The Heart of the Matter: vitamin D

Note: The comments on this blog are for information only. Do not make any changes in sunlight exposure, tanning-bed exposure or nutritional habits without first consulting a medical professional.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) such as heart disease and stroke are the number-one killers of both men and women. Can ultraviolet light B (UVB) and vitamin D prevent CVD and save your life?

Cancer is a word that strikes fear into the heart of every American, and in the wake of the Creighton University study showing that vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of cancer by 60-77%,(1) many pharmacies and supplement stores, especially in Canada, sold out of vitamin D.

Lost in the enthusiasm for this study, however, were others that assessed the influence of blood vitamin D levels on heart disease—a disease that kills more Americans than all cancers combined. In one study, selected risk factors for heart disease were compared with vitamin D levels in the blood. The risk factors measured were hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and triglyceride levels. When those with the lowest vitamin D levels were compared to those with the highest levels, hypertension was 30% higher, diabetes 98% higher, obesity 129% higher and triglycerides 47% higher.(2)

The very latest research (January 2008) compared the risk of “cardiovascular events" (heart attack, stroke, etc.) with vitamin D levels in the blood and found an increased risk of 62% in those whose vitamin D levels were lowest compared to those whose levels were highest.(13) However, in those with low levels of vitamin D and high blood pressure (hypertension), the risk of CVD more than doubled.

It would be a good research idea to assess a direct benefit of sunlight exposure or tanning-bed exposure on risk factors for heart disease and other CVD. Typically, vitamin D supplements contain a minuscule 200-400 IU, whereas twenty minutes of full-body sunlight exposure in summer can produce as much as 10,000-20,000 IU, and a tanning bed with high UVB levels can produce the same amount in about 10 minutes. One must exercise caution, however, and never burn. Also remember that people who cannot tan should not expose themselves to direct sunlight or to tanning bed light, and high-pressure tanning beds should not be used by anyone.
Indeed, there are already other indications that UVB and vitamin D reduce the risk of CVD. Consider the following:

Vitamin D reduces heart attack risk. Research has established that persons with above-average blood levels of vitamin D have a 57% reduced risk of a heart attack when compared to those with below-average levels.(3)

Vitamin D reduces arterial calcification. Low levels of vitamin D lead to calcification of the arteries, one of the major causes of arterial plaque that leads to CVD and heart attacks.(4) When vitamin D levels are low, parathyroid hormone (PTH) becomes high, which leads to calcification of arteries.(7) PTH levels are much lower in those who use tanning beds, and vitamin D levels are also optimized in persons who use tanning beds.(8)

UVB and vitamin D reduce hypertension. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a well-known risk factor for both heart attack and stroke. Men with the lowest vitamin D levels have 6.13 times the risk of hypertension as men with the lowest levels. Women with the lowest levels have 2.67 times the risk.(5) Exposure to UV that increases blood levels of vitamin D to 40 ng/ml (80 nmol/l) has also been shown to reduce hypertension.(12) In three sessions per week of full-body UVB light treatments, carried on for six weeks, vitamin D levels rose 162%, and average blood pressures dropped six points on both systolic (higher number) and diastolic (lower number) measurements.

UVB diminishes the risk of heart failure. In a study done is Spain, it was found that hospital admissions for heart failure were 25% higher than average in January and 33% lower in August. That is a 58% swing between winter and summer!(6) This indicates that UVB is exceptionally important in reducing the incidence of heart failure, and that UVB from a tanning bed would be the perfect therapy to prevent the excess of winter heart failure.

Vitamin D inhibits arterial inflammation. Arterial inflammation is a major risk factor for CVD. High levels of an inflammatory protein called C-reactive protein (CRP) are considered very important predictors of heart disease. Vitamin D supplements can lower CRP levels as much as 40%.(9) Inflammation can also be caused by proteins called cytokines that work as part of the immune system.(10) These proteins are either pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. Vitamin D has the amazing ability to inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokine production10 while stimulating production of anti-inflammatory cytokines.(11) Vitamin D is truly a miracle hormone, and the most efficient manner of stimulating its production is through tanning-bed use.

