Health for a Lifetime

Vitamin D

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: George Guthrie, Don Mackintosh

Home

Series Code: HFAL

Program Code: HFAL000130


00:47 Welcome to "Health for a Lifetime"
00:48 I'm your host Don Mackintosh
00:49 Today, we're going to be talking about a very interesting subject
00:53 Something we haven't talked about before on this program.
00:56 Vitamin D
00:58 And here talking with us about vitamin D will be
01:00 Dr. George Guthrie
01:02 Dr. Guthrie... you're a physician at the
01:04 "Lifestyle Center of America" in Oklahoma,
01:06 isn't that right? That's correct!
01:07 You also were in family practice.
01:09 How many years were you involved in family practice medicine?
01:11 Oh, about 14 years.
01:13 And you've been a professor at Loma Linda;
01:15 you've taught about health,
01:16 and you're a nutritionist. Yes
01:19 Also, I think you're a carpenter aren't you?
01:20 Many different things...
01:22 We're glad you're with us today, doctor.
01:24 We're going to talk about vitamin D... Yes
01:26 What IS vitamin D?
01:28 First, vitamin D is not a vitamin.
01:30 Well then why do we call it vitamin D?
01:32 Well that's kind of how the history came to us.
01:36 But vitamin D is actually a hormone.
01:38 You ARE Dr. Guthrie, aren't you? That's correct!
01:40 But vitamin D is not vitamin D, it's a hormone.
01:42 Vitamin D is made in the skin when sunlight hits the skin
01:46 And vitamin D is actually created in the skin
01:49 from cholesterol.
01:51 So the radiation from the sun hits the cholesterol in the skin
01:56 and it changes the cholesterol actually by breaking
02:00 1 of its 4 rings into a pre-vitamin D
02:04 So one way to lower cholesterol that kills us,
02:08 is to go out in the sun.
02:09 Well, you know, I've thought of that,
02:11 but I've never seen any documentation that it
02:13 works directly that way.
02:15 The amount of cholesterol used,
02:17 I'm sure is small compared to the total in our body.
02:20 But, it's a good thought! Okay!
02:23 So, vitamin D, what does it do in our bodies?
02:26 You say it's a hormone, but what does it do in our body?
02:28 For years, we focused on vitamin D's effect on
02:32 the calcium balance in our body.
02:34 You see, our body needs to have a calcium level
02:37 in the blood very carefully balanced.
02:39 If it gets out of balance,
02:41 all kinds of funny things can happen;
02:44 nerves start firing when they're not supposed to,
02:46 heart gets irregular.
02:48 The calcium level in the blood needs to be kept stable,
02:52 and vitamin D is an important part of a complex of several
02:57 hormones that actually manages that calcium level.
03:01 So vitamin D is in charge of the calcium.
03:03 That is one of its important jobs.
03:06 And if it doesn't do that, then the body gets all upset.
03:09 What can happen if the body gets upset?
03:11 What kind of things happen?
03:12 Well, tingling around the mouth,
03:15 carpopedal spasm... Which is like your hands... Yeah
03:19 Muscles go into spasm.
03:21 The heart can beat irregularly.
03:22 This is with calcium out of whack.
03:24 With calcium out of whack.
03:26 Okay, so someone watching today that has that happening...
03:29 What should they go?
03:31 Get out in the sun IMMEDIATELY!
03:32 Turn off the TV... you watch too much 3ABN, right?
03:35 I don't think that's possible to do.
03:37 So what kind of diseases then
03:40 are associated with low vitamin D?
03:42 Let's wait to pick up the other side of the other job
03:47 because it's relatively new in our understanding
03:50 So it monitors calcium but another thing.
03:51 It helps to balance the calcium,
03:53 but there's another important job that it does,
03:55 and that job has to do with something called,
03:58 "terminal differentiation"
04:00 Boy, that sounds like something
04:01 we want to do at the end of the program! Yes
04:05 Let's talk about the word. All right - what does it mean?
04:07 Well when you understand it, it's actually pretty exciting.
04:09 You see, when you were in your mother's stomach,
04:11 you started out as one cell divided in 2...
