By the way, if you ask anybody who takes 5000 units of Vitamin D a day, they'll tell you they just don't get sick anymore; the colds and flu just don't happen. How that works is amazing. Your body makes hundreds of naturally occurring antibiotics called antimicrobial peptides and people have been looking for a long time to see what up-regulates genetic production of them, what increases productions of antimicrobial peptides.

Vitamin D3 is manufactured by the body from Cholesterol as the skin is exposed to the sunlight. Since Vitamin D3 is manufactured by the body many researchers also consider it a hormone.In fact, it is the most active steroid hormone by weight in the body. It is used in hundreds of biochemical reactions throughout the body. The purity of Vitamin D3 is critical. It needs to be from a natural source. Most on the market are chemical synthetics. Ours is obtained from sheep wool. I have a pharmaceutical lab manufacture it for me. This is critical because of its hormone like properties.It must be pure. Also it has to be sealed properly by capsulation since it will be oxidized very quickly and become useless if not harmful. Health Masters Vitamin D3 is the highest quality product available today and when you read through this newsletter, which by the way I have been working on for months; you will understand why this is so important.  Again it is the most active steroid hormone by weight in the body.

Much of this information is from an oral presentation.  It lacks the fluidity of my normal e-mails.  But the information, as you will find, is so critical I am sending it today.

Here an interesting review from the Harvard Medical School-The epidemiology of Vitamin D and cancer incidence and mortality:

Higher rates of total cancer mortality in regions with less UV-B radiation, and among African-Americans and overweight and obese people, each associated with lower circulating Vitamin D, and that increasing Vitamin D3 reduces death rates.

Am J Public Health-The role of Vitamin D in cancer prevention. University of California, San Diego

A PubMed database search yielded 63 observational studies of Vitamin D status in relation to cancer risk, including 30 colon, 13 of breast, 26 prostate, and 7 of ovarian cancer, and several that assessed the association of Vitamin D receptor genotype with cancer risk.// The evidence suggests that efforts to improve Vitamin D status, for example by Vitamin D supplementation, could reduce cancer incidence and death rates  at low cost, with few or no adverse effects.

Immunity and Auto-Immunity

Including the following, disease can be cause by a lack of D3

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• DiabetesMellitus-type 1-auto-immunity and insulin production
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Psoriasis
• Promotes wound healing and immune support

The medical literature indicates Vitamin D levels of about 50 ng/ml are associated with peak athletic performance. Of course, recent studies show such levels are ideal for preventing cancer, diabetes, hypertension, influenza, multiple sclerosis, major depression, cognitive decline, etc. It also increases speed, balance, and reaction time, muscle mass, muscle strength, squats, reps, etc.

Professor Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, now in Switzerland, did the largest study. She and her colleagues found a strong positive correlation and suggestion of a U-shaped curve with athletic performance on one test peaking with Vitamin D levels of 10,000 IU of 50 ng/ml but deteriorating at higher levels. It is interesting to speculate that levels around 50 ng/ml may be optimal for athletic performance as such levels are common in humans living in a "natural" state of sun-exposure, such as lifeguards or tropical farmers.

Bischoff HA, Stahelin HB, Urscheler N, Ehrsam R, Vonthein R, Perrig-Chiello P, Tyndall A, Theiler R. Muscle strength in the elderly: its relation to Vitamin D metabolites. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1999 Jan; 80(1):54-8.

Sato reported that two years of treatment with 1,000 IU of Vitamin D per significantly increased muscle strength, doubled the mean diameter, and tripled the percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers; in the functional limbs of 48 severely Vitamin D deficient elderly stroke patients. The placebo control group suffered declines in muscle strength, and in the size and percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers.

"If you are Vitamin D deficient, the medical literature indicates that the right amount of D will make you faster, stronger, improve your balance and timing, etc. 

 How much it will improve your athletic ability depends on how deficient you are to begin with. How good an athlete you will be depends on your innate ability, training, and dedication? However, peak athletic performance also depends upon the neuromuscular cells in your body and brain having unfettered access to the steroid hormone, active Vitamin D. In addition, how much activated Vitamin D is available to your brain, muscle, and nerves depend on having ideal levels of Vitamin D in your blood-about 50 ng/ml, to be precise." John Connell MD

In an eight-year prospective study of 35, 000 subjects, colon cancer was reduced by 80% in those with serum 4000 IU a day

A recent English study showed breast cancer was five times more common in those with the lowest Vitamin D3 levels.

