Posts Tagged ‘Vitamin D’
Is Vitamin D Really a Cancer Fighter?
- Image via Wikipedia
The information being published about vitamin D in the health media are generally very favorable about encouraging folks to make certain that they get sufficient vitamin D. It turns out that vitamin D is not really a vitamin, but it is a hormone that interacts with more than two thousand genes in our bodies. We have vitamin D receptors everywhere in our bodies. In terms of cellular health vitamin D has been shown to support the prevention of certain cancers including cancers of the prostate, breast, pancreas, and colon. All the medical studies performed to date indicate that more is better when it comes to the level of vitamin D in the blood.
For example in the case of breast cancer, women who are deficient in vitamin D when they are diagnosed with cancer are more than 70% more likely to die of it compared with women with sufficient levels of vitamin D. After heart disease, breast cancer is the deadliest killer of women in the United States. Exposure to the sun and a vitamin D rich diet significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer for women.
For men only heart attacks and lung cancer claim more men that prostate cancer. Exposure to sunlight that allows our bodies to make our own vitamin D has been shown to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by more than 65% for men who had the highest exposure to sunlight. Those men who had the lowest exposure to sunlight were three times more likely to develop prostate cancer. This is good news for seniors who want to take preemptive aging steps to foster their prostate health.
Vitamins D and K Combine for Heart & Bone Health
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
For seniors who are concerned about fostering their senior health avoiding the age-related diseases of artheriorsclerosis and osteoporosis are important goals. For many years the role of vitamin D in promoting healthy bone structure has been well known. Only recently has vitamin D’s role in assisting cardiovascular health been established. In 2009 a nationwide health survey reported that vitamin D deficiency was linked to cardiovascular disease in a large sample of the folks in the USA.
In parallel with vitamin D, vitamin K contributes to the replenishment and formation of bone tissue. A vitamin K deficiency will interfere with the formation of bone tissue. Replenishing bone tissue requires both vitamin K and vitamin D, because they work synergistically to optimize bone mineralization. Similarly, a deficiency of vitamin K and vitamin D can lead to arterial calcification which leads to cardiovascular disease. This dual deficiency appears to explain the ‘calcification paradox’ seen in seniors who suffer a loss of calcium from their bones and an abnormal increase in calcium in their arteries. The dynamic duo of vitamin D and vitamin K operate together to to prevent calcium deposits in vascular tissue and to optimize bone mineralization. There is good news for seniors who are concerned about avoiding the age-related diseases of artheriorsclerosis and osteoporosis. Seniors who want to foster their senior health can supplement with vitamin D and vitamin K to prevent both osteoporosis and artheriorsclerosis, because both vitamins are now available in supplement form.
Can Sunlight Reduce Cancer Risk?
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About 30 years ago a research paper was published that raised the question of the connection between sunlight and reduction of cancer risk. The paper elaborated on the obvious conclusion that followed from sunlight’s effect on humans ability to synthesize vitamin D in its golden presence. The data that triggered the study was geographical data of the incidence of cancers across the United States of America. The southern half of the USA had a lower death rate from cancer than the northern half, but the northeast had the highest rates. For example its rates for colon cancer were twice as high as the southwest region. At the time it was published most of the medical establishment rejected it, but today the paper’s conclusion about the benefit of vitamin D for reducing the risk of cancer have been validated by many medical studies.
The best known studies include breast cancer and colon cancer, but other studies have validated the benefits of adequate vitamin D for 17 other cancers including prostate cancer. It is estimated that if everyone maintained even moderate levels of vitamin D that the deaths from many common cancers would be reduced by about 60%. For folks such as seniors who do not absorb the sun very well and those who live in a region where the sun is not high in the sky, supplements are available. This is very good news for seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive steps against cancer to protect their senior health. In particular senior women can reduce their risk of breast cancer and senior men can protect their prostate health by supplementing with vitamin D.
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How To Boost Immune System For Seniors
- Image by TeeJe (very slow link…) via Flickr
Spring will be starting soon and with the change in season come the typical colds and flu infections that tend to strike seniors particularly hard. The best defense to protect senior health is a good offense which means that seniors need to take the initiative to insure an immune system boost. A strong immune system is the best medicine to preempt the flu and colds that try to latch on to seniors. How to boost immune system is the subject of this post. The first step is to take the vitamins to boost immune system.
Vitamins C and E are two leading antioxidant vitamins that boost the immune system. A third vitamin that needs to be added is vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin. Two minerals that complement the vitamins are selenium and zinc. The members of the anti-inflammatory team are the omega-3 fatty acids, curcumin which is extracted from the spice tumeric, and bromelain which is extracted from pineapple. Two foods that are known to inhibit bacteria and viruses are garlic and green tea. Particularly in the case of seniors the supplement DHEA is known to boost the body’s immune system. Taken together the members of the immune boosting team can provide the means for building immune system for seniors against the respiratory infections that typically strike in the spring.
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Can Vitamin D Assist in The Rescue?
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In the case of a diagnosis of lymphoma standard medical treatments are available and are generally successful provided the type of lymphoma is correctly diagnosed and treatment initiated as soon as the disease is diagnosed. At a recent conference researchers reported on finding that vitamin D blood levels appeared to be predictive of survival by individuals who were being treated for lymphoma. In the study over 350 patients who had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma had their blood levels of vitamin D measured. About half the patients had levels below the minimum level for good health.
