The Vitamin D Cure Blog

When the leaves change colors the availability of ultraviolet light to make vitamin D (UVB) disappears till next spring. Your vitamin D level then begins to fall along with all the leaves on the deciduous trees. Ten weeks after peak fall colors your vitamin D level is about half what it was at the end of summer. For me hear in Michigan (42° N) that is about Christmas time or New Year’s. For those of you who live in the southern part of the United States or below 35° N your vitamin D may never fall by half because your winter is not 10 weeks long. The only sources of vitamin D during winter are fat stores and supplements.

Mother Nature intended for us to burn most of our fat stores over the winter due to less food availability. Our Western lifestyles have us typically eating more food through the end of year holidays. So rather than liberating stored vitamin D by burning fat, we are increasing fat volume and retaining vitamin D in fat. If there were ever an appropriate use of fasting it would be from Thanksgiving through Easter. We should eat less in these winter months not more.

Moderate to intense physical activity also stimulates fat burning and will liberate vitamin D from fat stores. Maintaining a routine of this type of activity has been shown in CDC data to translate into significantly higher vitamin D levels. So follow the diet in the Vitamin D Cure year round and establish a daily routine of moderate physical activity.

Remember low vitamin D levels in the winter depress your mood and your immune system. So beat those winter blues and stop all those flu viruses with the Vitamin D Cure.

Recipe of the Month
Remember our recipes are courtesy of Chef Kelly (kellychez@gmail.com). If you have recipes you would like to share or convert to follow the rules of The Vitamin D Cure send them to contact@thevitamindcure.com .

Broiled Spiced Salmon with Roasted Winter Squash & Fennel
Serves 4

For the vegetables:
• 1-1 ½ pound butternut squash, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, halved crosswise, then cut lengthwise into 3/4-inch-wide wedges
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cut lengthwise into 1-inch-wide wedges
• 1 large onion, root end left intact, then cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide wedges
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

For the Salmon:
• 4 Salmon fillets (4-6 oz. each)
• 1 Tbsp. reserved spice mixture from vegetables
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive oil

1. Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 450°F.
2. Combine squash, fennel, and onion on heavy large rimmed baking sheet. Add oil and toss to coat. Mix all spices in small bowl to blend, reserve 1 Tbsp. for Salmon. Sprinkle spice mixture over vegetables and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and generous amount of pepper.
3. Roast until vegetables are tender and browned, turning once, about 45 minutes. Turn oven to broil.
4. For the salmon, foil line and spray a broil pan with nonstick spray.
5. Place salmon fillets on pan and drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper and evenly sprinkle 4 fillets with reserved spice mixture.
6. Broil for 5 to 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
7. Serve over top roasted vegetables.

Vitamin D in the News

Vitamin D has profound and multiple effects on the immune system. This is particularly true when it comes to your response to infections. We know how it affects our response to tuberculosis. The effects of vitamin D on our response to viruses like the flu are a bit less clear. Here is an excellent review of the data that is our there.

Vitamin D for treatment and prevention of infectious diseases: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Endocr Pract. 2009 Jul-Aug;15(5):438-49.
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30030, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To review the existing human controlled intervention studies of vitamin D as adjunctive therapy in settings of infection and provide recommendations for design and implementation of future studies in this field on the basis of the evidence reviewed. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled clinical trials that studied vitamin D for treatment or prevention of infectious diseases in humans. Studies from 1948 through 2009 were identified through search terms in PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE. RESULTS: Thirteen published controlled trials were identified by our search criteria. Ten trials were placebo controlled, and 9 of the 10 were conducted in a rigorous double-blind design. The selected clinical trials demonstrated substantial heterogeneity in baseline patient demographics, sample size, and vitamin D intervention strategies. Serious adverse events attributable to vitamin D supplementation were rare across all studies. On the basis of studies reviewed to date, the strongest evidence supports further research into adjunctive vitamin D therapy for tuberculosis, influenza, and viral upper respiratory tract illnesses. In the selected studies, certain aspects of study design are highlighted to help guide future clinical research in the field. CONCLUSION: More rigorously designed clinical trials are needed for further evaluation of the relationship between vitamin D status and the immune response to infection as well as for delineation of necessary changes in clinical practice and medical care of patients with
Vitamin D deficiency in infectious disease settings.

Vitamin D Success Story
Please share your successes at success@thevitamindcure.com or online at Amazon. Your success story has a powerful impact on motivating others to change their lifestyle.

