Lifestyle

Health and Well-Being: A healthy dose of prevention in Vitamin D3

Health and Well-being
Dr. Jim Manganiello
Published: March 27, 2009

Many studies show that vitamin D3 has remarkable abilities to prevent illnesses and promote your health and well-being. As medical scientist Dr. Paul Rosch put it in his January 2009 Health and Stress Newsletter: "There are well over two dozen diseases that have been linked with a lack of vitamin D or have been shown to improve with appropriate vitamin D supplementation."

Most of us have inadequate vitamin D levels. This is a concern because the best way to deal with health problems is to prevent them. That's not always easy to do in the United States as our health care system doesn't really focus on prevention. It's geared to treat illnesses only after they happen. This bias exists, I believe, because of both political and economic reasons. Power and money define what health care is and what it is not in this country. We have the highest annual health care costs of any country, but the health of our population ranks only 45th in the world.

Of our $2 trillion annual health care budget, only a little more than 2 percent goes to prevention. So it's very important that we take responsibility for preventing health problems while we can. Supplementing with vitamin D3 can be a good way of doing just that. Studies show that optimal vitamin D3 levels go a long way in protecting against America's No. 1 health problem — stress — including stress-driven heart disease, cancer, diabetes and premature aging, as well as anxiety and depression.

If you're in the sun regularly, chances are good that your vitamin D3 levels are OK. Just 10 minutes in the sun without heavy sunscreen gives you about 10,000 international units of vitamin D3. But if you're not in the sun regularly, you may need to take a vitamin D supplement to get your blood levels up. Authoritative estimates for adequate supplementation are 5,000 IUs a day for people who have no significant sun exposure.

The best way to determine your vitamin D3 needs is to get a reliable blood test, then assess your needs accordingly. Follow this by retesting to evaluate whether your plan for supplementation is working, or if it needs to be modified. There are different schools of thought on how to supplement with vitamin D3. Let your blood levels inform your decisions — not just others' opinions.

Of the many tests available, the most accurate is to assess 25 hydroxyvitamin D, or 25 (OH) D, blood levels. Many medical scientists and other nutritional experts consider the so-called "normal" 20 to 50 nanograms per milliliter level to be too low. They consider a 50 to 65 ng/ml level to be optimal, with levels under 32 being worrisome and levels below 20 indicating an extreme deficiency.

Studies show that optimal vitamin D3 levels have a favorable impact on many health risks and life problems. Here's some of what the research shows:

Cancer: The farther away from the equator, the greater the cancer rates. Leading vitamin D expert Dr. William Grant estimates that if D3 levels were higher, 2 million cancer deaths per year could be prevented.

Coronary heart disease: Low levels of vitamin D double the risk of heart attack and premature death.

Autoimmune diseases: Rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis are all more prevalent in people with deficient vitamin D levels.

High blood pressure and stroke: Decreased vitamin D stimulates parathyroid hormone, which raises blood pressure. Vitamin D inhibits mechanisms that raise blood pressure.

Depression: Reduced sunlight exposure and depression go hand in hand. Studies show that increased vitamin D blood levels reduce the incidence of depression in older adults.

Diabetes: A Finnish study showed that children who took vitamin D supplements in childhood had 10 times less incidence of diabetes as adults.

Susceptibility to infection: Vitamin D produces 200 plus antimicrobial peptides that fight infections.

Note: Buy high-quality vitamin D3 supplements from a reputable manufacturer. Avoid commercial pharmacy brands unless you're certain of what you are getting. Beware of supplements loaded with D2 (ergocalciferol) rather than D3 (cholecalciferol), the active form. Look for the words D3 cholecalciferol on the label.

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Dr. Jim Manganiello is a clinical health psychologist based in Groveland, author and founder of MESICS (www.MesicsTraining.com) and Stress Radio (www.StressRadio.com), and an expert on stress, personal growth and "inner fitness." A former Daily News columnist from 1988 to 1992, he is returning to the newspaper with a monthly column on health and quality-of-life issues. E-mail him at drmanganiello@comcast.net.