The epidemiology of Vitamin D and cancer incidence and mortality: a review (United States).

Harvard Medical School-

The evidence that higher 24 (OH)D levels through increased sunlight exposure of dietary or supplement intake inhibit colorectal cancer is substantial. The biologic evidence for an anti-cancer role of 25(OH)D is also strong for prostate cancer.

What This Means

Adequate D3 Helps Maintain Good Blood Pressure In Men & Women

Also, Physicians who advise their patents to avoid the sun without preventing Vitamin D deficiency are doing a disservice to their patients.

To ensure that serum 25(OH)D concentrations exceed 100 nmol/L, a total Vitamin D supply of 100 microg (4000 IU)/d is required. Except in those with conditions causing hypersensitivity, there is no evidence of adverse effects with serum 25(OH)D concentrations <140 nmol/L, which require a total Vitamin D supply of 250 microg (10000 IU)/d to attain.

3 Primary Endocrine Functions Of Vitamin D Are?

• Gut Absorption of Calcium
• Reduce Kidney Excretion of Calcium
• Bone Destruction for Calcium

Vitamin D is essential for life. You can die in minutes from low calcium in the blood which is maintained by Vitamin D. However, you may die in decades from low Vitamin D (autocrineparacrine function).

Nutritional rickets among children in the United States: review of cases reported between 1986 and 2003. 

We identified 166 reviewed reports of nutritional rickets among US children <18 years of age that were published between 1986 and 2003.

DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION?

• Associated with Vitamin D deficiency:
• Associated cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, 12 other cancers, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, stroke, rickets, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, dementia, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, obesity, periodontal disease, Parkinson's disease, autoimmune disease, and yes, osteoporosis

• THE FACTS

  • When you sunbathe, you make about 20,000 IU of Vitamin D
  • 100 times more Vitamin D than a multivitamin
  • 100 times more Vitamin D than the government says you need!

  It seems our body is telling us something. Doesn't it?

  Call 1-800-726-1834

  Vitamin D and its role in immunology: multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease

  Analyses of genetically identical twins show that besides genetics are important environmental factors that contribute to Multiple Sclerosis and IBD. Vitamin D availability due to sunshine or diet may play a role in the development of MS and IBD.

  Vitamin D and its role in immunology: multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease

  In the absence of Vitamin D, auto reactive T cells develop and in the presence of active Vitamin D 125 and a functional Vitamin D receptor the balance in the T cell response is restored and autoimmunity avoided

  Depression and Mental Illness

    ENHANCES MENTAL HEALTH

  • Seasonal Affective Disorder - circadian rhythms-melatonin suppression
  • Pre Menstrual Syndrome-light increases serotonin
  • General Mood (beta-endorphins in skin)
  • Vieth recently demonstrated that 4,000 units a day of Vitamin D3 improves mood better than 800 units a day.

   MULTIPLE SCLORISIS

  1. A demyelinating disease of the Central Nervous System
  2. The CNS is normally protected from inflammation
  3. In MS, inflammatory Th1 cells and macrophages mediate CNS pathology
  4. MS geography-prevalence increases with latitude and varies with season, peaking in Spring and declining in Sumer
  5. Mechanisms of protection include stimulation of inflammatory cell apoptosis and inhibition of recruitment and chemokin synthesis

  DIABETES

  • Blood glucose is inversely proportional to serum 25(OH)D
  • The incidence of type 2 diabetes in whites is inversely proportional to serum 25(OH)D, not so in African Americans

  The association was strong (P<.005) among their 120 women with polycystic ovarian disease. However, like dozens of other studies, the authors also found a strong inverse correlation between obesity and Vitamin D levels-the higher the Vitamin D levels the thinner the patients- and this may explain the association with HDL cholesterol.

  Hahn S, et al. Low Serum 25-HydroxyVitamin D Concentrations are Associated with Insulin Resistance and Obesity in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes. 2006 Nov; 114 (10):577-83.

