Vitamin Information Center

Here’s something new to add to the growing amount of affidavit to get able amounts of vitamin D: it may advice anticipate borderline avenue ache (PAD), a action that causes leg affliction and asleep and can baffle with walking.

PAD develops if blubbery deposits attenuated the arteries in the legs, and affects about eight actor Americans. Advisers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York analyzed abstracts from a analysis of added than 4,800 adults to analyze vitamin D levels with the accident of PAD.

They begin that the college the levels of the sunshine vitamin, the lower the prevalence of PAD—in fact, the ache was 64 percent added accepted a part of abstraction participants with the everyman levels of vitamin D than a part of those whose vitamin D levels were highest.

The advisers did agenda that they couldn’t be abiding that vitamin D—or the abridgement of it—is anon amenable for PAD because top levels of the vitamin could artlessly be an adumbration of a advantageous diet and added benign bloom practices that ability be careful adjoin PAD.

A connection between vitamin D level and the risk of developing breast cancer has been implicated for a long time, but its clinical relevance had not yet been proven. Sascha Abbas and colleagues from the working group headed by Dr. Jenny Chang-Claude at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), collaborating with researchers of the University Hospitals in Hamburg-Eppendorf, have now obtained clear results: While previous studies had concentrated chiefly on nutritional vitamin D, the researchers have now investigated the complete vitamin D status. To this end, they studied 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) as a marker for both endogenous vitamin D and vitamin D from food intake.

The result of the study involving 1,394 breast cancer patients and an equal number of healthy women after menopause was surprisingly clear: Women with a very low blood level of 25(OH)D have a considerably increased breast cancer risk. The effect was found to be strongest in women who were not taking hormones for relief of menopausal symptoms. However, the authors note that, in this retrospective study, diagnosis-related factors such as chemotherapy or lack of sunlight after prolonged hospital stays might have contributed to low vitamin levels of breast cancer patients.

In addition, the investigators focused on the vitamin D receptor. The gene of this receptor is found in several variants known as polymorphisms. The research team of the DKFZ and Eppendorf Hospitals investigated the effect of four of these polymorphisms on the risk of developing breast cancer. They found out that carriers of the Taql polymorphism have a slightly increased risk of breast tumors that carry receptors for the female sex hormone estrogen on their surface. No effects on the overall breast cancer risk were found. A possible explanation offered by the authors is that vitamin D can exert its cancer-preventing effect by counteracting the growth-promoting effect of estrogens.

Besides its cancer-preventing influence with effects on cell growth, cell differentiation and programmed cell death (apoptosis), vitamin D regulates, above all, the calcium metabolism in our body. Foods that are particularly rich in vitamin D include seafish (cod liver oil), eggs and dairy products. However, the largest portion of vitamin D is produced by our own body with the aid of sunlight.

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The task of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum in Heidelberg (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ) is to systematically investigate the mechanisms of cancer development and to identify cancer risk factors. The results of this basic research are expected to lead to new approaches in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Center is financed to 90 percent by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and to 10 percent by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren e.V.).

People with low vitamin D levels may face an increased risk for peripheral artery disease, also known as PAD, New York researchers said.Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University said that PAD is a common disease that occurs when arteries in the legs become narrowed by fatty deposits, causing pain and numbness and impairing the ability to walk.

Lead author Dr. Michal Melamed of Albert Einstein College and colleagues analyzed data from a national survey measuring vitamin D levels in the blood of 4,839 U.S. adults.

The survey tested these people using the ankle-brachial index, a screening tool for PAD that measures blood flow to the legs. Also measured were other risk factors for PAD such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure and presence of diabetes.

The study found that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with a lower prevalence of PAD. Among individuals with the highest vitamin D levels — more than 29.2 nanogram per milliliter (ng/mL) — 3.7 percent had PAD. Among those with the lowest vitamin D levels — less than 17.8 ng/mL — 8.1 percent had PAD.

The findings are being reported at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology annual conference in Atlanta.

Chronic kidney disease patients may see their risk of death drop by one quarter if they take a form of vitamin D, a new study says.

In a study of more than 1,400 people with chronic kidney disease, those that were taking the drug calcitriol, a form of activated vitamin D, had a 26 per cent reduction in their risk of death versus those who were not on the drug. Overall, the patients on calcitriol had their risk of either death or dialysis due to a loss of kidney function fall by 20 per cent.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

A healthy human body uses first the liver and then the kidneys to convert vitamin D obtained through diet and sunlight into an active form that the body can use. However, it is believed that patients with chronic kidney disease are unable to do complete the second step.

They are often prescribed activated vitamin D to help lower elevated levels of the parathyroid hormone, which can lead to a weakening of the bones. However, people with kidney disease often suffer from calcified, or stiff, blood vessels, which can lead to a host of cardiovascular problems. Vitamin D increases calcium levels in the blood, which doctors fear could exacerbate this problem.

“We did find that people who got the activated vitamin D drug did have a higher risk of having a high calcium level in the blood,” study author Dr. Bryan Kestenbaum of the University of Washington told Ctv.ca.

“But the overall amount of people that that happened to was relatively small, and the overall balance was that people who got the activated vitamin D drug survived longer.”

