THE GREATEST MEDICINE OF ALL… IS TEACHING PEOPLE HOW NOT TO NEED IT
Today’s blog focusses on recent studies showing the health value of vitamins. As more and more studies are published, it is clear, that the right vitamins in the correct dosage can be enormously helpful in keeping your body healthy.
Large Study Links Higher Nutrient Intake With Lower Risk of Mortality
They don’t call them “vita”-mins for nothing. The prefix to this word means “life” in Latin—and indeed, a large study has found that higher intake of vitamin E and A, as well other key nutrients including magnesium, was linked to a lower risk of disease-related or all-cause mortality during follow-up.
A study that utilized data from the 1999-2010 National Health and Nutrition Education Survey (NHANES) found an association between having an adequate intake of vitamin E, iron, magnesium, potassium, EPA and DHA, essential amino acids and fiber and a lower risk of dying during a median follow-up period of 9.3 years. The findings were published in the October 2021 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.1
“These study findings can be used as comprehensive information about the associations between nutrient adequacy of critical nutrients in the diet of US adults and mortality risk based on the national survey data,” authors Kyungho Ha and colleagues of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut wrote.
The study included 20,602 men and women enrolled in NHANES 1999-2010. During a median 9.3-year period, 3,539 participants died. The participants who survived were more likely to have reported a higher intake of specific nutrients.
Notably, compared to participants whose magnesium intake was among the lowest one-third, those whose intake was among the top third had a 22% lower adjusted risk of dying from any cause, a 35% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of cancer death during follow-up.
Magnesium wasn’t the only nutrient linked to a lower risk of mortality during follow-up; the top consumers of vitamin E, iron, potassium and fiber had 19%, 15%, 18% and 16% lower respective risks of premature all-cause mortality.
For essential amino acids, the risk of mortality from all causes was 15% lower and for the omega-3 fatty acids EPA plus DHA, the risk was 13% lower when participants whose intake was among the top 25% were compared to the lowest 25%.
Cardiovascular disease mortality was 25% lower and cancer-specific mortality was 24% less among those in the top third of vitamin A intake compared to the lowest group. The greatest consumers of calcium had a 28% lower risk of dying from cancer.
“These findings suggest that higher intakes of nutrients, including vitamins A and E, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, and dietary fiber relative to the RDA/AI, and improving macronutrient quality are associated with a reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in US adults,” the authors concluded.
This just reinforces the point of how important eating nutrient rich foods and taking a multivitamin is for good health. It is almost impossible to get the nutrition you require from food alone in today’s agricultural world. You need to supplement with a high-quality “whole food” multivitamin. They are available online, at Super Supplements, and at Costco at a good price. Make sure they are “whole food” or you are wasting your money. Laboratory produced vitamins, typically called Synthetic vitamins, are how 99% of all vitamins are made and they do not work well in the human body – no matter what say in the advertisement! In addition to a multivitamin, I highly recommend everyone take Vit. D, C and fish oil every day if you want to enjoy your life to the fullest and be healthy.
It is best to get your calcium in the foods you eat rather than taking a calcium supplement. Most calcium supplements are made using low quality rock or shells that are ground up. But these forms of calcium are not used very well by your body, and they can cause other health issues. If you can find a supplement using the natural plant form of calcium called Calcium Lactate, then that is a much better and safer way to supplement with calcium. One of the few supplements available using calcium lactate is called Min-Tran and it is made by Standard Process. Min-Tran combines calcium and magnesium which work best when taken together. Standard Process also offers a calcium lactate only supplement if you only want to take calcium. But I recommend taking Min-Tran because magnesium is critical for your health, and we get far too little of it in our modern diet.
Diabetes and Eggs
Article from Well.org
For decades, mainstream media has demonized foods like eggs and meats, claiming they cause all sorts of metabolic diseases. The truth is, they were wrong all along, and the science has consistently shown that in recent years (although pasture-raised is the most important choice for max health benefits).
But let's take a look at something even more specific in today's email...the relationship between eggs and diabetes...
A study performed at The University of Eastern Finland and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition studied the diets of men aged 42 to 60 and followed them for 20 years on average to find out if they developed Diabetes. The study concluded that people who ate an average of 4 eggs per week had a 37% lower risk of developing type 2 Diabetes compared to people that only ate 1 egg per week (Hmm, I wonder how much lower the Diabetes risk would have been for people eating 10 eggs per week!)...
They also concluded that egg eaters had lower blood sugar levels on average. As a health researcher, this doesn't surprise me at all... eggs are almost a perfect food (especially if they're pasture-raised), and are loaded with appetite-controlling protein, a plethora of vitamins & minerals, powerful antioxidants, healthy cholesterol and saturated fats (yes, HEALTHY fats!), and other nutrients that all help to benefit your hormones and control blood sugar levels.
In fact, other studies have shown that people that eat eggs for breakfast (instead of carb-based breakfasts like cereals, muffins, or bagels), have reduced appetite levels for the remainder of the day, and less cravings for sugar and carbs, thereby successfully losing or maintaining weight easier.
