The Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a steroid vitamin, a group of fat-soluble prohormones, which encourages the absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorous. People who are exposed to normal quantities of sunlight do not need vitamin D supplements because sunlight promotes sufficient vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

Five forms of vitamin D have been discovered, vitamin D₁, D₂, D₃, D₄, D₅. The two forms that seem to matter to humans the most are vitamins D₂ (ergocalciferol) and D₃ (cholecalciferol).

Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that Vitamin D levels in the body at the start of a low-calorie diet predict weight loss success, suggesting a possible role for vitamin D in weight loss.

Vitamin D for humans is obtained from sun exposure, food and supplements. It is biologically inert and has to undergo two hydroxylation reactions to become active in the body. The active form of vitamin D in the body is called Calcitriol (1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol).

Calcitriol promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from food in the gut and reabsorption of calcium in the kidneys - this increases the flow of calcium in the bloodstream.

This is essential for the normal mineralization of bone and preventing hypocalcemic tetany. Hypocalcemic tetany is a low calcium condition in which the patient has overactive neurological reflexes, spasms of the hands and feet, cramps and spasms of the voice box (larynx). Calcitriol also plays a key role in the maintenance of many organ systems.

Function

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Calcium and phosphate are two minerals that are essential for normal bone formation.

Throughout childhood, your body uses these minerals to produce bones. If you do not get enough calcium, or if your body does not absorb enough calcium from your diet, bone production and bone tissues may suffer.

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in adults or rickets in children.

 

What do we need vitamin D for?

1. It is crucial for the absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorous, which have various functions, especially the maintenance of healthy bones.
2. It is an immune system regulator.
3. It may be an important way to arm the immune system against disorders like the common cold, say scientists from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston.
4. It may reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is much less common the nearer you get to the tropics, where there is much more sunlight, according to Dennis Bourdette, chairman of the Department of Neurology and director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at Oregon Health and Science University, USA.
5. Vitamin D may have a key role in helping the brain to keep working well in later life, according to a study of 3000 European men between the ages of 40 and 79.
6. Vitamin D is probably linked to maintaining a healthy body weight, according to research carried out at the Medical College of Georgia, USA.
7. It can reduce the severity and frequency of asthma symptoms, and also the likelihood of hospitalizations due to asthma, researchers from Harvard Medical School found after monitoring 616 children in Costa Rica.
8. It has been shown to reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women.
9. A form of vitamin D could be one of our body's main protections against damage from low levels of radiation, say radiological experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
10. Various studies have shown that people with adequate levels of vitamin D have a significantly lower risk of developing cancer, compared to people with lower levels. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be prevalent in cancer patients regardless of nutritional status, in a study carried out by Cancer Treatment Centers of America

Food Sources

The body makes vitamin D when the skin is directly exposed to the sun. That is why it is often called the "sunshine" vitamin. Most people meet at least some of their vitamin D needs this way.

Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. As a result, many foods are fortified with vitamin D. Fortified means that vitamins have been added to the food.
Vitamin D is found in the following foods:

• Dairy products
  • Cheese
  • Butter
  • Cream
  • Fortified milk (all milk in the U.S. is fortified with vitamin D)
• Fatty fish (such as tuna, salmon, and mackerel)
• Oysters
• Fortified breakfast cereals, margarine, and soy milk (check the Nutrition Fact Panel on the food label)

It can be very hard to get enough vitamin D from food sources alone. As a result, some people may need to take a vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D found in supplements and fortified foods comes in two different forms:

• D₂ (ergocalciferol)
• D₃ (cholecalciferol)

Side Effects

Too much vitamin D can make the intestines absorb too much calcium. This may cause high levels of calcium in the blood. High blood calcium can lead to:

• Calcium deposits in soft tissues such as the heart and lungs
• Confusion and disorientation
• Damage to the kidneys
• Kidney stones
• Nausea, vomiting, constipation, poor appetite, weakness, and weight loss

 

Recommendations

Ten to 15 minutes of sunshine three times weekly is enough to produce the body's requirement of vitamin D. The sun needs to shine on the skin of your face, arms, back, or legs (without sunscreen). Because exposure to sunlight is a risk for skin cancer, you should use sunscreen after a few minutes in the sun.

