Posts Tagged ‘vitamin D3’
Prostate Health and Vitamin D3
- Image via Wikipedia
At this time of year we are living in the dark days of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The amount of sunlight that shines on our uncovered skin is but a fraction that we experience during the summer months. This lack of sunlight can have unwanted effects on men’s prostate health, because the vitamin D that our bodies make in response to the ultraviolet light in sunlight is greatly reduced. Although it is called vitamin D, it is really a hormone that interacts with more than two thousand genes in our bodies. In terms of our health vitamin D has been shown to support the prevention of certain cancers including cancers of the prostate, breast, pancreas, and colon. Many medical studies performed to date indicate that it is better to have more when it comes to the level of vitamin D in the blood. For men prostate cancer is in third place behind heart attacks and lung cancer in terms of the number of disease initiated deaths. Exposure to sunlight that allows our bodies to make our own vitamin D3 has been shown to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by more than 65% for men who had the highest exposure to sunlight. In the winter months the lack of sunlight can be compensated by supplementing with vitamin D3 which is readily available. This is good news for seniors who want to take preemptive aging steps to foster their prostate health.
Seniors Need Vitamin D In Darker Winter Days
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When we head into the winter the hours of daylight shorten. The amount of sunlight decreases and our senior bodies do not synthesize as much vitamin D as we did during the sunny summer months. The flu and cold viruses that our senior immune systems easily resisted during the summer months become more difficult to resist. Before the winter arrives is the time for seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive aging steps to safeguard their senior health to take action to increase the vitamin D in their senior bodies. Increasing the amount of vitamin D is critically important for seniors who want to build up their immune system against the flu viruses during the dark, gray winter months. The good news for seniors is that they can supplement with vitamin D in the form of vitamin D3 which is the type that our bodies synthesize when our skin is irradiated by the ultraviolet light from the Sun. It turns out that vitamin D3 is easier for our bodies to absorb than the D2 type which is often found in multivitamins and fortified milk.
Seniors Need Immune Defense Against the Return of the H1N1 Virus
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Last winter we were fortunate that the H1N1 virus did not claim as many lives as it might have claimed had it blossomed into a pandemic such as the 1918-19 flu virus. Back in 1918-19 the H1N1 flu virus killed at least 50 million worldwide. What needs to be noted is the sequence of the assaults on the human population in those two flu seasons. During the first year not many people died of the virus, but the next year it returned with a vengeance and killed most of the folks included in the 50 million deaths due to the flu. The second round was deadlier, because it had mutated. Similarly last year saw fewer deaths due to the H1N1 flu virus than had been expected, so this winter if the H1N1 flu virus returns it may mutate and result in the large number of deaths that occur when a flu pandemic strikes. Fortunately there is good news for seniors who want to take preemptive aging steps to protect their senior health against winter flu viruses such as the H1N1 virus by building up their immune system. Numerous studies have shown that a deficiency of vitamin D is linked to influenza infections. The Harvard Medical School, that normally recommends getting vitamins through food, makes an exception for supplementing with vitamin D. The good news is that the vitamin D supplements that duplicate the form D3 made by our bodies in sunlight are very inexpensive. The D3 form that is more readily absorbed by our bodies is preferred over the less potent form D2. Together with eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep, supplementing with vitamin D3 will support a layered defense against infection by the H1N1 flu.
Pick the Right Type of Vitamin D
- Image by Thai Jasmine via Flickr
Recently the major health publications and the press have been promoting the significant health benefits that result when folks consume an adequate amount of vitamin D. Sadly some of the reports fail to identify the form of vitamin D that produces the better health results which are especially important for achieving senior health. The form of vitamin D that produces the better health results and last for a longer time is the same form that our bodies synthesize using sunshine. This is the form of vitamin D that is sometimes called the “sunshine vitamin” which is vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). The form of vitamin D that is often put in many multivitamins is the vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) form which is not utilized in our bodies as well as is the vitamin D3 form.
Seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive aging steps to protect themselves against as many as 27 age-related diseases need to verify that they are getting the vitamin D3 form. This is particularly true in the winter months when the amount of sunshine is at its yearly lowest. Seniors who are deficient in blood levels of vitamin D3 are at greater risk to their cardiovascular health and to contracting cancers, particularly the hormonal ones.
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Can Vitamin D Bind the H1N1 Flu?
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
By all indications the H1N1 Flu is already beginning to pay a return visit to the Northern Hemisphere. In the USA the Government is promising that a vaccine will be ready in time to head off the H1N1 and protect us from the consequences of this disease this fall of 2009. Due to the short time required to prepare the new, H1N1 vaccine we do not know how well it will work in the general public. The second issue that has been raised concerns the availability of and accessibility to the vaccine by the general public. Putting all our hope on this new, H1N1 vaccine to provide protection from the H1N1 flu is like putting all our health protection in one basket. Common sense says that we should have a layered defense in place that will preempt the H1N1 flu. The key to such a layered defense will be to take steps that will strengthen a weakened immune system.
Taking the path to boost immune system has strong support from diverse groups that are concerned about preventing the spread of the H1N1 flu. An agency of the Canadian Government is studying the role of vitamin D in preventing the onset or mitigating the severity of the flu infection. Numerous studies have shown that a deficiency of vitamin D is linked to influenza infections. The Harvard Medical School, that normally recommends getting vitamins through food, makes an exception for supplementing with vitamin D. The good news is that the vitamin D supplements that duplicate the form D3 made by our bodies in sunlight are very inexpensive. The D3 form that is more readily absorbed by our bodies is preferred over the less potent form D2. Together with eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep, supplementing with vitamin D3 will support a layered defense against infection by the H1N1 flu.
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