  VITAMIN D AND PAIN

  Vitamin D improves low back pain.  Initial assessment involved 360 patients (90% women and 10% men) who had experience with low back pain that had no Finding 83% n=299 had an abnormally low level of Vitamin D.After treatment with Vitamin D clinical improvement in symptoms was seen in 95% of all the patients n=341

  
  

• OSTEOPOROSIS AND ARTHRITIS

  Two randomized Vitamin D trial in ambulatory patients on anticonvulsants: impact on bone.

  CONCLUSIONS: In ambulatory adults on antiepileptic drugs, high-dose Vitamin D 4,000 IU/day therapy substantially increased bone mineral density at several skeletal sites.

  • Framingham data showed osteoarthritis of the knee progressed more rapidly in those with 25(OH)D levels lower than 36 ng/ml
  • Another study found that osteoarthritis of the hip progressed more rapidly in those with 25(OH)D levels lower than 30 ng/ml

  KIDNEY DISEASE

  Vitamin D and Cardiovascular Disease: Vitamin D deficiency accompanies the loss of kidney function and is extremely common. Treatment with active Vitamin D has improved survival rate in dialysis patients.

  
  

COLDS AND FLUS

IMMUNITY AND AUTO-IMMUNITY

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Diabetes Mellitus-type 1-Auto-immunity and Insulin Production
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Psoriasis
• Promotes wound healing and immune support
• Colds & Flu

IMMUNE FUNCTION

• D3 is a potent modulator of macrophage functions, promoting differentiation of monocytes into macrophages and then activating phagocytic and antimicrobial activities and enhancing No production (NO in macrophages promotes mycobacteria killing) macrophages express VDR receptor and can produce Vitamin D3 (1a-hydroxylase)
• Vitamin D3 normally inhibits CD4t-cell proliferation and suppresses Th-1 cytokines, i.e. IL-2, IFN-g, TNF-a, and IL-12 and may enhance Th-2 response over Th-1

What this all means is D3 greatly enhances immune system function. You recover much more quickly from the flu or a cold and it should reduce the risk of ever developing the cold or flu.

How Much Vitamin D Should You Take If You Get The Flu?

This is antidotal and without research some doctors have experimented by taking 70,000 units per day for 3 days. Others suggest 100,000 units for 3 days. There are no studies on these levels for the flu. The best treatment is prevention by keeping your Vitamin D levels up at 50ng/ml through the winter.  If you take more that 10,000 IU a day from all sources please get your D3 levels checked twice a year so you can adjust your amount.  This is what I do. This is the first time I have told you to do blood work two times a year.  Getting enough Vitamin D is so important that it is worth the test!

What Should You Do?

• Spend 10-15 minutes in the sun each day
• Ask your doctor to check your 25(OH) level.This is really important!
• Ideal levels are between 40-60 ng/ml
• 1,000 IU will raise you level about 10 ng/ml
• Dr. John Cannell takes 4,000 units of D3 a day.I take around 5000-10,000 from all sources; it varies depending on the time of year.
• If you have a serious illness, you should learn all you can and act accordingly
• If you start having hard joint pain, you may be getting too much.  Remember: CHECK YOUR LEVELS!

What to Do?

If you are making or taking Vitamin D you need to take Calcium at least 800 mg per day. Our OSSOMAG is the BEST SOURCE.

1. First is to get it from the sun
2. Second is to have everyone take 2000-5000 IU a day
3. If you take more than 5000 to 10,000 IU you should follow with lab work at least biannually.
4. Third common doses given are 1000 IU, 2000, lots of research at 4000 IU. Some Doctors give 5000 IU and 10,000 IU.

Just one example of an important gene that Vitamin D up-regulates is your ability to fight infections. It produces over 200 anti microbial peptides, the most important of which is cathelicidin, a naturally occurring broad-spectrum antibiotic.

And, when you consider the fact that you only have 30,000 genes in your body, and Vitamin D has been shown to influence more that 2,000 of them, the bigger picture of its true impact on your health can be easily understood. It may, in fact, have literally thousands of health benefits! So it is like we are just beginning to scratch the surface of its true potential for reversing the modern disease state.