Diseases/Conditions

Avoid Diabetes & Heart Disease with Sunlight or Vitamin D3

November 21, 2012 by admin in Natural Medicine with 1 Comment

Modern medicine has a lot to answer for, not the least of which is the harm done by treating sunlight as dangerous. The heart disease and diabetes epidemics can be laid at their feet for that travesty alone.

Photo by Digimist (cropped)

by Heidi Stevenson

A new study adds to the litany of research demonstrating the enormous benefits of Vitamin D₃, and by extension, sunlight. The latest, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, documents that Vitamin D₃ is a critical factor in diabetic heart disease¹.

The inflammatory process is damaged in diabetes. Among other things, it causes monocytes, a type of white blood cell, to adhere to blood vessel walls. When diabetic patients’ blood levels of Vitamin D₃ [25(OH)D] are under 30 ng/mg, monocytes were far more likely to adhere. When patients with diabetes maintained a Vitamin D₃ level greater than 30 nanograms per milliliter, far fewer monocytes adhere. Thus, the clogging of arteries, which is associated with heart disease, is much improved when diabetic patients have adequate levels of Vitamin D₃.

The first author, Amy E. Riek, MD, a medical instructor, stated:

We looked at blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes control, body weight and race. But only vitamin D levels correlated to whether these cells stuck to the blood vessel wall.

Notice that controlling diabetes had no bearing on the results. Only levels of Vitamin D₃ mattered. This is significant, because it’s long been known that the course of the disease has been helped by taking insulin, but primarily in terms of slowing the course of the disease. It is not a cure. It’s not yet known if something might be blocking D3 assimilation in diabetics, so it’s too early to state that supplementing with it can help prevent diabetic heart attacks. It is, though, now clear that low D₃ blood levels are associated with heart disease in diabetics.

However, you most assuredly can cut your risk of developing diabetes with adequate Vitamin D₃ intake. Several studies have documented that serum levels of D₃ are associated with development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is, therefore, imperative that everyone maintain adequate levels.

Nature is, of course, best. That is, getting your Vitamin D₃ by simply spending adequate time in the sun with enough skin exposed, so that your body can make it, is the best approach. That, of course, also means having adequate amounts of cholesterol in your system, because that’s also a requirement for making D₃.

An aside:

Doesn’t that make you wonder if the diets that diabetics are placed on might have some bearing on the lack of D₃? Those diets focus on virtually eliminating foods that boost cholesterol levels. Perhaps attempting to adhere to those absurd low-cholesterol diets might be doing some serious harm? Especially in light of the fact that cholesterol has never been shown to cause heart disease!

The medical establishment is so quick to jump on associations between things, to the point of pushing for diets that are actually harmful. Yet, at the same time they attack alternative health reports for stating cause-and-effect associations—such as the association/cause of vaccinations with autism. It would be nice to see a bit more honesty on the part of modern medicine. Certainly they need to avoid making suggestions for health maintenance based on deeply flawed pseudo science, and to stop pushing drugs and procedures that aren’t based on serious science, at least as long as they try to use their spurious evidence based medicine claim.

Certainly, it’s difficult, if not impossible, for most people to obtain adequate Vitamin D₃ through diet. Therefore, supplementation or obtaining it from sunlight exposure is absolutely necessary for good health.

Types of Diabetes and Vitamin D

Inadequate Vitamin D₃ is associated with both types 1 and 2 diabetes. Its value to the heart cannot be overestimated. It’s clearly a factor in development of diabetes type 2. Unsurprisingly, studies that use D_2,—a chemical similar to D₃and often treated as equal by misleading research—have not shown benefit in people with type 2 diabetes, though studies using D₃ have shown serious benefit. The evidence base feeding modern medicine cannot say that supplementing with Vitamin D₃ will definitely benefit those with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. If you rely on evidence based medicine, then you’ll probably not want to supplement D₃if you’re diabetic. Others, though, may see it differently.

On the other hand, one of the concerns with diabetes type 1 is insulitis, an inflammation of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas. Treatment with D₃ has been shown to help prevent this outcome.

Supplementing infants with D₃ has been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing type 1 diabetes. They were given 2,000 IU per day for their first year of life, resulting in only 22% as many cases of diabetes!

Vitamin D₃ and Your Heart

Obesity

The younger you are, the less concerned you’ll be about heart disease. You will, though, probably have some concern about obesity, which is, of course, a predictor for diabetes. Did you know that D₃ is inversely correlated with obesity? The fatter you are, the lower your blood levels of D₃ probably are. No one has shown that a lack of D₃ causes you to gain weight; however, no one has shown that it doesn’t.

