Vitamin D Enhances Lung Function in People with Asthma

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Researchers from the University of Colorado and National Jewish Health have discovered that asthmatics with low Vitamin D do not respond as well to steroid treatment, and have worse symptoms in general, than those with higher Vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D levels, in fact, absolutely predicted how well a patient will respond to steroid asthma medications. The lower the Vitamin D level, the worse the patient does on the medications.

In patients with blood levels of Vitamin D below 30 nanograms per milliliter, airway hyper-responsiveness, a key symptom of asthma, was almost double that of those with higher levels of Vitamin D.

The evidence provided by this study shows that Vitamin D supplementation may help improve asthma sufferers’ conditions in a number of ways.

The lead researcher, Dr E. Rand Sutherland stated "our findings suggest that low vitamin D levels are associated with worse asthma." Low Vitamin D levels were also associated with a worse response to this in which the standard treatment for asthma today.

My colleague and leading vitamin D researcher, Dr. Michael F. Holick, who is the director of the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University School of Medicine, commented on the study.He points out that “glucocorticoids (steroids) increase the destruction of Vitamin D, thus making patients with asthma at higher risk for Vitamin D deficiency, which in turn decreases lung function and makes their disease worse.”

Once again we have the bottom line that all of us need to normalize and optimize their vitamin D levels, and in this case certainly all people with asthma especially if they are on steroid inhalers need to have their blood levels checked regularly.

The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Filed Under: Integrative Medicine, Vitamin D

Benefits of Vitamin D on ABC TV Now!

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Delighted to see this post on ABC News! Finally the word is getting to a larger audience!

Click the arrow to start the video from ABC News

Filed Under: Vitamin D

Vitamin D Terms

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activated vitamin D: also known as 1,25D3 or calcitriol, this form of Vitamin D is a steroid hormone. It is fat soluble and can pass through cell membranes to bind to the Vitamin D receptors. It is a very powerful steroid hormone and it regulates gene expression by being able to switch on and off approximately 200 genes in the body.

angioneogenesis: the process of creating new blood vessels. Cancer cells do this to support their growth.

apoptosis: a type of programmed cell death. Cancer cells lose the ability to program death this helps them to grow uncontrollably.

autocrine: the process whereby a cell makes its own chemical messenger (in this case, activated Vitamin D), that bind to receptors inside the same cell and lead to changes in the biochemical functioning of the cell.

blood level: the amount of Vitamin D in the form of 25D (calcidiol) that circulates in the blood. It is measured in nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) (or an alternate measure , nanomoles per Litre (nmol/L)) . According to literature referenced in this book, the current “normal” levels for 25D is above 30 ng/ml with 40—70 ng/ml being optimal. Vitamin D blood levels should be tested with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test.

bone mineral density (BMD): the amount of mineral content (calcium) in the bone.

calcidiol: also known as 25D in this book. It is a prehormone made from Vitamin D3 in the blood. This is the form of Vitamin D that must be tested with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test.

calcitriol: see activated vitamin D.

calcium: a mineral necessary for the development of healthy bones. Adequate levels of Vitamin D are necessary to facilitate calcium absorption.

cholecalciferol: known as Vitamin D3 in this book. It is the raw material from which all potent forms of Vitamin D are produced in the body. It is naturally produced in the skin of humans and animals when UVB sunlight hits the skin.

congestive heart failure (CHF): a weakened condition of the heart muscle, impairing its ability to pump blood.

diabetes mellitus: a metabolic disorder , characterized by excess glucose in the blood. It is usually caused by insufficient insulin to carry the glucose into the cells.

endocrine: the process whereby one organ will secrete a molecule (e.g., a hormone) into the bloodstream or lymphatic system, that has an effect on another distant organ, in a different part of the body.

epidemic: an outbreak of illness or disease affecting a large number of people at the same time at unexpected rates.

epidemiological: used to refer to studies that look at the distribution, incidence and cause of disease in specific populations.

