Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency

There now seems to be a connection between breast, colon and prostate cancer and a lack of Vitamin D.

Even more amazing, one expert believes 25 per cent of breast cancer deaths could be avoided if the women had maintained adequate vitamin D levels throughout their life…This raises some big questions for Australians who have been living with the sun safe message for the last 20 years.

New study links Vitamin D deficiency to breast cancer

Women deficient in vitamin D at the time of a breast cancer diagnosis are more likely to die or see the tumour spread, a Canadian study published in the United States has shown. Patients low in vitamin D were 94 per cent more likely to see their cancer metastasise and 73 per cent more likely to die from it, compared to women with normal levels of vitamin D in their blood, researchers found.

Vitamin D Deficiency Puts 40% of U.S. Infants and Toddlers At Risk

Breast-feeding is a known risk factor for low vitamin D levels in infants, which is why many pediatricians routinely recommend vitamin D supplementation for breast-fed infants……Gordon said it’s very difficult to consume too much vitamin D, so she recommends vitamin D supplements for breast-feeding infants and lactating mothers. She also recommends a multivitamin containing vitamin D for older children.

Sunshine deficiency leads to vitamin D crisis

MILLIONS of Australians are exposing themselves to bone disease, fractures, diabetes and cancers by failing to get enough vitamin D, a crucial nutrient produced when skin is exposed to sunlight. Experts have warned the highly acclaimed “Slip Slop Slap” campaign may have been taken too far by a nation terrified of skin cancer. Melbourne Pathology director Ken Sikaris, who oversees 1500 vitamin D tests a week, said the rate of deficiencies was “mind-boggling”.

The Multitude of Health Benefits from Natural Sunlight and Vitamin D

Dr. Barsony, of Georgetown University, presented evidence that low blood sodium is a risk factor for vitamin D deficiency and that such deficiencies may not be able to be corrected until the low blood sodium is corrected. Dr. Barsony really thought outside the box to discover this potentially very important clinical finding.

Causes and Treatment of Autism: Vitamin D?

Within a week of starting the vitamin D, John’s language began to return and he was no longer as fearful of being alone.

At the end of two weeks his language showed further improvement, he began to toilet himself, counted to 10 and knew the spelling of his name.

After three weeks language continued to improve and some improvements were noted in his dysbacteriosis.

After four weeks of vitamin D treatment, the mother noted improvements in muscle strength as well as continued improvements in language. A repeat 25-hydroxy-vitamin D is pending while John continues taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day.

Megadose therapy for vitamin D deficiency

The Geelong Osteoporosis Study detected mild or moderate deficiency in more than one in three women surveyed in summer, which rose to one in two in winter. Even in south-east Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, nearly a third of men and women have mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency. Almost half of nursing home patients, and almost all patients in aged care facilities surveyed have at least mild vitamin D deficiency.

Is Vitamin D an Autism Treatment?

…it has now been suggested that autism may be caused by insufficient vitamin D during pregnancy and/or early years. Autistic children have difficulty in forming relationships, but they also tend to have larger heads, changes similar to those found in baby rats that are bred with insufficient vitamin D. (The Telegraph, Why is Vitamin D So Vital?).

UQ team links vitamin D deficiency with schizophrenia, MS

Dr Darrel Eyles, of UQ’s Centre for Mental Health Research, believes his team’s research into the effect of low developmental vitamin D on brain development helps explain why:

• Multiple sclerosis is almost unknown in tropical latitudes.
• The incidence of schizophrenia and MS increases steadily in a polewards direction.
• Individuals born in winter and spring are at higher risk of schizophrenia and MS.
• Females have about at twice the risk of developing MS (multiple sclerosis) as males.

Vitamin D deficiency increases death risk

It was revealed that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood had the highest chances of dying. Although chances of dying due to heart disease rose with decreasing levels of vitamin D, dying from other causes was more likely, too…….Researchers at the Harvard Medical School in Boston reported that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in high blood pressure and cardiovascular risk.

Vitamin D protects against prostate cancer & increases survival rates

Back in 1992, Hanchette and Schwartz analyzed American prostate cancer deaths in relation to sunlight and discovered a negative correlation, a very significant association. That is, they found that men who received more sunlight, and therefore vitamin D, were less likely to die from prostate cancer. (Cancer. 1992 Dec 15;70(12):2861-9).

In the same year, Schwartz discovered that death rates from prostate cancer were correlated with death rates from multiple sclerosis, another disease know to be associated with lack of sunlight. Again, he proposed that lack of vitamin D may a causative factor in both diseases. (Neuroepidemiology. 1992;11(4-6):244-54).