Blood Pressure

D₃ helps regulate the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which is involved in regulating blood pressure. Renin is a hormone that kidneys secrete when blood volume is too low. It helps trigger the creation of angiotensin, which in turn triggers the creation of angiotensin II, which causes constriction of blood vessels, thus raising blood pressure. Angiotensin II then goes on to trigger creation of aldosterone, which triggers the kidneys to increase reabsorption of sodium and water into the blood, thus increasing the body’s fluid volume, which also increases blood pressure. High blood pressure is associated with heart disease.

Obviously, the kidneys know what they’re doing when they signal the need for greater blood volume. It takes no great leap of logic to see that artificial drugs, which force blood pressure down, are working against the body’s needs. However, D₃ can normalize blood pressure, and does so in a natural way. The full effects of this vitamin are not known, but it doesn’t operate independently, forcing a single effect counter to the body’s wisdom, like drugs do.

Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is a condition involving a cluster of symptoms, including fat in the abdomen, hypertension (high blood pressure), dyslipidemia (high cholesterol/blood fat), and hyperglycemia (excess sugar in the blood). It tends to be a precursor of diabetes. It’s also associated with inadequate Vitamin D₃, both when there’s already a diabetes diagnosis and prior to diagnosis.

Cardiovascular Disease

Not only is inadequate Vitamin D₃ associated with heart disease in diabetes, it’s also associated with non-diabetic heart disease. Don’t think that you’re out of the woods because you aren’t diabetic!

One study of men found that those whose serum D₃ was less than 15 ng/ml suffered 2.42 times more heart attacks than those with a D₃ concentration greater than 30 ng/ml. That’s dramatic!

D₃ Supplementation

Vitamin D₃ is involved in a wide array of factors involving heart disease, including the development of diabetes. If you can, you should have your D₃ levels checked. Don’t necessarily be concerned with the official range of adequate D₃, though. Modern medicine has been very much behind the eightball on this entire health concern, only now starting to catch up. Apparently, their requirement for their magical evidence based medicine required them to ignore the evidence all around them.

Ideal Blood Levels of D₃

As noted, modern medicine’s take on the subject of Vitamin D₃ has been sorely lacking. Those in the world of alternative medicine have had it right. Dr. Mercola suggests that anything less than 50 ng/ml is inadequate. Ideal is usually 50-70 mg/ml. However, if you’re treating heart disease or cancer, he recommends that you achieve a blood level of 70-100 mg/ml. Anything over that is too high and can cause harm. However, most people don’t get enough of it.

For most of us, simply getting out into the sun, without sunscreens of course, is all we need to assure adequate Vitamin D₃. However, there are a few people who are exceptions to the rule and must supplement Vitamin D₃ for their health. These include:

People who are confined to institutions should be given Vitamin D₃ regularly.
People who live in the far north may be unable to obtain adequate D₃ from the sun, especially if they have dark skin. Supplementation is almost certainly necessary for them (though tanning booths can take up the slack).
People whose skin is so light that they cannot spend any time in the sun. These people are rare. As a rule, the lighter the skin, the less exposure needed.
People whose clothing covers all of their skin, as some religions require.
People who’ve had small bowel resections (meaning that a section of their bowel has been removed).
People who’ve had gastric bypasses.
People with liver disease may suffer from impaired Vitamin D₃ absorption.
Breast-fed infants, since they’re so rarely exposed to the sun today—tragically—tend to be short on D₃.
People with dark skin, especially those who live in higher latitudes.
Old people, who tend to have less efficient D₃ synthesis.
Obese people.
Pregnant women who don’t get enough sun need D₃ for their babies.
Anticonvulsant drugs interfere with Vitamin D₃, requiring double-dosing!
Rifampin (also called rifampicin), an antibiotic, interferes with D₃ absorption.
Bile acid reducers and laxatives interfere with D₃ absorption.

Amazing, isn’t it, how modern medicine has missed the mark on Vitamin D₃! Not only have they interfered with our access to it by telling us of the nonexistent dangers of sun exposure, they’ve also placed the amount required for good health far too low. Even now, they’re dragging their heels, waiting for their pride and joy, evidence based medicine, to catch up with what alternative practitioners have been saying forever.

Get out in the sun! Get tanned! Be sure you have adequate Vitamin D₃! Tans look healthy for a reason. Supplement if you must. Don’t wait for modern medicine to catch up.The evidence has been here for ages. It’s here. It’s been here for ages. Just take advantage of it.