Vitamin D: Nature’s Sunkissed Superhero
Vitamin D plays a vital role in maintaining overall health, with impacts ranging from bone health to immune function.
Vitamin D is often referred to as the "sunshine vitamin." It is a vital fat-soluble nutrient that plays a significant role in maintaining overall health and well-being. It is unique among vitamins because it can be synthesized by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight.
What is vitamin D?
Vitamin D actually refers to a group of fat-soluble secosteroids, the most important of which are vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Vitamin D2 is primarily obtained from plant sources and fortified foods, while vitamin D3 can be synthesized in the skin when we are exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from sunlight. Vitamin D3 is the form we are focusing on here.
Its primary functions include:
Calcium absorption: essential for maintaining strong bones and teeth.
Bone health: regulates bone mineralization and helps prevent conditions like osteoporosis and rickets.
Immune function: plays a role in reducing the risk of infections and autoimmune diseases.
Cell growth and differentiation: helps prevent abnormal cell growth.
Deficiency can contribute to muscle weakness and pain, increasing the risk of falls and fractures. Low vitamin D levels have also been associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and certain types of cancers. Studies have also suggested a link between low vitamin D levels and mood disorders like depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
How to get enough vitamin D
First, it’s important to get your blood tested to determine your existing vitamin D levels. That way you’ll know whether you need to supplement and by how much. Vitamin D 25-Hydroxy is the most accurate measure of your vitamin D status, with an optimum measurement considered to be above 50 ng/mL.
The most natural source of vitamin D is sunlight, so spending time (10-30 minutes) in the sun without sunscreen can help the skin synthesize vitamin D. For a number of reasons, however, this may not always be possible or advisable.
Supplements are the most commonly used way to ensure you get an adequate intake of vitamin D. This is especially true if you live in an area where sunlight is limited some or most of the year. If your blood levels are unknown, start by taking 5000 IU of vitamin D3 per day. This is best taken along with 100 mcg of vitamin K2 daily (or 800 mcg every week). If you take more than 8000 IU of vitamin D a day, you should also include 250-500 mg of magnesium per day.
Some foods — like fatty fish (salmon, sardines, tuna), egg yolks, shrimp, mushrooms, milk, kefir, and cheese — contain vitamin D, but this is not the ideal way to supplement. For example, a 3.5-ounce portion of salmon contains the equivalent of about 400 IU of vitamin D. You would need to eat 12.5 portions to get 5000 IU of vitamin D3!
Factors affecting vitamin D levels
Sunlight exposure: The amount of sun exposure, time of day, season, and latitude play a crucial role in vitamin D synthesis.
Skin tone: Darker skin tones have more melanin, which reduces the skin's ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight.
Age: The skin's ability to synthesize vitamin D decreases with age.
Geographic location: People living in higher latitudes with less sunlight are more prone to deficiency.
Health status and genetics: Certain medical conditions or hereditary factors can influence vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D and Cancer
Research suggests a link between low vitamin D levels and life-threatening conditions such as cancer. Studies indicate that vitamin D levels below 20 ng/ml are associated with a 30-50% increased risk of colon, prostate, and breast cancer, along with higher mortality from these cancers. People who live at higher latitudes are at increased risk for vitamin D deficiency and are reported to have an increased risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma as well as colon, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian, breast, and other cancers and are more likely to die from these cancers, as compared with people living at lower latitudes. Vitamin D supplementation is thought to help with both the treatment and prevention of cancer.
In conclusion, vitamin D plays a vital role in maintaining overall health, with impacts ranging from bone health to immune function. While sunlight, fatty fish, and fortified foods are important sources, supplements can be beneficial for those with limited sun exposure. However, it's crucial to strike a balance and consult a healthcare professional to ensure optimal vitamin D levels and overall well-being.
VIEW OUR INFOGRAPHIC: ALL ABOUT VITAMIN D
REGISTER FOR OUR UPCOMING WEBINAR, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 7 PM ET
Sources:
Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med. 2007;357(3):266-81.
Pludowski P, Holick MF, Pilz S, et al. Vitamin D effects on musculoskeletal health, immunity, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, fertility, pregnancy, dementia and mortality—a review of recent evidence. Autoimmun Rev. 2013;12(10):976-989.