Vitamin D – the surprising deficiency

Residing in a land of year-round sunshine & outdoor lifestyle, it may come as a revelation that many people here in Australia are Vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D deficiency is known to be associated in osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, ‘stroke’, heart disease, depression, body muscle mass wasting, gum disease, & certain forms of cancer.

Sutherland et al (1992) postulates Vitamin D deficiency is linked to the neuro-degeneration of Alzheimer’s disease.

Lack of Vitamin D Linked to Pain

In a study involving 150 children and adults with unexplained muscle and bone pain, almost all were found to be vitamin D deficient; many were severely deficient with extremely low levels of vitamin D in their bodies….In the latest study, Gregory A. Plotnikoff, MD, of the University of Minnesota Medical School found a much higher incidence of vitamin D deficiency in the patients with unexplained muscle and skeletal pain than expected, regardless of their ages.

Vitamin D Deficiency Common in Patients With Chronic Migraine

Investigators presented the results of an observational study here at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Headache Society, which showed that 41.8% of patients with chronic migraine were deficient in 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The study also showed that the longer individuals had chronic migraine, the more likely they were to be vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D protects against Breast Cancer & curbs tumour progression

Finally, I’ve always thought that it’s pretty significant that the parts of the body least exposed to the sun are more likely to experience a malignant melanoma. But a new look at 528 melanoma victims over five years also found that increased sun exposure led to increased survivability, according to the study led by Marianne Berwick of the department of internal medicine at the University of New Mexico.

“It’s totally counterintuitive, and we’re trying to investigate it,” said Berwick, who is doing a similar study of 3,700 melanoma patients worldwide. “It’s really strange, because sunburn seems to be one of the factors associated with improved survival.” (The Baltimore Sun 2/2/2005).

Undiagnosed Vitamin D Deficiency in the Hospitalized Patient

Patients with severe vitamin D deficiency and hypocalcemia present with classic findings of neuromuscular irritability, including numbness, paresthesias, muscle cramps, laryngospasm, Chvostek’s sign, Trousseau’s phenomenon, tetany, and seizures.1 By contrast, patients with mild vitamin D deficiency present with more subtle complaints such as muscle weakness or pain.

You Are Probably Vitamin D Deficient!

Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and pain in children and adults. In a cross-sectional study of 150 patients referred to a clinic in Minnesota for the evaluation of persistent, muscle and bone pain, 93% had vitamin D deficiency! Muscle pain and weakness was a prominent symptom of vitamin D deficiency in a study of Arab and Danish Moslem women living in Denmark.

Vitamin D deficiency tied to host of dangers

Researchers such as Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine argue that the anti-skin cancer campaign actually made the vitamin D deficiency worse by keeping people out of the sun while not at the same time advocating increased vitamin D consumption in diets. Since vitamin D is not found in many foods, and many adults are lactose-intolerant, he believes the sun is the leading source of vitamin D for most people.

Vitamin D Deficiency Called Major Health Risk
Pediatricians scattered around the country have been surprised to see children suffering from rickets, a bone disorder caused by vitamin D deficiency that had been largely relegated to a bygone era. A few doctors have come across adults who were disabled by severe muscle weakness and pain, sometimes for years, until they were treated for undiagnosed vitamin D deficiency.

The Multitude of Health Benefits from Natural Sunlight and Vitamin D

Dr. Barbara Gilchrest, who fired Dr. Michael Holick from one of his professorships several years ago after Holick wrote a book saying God knew what she was doing when she created sunlight, gave the Plenary Lecture. Wisely, Dr. Gilchrest overwhelmed the audience with graphic pictures of invasive skin cancer to support her argument that sunlight is evil. Of course, it’s harder to show pictures of invasive colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and the 15 other internal cancers caused by sunlight deprivation.

However, Dr. Gilchrest is changing her mind. George Bernard Shaw once said, “Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything.” Dr. Gilchrest is changing her mind – not about the evils of sunlight – about vitamin D. She is in the process of admitting that this miraculous substance has benefits beyond bone.

Dr. Dixon presented fascinating evidence that high vitamin D blood levels prevent sunburn! Of course, it makes sense. When vitamin D levels are low, the skin stays as white as it can to make as much vitamin D as it can, just in case you ignore Dr. Gilchrest’s advice. When vitamin D levels are high, the skin rapidly tans to prevent excessive vitamin D skin production. A number of people have emailed me that observation: now that their levels are high, they tan very quickly. I’ve noticed the same thing.

Finally, the Australian group headed by Dr. Darryl Eyles and Dr. John McGrath continue to present their convincing evidence (confirmed at this meeting by Dr. Abreu and a group from France) that profound maternal vitamin D deficiency in mammals causes permanent brain damage in their offspring.

John Cannell, MD.
The Vitamin D Council.

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