So, when it comes to matters of the heart, it behooves us not only to eat correctly, but to protect ourselves by keeping vitamin D levels high through non-burning exposure to UVB, and when UVB is not available, to supplement with vitamin D3. For those adults who do not have a source of UVB light, 2,000 international units daily is essential.

References:

1. Lappe, J. et al. Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1586-91.
2. Martins, D. et al. Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors and the Serum Levels of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D in the United States. Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1159-1165.
3. Scragg, R. et al. Myocardial infarction is inversely associated with plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels: a community-based study. Int J Epidemiol 1990;3:559-63.
4. Zitterman, A. Vitamin D and arterial calcification. Curr Opin Lipidol 2007;18:41-46.
5. Forman, J. et al. Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Risk of Incident hypertension. Hypertension 2007;49:1063-9.
6. Martinez-Selles, M. et al. Annual rates of admission and seasonal variations in hospitalizations for heart failure. Eur J Heart Fail 2002;4:779-86.
7. Rostand, S. et al. Parathyroid hormone, vitamin D, and cardiovascular disease in chronic renal failure. Kidney Int 1999;56:383-92.
8. Tangpricha, V. et al. Tanning is associated with optimal vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration) and higher bone mineral density. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;80:1645-49.
9. Zittermann, A. et al. Putting cardiovascular disease and vitamin D insufficiency into perspective. Br J Nutr 2005;94:483-92.
10. Muller, K. et al. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 inhibits cytokine production by human blood monocytes at the post-transcriptional level. Cytokine 1992;4:506-12.
11. Canning, M. et al. I-alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (l,25(OH)(2)D(3)) hampers the maturation of fully active immature dendritic cells from monocytes. Eur J Endocrinol 2001;145:351-57.
12. Krause, R. et al. Ultraviolet B and blood pressure. Lancet 1998;352:709-10.
13. Wang, T. et al. Vitamin D deficiency and risk of cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2008;117 pre-publication copy.

How Does Vitamin D Prevent Cancer?

Note: The comments on this blog are for information only. Do not make any changes in sunlight exposure, tanning-bed exposure or nutritional habits without first consulting a medical professional.

We now know that vitamin D is strongly associated with decreased cancer risk. Harvard researchers have estimated that raising average blood levels of vitamin D by 10 ng/ml (a small amount) could yearly save 85,000 men from cancer death.¹ Other researchers estimate that high vitamin D levels decrease risk of colon cancer by two-thirds,² and a study released this June indicates that vitamin D supplementation reduces risk of cancer in women by 60%.³ UVB light of course, whether from sunlight or tanning beds, stimulates the skin to produce vast quantities of vitamin D, and though there is no panacea for cancer or any other disease, vitamin D is a close to it as we will ever come.

Vitamin D works its anti-cancer wonders in several ways:

1. Promoting apoptosis. Old or abnormal cells must die and be replaced. Apoptosis is a programmed sequence of events that leads to the death of such cells. Without apoptosis, cells become “immortal;” they never die off; they multiply and become cancerous. Vitamin D promotes apoptosis.⁴
   
   
2. Promoting differentiation. Differentiation is the process by which cells take on characteristics of surrounding tissue. In other words, they become a specific type of tissue, such as breast tissue or bone tissue. Cancer cells do not differentiate; they exhibit out-of-control growth (proliferation) and do not resemble cells in the surrounding tissue. Vitamin D helps cancer cells to differentiate and become like the normal cells of surrounding tissue.⁵
   
   
3. Retarding proliferation. Proliferation is the multiplication of cancer cells as described above. If proliferation is stopped, then cancer is stopped. Vitamin D retards proliferation.⁶
   
   
4. Inhibiting angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels into cancer cells—a process necessary to keep them growing. If angiogenesis is stopped, cancer cells cannot receive nutrients and will die. Vitamin D retards the growth of new, undesirable, “feeder” vessels, thereby slowing cancer growth.⁷
   
   
5. Slowing invasiveness. Invasiveness is the spreading of cancer into healthy tissue. Vitamin D inhibits the invasiveness of cancer cells, which restricts the cancer to a smaller area.⁸
   
   
6. Inhibiting metastasis. Metastasis is the spreading of cancer cells from the initial location of disease to another location, usually by way of the blood or lymph. Vitamin D inhibits metastasis of cancer cells, which renders them less dangerous.⁹

The conclusion: UVB and its product, vitamin D, are the greatest cancer-prevention therapies known to mankind.