04:12 I don't remember this. I know, I don't either.
04:14 Divide to 4, 8, 16... somewhere along the line,
04:18 one of those cells was going to turn into a heart.
04:21 And it grows, splits, divides, grows until it finally gets
04:25 to be heart size.
04:27 And when it's heart size, and it's doing its job,
04:30 it is said to be "terminally differentiated. "
04:33 And vitamin D sends that signal,
04:35 or is involved in the sending of that signal?
04:36 It's one of the strongest terminal differentiators we have
04:40 Our body uses that apparently
04:42 for this terminal differentiation process.
04:44 It actually goes into the nucleus of the cells
04:47 to make this modulation.
04:49 In its other form, it works more in the serum, in the fluids
04:54 around the cell, but this one form of it
04:56 that actually goes into the cell.
04:58 So it's vitamin D and "D" stands for DONE!
05:01 That's DONE! Right?
05:03 Okay, the terminal differentiation...
05:06 it's finished, it's done, it has stopped growing.
05:08 Now this becomes even more interesting when you recognize
05:11 that CANCER is the LOSS of terminal differentiation.
05:15 Okay, so it never gets done, it makes a tumor.
05:19 Right... a cancer that loses its control starts to grow
05:23 OUT of control.
05:24 It loses its terminal differentiation and, in essence,
05:27 that is the definition of a tumor or a cancer.
05:29 More about effects of that later, but there are some
05:32 associations with vitamin D deficiency and some cancers.
05:37 Wow, so this is a VERY essential hormone,
05:40 not a vitamin - vitamin D You're learning, Don
05:42 And it's something that we get from having exposure to the sun.
05:48 You're going to talk more about, I think, where we get
05:50 vitamin D at the end of the program,
05:52 but what about some of the things it causes.
05:55 What does it lead to if we don't have terminal differentiation
06:00 or it doesn't get us done
06:01 or calcium imbalance... What can this lead to?
06:06 The first disease process that really brought vitamin D
06:10 The knowledge that brought vitamin D to the surface
06:12 was this disease called "rickets"
06:14 The bones need vitamin D to absorb the calcium,
06:18 and to help with the calcium in the bones.
06:19 If there's not enough vitamin D, the bones are very soft.
06:23 This is very common in children and really became apparent
06:26 during the industrial age.
06:27 Children living in tenements, very narrow streets,
06:32 no sunshine - developed very thin bones.
06:36 They tended to have bow legs;
06:38 rickettsial rosea - if you look at their ribs,
06:41 it has little bumps along the edge of the ribs
06:43 because the body was trying to make bone and couldn't.
06:46 It didn't have the vitamin D. Right
06:48 What else... osteoporosis? Osteoporosis, osteopenia
06:53 Thin bones in adults are also a problem,
06:56 and the whole issue of osteoporosis in older age is
06:59 made worse if vitamin D deficiency is present.
07:03 What else?
07:04 Well, it's been of interest... there is some strong evidence
07:07 that psoriasis - that flaky, silvery-type stuff that comes
07:11 on elbows and knees and scalp,
07:14 may be related to vitamin D deficiency.
07:18 This makes sense if you understand that psoriasis is
07:22 cells that are growing too fast.
07:24 Vitamin D helps with terminal differentiation.
07:27 Some of the new medication they have available;
07:29 some new cream that you actually put on the psoriasis
07:33 to make it go away is simply a vitamin D...
07:35 topical vitamin type of a cream.
07:40 And they could just go outside. Yes
07:43 As-a-matter-of-fact, for years that's the way psoriasis
07:45 was treated.
07:46 I remember in my training,
07:48 visiting a dermatologist's office and seeing a BOX.
07:50 People took their clothes off, they got into the box,
07:53 they turned on these BRIGHT lights that had the right
07:56 radiation and people would get treatment for their psoriasis.
08:00 So I guess in a place like a Scandinavian country
08:04 or Alaska or something, you really need the box,
08:06 but if you're at home, you just go outside.
08:09 The sun is always there.
08:10 And we've known for years that the sun helps that as well.
08:12 Now one of the things you said is it causes hyperparathyroidism
08:16 Okay... And then what does that mean?
