About Vitamin D

The Vitamin D Revolution: How the Power of This Amazing Vitamin Can Change Your Life is the name of an exciting book by Soram Khalsa, MD.  The book summarizes the research that has been done in recent years about Vitamin D and explains in a very compelling manner the implications for your health and that of your family and all of humanity and what you can do about it.  Although Vitamin D is just one of many factors that powerfully affect your health, it is one that has until very recently been largely overlooked by doctors and their patients and by many folks who are otherwise quite health conscious.  The book is easy to read and is available from the publisher at www.hayhouse.com, from online booksellers, at bookstores, and in our office.  Following is a brief synopsis of important facts you should know and share. 

Vitamin D is unique in that you get very little from food.  The best and only natural source is exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, which stimulate Vitamin D production in your skin.  Most people, even in sunny southern California, don’t get enough sun exposure to make optimal amounts of D, and due to staying indoors too much, wearing lots of clothes, and using sunscreen to protect the skin, many people are extremely deficient.  There is a simple blood test for Vitamin D levels, called 25D, and Dr. Soram Khalsa finds that 75 percent of all his new patients are deficient.  He also finds that many children are deficient.  There have been studies indicating that Vitamin D levels in pregnant and nursing women and in newborn babies are often extremely low.  There is evidence that low D levels in the first years of life significantly increase the chance that a child will develop type I (juvenile) diabetes, which is a lifelong and irreversible condition that often is first diagnosed in adolescence.  

While the classic Vitamin D deficiency disease is rickets (soft bones) in children, or osteomalacia in adults, recent research points to a strong association between low D levels and many other diseases.  At least 17 types of cancer may be related to D deficiency, including breast, colon and prostate cancer.  Osteoporosis and osteopenia, as well as incidence of fractures and incidence of falls in the elderly, are strongly associated with low D levels. There is evidence that lower D levels are associated with significantly higher rates of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and stroke, and with at least some autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.  And Vitamin D deficiency could play a role in higher levels of Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes.  Low D levels apparently compromise immune function, and some researchers believe that the increased incidence of colds and flu in winter is related to lower D levels when sun exposure is reduced.  And low Vitamin D levels are likely related to higher incidence of neck and lower back pain, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, fatigue, and cognitive impairment in the elderly.  

Vitamin D deficiency can be easily and precisely evaluated by getting a 25D blood test.  Recent research indicates that a healthy blood level is over 40 ng/ml, and perhaps 50 or even higher.  Below 20 indicates significant deficiency.  Dr. Khalsa puts his patients that are very deficient on a dose of 50,000 IU of Vitamin D3 per week for eight weeks, or longer if necessary, followed by a maintenance dose of at least 2,000 IU/day.  Vitamin D experts recommend that children over the age of 1 without significant sun exposure take 1,000 IU/day, increasing to 2,000/day in their teens.  400 IU/day of drops in water or juice is indicated for newborns and infants unless their mother has high Vitamin D levels.