“Pasture raised” eggs are becoming more popular and are available at many grocery stores. Trader Joes sells them at a price similar to other eggs, but the health benefit of pasture raised eggs is much better. Don’t confuse “pasture raised” with cage-free. Cage-free just means they are not in a small cage, but they are still in an enclosed area with no access to a pasture for sunshine and their natural feeding.
Vitamin D and Fish Oil Supplements Reduce the Risk of Autoimmune Disease in Older Adults
A daily regimen of vitamin D and fish oil supplements may help prevent older adults from developing autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid diseases, and psoriasis, according to new research published last week in the BMJ.
Autoimmune diseases—conditions in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks itself—are very common, and their chances of developing increase with age. Though all autoimmune diseases vary to some degree, they mostly develop gradually—usually over the course of months to years.
For this specific study, researchers set out to answer whether vitamin D and marine-derived long-chain fatty acids (aka fish oil)—known for their ability to regulate the immune system and tamp down inflammation—may also have a protective effect against autoimmune disorders. As it turns out, they might.
"There are no other treatments or preventative therapies available for autoimmune disorders," JoAnn Manson, MPH, co-author of the study and chief of preventative medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital explains that autoimmune conditions are prevalent and have major affects on health and quality of life. "These supplements may be able to reduce morbidity related to autoimmune disorders," she adds.
What does the study say about vitamin D and fish oil, and their effects on autoimmune diseases?
In a corresponding BMJ opinion piece to the study, co-author Karen Costenbader, MD, MPH, revealed that she and her colleagues set out to answer this one question, posed to doctors by patients: "Which vitamins or supplements do you recommend that I take?"
According to Dr. Costenbader, the lupus program director at Brigham and Women's Hospital's division of rheumatology, she can now point them to this research, which suggests women over 55 and men over 50 take 1,000 mg of marine omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) and 2,000 IU of vitamin D each day, to reduce the risk of autoimmune diseases.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from 25,871 men and women, over 50 and 55 years old, respectively. They were participating in VITAL, a nationwide, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial designed to see whether vitamin D and fish oil supplementation could help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. The participants were split up into four groups—those who took 2000 IU/day of vitamin D, those who took 1000 mg/day of fish oil, and those who took placebo doses of vitamin D and fish oil—and were followed for about five years. They were also asked to report any new diagnoses, side effects, and trial adherence on a yearly basis.
Though VITAL showed no benefits to cancer or cardiovascular disease prevention, researchers chose to use the same data to investigate the supplements' effects on autoimmune diseases—that's where they found the most benefit.
In all, researchers determined that participants who received vitamin D supplementation with or without fish oil were 22% less likely to develop an autoimmune disease. Those who received fish oil supplementation with or without vitamin D saw a 15% reduction in autoimmune disease rate—though that was deemed "not statistically significant" to researchers, compared to placebo.
"We found that the participants who took the two pills that were a placebo had the highest risk of autoimmune disease," Dr. Costenbader tells Health. "I was very excited about the results that we finally had. This is the first thing we know that we can do to prevent autoimmune disease, a proven therapy."
Though the study followed participants for just over five years, Dr. Manson says even the effects that emerged after just two years of supplementation were significant. "Often the effects of these supplements can take a long time to emerge. The fact that this benefit was apparent within two years—there seemed to already be a reduction that was emerging—and then it was statistically significant over five years for vitamin D either alone or combined with omega-3s was surprising."
Should you start taking vitamin D and fish oil, based on this research?
Though vitamins and supplements are generally regarded as safe, it's still possible to take too much—which means your doctor should be clued into any new ones you want to try (or even if you want to up your dosage).
This study in particular gave participants 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D—that dosage is kind of in between the daily recommended dosage for adults (600–800 IU) and the upper limit for adults (4,000 IU), according to the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements. Manson points out that the NIH daily recommendations are primarily for bone health. "They don't have recommendations on preventing other chronic diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular disease or recommendations for preventing autoimmune disease," she said. "We tested these supplements over 5.3 years and found they were very safe."
Still, you can overdo it on vitamin D. "People should keep in mind that taking too much vitamin D can possibly cause toxicity so it would not be recommended to take higher than 2000 IU daily on a regular basis," Ozlem Pala, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Miami Health System, tells Health. In excess, vitamin D can cause nausea and vomiting, muscle weakness, and kidney stones, among other issues; very high levels in the blood can lead to kidney failure or even death. It can also interact with certain medications, like statins and steroids.
Regarding fish oil—the study dose of which was 1,000 mg/day—the NIH sets the daily recommended dosage for omega-3s as 1,100 mg/day to 1,600 mg/day for adult women and men, respectively. The Food and Drug Administration says dietary supplements providing up to 5 g/day (5,000 mg/day) of EPA and DHA (the types of omega-3s in fish oil) are considered safe. Though omega-3s usually only have mild side effects, if any, supplementation could interact with anticoagulants, or blood thinners.
Overall, any new vitamins should be discussed with your health care provider, says Dr. Costenbader. "I think anybody who wants to start taking any over-the-counter supplements will hopefully talk to their doctor about it and make sure it doesn't interact with their other medications or other health problems."