08:18 Oh MAN!... I mean, "hyper" I know what that is.
08:20 Hyper is high.
08:21 Parathyroid hormone is another one of the hormones
08:23 involved with the calcium balance.
08:26 Vitamin D and parathyroid hormone work together,
08:28 along with some other things, to BALANCE the calcium.
08:32 That's up here somewhere? Yes
08:33 It sits in the thyroid gland, little nubbins in there.
08:37 So when that thing gets big and overactive...
08:38 If you don't have enough vitamin D,
08:40 instead of being able to get the calcium from the food you eat,
08:44 your body has to turn to taking it from the bones,
08:47 and the parathyroid hormone tries to get it out of the bones
08:50 So if that goes up, it causes all kinds of problems.
08:53 The calcium gets out of balance a little bit;
08:54 the bones tend to get thin...
08:56 I've got a list here... Okay
08:58 Hyperparathyroidism - when there is not enough vitamin D,
09:02 thirst, urinating a lot, ulcers, pancreatitis,
09:06 constipation, vomiting...
09:08 Boy, that doesn't sound like a good list. Not good!
09:10 Fractures, joint and muscle pains, gout, calcifications,
09:14 fatigue, apathy, anxiety, depression, coma,
09:17 hypertension and other heart difficulties.
09:19 All these different things because it's trying to
09:21 get what it needs from the body. Exactly!
09:24 In other words, it needs the vitamin D from the sun;
09:26 it's not getting it; it's not being turned into it.
09:28 So it says, "I'll take a little here,"
09:29 and then it just messes up everything.
09:31 It messes up the system, and the strange thing is
09:33 this is a hard disease for doctors to diagnose.
09:36 You heard as I read that list,
09:38 those are symptoms from a BUNCH of different diseases.
09:40 Yeah because if someone is thirsty and they're going
09:42 to the bathroom a lot, you might think they're a diabetic.
09:45 Right! Tired, fatigue - maybe your thyroid is a little low.
09:47 It tends to masquerade at at a lot of things.
09:50 One of the things I was taught in medical school was
09:52 "If you don't think of it, you'll never diagnose it!"
09:54 And try to keep this one up in the front because it happens,
09:58 and much more frequently it appears than what we had thought
10:03 So vitamin D... put it on the radar screen!
10:06 PUT IT ON YOUR RADAR SCREEN!
10:07 And if someone is sitting here in front of the cameras
10:09 like we've been doing for this program,
10:11 and maybe some people do this all day,
10:13 I don't know - around here.
10:14 Could they be in danger of not getting enough vitamin D?
10:17 You can't get vitamin D from these lights here, can you?
10:20 Your body will make vitamin D from anything that
10:23 can cause sunburn. Ohhhhh
10:27 So if these lights are so bright they actually
10:29 cause sunburn, you're probably okay.
10:31 That would mean that people who went to tanning booths
10:33 could actually make a little vitamin D, right?
10:35 That would mean that when you
10:37 went out in the sun, you could make vitamin D.
10:39 Yeah, I think I know what we're going to do on the break though
10:42 as soon as we get through with this program,
10:43 I think we should go out in the sun.
10:45 Now on your list here, it says "diabetes type 1"
10:49 Yes, the vitamin D deficiency is associated with
10:53 type 1 diabetes but it's probably not a cause.
10:56 It probably works by helping the immune system
11:00 keep in balance, so it doesn't get confused.
11:02 Type 1 diabetes is what we call an "autoimmune disease"
11:05 where the body turns around and fights itself.
11:08 And so, if it's fighting the beta cells in the pancreas,
11:12 it's doing the wrong thing.
11:13 Vitamin D tends to help the immune system stay in balance.
11:16 That's probably the association.
11:18 They always talk about the three big C's
11:19 Cardiac, Cerebrovascular - in other words stroke, and Cancer.
11:25 You've also suggested here that there are studies
11:27 that show that vitamin D deficiency is related to
11:30 certain types of cancer. Exactly!