ergocalciferol: also known as Vitamin D2, a form of Vitamin D manufactured from plants and fungi. It does not occur naturally in humans and is significantly less potent than naturally occurring Vitamin D3. This form of Vitamin D not recommended for the optimization of Vitamin D levels.

hypertension: another term for high blood pressure.

immune system: the body’s complex mechanism of cells and organs that serve to protect the body from infection with bacteria, parasites, and viruses.

international unit (IU): a unit of measurement based on an accepted standard and based on biological activity of the substance. The IU for Vitamin D is unique to this substance—for example 100 IU of Vitamin D does not equal 100 IU of Vitamin E. 1,000 IU of Vitamin D equals 0.025 nanograms or 25 micrograms (mcg) of Vitamin D.

macrophage: a type of white blood cell that is an important part of the immune response that helps destroy protozoa, bacteria and cancer cells.

malignant: usually used as a synonym for cancer. As in “Malignant tumor”

metastasis: describes the spread of cancer cells through the bloodstream or lymphatic system into other tissues and organs.

minimal erythemal dose (MED): the amount of sun or UV exposure necessary to turn the skin pink in a fair-skinned person.

multiple sclerosis (MS): a degenerative, most likely, autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system; specifically the myelin that protects the brain and the spinal cord.

nanograms/milliliter (ng/ml): one unit of measurement for the amount of activated Vitamin D in the blood.

nanomoles/litre (nmol/L): another unit of measurement for the amount of activated Vitamin D in the blood. To convert ng/ml to nmol/L multiply by 2.5. (40 ng/ml = 100 nmol/L.)

neuromuscular: having to do with both the nerves and the muscle tissue.

NHANES: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys designed to gather health and nutritional information from people from the U.S. for the purpose of medical research, and improving the health of the country.

osteomalacia: known as adult rickets. When adult bones rebuild they do not harden properly resulting in weaker, softer bones. Osteomalacia is associated with deep musculoskeletal pain, and often can be mistaken for fibromyalgia.

osteoporosis: a disease in which the bones do not rebuild as fast as they are broken down and the result is weak, porous bones which are susceptible to fracture. A fracture may be the first indication of this painless disease.

prehormone: a substance secreted by the glands which has little or no biological activity by itself.

recommended daily allowance (RDA): the amount of a nutrient that is deemed necessary to maintain health. The recommendations are made by the Food and Nutrition Board, a unit of the Institute of Medicine, which is part of The National Academy of Sciences. The amounts recommended are intended to meet the nutritional requirements of the vast majority of the healthy population of the U.S.

seasonal affective disorder (SAD): a form of depression that occurs seasonally in the winter months and is associated with low levels of sunlight. It is sometimes referred to as the “winter blues.” Other symptoms of SAD include anxiety, fatigue, headaches, and sleep problems.

secosteroid: a molecule that has a similar structure to a steroid. Vitamin D is our body’s most important secosteroid.

steroid hormone: an important type of hormone that can stimulate receptor molecules and affect gene expression. Steroid molecules have a specific molecular structure that qualifies them to be a steroid.

tuberculosis (TB): a contagious, potentially fatal disease caused by bacteria that usually invades the lungs.

maximum upper limit: an amount set by the government as the recommended maximum levels of a substance to be taken with the intention of eliminating the possibility of any negative health effects.

ultraviolet A (UVA): long rays from the sun and they do not cause sunburn but they penetrate more deeply into your skin and contribute to premature aging, discoloration, and wrinkles.

ultraviolet B (UVB): the rays responsible for turning skin red and causing sunburn. When UVB rays hit the skin, they launch the production of Vitamin D.

vitamin D: a substance produced naturally in the body when skin is exposed to UVB rays. Vitamin D has been associated with the functioning of organs, tissues, and bones as well as the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus in the body.

vitamin D2: see ergocalciferol.

vitamin D3: see cholecalciferol.

vitamin D level: see blood level.

vitamin D receptor (VDR): most tissues and organs in the body have vitamin D receptors giving them the ability to metabolize 25D into activated Vitamin D.