People who do not live in sunny places may not make enough vitamin D. Skin that is exposed to sunshine indoors through a window will not produce vitamin D. Cloudy days, shade, and having dark-colored skin also cut down on the amount of vitamin D the skin makes.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamins reflects how much of each vitamin most people should get on a daily basis.

• The RDA for vitamins may be used as goals for each person.
• How much of each vitamin you need depends on your age and gender. Other factors, such as pregnancy and your health, are also important.

Infants (adequate intake of vitamin D)

• 0 - 6 months: 400 IU (10 micrograms (mcg) per day)
• 7 - 12 months: 400 IU (5 mcg/day)

Children

• 1 - 3 years: 600 IU (15 mcg/day)
• 4 - 8 years: 600 IU (15 mcg/day)

Older children and adults

• 9 - 70 years: 600 IU (15 mcg/day)
• Adults over 70 years: 800 IU (20 mcg/day)
• Pregnancy and breast-feeding: 600 IU (15 mcg/day)

In general, people over age 50 need higher amounts of vitamin D than younger people. Ask your health care provider which amount is best for you.
Vitamin D toxicity almost always occurs from using too many supplements.
The safe upper limit for vitamin D is:

• 1,000 to 1,500 IU/day for infants
• 2,500 to 3,000 IU/day for children 1 - 8 years
• 4,000 IU/day for children 9 years and older, adults, and pregnant and breast-feeding teens and women

One microgram of cholecalciferol (D₃) is the same as 40 IU of vitamin D.

Vutamin D TOP10  (Source: USDA National Nutrient data base)
순위	Fruits	함량/100g	RDA
1	Cod Liver Oil	10,000 IU	2,500%
2	Herring	1,628 IU	407%
3	Fortified Cereals	342 IU	85.5%
4	Oyster	320 IU	80%
5	Caviar	232 IU	58%
6	Tofu	157 IU	39%
7	Salami Sausage	62 IU	16%
8	Dairy Products	52 IU	13%
9	Eggs	37 IU	9%
10	Mushrooms	27 IU	7%

What is Iodine?

Iodine Required for Health

A member of the halogen group on the periodic table, iodine is found in the brine extracted along with natural gas. This element is essential for the human body's critical physiological processes related to life and growth. Since Japan is an island nation, Japanese people receive their necessary intake of iodine from sources such as seaweed and fish. However, people of many other countries often have iodine-poor diets and can suffer iodine deficiency disorders (IDD).

 

What is IDD?

Iodine is a micronutrient element that is fundamental to a living body and is essential for the subsistence and growth of humans and animals. Hormones that contain iodine are produced in the thyroid glands located in the lower jaw (cervical region) of a human body. Insufficient amount of iodine causes IDD, and may lead to hypoplasia, mental retardation, and other various functional disorders and goiters, etc.

Very few Japanese people show symptoms of this disorder as they take in the necessary amount of iodine from sources such as seaweed and fish. However, around 1.6 billion people in the world have been facing the danger of IDD, and it has become a serious problem all over the world.

The step for preventing this disorder is to take food with iodine added salt. Chiba Prefecture, which accounts for the major part of the iodine production in Japan, is engaged in iodine aid projects for Mongolia and Cambodia struggling with IDD and has good and friendly relationships with these countries. KNG is also participating in these aid projects.

Usage Extending to the Most Advanced Fields

Iodine use is closely linked to our daily lives. Products include a medicated gargle, X-ray contrast media and an antimicrobial agent. In addition, iodine is useful as an industrial catalyst and has many applications in the field of agriculture. Recently, demand for iodine has grown in high-tech fields such as LCD polarizing film and etching agents for semiconductors.

