How much Vitamin D do you need?‏

When you get your 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D blood level, the normal range is usually reported as 32 to 100 ng/ml. However, researchers are now beginning to believe that desired level of vitamin D should be over 50 ng/ml and some are recommending that it should be greater than 60 ng/ml. Depending on your level of vitamin D you will need to first get your level into the desired range. However, I would at least recommend that you try to achieve a blood level above 50 ng/ml.

Your personal physician should actually prescribe the amount of increased vitamin D that you will need to bring your vitamin D up to the proper level. It should then be rechecked to be sure that this goal has been accomplished. I work with the members of my online medical practice at www.drraystrand.com to achieve this goal through email or phone consultation and bloodwork that I can order for them. Once you have achieved this goal, you then should supplement with 1,000 to 1,200 IU of vitamin D3 daily.

Source: Dr. Strand Health Nuggets (newsletter@Bionutrition.org)

Inflammation and Vitamin D‏

Oxidative stress and inflammation is an underlying factor in the development of numerous age-related diseases. In clinical trials, vitamin D has been shown to suppress what is referred to as pro-inflammatory cytokines. This offers additional protection against conditions ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, prediabetes, heart failure, stroke, and heart disease.

It has become evident that those individuals who live in higher altitudes contract multiple sclerosis at much higher rates than those living where they get sunshine throughout the year. Scientists have identified specific vitamin D receptors in the white matter of the brain. The reduction in inflammation, which is the result of adequate vitamin D, may play a role in protecting you against developing multiple sclerosis.

Source: Dr. Strand Health Nuggets (newsletter@Bionutrition.org)

Osteoporosis and importance of Vitamin D‏

Osteoporosis is epidemic in the US and Canada and yet physicians seem to focus primarily on calcium supplementation and medication. However, it is a well-known fact that you cannot even absorb calcium from your diet without adequate levels of vitamin D. The most potent vitamin D is vitamin D3. Our nation is in the midst of realizing that over 90% of the population is seriously deficient in vitamin D. This becomes a critical health issue especially when you consider how critical this nutrient is in helping to build and maintain bone density. One interesting report even showed that elderly people with the highest levels of vitamin D suffered far fewer falls and were less frail.

Anyone who has been diagnosed or is concerned about osteopenia (early thinning of the bone) or osteoporosis needs to have their vitamin D blood levels checked. As mentioned in a previous "Health Nugget", the best test is a 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D blood level. You want to have a blood level greater than 50 ng/ml. You can order this blood test at www.drraystrand.com or ask your personal physician to order it for you from your local lab.

Source: Dr. Strand Health Nuggets (newsletter@Bionutrition.org)

Desirable Vitamin D blood levels‏

So what are desireable vitamin D blood levels that we want to achieve and how do we find out what our vitamin D level actually is? The most accepted blood test is called a 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D blood level. This test can be done non-fasting; however, it needs to be ordered by a physician. The proposed level for optimal health is 50 to 60 ng/ml. Now some practitioners would even like to see this as high as 80. However, everyone agrees that if this level is less than 20 you have a serious problem and need to address it immediately. A level between 20 and 40 is generally considered to be inadequate and increased supplementation with vitamin D3 is strongly recommended. Those whose level is between 40 and 50 should be sure they are at least supplementing their diet with vitamin D3 at greater than 1,000 IU daily thereafter.

The primary source of vitamin D is normally in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight. However, it has been pointed out in previous Health Nuggets that vitamin D deficiency is still very prevelant throughout the world and especially in those individuals who live in higher latitudes. My advice is to actually check your blood levels of vitamin D and see where you stand. If you are not able to get this blood test through your own personal physician, you also have the option of ordering the blood work through my website at www.drraystrand.com.

Source: Dr. Strand Health Nuggets (newsletter@Bionutrition.org)

Vitamin D prevents and improves several diseases

Vitamin D has been shown to suppress inflammation in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, congestive heart failure, and even stroke. Clinical studies have also shown that there is a decrease in the risk of both type 1 and 2 diabetes in individuals who supplement with vitamin D. There are far fewer falls in those elderly patients who supplement with vitamin D at this optimal level. Another important aspect is the fact that vitamin D is required for proper immune function. It is also known that those individuals who live in higher latitudes contract multiple sclerosis at far higher rates than those who obtain more sunshine throughout the year. Studies with supplementing even 400 IU of vitamin D have shown significant reduction in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. The question is now arising that we need to actually be providing our bodies with much more vitamin D than we previously thought.

Source: Dr. Strand Health Nuggets (newsletter@Bionutrition.org)

Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk‏

A four year clinical was done that involved nearly 1200 women. This is the kind of study physicians love and always talk about when it comes to pharmaceutical trials. However, very few of them realize that there are these kinds of studies regarding the health benefits of taking supplements. Subjects were assigned to take 1400 mg of calcium alone, or 1400 mg of calcium plus 1100 IU of vitamin D, or a placebo. After only 4 years, the risk of developing any type of cancer was 60% lower in the vitamin D group. If you excluded the cancers diagnosed in the first year because these cancers were most likely already present before the study, there was a 77% reduction in all types of cancer in the vitamin D group.

The researchers pointed out that vitamin D has an effect on at least 200 human genes and is critical in the normal functioning of our immune system and cell division. When there is less than an optimal level of vitamin D, the regulatory process involving cell proliferation and differentiation becomes defective. This can lead to abnormal cell division and thus cancer growth. However, if individuals simply supplement their diet with 1100 IU of vitamin D, they can significantly decrease their risk of all cancers.

Source: Dr. Strand Health Nuggets (newsletter@Bionutrition.org)

Serious or Competitive Athlete Part 3 - Nutritional Supplementation

January 2009

Most individuals who are in excellent physical condition feel that they are the healthiest people in our society. Now, I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the main researcher on the health benefits of exercise, wrote a book back in 1994 called The Antioxidant Revolution warning of the dangers of over exercise. This book focused primarily on warning the serious or competitive athlete that excessive exercise was actually dangerous to their health. He strongly recommended that everyone needed to be consuming nutritional supplements; however, for the competitive athlete it was absolutely essential. This edition of the Healthy for Life Newsletter will focus on why Dr. Cooper would make such dramatic conclusions from his research.

Source

This newsletter has been written by Ray D. Strand, M. D. who is a family physician who has been involved in a private family practice for over 30 years. For the past 12 years, he has focused his practice on nutritional and preventive medicine. He has written several best selling books like What Your Doctor Doesn't Know about Nutritional Medicine, Death by Prescription, and Healthy for Life. He has lectured across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore on preventive and nutritional medicine. He has also appeared on many radio and television shows.

His primary focus is to guide and educate those individuals who desire to become more proactive in protecting their health or regaining their health. His "online" medical practice is located at www.drraystrand.com*** where he shares a wealth of information in regards to those healthy lifestyles that have been shown to truly protect your health or even allow you to regain your health if you have already lost it. Members of his "online" medical practice also have personal access to Dr. Strand via email and phone consults at a very reasonable fee. Members also have access to his specific nutritional recommendations for over 100 different diseases and his bi-monthly newsletter.

There is so much information that is now available on the Internet today and it is hard to know what is true and what is not. Dr. Strand's mission is to be that health care provider that you can trust.

On his website, he also shares his clinical experience along with his extensive research of the medical literature in the following forms:

* Specific Recommendations
* Healthy Lifestyles
* Newsletters
* Health Nuggets