7-dehydrocholesterol: a type of cholesterol in the skin that responds to UVB radiation when the sun hits the skin. It is synthesized into pre-vitamin D3 but in not the activated form of Vitamin D.

Filed Under: Vitamin D

Disease Prevention Chart

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Overwhelming statistics have shown that most people who have serious diseases have Vitamin D deficiency, or were deficient in the past. Many studies have determined that Vitamin D may provide protection from illnesses ranging from the common cold to cancer.

Children’s diseases like autism, asthma, and juvenile diabetes have become pervasive in the years that we have been told to avoid the sun. Vitamin D deficiency has come to be suspected to have an association with these diseases in children.

The chart prepared by Cedric Garland Ph.D. and Carole Baggerly of the Grassroots Heath shows a summary of what the statistical studies have shown for the possibility of higher levels to reduce disease. There is one typographical error on this chart which is the reduction for breast cancer is 50% not 83% as written on the chart.

Legend:
All percentages reference a common baseline of 25 ng/ml as shown on the chart.
%’s reflect the disease prevention % at the beginning and ending of available data. Example: Breast cancer incidence is reduced by 30% when the serum level is
34 ng/ml vs the baseline of 25 ng/ml. There is an 83% reduction in incidence when the serum level is 50 ng/ml vs the baseline of 25 ng/ml.
The x’s in the bars indicate ‘reasonable extrapolations’ from the data but are beyond existing data.
References:
All Cancers: Lappe JM, et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;85:1586-91. Breast: Garland CF, Gorham ED, Mohr SB, Grant WB, Garland FC. Breast cancer risk according
to serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D: Meta-analysis of Dose-Response (abstract).American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, 2008. Reference serum 25(OH)D was 5 ng/ml. Garland, CF, et al. Amer Assoc Cancer Research Annual Mtg, April 2008,. Colon: Gorham ED, et al. Am J Prev Med. 2007;32:210-6. Diabetes: Hyppönen E, et al. Lancet 2001;358:1500-3. Endometrium: Mohr SB, et al. Prev Med. 2007;45:323-4. Falls: Broe KE, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007;55:234-9. Fractures: Bischoff-Ferrari HA, et al. JAMA. 2005;293:2257-64. Heart Attack: Giovannucci et al. Arch Intern Med/Vol 168 (No 11) June 9, 2008. Multiple Sclerosis: Munger KL, et al. JAMA. 2006;296:2832-8. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Purdue MP, et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2007;18:989-99. Ovary: Tworoger SS, et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007;16:783-8. Renal: Mohr SB, et al. Int J Cancer. 2006;119:2705-9. Rickets: Arnaud SB,

Filed Under: Vitamin D

What is Vitamin D?

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The first thing to understand about Vitamin D is that it is not a vitamin. By definition, a vitamin is a substance that is essential to human health but cannot be produced by the body. Vitamin D, in its most obvious and fundamental function, is essential to the metabolism of calcium and phosphorous in the body and without Vitamin D, we would not have healthy bones. So it is essential to our bodies, but Vitamin D is produced by our bodies when we are exposed to UVB rays of the sun. Because Vitamin D is produced by the body, it does not meet both of these above criteria. Vitamin D is not truly a vitamin.

Vitamin D was named a vitamin in 1920 when a researcher raised dogs without any exposure to sunlight. He fed fish liver oil to dogs and prevented rickets. The researcher assumed that the substance responsible for preventing rickets was in the fish liver oil—and not producible by the body. He named this essential nutrient a vitamin. It was four years later when other researchers found that Vitamin D was produced in the body when exposed to sunlight. So to call Vitamin D a vitamin is a misnomer but for the benefit of public health and nutrition, as well as its name’s long tradition, Vitamin D is still officially called a “vitamin.”