11:32 A very interesting study done by "Garland,"
11:36 reported in the literature several years ago,
11:39 looked at several thousand people,
11:42 over a period of 7 or 8 years,
11:44 looked at their rate of COLON cancer,
11:47 and tried to predict or see what happened in relationship
11:51 to their vitamin D levels.
11:53 And in essence, there was an 80% reduction
11:57 in the colon cancer rate of people who had
12:00 high levels of vitamin D versus those who had
12:02 low vitamin D levels.
12:04 This makes sense and it's kind of an up and coming area of
12:09 study in the scientific community.
12:12 There is a study going on right now in Canada,
12:16 looking at prostate cancer and vitamin D levels;
12:19 ovarian cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma, leukemia.
12:24 These cancers seem to have a vitamin D link.
12:27 Is there any danger from getting too much vitamin D?
12:29 BOY, you sure can! Too much vitamin D
12:32 Vitamin D is one of the toxic vitamins.
12:35 We talked about low vitamin D causing problems with
12:39 pulling calcium out of bones,
12:40 and causing a bunch of symptoms...
12:42 When your vitamin D is too much,
12:44 it starts to pull too much calcium in from the intestines.
12:47 So many of the symptoms are similar.
12:49 They're high calcium levels.
12:51 So the symptoms from high vitamin D levels are similar.
12:54 Let me come back to that,
12:56 but, you know, other things then that are risk factors
13:01 ...those that have low vitamin D,
13:04 multiple sclerosis - you talked about that, how is that related?
13:08 Okay, there was a recent paper in January, 2004
13:15 that reported an association between low vitamin D levels
13:18 and multiple sclerosis in women.
13:21 So we don't know that it is a cause - effect relationship.
13:24 It may be the immune system again,
13:26 but we're finding these associations,
13:28 and I think over the next few years, we're going to find out
13:32 a LOT about the importance of vitamin D.
13:34 We need to go to a break just in a minute,
13:36 but are there certain people that are really at RISK
13:39 for having vitamin D deficiencies,
13:41 in other words - not enough vitamin D?
13:43 Yes there are, we've been actually at
13:45 Lifestyle Center of America, measuring peoples
13:47 vitamin D levels when they come in...
13:49 I am amazed at how many people are actually vitamin D deficient
13:52 And what types of people do you normally see?
13:54 Well, we are seeing generally
13:56 older people but younger people as well.
13:59 People who are more likely to be indoors, for example;
14:02 not out in the sun all that much.
14:05 Babies?
14:06 We don't see babies at Lifestyle Center of America.
14:09 I haven't' looked at the data in detail,
14:13 but it appears to us that around 50% of the people that come
14:17 actually have a vitamin D deficiency.
14:19 It's much more common than we might think.
14:22 And it can really cause problems,
14:23 but there's a solution, right? There IS a solution.
14:26 We're going to talk about that solution when we come back.
14:28 We're talking with Dr. Guthrie about vitamin D.
14:31 You need to join us after the break.
14:33 Have you found yourself wishing
14:35 that you could shed a few pounds?
14:37 Have you been on a diet for most of your life,
14:39 but not found anything that will really keep the weight off?
14:42 If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions,
14:45 then we have a solution for you that works!
14:48 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington
14:50 have written a marvelous booklet called...
14:53 "Reversing Obesity Naturally"
14:55 and we'd like to send it to you FREE of charge.
14:57 Here's a medically sound approach successfully used
15:00 by thousands who were able to eat more,
15:03 and lose weight permanently without feeling guilty
15:05 or hungry through lifestyle medicine.
15:08 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN
15:12 and in this booklet, they present a sensible
15:14 approach to eating, nutrition and lifestyle changes
15:17 that could help you prevent heart disease, diabetes,
15:19 and EVEN cancer.
15:21 Call or write today for your free copy of...
15:23 "Reversing Obesity Naturally"
15:25 and you could be on your way to a healthier, happier YOU!
15:28 It's ABSOLUTELY free of charge so call or write today.
15:34 Welcome back, we've been talking with
15:36 Dr. George Guthrie.
15:38 We've been talking about vitamin D,
15:39 and its importance to you and your body.
15:44 And as we've been talking Dr. George Guthrie,
15:46 we've learned some fascinating things.