Hi,
I am a Registered Nurse working in the City of London. As I live in rural Essex, I commute daily in to London. Reading my newspaper on the train a few weeks ago I came across an article on Vit. D. This seemed interesting so I ordered Dr. Dowd’s book.

On reading this book I realized that I ticked all the boxes of symptoms being Vitamin D deficient. I have weak muscles/aches/not much strength, and always struggle when I went to a Gym. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia around 10 years ago, which settled but I always feel fatigued etc… I lead a very busy life working full time in London as a Registered Nurse. You wouldn’t know that I have discomfort as I just get on with it.

A colleague took some blood and my level of Vit. D was 31 nmol/L range from out lab is 75 - 200 nmol/L. Magnesium level is 0.84 range from our lab is 0.65 - 1.05. I put myself on ‘Life Extention’ 1000iu x 2 daily from Victoria Health and Magnesium. I am trying to change my diet which was mostly vegetarian.

By the way I am Scottish….so not much sun in my life when I was growing up. I am going to keep to this regime and will let you know the outcome. So glad I came across the article and the book which will be useful for my colleagues and patients. I have ordered a couple of copies of the book to give to a couple of my doctor colleagues.

Regards,
Lorna.

July 2009

Just a comment on health policy: There is no better time than now to write your congress persons about healthcare reform. The key word is healthcare, note; it does not say health insurance reform. Giving more money in the form of premiums to health insurance companies does not make anybody healthier, it simply costs money. Insurances are in the business of holding on to their money (actually your money). We need HEALTHCARE reform. This would imply making Americans healthier. How much do you think flood insurance costs in Scottsdale, Arizona? You probably can’t sell it to anybody because it never floods. But, I’ll bet it’s really inexpensive. Now, if everybody were as healthy as Jack LaLanne is at 95 how expensive would health insurance be? It would be really inexpensive. How much of the health care system do you think Jack has used over the years? Almost none. Healthcare crisis solved. We all need to do our part to live a healthy lifestyle through diet, exercise, and some targeted supplements. Anything that can incentivize this behavior and penalize unhealthy behavior will lower costs and improve the health of Americans. The taxes and public health campaigns against cigarette smoking are a testament to the success of this approach. Prevention is the only affordable solution to this healthcare crisis. The Vitamin D Cure is a step in that direction.

Don’t forget to use the UV Calculator on the website this summer for safe sun exposure http://www.thevitamindcure.com/calculator/

Recipe of the Month
Remember our recipes are courtesy of Chef Kelly (kellychez@gmail.com). If you have recipes you would like to share or convert to follow the rules of The Vitamin D Cure send them to contact@thevitamindcure.com .

Roasted Salmon & Bok Choy with Roasted Red Pepper Puree
Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:
• 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1-1 ½ lbs. Salmon Fillet, cut into 4 portions
• Salt & Pepper, to taste
• 1 ½ lb. Bok Choy, cut cross grain in ¼- ½ inch pieces
• ½ tsp. lemon zest, grated
• 6 oz. roasted red peppers, drained
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Dash of Tabasco
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Procedure
• Heat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold fish in a single layer.
• Season fish with salt and pepper and place fish, flesh-side down, in skillet and place in oven to roast for about 10 minutes, turning carefully once halfway through cooking time, until just cooked through.
• Remove salmon from the skillet; tent with foil.
• Add bok choy and lemon zest to skillet, stir to coat with pan’s oil. Place in oven 1 to 2 minutes, until leaves are wilted and stems are warmed through.
• To make puree, blend peppers, olive oil, garlic and Tabasco in a blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper to taste.
• To serve, divide greens on four plates; top each with a piece of fish. Finish with the puree over the fish.

Vitamin D in the News

Effect of vitamin D on blood pressure’ a systematic review and meta-analysis.
J Hypertens. 2009 Jul 7.
Section of Ageing and Health, Scotland Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Centre for Cardiovascular and Lung Biology, Division of Medical Sciences, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, Scotland.