Although some doctors still caution about the possible dangerous effects of taking to much of some vitamins, the reality is that the official government statistics show that there have been ZERO deaths caused by vitamins in recent years, compared to well over 100,000 deaths caused by legal drugs every single year!
Most natural doctors recommend 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day. Especially when you are feeling low or fighting off an illness. But even if you only take 2,000 IU per day, it is important to supplement with vitamin D especially during winter and fall when you can’t get enough sunshine to produce your own. Here in the Pacific NW, we need to supplement for about 8 months of the year because of the low trajectory of the sun or no sun at all. Vitamin D, C, zinc and fish oil should be the core of your supplements along with a “whole food” multivitamin. If you are taking medication, be sure to let your doctor know what vitamins you are taking in case they can interfere with your medication.
Israeli Study Offers Strongest Proof Yet of Vitamin D’s Power to Fight COVID
Bolstering previous research, scientists publish ‘remarkable’ data showing strong link between vitamin deficiency, prevalent in Israel, and death or serious illness among patients
Israel scientists say they have gathered the most convincing
evidence to date that increased vitamin D levels can help COVID-19 patients
reduce the risk of serious illness or death.
Researchers from Bar Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center say that the vitamin has such a strong impact on disease severity that they can predict how people would fare if infected based on nothing more than their ages and vitamin D levels.
Lacking vitamin D significantly increases danger levels, they concluded in newly peer-reviewed research published recently in the journal PLOS One.
The study is based on research conducted during Israel’s first two waves of the virus, before vaccines were widely available, and doctors emphasized that vitamin supplements were not a substitute for vaccines, but rather a way to keep immunity levels from falling.
Vitamin D deficiency is endemic across the Middle East, including in Israel, where nearly four in five people are low on the vitamin, according to one study from 2011. By taking supplements before infection, though, the researchers in the new Israeli study found that patients could avoid the worst effects of the disease.
“We found it remarkable, and striking, to see the difference in the chances of becoming a severe patient when you are lacking in vitamin D compared to when you’re not,” said Dr. Amiel Dror, a Galilee Medical Center physician and Bar Ilan researcher who was part of the team behind the study.
He noted that his study was conducted pre-Omicron, but said that the coronavirus doesn’t change fundamentally enough between variants to negate vitamin D effectiveness.
“What we’re seeing when vitamin D helps people with COVID infections is a result of its effectiveness in bolstering the immune systems to deal with viral pathogens that attack the respiratory system,” he told The Times of Israel. “This is equally relevant for Omicron as it was for previous variants.”
Health authorities in Israel and several other countries have recommended vitamin D supplements in response to the coronavirus pandemic, though data on its effectiveness has been sparse until now.
In June, researchers published preliminary findings showing that 26 percent of coronavirus patients died if they were vitamin D deficient soon before hospitalization, compared to 3% who had normal levels of vitamin D.
They also determined that hospitalized patients who were vitamin D deficient were 14 times more likely, on average, to end up in severe or critical condition than others.
While the scientific community recognized the importance of the results, questions arose as to whether recent health conditions among the patients might have been skewing the results.
The possibility was raised that patients could have been suffering from conditions that both reduce vitamin D levels and increase vulnerability to serious illness from COVID-19, meaning the vitamin deficiency would be a symptom rather than a contributing factor in disease severity.
To zero out that possibility, Dror’s team delved deeper into the data, examining each of its patients’ vitamin D levels over the two-year stretch before coronavirus infection. They found that the strong correlation between sufficient vitamin D levels and ability to fight the coronavirus still held, and the level of increased danger in their preliminary findings remained almost identical.
“We checked a range of timeframes and found that wherever you look over the two years before infection, the correlation between vitamin D and disease severity is extremely strong,” Dror said.
“Because this study gets such a good picture of patients’ vitamin D levels, by looking at a wide timeframe instead of just the time around hospitalization, it offers much stronger support than anything seen so far emphasizing the importance of boosting vitamin D levels during the pandemic,” he added.
A flood of dubious claims about natural remedies to the coronavirus, including a theory that Israelis had immunized themselves with lemons and baking soda, have left some skeptical about claims of vitamins warding off the virus.
But Dror insisted that his team’s research showed that the importance of vitamin D was not based on incomplete or flawed data.
“People should learn from this that studies pointing to the importance of taking vitamin D are very reliable, and aren’t based on skewed data,” he said. “And it emphasizes the value of everyone taking a vitamin D supplement during the pandemic, which, consumed in sensible amounts in accordance with official advice, doesn’t have any downside.”
Again, most natural doctors recommend 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day. The only way you can be sure if you are low in vitamin D is to get tested by your doctor. If you live in the northern states, the odds are good that you are low. With people being told they should be afraid of the sun (you should not), even people in the mid to southern states are often low in vitamin D because they avoid getting enough direct sunshine. Be sure to get at least 15 minutes of direct sunshine every day over as much of your body as possible. And if you can’t do that, then take a vitamin D supplement.
Until next time, stay healthy and happy
JD Roma
The information on this blog is provided for educational
purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, and
medical advice and services are not being offered. If you have, or suspect you
have, a health problem you should consult your physician (preferably a
Naturopath).
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