans, but the expected benefits would reduce the U.S. economic burden for health care by $40-56 billion annually (2004).
Many health food stores stock 1,000 IU and 2000 IU vitamin D pills. Higher-dose 5,000 IU and 50,000 IU vitamin D pills are more difficult to find and can be purchased from this trusted website: www.lifespannutrition.com
The full referenced text version of this press release can be viewed at www.knowledgeofhealth.com
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