Vitamin D insufficiency has been linked to hypertension and cardiovascular events in observational studies. It is unclear whether vitamin D supplementation can reduce blood pressure, and, if so, by how much. METHODS: Researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether vitamin D reduces blood pressure. Interventions included activated vitamin D, unactivated vitamin D2 and D3 and ultraviolet B radiation. RESULTS: Eleven randomized, controlled trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Studies were small and of variable methodological quality. Mean baseline blood pressure was more than 140/90 mmHg in eight studies. Meta-analysis of these eight studies showed a non-significant reduction in systolic blood pressure in the vitamin D group compared with placebo [-3.6 mmHg, 95% confidence interval (CI) -8.0 to 0.7]. A small, statistically significant reduction was seen in diastolic blood pressure (-3.1 mmHg, 95% CI -5.5 to -0.6). Subgroup analysis suggested that unactivated vitamin D produced a greater fall in systolic blood pressure than activated vitamin D (-6.2 mmHg, 95% CI -12.32 to -0.04, vs. +0.7 mmHg, 95% CI
-4.8 to 6.2). No reduction in blood pressure was seen in studies examining patients whose blood pressure was normal at baseline. CONCLUSION: The researchers found weak evidence to support a small effect of vitamin D on blood pressure in studies of hypertensive patients.

Chronic Tension-Type Headache With Vitamin D Deficiency: Casual or Causal Association?
Headache. 2009 Jul 8.
From the Department of Neurology, Medical College, Baroda, Gujarat, India; Department of Psychiatry, Medical College, Baroda, Gujarat, India

The prevalence of tension-type headache and vitamin D deficiency are both very high in the general population. The inter-relations between the two have not been explored in the literature. These researchers report 8 patients with chronic tension-type headache and vitamin D deficiency severe enough to cause osteomalacia (a bone disease caused by severe vitamin D deficiency). All the patients responded poorly to conventional therapy for tension headache. The headache and osteomalacia of each of the 8 patients responded to vitamin D and calcium supplementation. The improvement in the headache was much earlier than the improvements in the symptom complex of osteomalacia.

This phenomenon is not common in European Americans but in peoples of color with much lower vitamin D levels headache is likely a common symptom of vitamin D deficiency.

Replete vitamin D stores predict reproductive success following in vitro fertilization.
Kocaeli University, School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kocaeli, Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: The researchers wanted to determine whether 25OH-D levels in the follicular fluid (FF) of infertile women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) were related with IVF cycle parameters or outcome, hypothesizing that vitamin D in body fluids are reflective of vitamin repletion status. PATIENT(S): Eighty-four infertile women undergoing IVF. INTERVENTION(S): Follicular fluid from follicles >/=14mm; serum (n = 10) and FF levels of 25OH-D. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Clinical pregnancy (CP), defined as evidence of intrauterine gestation sac on ultrasound, following IVF; IVF cycle parameters. RESULT(S): Serum and FF levels of 25OH-D were highly correlated (r = 0.94). In a predominantly Caucasian population (66%), significantly lower FF 25OH-D levels were noted in Black versus non-Black patients. Significant inverse correlations were seen between FF 25OH-D levels and body mass index (r = -0.25). Significantly higher cycle parameters (CP) and implantation rates were observed across 25th percentiles of FF 25OH-D; patients achieving CP following IVF (n = 26) exhibited significantly higher FF levels of 25OH-D. Multivariable logistic regression analysis confirmed FF 25OH-D levels as an independent predictor to success of an IVF cycle; adjusting for age, body mass index, ethnicity, and number of embryos transferred, each ng/mL increase in FF 25OH-D increased the likelihood for achieving CP by 6%. CONCLUSION(S): Our findings that women with higher vitamin D level in their serum and FF are significantly more likely to achieve CP following IVF-embryo transfer are novel. A potential for benefit of vitamin D supplementation on treatment success in infertile patients undergoing IVF is suggested and merits further investigation.

This is consistent with a similar smaller study that identified high rates of vitamin D deficiency in infertile women with polycystic ovarian disease. And, that replacement of vitamin D increased the rate of successful pregnancy in this same population.

Vitamin D Success Story
Please share your successes at success@thevitamindcure.com or online at Amazon. Your success story has a powerful impact on motivating others to change their lifestyle.

The mother of a patient of mine shared this with me and also posted it on Amazon. Don’t forget your children when thinking about vitamin D.

“My son was lucky to be referred to Dr. Dowd when he was 13 years old. Dr. Dowd discovered he didn’t have rheumatoid arthritis (like his MD has suspected) or even “growing pains” like I suspected, but had low levels of vitamin D. After 4-6 weeks of vitamin D supplements, all his joint pain was gone! In addition, he stays much healthier (colds, flu, etc.) and much to our surprise, the warts on his feet finally went away…after three different doctors and three different methods of treatment for the warts! “

“Having the opportunity to meet Dr. Dowd is amazing. He is so smart and able to explain the immune system and the role of vitamin D in language even my 13 year old son could understand. Three years later, and my son is still symptom free as long as he keeps taking the vitamin D.”