15:48 Dr. Guthrie, what are the real reasons we need vitamin D?
15:54 Vitamin D has 2 major functions;
15:56 one is to help the body balance the calcium in the blood,
16:00 and the other is this apparent terminal differentiation
16:04 to help cells decide what they're doing and stay there.
16:07 All right, so terminal differentiation - just make sure
16:10 work as long as you're supposed to on that project,
16:12 and then you're DONE with it...
16:14 And then balancing the calcium again - why is that important?
16:17 Because if the calcium gets out of balance,
16:19 the body tends to get thin bones,
16:23 nerves don't act right, heart gets irregular.
16:26 All those diseases you mentioned... That's right
16:29 Well, are there certain people that are at RISK for this?
16:33 I mean, how do you develop this deficiency?
16:37 Since vitamin D is BEST obtained from the sun,
16:42 people who are NOT in the sun,
16:44 or don't get very much sun exposure are at greatest risk.
16:47 A lot of people are surprised to know, for example,
16:50 that sun block with an SPF of 8
16:55 will block something like 98% of the vitamin D
16:59 formed in the skin.
17:00 Well they do that because they don't want to get skin cancer.
17:02 Exactly, and that's been kind of the pull back-and-forth...
17:05 Doctors are saying, "Don't get a sunburn"
17:09 "Don't spend too much time in the sun
17:10 because you'll get skin cancer. "
17:12 At the same time, we also need the vitamin D,
17:15 so it's a tension.
17:16 Maybe the best way to deal with it is to say,
17:19 or to recognize that vitamin D deficiency may
17:25 increase your risk of cancer.
17:27 Too much sun to the point of actually causing a sunBURN
17:31 will INCREASE the risk of cancer,
17:33 so maybe we need to find
17:34 a BALANCE somewhere in-between.
17:36 So put it on an hour after you've been
17:38 outside or something like that?
17:39 Well, the rule is "don't burn"
17:41 and you know, some people have very sensitive skin,
17:45 and in 5 minutes they'll burn.
17:47 So it would be reasonable to NOT put on your sun block
17:50 until you've been out in the sun until it's just pink.
17:53 We call it the "minimal erythema dose"
17:56 The minimal erythema - which means the "pink"
17:59 Just "pink" not burn,
18:01 because when you BURN the energy from the sun
18:06 has actually overpowered the protective mechanism
18:09 of the cholesterol to vitamin D
18:11 and damages the DNA and protein...
18:13 and THAT puts you at risk for the skin cancer.
18:16 What about in an older or younger...
18:19 let's say an older person.
18:21 Older people have a harder time making vitamin D.
18:24 The enzyme in their skin that prepares the cholesterol
18:27 to turn into vitamin D doesn't work as well.
18:30 The numbers that are thrown is 75% of people... No
18:34 Yes, there's a 75% DECREASE in function of that enzyme
18:38 by the time people are 70 years of age.
18:41 So there is some risk from just getting older.
18:44 So when you're old, are you just doomed?
18:46 No, you better start looking for
18:48 some other sources of vitamin D.
18:50 Let's talk about that just a little bit later.
18:51 What about someone, you mentioned,
18:54 you have to be "pink" but what if you're
18:55 skin is naturally black, you're an African American.
18:58 African Americans are at high risk...
19:00 Estimates are that 50% of black Americans in this country
19:04 have some vitamin D deficiency. Why is that?
19:07 Well, the pigment - the dark pigment in the skin
19:10 blocks those same rays. I see
19:13 And it never makes it to the cholesterol
19:15 to turn it into vitamin D
19:16 So what should THEY do?
19:18 That's a real good question.
19:22 Spend more time in the sun.
19:24 7, 8, 10 times as much time in the sun necessary
19:27 for the very dark-skinned people to make
19:29 the same amount of vitamin D
19:32 Or, they may need to take supplements,
19:34 but let's talk about that when we get to the end.
19:36 What about someone that's young?
19:38 YOUNG!
19:40 We discovered vitamin D in relation to rickets which was a
19:45 problem with children IN THE OLD DAYS.