• High x-ray absorption capacity of iodine allows use as contrast agents in medical x-ray imaging.
• Use of antimicrobial action of iodine allows use for sterilization.
• Use in chemicals for cure and prevention in iodine deficiency disorders = IDD (iodine (iodides and iodates) can be mixed with salts and feed).
• Photographic photosensitive materials (AgI), herbicides, industrial catalysts, stabilizing chemicals plastics, polarizing films for liquid crystal display and also other industrial areas of use.

Iodine is included in sea water and soil as well as in the air in the form of iodide ion and other iodine compounds. Normally, it is not suitable for the raw materials for commercial iodine production, since its iodine concentration is very low and iodine production cost is very high .Iodine production from these resources is difficult at present.
As the iodine concentration in various types of seaweed is high, they were used as the raw material for iodine production. Today, however, production is conducted only in areas where iodine concentration is high in brines from oil fields and natural gas fields,and in caliche from Nitre at Chilean nitrate industry.

What if there was one nutrient which...?

1. Desensitized estrogen receptors in the breast.

2. Reduced estrogen production in overactive ovaries.

3. Reduced fibrocystic breast disease which often precedes breast cancer. 4. Caused cancer cell death, slowed down cell division and reduced blood vessel growth to tumors. 5. Caused more cell death than the chemo drug, Fluorouracil .

6. Prevented rats from getting cancer when they were fed the breast cancer causing toxin DMBA.

Research suggests that some breast cancers may be an iodine deficiency disease. As iodine consumption has gone down, breast cancer rates have gone up. But the research goes far deeper, exploring the effects of iodine supplementation on breast disease and breast cancer. This important breakthrough has been in the research pipeline for years but only recently found momentum.  After sifting through 50 years of iodine research and corresponding with researchers around the world, the editors report that abnormal iodine metabolism, due either to bromide dominance in the environment or a dietary deficiency of iodine, must be addressed as part of a preventive and or a therapeutic strategy.  

                                   

 Iodine Deficiency Growing Worse

• Iodine consumption by Americans has dropped 50% since the 1970s as breast cancer rates have risen (1).  In the US Goiter Belt,  where iodine in the soil is
  

lower, breast  cancer is higher (2).

• By contrast, the incidence and severity of breast cancer are less in Japan than
  

in Europe and the US, attributable to the diet (3).  Japanese women consume 25 times more dietary iodine than North American women and have lower breast cancer rates (4).

• Meanwhile, since the 1970s, in the US and several other countries, iodine-blocking bromides have been added to flour,  some sodas, and medications, exacerbating the iodine deficiency.
  

• Fluoridated drinking water also depletes iodine absorption. Thus, as women
  

consume less iodine and excrete more due to toxic elements, our risk for breast cancer grows(5).

                      

 Iodine and Benign Breast Disease

• Blocking iodine in rats' food supply led to progressive human-like fibrocystic
  

disease (atypia, sclerosing, calcifications, dysplastic changes) as the rats aged (6). Supplementing patients with fibrocystic disease with iodine helped to resolve fibrosis and reduced breast size (7).

• For women with painful breasts accompanying fibrocystic disease, iodine  
  

improved symptoms in more than 50% of the women who took 6.0 mg. of iodine for 6 months (8), and brown sea alga improved pain and nodularity in 94% of the women (9).  From the editors' observations of the Iodine Investigation Project participants, depending on the kind of iodine agent used, painful breast symptoms have resolved in from 24 hours to two months.

• Since benign breast disease increases the risk of breast cancer (10), and iodine improves fibrocystic disease, we at Breast Cancer Choices propose studies to see if iodine supplementation decreases the risk of getting breast cancer and the risk of recurrence.
  

                                          

 Iodine and Breast Cancer        

• For breast patients, iodine's therapeutic mechanisms of action may be at least
  

three-pronged:  Hormonal (11),  Biochemical (12-18), Genetic (19). That is, iodine desensitizes the estrogen receptors, alters the chemical pathways as well effects on the genes, resulting in less cell growth, and causing anti-tumor effect by causing apoptosis (programmed cell death) of malignant cells.