Although the term Vitamin D is used in reference to different substances associated with Vitamin D, there are two main types of Vitamin D. Vitamin D2 is known as ergocalciferol and Vitamin D3 is called cholecalciferol.

For some people, getting their Vitamin D from sunshine alone, feels like the right and natural choice. For others, sun exposure is a scary thing and is avoided at all costs; and you spend more time indoors, wear protective clothing or sunscreen.

How Do we Get our Vitamin D?

Step One—Sun hits your skin It all begins when the skin is exposed to the sun. The UVB light in the sun interfaces with a form of cholesterol in your skin called 7-dehydrocholesterol, and this substance is synthesized into pre-vitamin D3. The pre-vitamin D3 immediately converts into Vitamin D3. This is the Vitamin D that circulates through the body, but it still isn’t empowered into its activated form.

Vitamin D3 is made in large quantities when you are in the sun during peak UV times. In fact it is estimated that 30 minutes in the sun in a bathing suit, midday in summer can make up to 20,000 IU of Vitamin D. If you get too much sun, the skin is able to convert the excess Vitamin D to other inactive molecules. In this way the body does not get overdosed with Vitamin D from sun exposure.

For my patients who don’t get enough sun, I advise them to take Vitamin D as a supplement, in carefully selected dosages.

Step Two—Vitamin D3 becomes 25D The Vitamin D3, either from sun or supplement makes its way to the liver where it undergoes a process (hydroxylation) turning it into 25D to store in your body. Having optimal stores of 25D in your body is very important, as these stores will enhance your body’s ability to make the best use of Vitamin D’s capabilities. If your body does not store enough Vitamin D in the form of 25D, then you will have low or deficient levels of Vitamin D in the blood. Ideally your Vitamin D levels should be optimal.

Step Three—25D becomes 1,25D3 The first priority for the health of your body is to send 25D from your liver to the kidneys where it is transformed into 1,25D3. 1,25D3 is the active and potent form of Vitamin D. As 1,25D3 this form of Vitamin D has the job of circulating in your blood to ensure that you maintain appropriate levels of calcium. This function of 1,25D3 is vital to our health—so much so that scientists didn’t expect it to have other functions.

In 1970, Vitamin D researcher Michael Holick and his colleagues discovered that the kidneys were not the only place in the body where 25D was metabolized into the potent and vital substance 1,25D3. When your body has enough stores of 25D, and has maintained the proper functioning of calcium levels in the blood, something exciting happens to the “excess” 25D.

It is only in the last ten years that scientists have come to understand this newfound function of the 25D form of Vitamin D. They have discovered that most tissues and cells of the body have the ability to metabolize 25D from the liver and turn it into 1,25D3. When researchers discovered these extra steps in the metabolizing of Vitamin D, they realized that many organs, tissues, and cells in the body have receptors for Vitamin D.

This means that Vitamin D circulates throughout the body and has the ability to land, and affect the cells, tissues, and organs that receive the Vitamin D. It is the only substance of its kind in the body and researchers are finding that Vitamin D has many repair and maintenance functions in most tissues and cells. Vitamin D isn’t just about healthy bones anymore.

It is this new fact about the 1,25D3 form of Vitamin D that has researchers so excited. According to Dr. John Cannell, director of the Vitamin D Council, 1,25D3 affects more than 200 genes in the body and can be found in most tissues in the body. He states on his Website, “This explains why the same substance may have a role in preventing cancer, influenza, autism, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and cardiovascular disease, not just curing rickets and osteomalacia.”

Vitamin D From Food

Some health experts and nutritionists insist that we can get access to sufficient supplies of Vitamin D from eating food rich in Vitamin D.

A plethora of press releases have alerted the world about the health implications of Vitamin D deficiency. Reporters are interpreting the findings, and interviewing doctors, nutritionists and health professionals for their opinions regarding the veracity of the scientific findings. Laypersons are voicing their opinions through their blogs and comments on Websites. While it is interesting to read people’s varying voices of reason, it only creates confusion for the average person who is looking for solid information upon which to base their health decisions

There is much conflicting information about the presence of Vitamin D in food. Some avid proponents of healthy eating cling to the belief that all of our nutrition can come from eating a balanced and healthy diet. While this ideal is admirable, there are a few considerations about diet that remain a fact for most North Americans.