References

1. Giovannucci, E. et al. J Natl Cancer Inst 2006;98:451-59.
2. Gorham, E. et al. Am J Prev Med. 2007;32:210-6.
3. Heaney, R. et al. Material to be published in June. Miller, E. et al. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2005;14: 525-28.
4. Miller, E. et al. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2005;14: 525-28.
5. Miyaura, C. et al. Biochem Biophys Res Comm 1981;102:937.
6. Holt, P. et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2002;11:113-9.
7. Nakagawa, K. et al. Carcinogenesis 2005;26:1044-54.
8. Bao, B. et al. Carcinogenesis 2006;27:32-42.
9. Nakagawa, K. et al. Carcinogenesis 2005;26:1044-54.

Boning up on vitamin D: Can UVB from sunlight and tanning beds reverse osteoporosis?

Note: The comments on this blog are for information only. Do not make any changes in sunlight exposure, tanning-bed exposure or nutritional habits without first consulting a medical professional.

In our aging society, fractures due to osteoporosis are pandemic. Most elderly people suffer from the disease, which results when the bones lose their calcium, becoming porous and weak. Because the disease manifests itself so frequently in the elderly, osteoporosis in considered to be an inevitable consequence of aging. Nothing could be further from the truth. Osteoporosis is not only evitable, but it is also reversible.

Can sunlight exposure reverse osteoporosis? The answer is an unequivocal “yes!” I had long known that osteoporosis was at least partly reversible in patients who were given a program of weight-bearing exercise. But it was surprising to learn that even without exercise, an impressive increase in bone density could be achieved. In a profoundly important piece of research, the effects of sunlight on bone were determined. The subjects were elderly women—stroke victims—who had low blood levels of vitamin D. In a 12-month study, 129 of these women were exposed to regular sunlight and another 129 remained indoors. The results were startling: the sunlight group increased bone mass by an average 3.1%; in the non-sunlight-exposed group, bone mass decreased by 3.3% (Sato, Y. et al. Neurology 2003;61:338-42). That is a difference in bone mass of 6.4% between the two groups. Is this important? The risk of fracture increases two to three times for every 10 percent drop in bone density! (Nguyen, T. et al. BMJ 1993;307:1111-15). Vitamin D levels in the sunlight group also increased by 400%. The most impressive result? The sunlight group had only one fracture. The indoor group had six.

Another study, this time using elderly Alzheimer’s victims as subjects, showed similar benefits of sunlight. (Sato, Y. et al. J Bone Miner Res. 2005;20:1327-33.) The experiment was similar to the one just mentioned, in that one group was sunlight exposed for one year, and the other was kept in a hospital. In the sunlight group there was a 220% increase in vitamin D levels in one year, and bone mass increased by 2.7%. In the sunlight-deprived group, bone mass decreased by 5.6%. In the sunlight group, there were three fractures; in the sunlight deprived group there were eleven. In other words, the sunlight deprived group was 3.7 times more likely to have a fracture. Can you imagine what might be accomplished over several years of sunlight exposure coupled with exercise?

Could tanning-bed exposure work as well as sunlight exposure in reducing osteoporosis and its subsequent fractures? Research has shown that Those who use tanning beds have levels of vitamin D that are 90% higher than those who do not use tanning beds; tanning-bed users also have significantly higher bone density. (Tangpricha, V. et al. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;80:1645-49.) Tanning beds, of course, produce vast quantities of vitamin D in a short time.

It appears that safe, sane and regular exposure to UVB dramatically reduces fractures and enhances the quality of life.