National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin D. Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
Cashman KD, Dowling KG, Škrabáková Z, et al. Vitamin D deficiency in Europe: pandemic? Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;103(4):1033-1044.
Nair R, Maseeh A. Vitamin D: The “sunshine” vitamin. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2012;3(2):118-126.
Wacker M, Holick MF. Vitamin D—effects on skeletal and extraskeletal health and the need for supplementation. Nutrients. 2013;5(1):111-148.
This introductory information is all vital and correct. For more detailed explanations of how 25-hydroxyvitamin D is an essential input to many types of cell, especially those of the immune system, please see: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/ , https://brownstone.org/articles/vitamin-d-everything-you-need-to-know/ and Professor Wimalawansa's July 2022 article in the journal Nutrients: "Rapidly Increasing Serum 25(OH)D Boosts the Immune System, against Infections - Sepsis and COVID-19": https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2997.
https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/ discusses and cites numerous research articles concerning the vitamin D compounds and the immune system. Neither vitamin D3 nor 25-hydroxyvitamin D function as hormones. The immune system does not use hormonal signaling. Many types of immune cell rely on a good supply of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in order to run each cell's intracrine (within each cell) and paracrine (to nearby cells). These signaling systems play a crucial role in how each cell responds to its changing circumstances. Immunologists and most doctors take far too little interest in vitamin D and have never heard of these signaling systems. https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/ starts with an explanation of these systems and the three vitamin D compounds.
Below are some of the highlights of research into the vitamin D compounds and the immune system . Please read the articles and the explanations for yourself.
Government guidelines recommend inadequate vitamin D3 supplemental intake quantities because they are only aiming to attain the 20 ng/mL 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels the kidneys need to regulate calcium-phosphate-bone metabolism. These recommendations are crude single values for particular age groups. Prof. Wimalawansa's article is the only peer-reviewed journal article which provides proper guidance for vitamin D3 supplemental intake quantities sufficient to ensure good immune system health, according to body weight and obesity status. A simplified version of these body weight ratios is:
No obesity: 70 to 90 IU vitamin D3 per day per kilogram body weight.
Obesity I and II (BMI 30 to 39): 90 to 130 IU vitamin D3 per day per kilogram body weight.
Obesity III (BMI 40 and above): 140 to 180 IU vitamin D per day per kilogram body weight.
For 70 kg 154 lb without obesity, this means 4900 to 6300 IU a day. "5000 International Units" sounds like a lot, but an IU is 1/40,000,000 of a gram. 5000 IU is 1/8 of a milligram. Once a day, on average (such as 50,000 IU every 10 days) this is a gram every 22 years - and ex-factory, pharma-grade vitamin D3 costs about USD$2.50 a gram.
About 1/4 of ingested (or produced in the skin) Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is converted in the liver, over a period of days, to 25-hydroxyvitamin D (calcifediol, AKA calcidiol), which has a long half-life in the bloodstream (weeks) and which is used by the kidneys, many types of immune cell and other cell types.
"Vitamin D" blood tests measure the concentration (level) of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the bloodstream. Government standards. Many doctors (not the FLCCC doctors) regard 20 ng/mL 50 nmol/L as an adequate level, though some doctors aim for the 30 ng/mL 75 nmol/L standard of The Endocrine Society. The FLCCC doctors correctly regard 50 ng/mL 125 ng/mL (1 part in 20,000,000 by mass) as the minimum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D which everyone should attain in order to be be healthy. There are numerous reasons for this, but the most direct, clear, measurement of the needs of the immune system comes from research by doctors in Massachusetts General Hospital in 2013: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/1782085 .
The 770 patients were all suffering from obesity III, which reduces the rate at which they can raise their 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels, from any given body weight ratio of ingested or UV-B generated vitamin D3. They had the same Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery for weight loss. There is no reason to believe that people who are suffering from obesity need higher levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D for their immune systems to mount strong responses to the primarily bacterial pathogens which cause these infections. The observations were stark.