You can’t eat enough fish, eggs or mushrooms to get adequate—let alone optimal Vitamin D

If ‘food experts’ don’t know that the Vitamin D content in food is inadequate to reap health benefits, how can the average person be expected to know about the Vitamin D content in food?
Most people do not eat healthy balanced diets and will never achieve adequate Vitamin D levels from diet alone.
There simply are not enough foods that naturally contain enough Vitamin D to raise your blood levels of Vitamin D to an optimal level.
Foods fortified with Vitamin D do not contain uniform amounts of the substance and may not contain the amount of Vitamin D reported on the packaging.

Filed Under: Vitamin D

Vitamin D Revolution DVD Released

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Happy holidays to all of you, and may the year ahead be the healthiest and happiest year of your life! In this newsletter I have some amazing and exciting information!

What have I been doing?

It has been many months since my last newsletter mostly because I have been focusing on my vitamin D project. As most of you know my book The Vitamin D Revolution has been available for about eight months now. In addition the at-home vitamin D test kits and my pharmaceutical quality vitamin D capsules are also now available.

I am happy to announce thatI have just released a DVD of my book! In this DVD I give a slide show lecture about vitamin D. The DVD is a little over an hour and it lets the viewer learn the salient points that I make in my book about vitamin D in a short time. In this new age of computers and digital media, I have come to realize a lot of people, especially young people, do not read books! They like to watch them or listen to them! It was for this reason that I prepared this DVD. The DVD is available for purchase here, and we will have it at special holiday prices for sale in my office until the end of the year.

I have been during many radio interviews and giving live lectures about vitamin D. Any suggestions or recommendations from you, my patients and friends, to help promote my vitamin D project would be most appreciated.

Purchase the DVD

Order the Vitamin D Revolution Book, test kit or Vitamin-D capsules

Filed Under: Vitamin D Tagged With: DVD, Vitamin D

The Vitamin D Revolution is Coming

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I am very complimented that so many of my patients have asked what happened to my newsletter? I have been very busy!

I'm happy to announce to all my patients and friends than on February 23, 2009 my first book, the vitamin D revolution will be released on my publisher Hay House's website, as well as on Amazon.com. This book has been a labor of love for the last approximately eight months. I am very happy and proud with how the book turned out, and hope that it will help many people.

In all my many years of practice of medicine, I've never seen one vitamin, even vitamin C, have such profound effects on human health. As most of you who are my patients know I've been normalizing and optimizing my patient's vitamin D levels for the last approximate five years. 90% of the new patients that I see are significantly deficient in vitamin D even in Southern California! This brought me to the moral and spiritual imperative to share this information with the entire world. It is estimated that there are over one billion people deficient in vitamin D worldwide.

There are two additional aspects to my "vitamin D project".

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Filed Under: Vitamin D Tagged With: Books, Nutrition, Vitamin D

Soram Khalsa, M.D. Elected to “Best Doctors of America”

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Dr. Soram Elected to Best Doctors of America I am honored to announce to my patients and friends that I have just been nominated and elected into "Best Doctors of America."

When I first received the letter welcoming me in, I thought it was “Another one” of those organizations that give doctors undeserved big titles in exchange for the doctors paying them.

Investigation of their web site (www.BestDoctors.com) revealed quite the contrary. In reality, to become a member of Best Doctors, you have to be nominated by a colleague and then letters of review are sent to many physicians in your area. Many questions are asked of the doctors but the most important one is “if you as a physician or a member of your family had a medical problem in the area of expertise of this doctor, would you go to this doctor yourself?”

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Filed Under: Integrative Medicine, Vitamin D Tagged With: awards