Vitamin D for You & Me

A significant number of Australians and people from specific groups within the community are suffering from vitamin D deficiency.

It is no longer acceptable to assume that all people in Australia receive adequate vitamin D from casual exposure to sunlight. Only a few foods, for example, fish (with a high fat content), contain significant amounts of vitamin D. In Australia, margarine and some milk and milk products are currently fortified with vitamin D if you can tolerate milk products, but it is not enough for the required amount of vitamin D our body needs anyway.

Vitamin D deficiencies can be associated with abnormal gut function and or celiac disease, sprue (mal absorption of food), inflammatory bowel disorders, lymphomas, granulomas and other cancers, pancreatic problems, cystic fibrosis, gallbladder and liver problems such as hepatitis or cirrhosis of the liver and bone problems such as osteoporosis.

Vitamin D has also a protective effect against cancer in several ways, including:

• Increasing the self-destruction of mutated cells

• Reducing the spread and reproduction of cancer cells

• Causing cells to become differentiated (cancer cells often lack differentiation)

• Reducing and suppressing the transition of dormant turning to cancerous tumours

A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths, which amounts to 2 million worldwide, could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D.

How to get more Vitamin D

The ideal way to get vitamin D is by exposing your skin to appropriate sun for an appropriate length of time. Sun exposure (without sunscreen) of about 10 to 15 minutes a day, (at low UV time), with at least 40 percent of your skin exposed, is a general guide. In winter this exposure may be difficult to get.

In Summer when sunbathing for 30 minutes, your body produces about 20,000 IUs of vitamin D – as much as exists in 200 glasses of milk, or the equivalent of about 50 generic multivitamins!

Obtaining the right Vit D is crucial. Keep in mind if you do opt for oral supplementation of Vitamin D that you only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which is human vitamin D. Do NOT use the synthetic and highly inferior vitamin D2 which does not work nearly as well as D3 and can actually block the real D3 from working properly.

For those in winter with no or very limited exposure to sunshine, 2,000-5,000 units per day is appropriate for most adults. If you are very heavy you may need to double that dose, and for children the dose can be half that.

Muscle monitoring used in Kinesiology is a great way to identify and define your exact needs, to reduce any overdosing or toxicity issues. Another alternative is to monitor your vitamin D levels by blood testing, to make sure your levels are therapeutic and not toxic.