19:49 Now we know about vitamin D... BUT you know kids aren't
19:52 playing outdoors as much as they used to.
19:54 A lot of the video games and that type of thing -
19:57 So a significant number of children are actually coming up
20:00 with rickets THESE days...
20:02 And in the pediatric literature, we are reading about
20:05 more and more cases of this vitamin D deficiency.
20:09 Okay, and it's not so much the calcium then as it is the
20:13 vitamin D side of that equation with the rickets. Right
20:17 Then what about someone that is overweight?
20:19 Now you bring up a very interesting point.
20:22 People who are overweight,
20:23 #1- Don't like to go out in the sun.
20:26 Often, they'll have joint pains.
20:28 It's just not very flattering to put on a bathing suit.
20:31 So they often avoid the sun, but BESIDES that
20:34 vitamin D is actually a fat soluble vitamin.
20:38 Meaning, when it gets into our bodies,
20:40 it distributes itself in the fat.
20:43 And when someone is large, that is, has a lot of fat...
20:48 They have a larger container to fill with the vitamin D.
20:54 So they are going to tend to need MORE vitamin D
20:56 to keep that container full.
20:59 So one way to help that is lose weight again.
21:02 Okay, if there is less fat, that's true.
21:04 There would be a little less need for vitamin D...
21:08 But I wouldn't wait for somebody to lose weight.
21:12 I would want to replace the vitamin D.
21:14 We talked about the young and the rickets with the young,
21:16 but what about the REALLY young - like the babies?
21:18 BABIES! Good point
21:19 You know, we've been taught that in this country
21:24 we get our vitamin D from milk.
21:27 The COWS do not put vitamin D in the mild.
21:29 That was a decision of the public health,
21:32 people of the country to solve the rickets problem
21:35 by adding vitamin D to dairy.
21:38 Breast milk does not have vitamin D in it either.
21:43 It doesn't? It does not.
21:45 Even if the mother is out in the sun?
21:46 Even if the mother is out in the sun,
21:47 there's no vitamin D in the milk.
21:49 So when the baby is breastfeeding,
21:51 they will NOT be getting vitamin D.
21:53 There are some doctors who are recommending
21:55 that when a baby goes home from the hospital,
21:58 he would actually receive a shot of vitamin D
22:00 to hold over for those first few months until
22:05 the baby is actually exposed to a little more sun.
22:07 You know, in the winter, especially a baby is
22:09 wrapped up tightly and kept warm because their small,
22:12 they often don't see enough sun to make vitamin D.
22:15 So if you live in a country, or watching this program
22:17 and there are not people that can give you a shot
22:19 though when you have a baby, what do you do then?
22:21 Take him out in the sun?
22:22 Oh boy, Don, I don't know that I have a good answer for that.
22:24 I think I would have to look for oral supplementation.
22:28 Well what about fibromyalgia?
22:31 I mean, you've talked about hyperparathyroidism,
22:35 and how it masks itself as different things,
22:37 and fibromyalgia has all kinds of symptoms.
22:40 What's the connection between that and vitamin D?
22:43 The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency CAN be,
22:48 in some individuals, very similar to fibromyalgia.
22:51 Now fibromyalgia is not a distinct and well-recognized
22:56 symptom complex.
22:58 We don't know what causes it.
22:59 It probably has multiple causes.
23:00 It looks like some of the people with that diagnosis
23:04 probably have vitamin D deficiency.
23:06 And, there have been those who have had the diagnosis
23:09 of fibromyalgia who have had their vitamin D replaced
23:12 orally, in the sun... over 2 to 3 months
23:16 the fibromyalgia kind of melts away.
23:18 It's not true of all of them,
23:20 but I think it's an important thing to be CHECKED
23:22 if someone has the diagnosis of the fibromyalgia.
23:28 So it's certainly worth checking out. Yes
23:31 Especially if you're suffering from that.
23:33 We have about 5 minutes left to look at...
23:36 I mean, you've convinced me all right.
23:38 Vitamin D is very important.
23:40 It's associated with all kinds of risks if you don't have it.
23:44 We have a few more minutes...
23:46 Can you get too much vitamin D,
23:48 and then, what are some good sources of vitamin D?