Above 50 ng/mL, the risks of both surgical site infections and hospital acquired infections were about 2.5%. All these patients would have been supplementing vitamin D3 at healthy levels, well in excess of the lousy 600 IU (0.015 mg) a day quantity recommended by the U.S. government, unless they had just spent a lot of time outdoors with bare skin exposure to high elevation sunlight, and so generated sufficient vitamin D3 and so 25-hydroxyvitamin D themselves.
Most people, without proper vitamin D3 supplementation or recent high level ultraviolet B skin exposure have between 5 and 25 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The Massachusetts doctors found that their patients with 20 ng/mL had a 25% risk of hospital acquired infection and a 25% risk of surgical site infections. This is ten times the level which resulted from a fully supplied immune system: 2.5% for each type of infection.
20 ng/mL is a perfectly ordinary - normal and unhealthy - level for Americans with white skin who do not supplement vitamin D3 or get much high elevation sun exposure. At this level, we see gross immune system incompetency: ten times the risk of both types of infection. At 10 ng/mL - which is common for people with brown or black skin who live far from the equator - the dysfunction is even worse: 40% risk of each type of infection was observed in these patients.
50 ng/mL or more circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D is needed to ensure rapid, full strength, innate (general) and adaptive (antibodies to specific pathogens) immune responses to cancer cells, bacteria, fungi and viruses.
This proper level also greatly reduces the risk of dysregulated, self-destructive, overly-inflammatory (indiscriminate cell destroying) immune responses. (The primary cause of this is absence of helminths - intestinal worms: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/06-adv/. Inadequate 25-hydroxyvitamin D makes this very much worse.) Excessive inflammation causes sepsis, Kawasaki disease, MIS-C, autoimmune disorders and most deaths from COVID-19 and influenza.
In clinical emergencies, such as sepsis, COVID-19, severe influenza and ARDS, it is vital that the 25-hydroxyvitamin D level be raised over 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L within hours, not the 4 days or so it would take with even a bolus dose of vitamin D3: for 70 kg BW 10 grams 400,000 IU. As Registered Nurse Carol Crevier wrote, the 25-hydroxyvitamin D level can be raised safely over 50 ng/mL in a few hours with a single oral dose of 0.014 milligrams calcifediol per kg bodyweight. For 70 kg, this is 1 milligram. Calcifediol *is* 25-hydroxyvitamin D. It goes straight into circulation, while vitamin D3 takes days to be hydroxylated in the liver. This calcifediol protocol has been part of the FLCCC protocols since Prof. Wimalawansa introduced it in early 2022.
If everyone had at least 50 ng/mL 25-hydroxyvitamin D there would be numerous health benefits, not least the elimination of seasonal influenza and the pandemic spread of COVID-19. The incidence and death toll (11 million a year, worldwide https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32989-7/) of sepsis would be greatly reduced. Those who did contract COVID-19 would be well protected from severe symptoms and death, by their own fully functional immune system
Failing that, if all people newly infected with COVID-19 who had not been properly supplementing vitamin D3 for several months were treated with the calcifediol protocol, few would suffer serious symptoms or die.
Proper vitamin D3 supplementation is the most important and urgently needed health intervention for the great majority of the population in most countries. This pattern of deficiency for many peoples began ca. 50,000 years ago when humans migrated from Africa to Northern Europe and beyond. Today, it is easy to fix, but lack of understanding and the corrupting influence of pharmaceutical companies mean that most doctors do not understand what needs to be done.
Failing that, the calcifediol protocol is by far the most important early treatment protocol for COVID-19. Enabling the immune system to work properly is more important than ivermectin or all the other treatments listed at https://c19early.org.
VitD also is sequestered in adipose tissue; therefore those whose body mass exceeds the boundaries set for being at a ‘normal’ weight may require higher amounts of vitD in order to reach therapeutic level. ( yes I know the BMI is contested as being a sound index)
Please revisit Wimalawansa’s work. It was included in the FLCCC protocol in Jan 2022-- but then disappeared. 🥲 Calcifediol is a great ‘rescue option’ for those entering a fall season who experience a serious infection. In four hours we can correct the D deficit and then vitD can direct the Th1 and Th2 response properly to mitigate against a cytokine storm.