The group with the deficient levels of vitamin D showed a risk of disease progression that was 1.5 times greater than those patients with optimal levels of vitamin D. The patients with optimal levels had a 50% reduced risk of dying during the study compared with those with deficient levels. These results were reported for one study and one type of lymphoma which means that more research needs to be performed to validate these findings over a broader range of lymphomas. The good news for folks who are concerned about their senior health is that building up their vitamin D levels will probably insure that an optimal level of vitamin D will assist and complement any medical treatment that may be needed in the event that they contract a lymphoma. Optimal levels of vitamin D have already been shown to assist in the prevention and reduction of cancers other than lymphoma, so it is very probably that the same would apply in the case of lymphoma.
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Seniors Live Longer & Healthier with Vitamin D
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The benefits of achieving adequate blood levels of vitamin D, which is often called the ’sunshine vitamin’, have been documented in numerous health research reports. Lack of sufficient blood levels of vitamin D have been implicated as contributing to the development of over 25 age related diseases. By one estimated at least 50% of seniors in the United States to not have adequate blood levels of vitamin D. In a recent study that involved more that 3,000 participants over an eight year period, those with the highest blood levels of vitamin D were compared with those that had the lowest levels. The participants with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of cardiovascular disease compared with those who had the highest levels.
The same research study performed additional analysis of the data from the study of the participants and found additional negative health effects in the participants with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D. Typically those with the lowest levels manifested a greater increase in the incidence of cancer, stroke, sudden cardiac death, and death due to heart failure. This is good news for seniors who are concerned about seeking preemptive aging information to avoid these type of negative effects on their health. The informed seniors can increase their vitamin D blood levels by taking vitamin D supplements, in order to protect their senior health.
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Nothing Fishy About This Healthy Food!
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For seniors who are concerned about eating foods that are healthy for them this particular food is a real powerhouse. It is just loaded with nutritional benefits including protein, potassium, coenzyme CoQ10, and a long list of other nutritional winners that energize senior health. It is one of the very best sources of the heart-healthy omega-3 oils that benefit the heart and the circulatory system as a first line of defense against cardiovascular disease. Additional advantages include providing anti-inflamatory benefits and nourishing healthy skin. Seniors who are concerned about maintaining healthy bones can depend on it, because it is rich in vitamin D and calcium.
The key to its anti-aging power resides in its rich source of anti-aging proteins called nucleotides that help our bodies repair and rebuild tissues. These nucleotides provide a substantial immune system boost as well. Foods that are rich in nucleotides include brewer’s yeast, anchovies, and oysters, but the food that is number one in anti-aging nucleotides is sardines. This is good news for seniors who are concerned about improving their health by eating the foods that have both high nutritional value and strong anti-aging benefits. The genuine sardines are caught in the Mediterranean waters. They make a tasty snack when served with lemon juice and olive oil according to the preferences of the folks consuming them.
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Better Than a Face Mask Flu Protection!
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
A few years ago a physician on the West Coast made an unexpected discovery. All the patients that he was treating in a closed environment escaped contracting the flu during the 2005 flu season. The rest of the patients in the other open wards suffered such a high rate of infection by the flu that they had to be quarantined. He treated his patients with high doses of vitamin D, because he knew that they would not be exposed to the amount of sunlight required for their bodies to synthesize vitamin D on their own. He was aware that vitamin D plays a critical role in helping the optimal functioning of the multiple systems in our bodies. The immune system is one of those systems; it is the one that prevents our bodies from becoming infected with the flu.
More recently in the Midwest, similar results were observed during H1N1 flu outbreak in June of 2009 when most of the folks who had adequate levels of vitamin D avoided the flu. This successful result was repeated in September 2009 during a widespread H1N1 outbreak in the Southeastern US. It is very likely that these folks were protected from infection by the H1N1 flu, because vitamin D supports that part of the innate immune system that is active in the tissues that line our air passages. This is good news for seniors, because they can avoid contracting the H1N1 flu, provided they get an immune system boost by increasing their intake of vitamin D.
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Sun, Food and Supplements
- Image by Mr.Thomas via Flickr
Lately a number of articles have been published about the importance of getting enough of the ‘Sunshine Vitamin’ which is also known as vitamin D. When the weather is good and we have time to enjoy some sunshine our bodies are capable of using the ultraviolet light of the Sun’s radiation to make our very own vitamin D in the form that is most easily utilized by our bodies. It turns out that vitamin D is not just needed to keep building strong bones, but it assists in preventing a myriad of other diseases including cardiovascular disease and cancer. The verdict is in and vitamin D has been convicted of the charge of being a participant in and an accessory to maintaining good health. Currently up to 75% of the American public may not be getting enough vitamin D to maintain optimum health.
The amount of time spent in the sunshine that would enable us to make enough vitamin D is estimated to be about 10-15 minutes for several days a week. Even this short amount of time appears to be unattainable for a majority of folks, so the alternate paths are by means of vitamin rich vitamin foods or supplements. The path of food would require a person to eat one of the following amounts of food: over three and a half pounds of fresh farmed salmon, more than two pounds of sardines, or 150 egg yolks. These amounts of food are obviously unrealistic for most of us, so the third path of taking vitamin D supplements makes good sense. Supplements make extra good sense for seniors, because our ability to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight tends to decrease with age as do our kidneys’ ability to convert vitamin D into its active form. Fortunately vitamin D supplements in the active form are available in doses of 1,000-IU (International Units) suitable for daily use, in order to promote senior health.
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