• Iodine-rich seaweed exhibits an anti-cancer effect in rats and in the lab on human breast cancer cells.
  

Adding seaweed to rats' food delays the onset and number of rat mammary tumors (20,21). And in the lab, mekabu seaweed plant induced cell death in three kinds of human breast cancer cells. Mekabu had a stronger effect on the cells than the chemo drug, 5-fluorouracil (22).

• Adding  iodine to chemically-induced (DMBA) rat breast tumors stops the
  

growth of the tumors.  Adding iodine plus medroxyprogesterone gave the highestlevel of response: the growth-suppressed tumors showed 100% times the iodine content than the full blown (nonsuppressed) tumors. The researchers suggest that the uptake of iodine was enhanced by medroxyprogesterone. (23).  As David Brownstein, MD, phrased it, "You cannot give breast cancer to rats that have sufficient iodine."

• In small, preliminary patient studies, using the screening iodine-loading test, breast cancer patients excreted less urinary iodine than healthy people, implying iodine-deficiency (24,25).
  

          What to do about iodine deficiency?

• The editors at Breast Cancer Choices recommend patients read as much as they
  

can from the Iodine Related Links on the top left side of this page.

• Secondly,  we recommend taking the Iodine Loading Test  which will provide a guideline to your current iodine sufficiency status. Then join the Iodine Investigation Project and participate in our confidential database so we can follow your progress. Next, consider finding an iodine-literate practioner (ILP)  from our directory or one willing to consider this non-toxic therapy.
  

• Iodine Protocol. Depending upon the results of your screening iodine-loading test,  most doctors we are familiar with currently recommend 50 mg or more of iodine daily in the form of Iodoral tablets (a combined iodine-iodide formula), but others recommend an iodine-only formulation or Lugol's iodine solution.
  

• Where to Get Iodoral:  Iodoral tablets may be available from your health practitioner. The Breast Cancer Choices charity fund-raises for the Iodine investigation Project through sales of Iodoral. If we have provided information to you, please consider buying from a charity rather than a for-profit company.
  

• Iodine Companion Nutrients. Many Iodine Literate Doctors suggest selenium(26),  vitamin C (27), and magnesium(28) enhance the therapeutic value of iodine. Niacin was also recommended at the February 07 Iodine Conference. Thyroid function should be closely monitored and may require an adjustment of thyroid medications.
  

• For those experiencing uncommon detox side effects such as constipation, acne or rash,the Yahoo Iodine Group has used 1/2 teaspoon Celtic salt dissolved in a large glass of water, taken twice a day. Drinking additional water and taking extra vitamin C may help even more.  
  

                                          What to Expect

The Breast Cancer Choices Iodine Investigation Project is currently following patients taking iodine to prevent recurrence. Most patients report no side effects.  Some report a range of non-breast improvements such as change in thyroid status, need for less thyroid medication, weight loss, ovarian cysts resolving, fibroids shrinking, improved energy, mood and mental clarity. But be aware  some iodine takers report what we believe to be iodine detoxing bromide into the bloodstream causing symptoms of bromism.

According to a Department of Defense commissioned report, , bromism symptoms can manifest as lethargy, depression, "dark" thoughts, "brain fog," constipation, leg and hip pain, acne, rashes and other symptoms. These side effects are usually reversible in 24-48 hours by discontinuing the iodine and allowing a short period of washout before restarting at a lower dose. Again, as stated above, Celtic salt in water has relieved detox symptoms quickly by speeding up bromide detox through the kidneys. See full iodine protocol. CAUTION:  DO NOT TAKE IODINE IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO IODIZED SALT

		How to get natural iodine?
		The best resource is Moringa oleifera tree. The essential oil in seeds containing 68%, natural iodine and protein, unsturated fatty acid, polyphenol, good for health neutriants.  Direct Shopping Moringa oleifera Seed oil.