23:50 Vitamin D is actually a potentially toxic vitamin,
23:56 and if we get too much of it,
23:57 it causes symptoms that are actually similar in some ways
24:01 to those of low vitamin D.
24:03 You see, when the vitamin D is LOW,
24:05 the body pulls the calcium out of the bones and tends to have
24:09 too much in the blood.
24:11 When the vitamin D is too HIGH,
24:12 it absorbs too much calcium from the intestines,
24:15 and tends to mimic some of the symptoms. I see
24:18 So, how much is too much, and how much is too little?
24:20 Okay, that's a good question.
24:22 If we're measuring blood levels,
24:24 we know there's no toxicity until the blood level
24:27 is over 150 ng/dL
24:30 Now I know those numbers are kind of hard...
24:32 We're going to throw them up on the screen here
24:34 a little bit later so you can get a better feel for it.
24:37 Deficiency probably occurs when the level is less than 30.
24:41 There's evidence, for example...
24:43 That levels up to 30 have some parathyroid hormone elevation.
24:50 So it would be good to have peoples levels over 30.
24:53 Personally from my understanding of the studies looking at cancer
24:57 I think 40 or 50 is probably a better dose.
25:00 So we need about 40-50
25:02 We can figure this out with a simple test at our doctor
25:04 or something and if we have any questions
25:06 about vitamin D deficiency.
25:07 This is a blood test that is done.
25:09 People who... the beach bums that spend ALL day in the sun
25:14 will have levels up to about 100
25:16 So that's a rational level.
25:20 So that's kind of where we like to aim as a doctor.
25:24 We have a graphic that shows recommendations about
25:26 where to get this and maybe you can work us through that.
25:28 Okay, on the graphic you'll see that anything
25:32 less than 20 ng/cc or ml is too low
25:36 That's what my laboratory says,
25:38 although their NORMAL values, if you look at the normal
25:41 taking the curve in the population is 8-60,
25:44 anything below 20 is showing evidence of being low.
25:47 And you want it between 40 and 50 is the goal.
25:49 I'd like it between 40 and 50 to maximize the
25:52 beneficial effects of vitamin D
25:53 And the beach bums are up to 150 and that's okay.
25:56 No they're up to 100.
25:57 If you get above 150 from taking TOO many supplements,
26:01 that could cause symptoms.
26:03 There are no symptoms as long
26:04 as the level is less than 150 ng/ml or cc
26:10 Okay, do some people need MORE vitamin D?
26:14 We've talked about, in essence, the size of people.
26:19 If they're large, they have a larger container
26:21 they'll need more.
26:22 No, I don't know that LOTS more,
26:26 BUT the recommended daily allowance changes
26:29 to reflect what we've talked about with older people.
26:34 It starts out about 400 IU a day,
26:37 and is now moved up to 600 IU a day for the elderly.
26:43 So how much sun then should we get a day?
26:46 I'm convinced I need to be out in the sun more.
26:49 How much should I be out?
26:50 If you do the calculation,
26:52 from getting kind of pink all over,
26:56 and how much vitamin D you make,
26:58 it looks like you need about 15 minutes a day
27:01 with your hands and wrists, head and neck exposed.
27:06 15 minutes a day... Um hm
27:08 I don't think anybody watching can do that 15 minutes a day.
27:13 It's not a hard goal to reach.
27:15 One warning... above the 35th parallel,
27:19 you do not make vitamin D in the wintertime.
27:23 So it would be reasonable to use oral supplementation
27:26 during the wintertime in people who live to the north.
27:29 So then how much is safe to take?
27:32 We know from scientific studies that 1,000 to 2,000 IU a day
27:37 for adults is a safe level.
27:40 And they can get this in a pill form? Yes
27:43 It is a fat soluble vitamin,
27:45 so it's absorbed better if it's taken with a little bit of oil.
27:48 So let the SUNSHINE IN is the message today,
27:51 and if you don't have the sun, get some kind of
27:53 supplement as you listen today.
27:55 We are glad you joined us, and hope that you have
27:57 Health that lasts for a Lifetime!


Home

Revised 2014-12-17