The month of January should see some upgrades to the website allowing me to keep the information current. We have decided to streamline the information by consolidating the newsletter and the blog. The enhanced blog will now have a recipe of the month, vitamin D and health news, and commentary split between 2 postings.

Please check out eVitamins.com for all of your supplement needs.

Recipe:

This month’s recipe is from a new member of the team here at the Vitamin D Cure. Kelly Cieszkowski has a degree in hotel and restaurant management and is currently enrolled in culinary arts at Schoolcraft College here in Detroit. She has a lot of energy and great ideas for cooking. So I will be drawing on her culinary creativity for many of our coming recipes. If you have any tasty recipes that follow the guidelines in The Vitamin D Cure share them with us at contact@thevitamindcure.com and we will make them part of our newsletter.

Pistachio Crusted Chicken with Warm Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1.5 cup chopped pistachios
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 tablespoon local honey
Pepper to taste
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded to 1/2 in. thickness)
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon raspberry or red wine vinegar
1 lb. Asparagus
3 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
A pinch of sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and lightly coat a baking sheet with canola oil.
2. Place chopped pistachios in a shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together dijon mustard, canola oil, honey, salt and pepper.
3. Dip chicken into dijon mixture to coat thoroughly and then into the pistachios to coat. Place onto prepared baking sheet.
4. Place pan into preheated oven and turn oven down to 375 degrees F. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink (155 to 160 degrees F internal temperature) and the pistachio coating is golden brown, approximately 15 minutes.
5. For the sauce, in a small saucepan combine raspberry preserves, vinegar and pepper to taste. Bring to a low simmer and serve warm over chicken.

For asparagus:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Trim asparagus and place on baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with olive or canola oil, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper; toss to coat thoroughly.
4. Roast in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Vitamin D and Diet News: Highlight the Latest Research on vitamin D, Diet and Exercise.

Nutrition after exercise improves bone: It only makes sense. Have your ever watched a wolf or lion hunt. They stalk and chase their prey for sometimes hours until they catch it. That is their work out. Then they follow that with a meal of lean meat, their prey. We need only reproduce this with an exercise routine followed by a meal of lean protein and vegetables and we will be as lean and fit as the lion.

Vitamin D Deficiency and breast cancer: Using models of UV light exposure Dr. Grant shows that the further away from the equator you live the higher your risk of low vitamin D levels and the higher your risk of breast cancer based on current incidence data on breast cancer from 107 countries world wide.

An alkaline diet helps preserve lean body mass in elderly: Dr. Bess-Dawson Hughes from Tufts University in Boston shows that higher intakes of diets rich in potassium increase your lean body mass. Potassium comes from vegetables and fruit. Remember the Vitamin D Cure Diet is 2-3 times as much vegetables and fruits as lean protein.

Success story of the month:

Dear Dr. Dowd,

I had leg, hip and feet pain. My doctor sent me to physical therapy, a podiatrist and subscribed Celebrex. Previously an orthopedic doctor has subscribed 3 Advil in the morning and 3 more at lunch. Every move was an achy, tense pain in my joints. I had gained weight because I wasn’t moving due to the pain. I happened to read an article about The Vitamin D Cure. The next day I picked up a bottle of vitamin D and have been taking 1000 IU per day. One week later, the achiness was less and two weeks later the joint pain was gone. My knees still make noise when I go up steps but I am living without any pain and I have stopped taking all medicine. I take vitamin D every day.
I told my doctor after taking vitamin D for 3 weeks. He took my blood and test my vitamin D level. I was at the low range for a healthy level. He confirmed that I could have been low in vitamin D since my levels were low after taking 1000 IU per day.

Thanks so much for giving me my pain free life back!

Billie

Help somebody you may not even know by writing a book review on Amazon or by sending us your success stories and experiments in the kitchen that we can post in this newsletter. (success@thevitamindcure.com)

Pass us on to a friend. You buy the book and we’ll take care of the D-Tales.

