Vitamin D Explained: This Will Fundamentally Change the Way You Look at Low Vitamin D

so this time we had a little chat about vitamin d the whole topic of vitamin d has been so controversial there is a ton of research now on vitamin d as it pertains to covid19 but none of this has really been conclusive we do not know yet why people who end up with more severe outcomes are also generally showing lower blood levels of vitamin d but i may have an explanation for you in this video [Music] studies have demonstrated a potential correlation between low vitamin d status and both an increased risk of infection with sars kovi 2 and poor clinical outcomes we know that low vitamin d status has been associated with a range of autoimmune cardiovascular and infectious diseases due to its role as an essential immunologic mediator we also know that vitamin d has been nicknamed the sunshine vitamin because our bodies produce it after sun exposure now vitamin d also of course helps to build strong bones by increasing the way that the body is able to absorb calcium and phosphorus there are different factors that do affect vitamin d levels where you live certainly affects your vitamin d and latitudes north of 37 degrees have a higher risk of deficiency especially during the winter months those who are over age 65 only produce about a quarter as much vitamin d as you do in your 20s we can see here that the severity of covid19 is quite dramatically different in the elderly than it is in younger people so we can think about the vitamin d status of people who are older and how that could correlate with severe outcomes there are other factors affecting vitamin d levels those who have darker skin tones usually have lower levels of vitamin d those who are obese with a bmi of greater than 30 are more likely to store vitamin d in fat tissues therefore they have less vitamin d in circulation a diet that is poor in vitamin d can also be a factor as can different health conditions including irritable bowel syndrome liver disease cystic fibrosis all of these can reduce the absorption of this fat soluble vitamin different health conditions can also cause a person to be more predisposed to low vitamin d someone who is unhealthy likely does not spend very much time outdoors therefore they likely do not get as much uv exposure some people have a poor diet or their disease state does not allow them to absorb vitamins and nutrients including vitamin d in a sufficient amount also diseases do cause inflammation and we are going to learn a little bit more about how inflammation can also lead to a decrease in vitamin d levels so we know that low levels of vitamin d appear to be associated with severe covid19 but why does the literature not support that supplementing with vitamin d appears to reduce the severity of covet 19. we're going to look at a study in which they found that 41.6 of adults were found to have vitamin d levels below 20 nanograms per mil this is felt to be consistent with vitamin d deficiency it has been estimated that 1 billion people worldwide have vitamin d deficiency or insufficiency this study looks at the serum levels of vitamin d that accompany severe covid19 however they are considering that these low levels of vitamin d may be because vitamin d could be something called a negative acute phase reactant let's talk a little bit about that in the study they say that much of the uncertainty surrounding vitamin d results from the presumption that serum vitamin d concentrations reflect nothing but vitamin d status but it is becoming apparent that this is not the only explanation for low vitamin d levels the authors state that what has been overlooked is the abundant evidence that vitamin d is a component of the acute phase response in other words it is a negative acute phase reactant just as low serum levels of albumin which is a serum protein and also a negative acute phase reactant do not always indicate malnutrition vitamin d levels that are low do not always indicate vitamin d deficiency it's very interesting that they are looking at this they also say that this also explains the uncertainty about what level of serum vitamin d indicates deficiency and the presumed high prevalence of vitamin d deficiency in the population so could the issue here be inflammation more than vitamin d what are acute phase reactants by definition acute phase reactants are inflammation markers that exhibit significant changes in serum concentration during inflammation now metabolic stress always induces low-grade inflammation and therefore an acute phase response so we have positive acute phase reactants and we have negative acute phase reactants so the positive acute phase reactants tend to rise when we have inflammation some examples of this are c-reactive protein serum amyloid a and fibrinogen and some negative acute phase reactants so these are substances that tend to decrease when we have inflammation or an inflammatory response include albumin transferrin zinc iron and maybe vitamin d low-grade inflammation as manifested by minor crp elevation is associated with an astounding number of conditions and lifestyles associated with poor health and that represent or reflect metabolic stresses examples include diabetes obesity hypertension atrial fibrillation obstructive sleep apnea excessive nutrient consumption poor sleep the western lifestyle and a large variety of unhealthy diets they go on to say that the recognition that vitamin d is a negative acute phase reactant explains the association of vitamin d levels being low with severe cobit 19. the underlying medical conditions