Although most people don't know it, what we call vitamin D is actually a hormone.  In fact it is probably the oldest hormone on the planet.  It has been isolated from forms of plankton that are 750 million years old.  Every form of life on this planet has some sort of vitamin D activity.  It is the sunshine hormone and all life starts with sunshine.

The public's and the medical community's awareness of the role of vitamin D goes back to the discovery that butterfat and cod liver oil could prevent the bone softening disease rickets.  The connection to sunlight was discovered when it was noticed that children with rickets that were treated with light from mercury arc lamps recovered from the rickets, and that treating the butterfat the same way greatly enhanced its anti-rickets strength.  This led to the understanding that something in the butterfat that was also in the skins of the kids was being transformed into some vital factor by the UV radiation from the mercury lamps.

Since that early work in the 1920's and 30's everyone but researchers have pretty much ignored "vitamin" D.  The early studies determined that 400 units of this new vitamin would prevent rickets.  They had a disease, found a cure, case closed.  No one stopped to consider that vitamin D might be useful for other things in the body, and that different doses might be necessary for health.

There seems to be a great concern about vitamin D toxicity from overdosing on vitamin D so doctors warn patients against exceeding the recommended dose necessary to prevent rickets.  Yet almost no one has ever seen a case of vitamin D overdose.  It has been created in the lab by giving doses of 50,000 IU every day for several months.  It has been seen in infants given 40,000 IU per day for only 1 month.  400 IU a day is the absolute minimum necessary to prevent rickets, but that says nothing about how much is needed to be healthy.

What else might vitamin/hormone D do in the body that affects our health?

Since the 30's quite a bit about vitamin D has been discovered.  Here is a list of the diseases that vitamin D directly affects and that not enough vitamin D might actually cause:

    Rickets - everyone knows this one
    Osteomalacia and osteoporosis
    Cancer - of the breast, prostate, colon, and skin
    Diabetes
    Heart Disease
    Arthritis
    Infertility
    PMS
    Influenza and cold virus and possibly HIV susceptibility
    Tuberculosis susceptibility 
    Fatigue and Depression - D is needed to make Dopamine and Adrenaline
    SAD - Seasonal Affect Disorder
    Chronic Fatigue
    Fibromyalgia
    Crohn's disease
    Multiple Sclerosis
    Rheumatoid Arthritis
    Sjogren's Syndrome
    Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - the most common thyroid problem
    Metabolic Syndrome
    Obesity

Wow!  Vitamin D is central to a whole lot of things.  D is a key hormone for many body processes.  Researchers have found that vitamin D influences the expression of over 2000 different genes in us.  We are just beginning to understand all the things vitamin D does in the body.  One thing is for certain - we were meant to get daily sun exposure.

If we live in the tropics we can get all the D we need just by being outside and getting sunlight on our skin.  15 minutes a day of exposure to our arms and legs is enough to do the job.  After that you can use your sunscreen to protect yourself from overexposure causing sun damage, but not before.  Likewise in our northern latitudes this will work in the summer months with midday sun, but during October through March the UV rays from the sun are not strong enough to help us form vitamin D (unless we live in the south or at very high elevations).

If you have dark skin (either naturally or through tanning) you have a much larger problem.  Dark skin pigment absorbs D forming UV light just like sunscreen.  African Americans need 4 to 5 times the sun exposure to form the same amount of D that white folks form.  In fact it was specifically the appearance of the white skin gene that allowed our ancestors to migrate north.  Black skinned folks do not thrive in northern climates without supplemental vitamin D - which did not exist until about 80 years ago except as butter fat and cod liver oil.

So how much D do we need?  Current recommendations are about 5000 IU per day for adults and pregnant women, 2500 IU per day for kids over 5, and 35 IU per pound of body weight for kids under age 5.  Experts are still arguing over these numbers, but these should fill the average need.  If you have any autoimmune problems these numbers should probably be doubled.  

The only way to know for sure if you need Vitamin D is a blood test for 25(OH)D.  Everyone metabolizes D differently so our needs are all different.  The ideal healthy range is a lab value of 60 to 80ng/ml.  Some evidence exists that many labs do not do a good job assessing D levels.  The best results seem to come from Lab Corp.  Fortunately this is the lab I use when ordering tests from the office.

In the field medical practitioners are just beginning to get the message about how important vitamin D is to health.  I was delighted the other day to discover that my son and daughter-in-law's pediatrician actually recommended putting a drop of vitamin D oil on the breast before nursing my new granddaughter Eliza.  Breast milk does not contain enough vitamin D.  Babies are designed to get sun exposure just like adults - about 15 minutes a day.  But they live in Seattle, Washington, so useful sunlight is nonexistent this time of year.

Vitamin D is probably the cheapest health insurance you can buy.  I get mine at Costco in the tiny 2000 IU pearls.  I take 3 a day for 6000 units of protection each day.  I also take a vitamin A pearl each day because just taking vitamin D alone will suppress our vitamin A levels (and vice versa).

A point to be aware of - body fat sucks up vitamin D.  You might spend lots of time in the sun and should have great vitamin D levels, but if you have too much body fat you might still show vitamin D deficiency levels.  This is one of those individual factors that might greatly increase your need for supplemental D.  Also know that vitamin D is formed in the skin and is secreted out in our pores as it is formed.  It has to reabsorb for the body to get it back into the blood stream for final conversion in the kidneys.  If you lay out in the sun to form your D but then take a quick dip in the pool to cool off, you have just washed off the D you formed.  It takes several hours for that D to absorb into the skin.

Vitamin D is so important for so many functions in the body, you owe it to yourself to take this essential nutrient every day.  It is not expensive and easy to take. Get yourself tested for your vitamin D levels and then if low, retested regularly until your levels are sufficient.  It is believed that 85% of Americans are deficient, and up to 95% of those that have deeply pigmented skin.  So basically most everybody is low on D, it is just a question of how low.  The amount of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and brain problems shows us this.  These are the main things that take us out these days.  So hop on the vitamin D bandwagon and start getting healthier today.

Take care,


David      

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Stress makes us lose our goal focus and just follow habits

 

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About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

 

Catherine Cummings

 

 

Jin Shin Jitsu

 

 

Lorena Morales

 

 

Massage Practitioner

 

 

 

 

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