Dietary recommendations seem to change year after year. The food industry sends us an endless stream of choices and provides reasons for why we should choose their products. They even invent new food categories and meal times. In an effort to simplify decision making and ignore the noise, we gravitate towards the philosophy of “everything in moderation.” Each of us has a different definition for moderation and for most of us this means continuing to eating the way we always have without change regardless of health.

What if there was a universal diet; a way of eating that all of us should follow for optimal health? The fuel our body was designed to assimilate most efficiently. There is such a diet and it’s outlined in The Vitamin D Cure.

If you were to meet your Paleolithic grandfather from 20,000 BC he would spruce up nicely in a tuxedo. No he would not have hair covering his entire body. His genetic makeup would be identical to yours. Remember, this is 10 times older than the bible.

Let’s look at the composition of his diet. It is more calories that you and I consume because he was waaaay more active than we are today. About 30 percent of his calories came from protein, 35 percent from fat, and 35 percent from carbohydrates. The modern Western Diet provides 13-16 percent of calories from protein, 30 percent of calories from fat and 50 percent of calories from carbohydrates. Most Americans are not getting enough protein and healthy fat in their diet. Most Americans are consuming too many carbohydrates.

Where are all the carbohydrates coming from? Grain, in all of its forms, and corn syrup account for most of this. Grain was initially touted as a solution for diseases of the colon, such as polyps and colon cancer. Decade long studies of grain fiber supplementation however failed to show prevention of either outcome. Now grain is being touted to lower cholesterol. Summaries of this date show at most single digit percent reductions in lipids.

Why aren’t we getting enough protein and fat? In the last 20 years we have demonized protein and fat as the evils of the Western Diet despite evidence to the contrary. Vegetarians have claimed that all that ails the human race is due to eating meat and fat, similar to the dermatologist telling us to avoid the sun. Subsequently, we have all decreased our meat consumption and increased our consumption of grain. Worse yet we have substituted dairy and soy products for meat. Both of these choices provide much less protein per serving and more fat and carbohydrates. See what this does to your insulin. (Insulation from Insulin, Insulin Revisited)

The Anthropologic Rule of Thumb states: Don’t eat anything your Paleolithic grandparents would not have eaten in 20,000 BC. (Note: I didn’t say eat everything that they ate…yet.) No Paleolithic humans or any wild animals on today’s planet consume dairy, grains, or legumes and neither should we. No wild animals on this planet get hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, or cancer like humans do. There is a direct connection between our diets and lifestyles, and these diseases. We did not need to sequence the human genome to figure this out.

Get The Vitamin D Cure and start changing your life for the better, today.

Two very important diabetes research studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week, the ACCORD and ADVANCE studies. See this editorial reviewing this research or download both studies to read the complete articles.

The message is clear. Higher insulin levels lead to increased body weight, blood pressure, lipid abnormalities, and risk for heart attacks and strokes. It does not matter whether the insulin is from insulin injections or from medications which increase insulin production or sensitivity to insulin.

In the ACCORD study there was more aggressive use of insulin in combination with drugs that make you produce more insulin or make you more sensitive to insulin (thiazolidinediones). This combination was effective at lowering glucose but increased the risk of heart attacks and death leading to early termination of the study. In the ADVANCE study less insulin and medications increasing your insulin sensitivity were used and subsequently they did not see an increased risk of heart attack or weight gain. However, in the ADVANCE study they only saw kidney protection from tight control of glucose.

To prevent diabetes and its complications you want to lower insulin levels and improve insulin sensitivity without medications. Insulin is an inducible growth hormone, meaning you can adjust the level of insulin with your food choices. Insulin sensitivity is also adjustable with diet and exercise. Polyunsaturated fats, such as omega 3 fats and intense exercise increase your sensitivity to insulin.

Your background set point for insulin sensitivity is determined during fetal development and early childhood. Malnutrition during pregnancy leading to small babies and rapid catch up growth from high calorie, high combined protein/sugar, and high saturated fat diets reduces insulin sensitivity for a lifetime. See “The Barker Theory.”

Dairy, grain, and legumes (beans) produce more insulin than protein from animal meats. See Insulation from Insulin. Combining protein with sugar increases insulin release. Chronic high insulin levels promote insulin resistance especially during pregnancy and during early childhood but also later in life.

Remember the “Yellowstone Park Rule of Thumb.” Wild animals do not eat dairy but from their mother’s breast as a yearling. Wild animals do not eat grain or legumes. Wild animals exercise every day. And, wild animals do not get high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. Go Wild with The Vitamin D Cure diet.