that we just discussed such as diabetes and obesity known to increase the risk of severe covid19 are known to manifest low vitamin d levels the realization that low vitamin d is a negative acute phase reactant helps explain both the confusion about what serum level should be regarded as indicating vitamin deficiency and why its prevalence in the population has been felt to be so high about 30 percent of the population manifest minor crp elevation as well they go on to say that finding a low vitamin d level in an individual whose crp so the c-reactive protein the inflammatory marker when that level is not elevated supports the possibility of vitamin d deficiency on the other hand finding even modestly elevated crp concentration raises the possibility that systemic inflammation underlies the depressed vitamin d level as well as the possibility that both vitamin deficiency and systemic inflammation are present dr roger saheld at medcram has done an excellent job covering the importance of light as well as melatonin a quick summary here is that the importance of light cannot be understated so from the sun we get uv light and we also get near infrared light and the uv light helps our skin to generate vitamin d naturally and you cannot overdose on this type of vitamin d that you get from the sun the near infrared light which is also from the sun but can be blocked by different windows that we have the more energy efficient windows that we have in different buildings and homes this helps to produce intracellular melatonin now i've done some videos on melatonin and we know that melatonin is a free radical scavenger and in being that it helps to reduce inflammation so if someone has low levels of melatonin it could be that their body is not able to control inflammation and we know that the cytokine storm produced by covet 19 is an inflammatory state that can help to cause the severity of coven 19 to actually increase so could the issue here be more of melatonin where we have actually seen in studies that melatonin does seem to reduce severity of covid19 whereas with vitamin d we are not seeing that very clearly at this point so could it be that getting outside is just as important for the production of melatonin as it is for vitamin d i would tend to agree with this and you can look at my video i did about melatonin and anxiety where we talk about the circadian rhythm and the importance of that so many of us have started taking vitamin d and myself included i also take vitamin d however you do need to make sure that you're taking a dose that is safe for you now in this study they were looking at the effect of different doses on bone health and they actually used quite a high dose in one group and they noted that with the higher dose there was actually a decrease in bone density they say we were surprised to find that instead of bone gain with higher doses the group with the highest dose lost bone the fastest that amount of bone loss with 10 000 units daily was not enough to risk a fracture over a three year period but this suggests that for healthy adults vitamin d doses at levels recommended by osteoporosis canada which is between 400 to 2000 units daily are adequate for bone health elevated levels of calcium in the urine with higher doses of vitamin d this can happen and it can result in something called hypercalceuria which can lead someone to be more predisposed to having kidney stones and this has been reported anecdotally to me as well by multiple physicians they are seeing people with an increased risk of kidney stones this can also happen with high dose vitamin c if taken over a prolonged period of time be careful with the supplements that you're taking and especially the amount that you're taking they can interact with your medications and they can also cause unwanted adverse effects there's a paper on vitamin d and omega-3 supplementation they have a few good tips so if you are taking vitamin d you want to avoid taking it in the evening as there is evidence that it can suppress levels of melatonin take it with a fatty meal because that will help to increase its absorption and be aware that sunscreen does block vitamin d production so from all of this we can learn that it is important to get outside natural light is important and the windows that we have in our modern buildings and homes might actually be blocking the near infrared light that we actually need to produce melatonin a good quality sleep will also help regulate our circadian rhythm and therefore our levels of melatonin practicing good sleep hygiene is also important and i'll put a link to a video on that here and the link between vitamin d and covid19 remains a little bit of a mystery and i think we're getting closer to the actual answer and it's looking more and more like melatonin might actually be more of the issue and also inflammation so i will keep you updated on this as more research is available i hope this was helpful thank you so much take care and stay healthy you

Channel: Friendly Pharmacy 5

Views: 215,538

Keywords: vitamin d, vitamin d deficiency, vitamin d3, vitamin d benefits, omicron, covid-19, coronavirus, immune booster, how much vitamin d should i take, am i vitamin d deficient, should i take vitamin d, does vitamin d treat covid-19, who is vitamin d deficient, how does vitamin d work, where is vitamin d stored in the body, who should take vitamin d3, how to take vitamin d, acute phase response, acute phase reactant, metabolic stress, inflammatory response, Roger seheult, medcram

Id: F7jVqd5HL5U

Length: 12min 40sec (760 seconds)

Published: Mon May 02 2022