Kestenbaum speculated that vitamin D leads to decreased mortality rates because of its known ability to lower risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, diabetes and inflammation.

He said that the next step in this field of research would be to conduct randomized clinical trials to confirm vitamin D’s effect on survival rates among patients with kidney disease.

Low levels of vitamin D may put older people at a higher risk of depression, a study has found.

Researchers also estimated that 13 per cent of all people aged over 65 could be depressed.

The study, carried out by scientists in Amsterdam and published in Science Daily, found that a deficiency in vitamin D causes high blood levels of the parathyroid hormone, which has been linked to depression.

Of the 1,282 older people aged between 65 and 95 studied, 169 had a minor depressive illness and 26 were majorly depressed. Those with depression were found to have 14 per cent lesser vitamin D in their blood levels.

Over half of the women and 38.8 per cent of the men studied had insufficient vitamin D levels.

The authors of the study write: “Decreased vitamin intake may be secondary to depression, but depression may also be the consequence of poor vitamin D status.”

Decreased outdoor activity and different housing or clothing habits were all believed to decrease vitamin D.

However, a healthy dose of sun exposure can relieve minor feelings of depression.

Experts are increasingly pushing for higher daily recommended intakes of vitamin D, saying that while current amounts may prevent signs of deficiency, they are insufficient to provide a protective benefit against cancer.

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient produced by the body when ultraviolet radiation from sunlight strikes the skin. In northern latitudes, however, when sunlight is dim for significant parts of the year, many people cannot get enough sun to synthesize sufficient levels of the vitamin. This problem is particularly pronounced among those with darker skin. Few foods are rich in vitamin D. Fish oil and fortified food sources, such as milk or non-dairy milk substitutes, provide the most common dietary sources.

The United States and Canadian governments recommend a daily vitamin D intake of 200 IU. But vitamin D and cancer experts warn that this value is far too low.

Recently, the Canadian Cancer Society advised that light-skinned people take a 1,000 IU vitamin D supplement daily during fall and winter months, and that dark-skinned people or those who regularly keep all their skin covered while outdoors take a supplement year-round.

“We’re recommending 1,000 IU daily because the current evidence suggests this amount will help reduce cancer risk with the least potential for harm,” said Heather Logan, director of the society’s Cancer Control Policy.

“I have to commend the Canadian Cancer Society,” vitamin D researcher Joan Lappe said. “They’re right out in the lead there on changing the recommendations.”

Lappe was lead researcher in a recent study that found that women taking 1,100 IU of vitamin D per day showed a 60 percent reduced risk of developing cancer than women taking a placebo. Excluding women who developed cancer during the first year of the four-year study, the risk reduction from vitamin D was 77 percent.

In a paper published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” a group of vitamin D experts recently advised that an upper daily limit of 10,000 IU be set for vitamin D exposure, making a break with the current, more cautious, government recommendations.

Medical experts now claim that taking vitamin D supplements during early childhood may dramatically cut the odds of developing Type 1 diabetes later in life. Researches found that children given additional vitamin D were up to 80% less likely to develop Type 1 diabetes than those not given the supplement.

They also found that the higher and more regular the dose, the lower the likelihood of developing the condition. These findings came from the analysis of five studies in various countries.

One of the studies that was looked at was a Finnish sudy that followed more than 12,000 children born in 1966 in Finland. Their study showed that those who took any amount of vitamin D had a lower rate of diabetes than those who did, and those who took recommended amounts of vitamin D were at an 80% reduced risk of developing it.

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease in which the immune system destroys its own cells. It develops when insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas are destroyed.

Researchers believe that vitamin D, which is believed to be an immuno-suppressant agent, may prevent an overly aggressive response from the immune system. Nutrition experts recommend 8.5 microgrammes a day, and 7 microgrammes a day for those age 7 months to three years.

ATLANTA, April 14 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say they are learning how vitamins and minerals can stimulate or prevent the development of colon cancer.

Emory University researchers in Atlanta find in a study of 92 patients that supplementing a diet with calcium and vitamin D appears to increase the levels of a protein call Bax — which controls programmed cell death — that may push pre-cancerous cells to self-destruct.

In another, 200-patient, case-control study, led by Dr. Robert Bostick of Emory University, high levels of calcium and vitamin D together are associated with increased levels of E-cadherin, which moderates colon cells‘ movement and proliferation.

A third study on the same 200-patients shows high levels of iron in the diet are linked to low levels of APC, a protein whose absence in colon cancer cells leads to their runaway growth.

All three studies — scheduled to be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in San Diego — use colorectal biopsy samples and are part of a larger effort to identify a portfolio of measurements which taken together could predict the risk of colon cancer.

“We want to have the equivalent of measuring cholesterol or high blood pressure, but for colon cancer instead of heart disease,” Bostick says in a statement.

ATLANTA, April 14 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say they are learning how vitamins and minerals can stimulate or prevent the development of colon cancer.Emory University researchers in Atlanta find in a study of 92 patients that supplementing a diet with calcium and vitamin D appears to increase the levels of a protein call Bax — which controls programmed cell death — that may push pre-cancerous cells to self-destruct.

In another, 200-patient, case-control study, led by Dr. Robert Bostick of Emory University, high levels of calcium and vitamin D together are associated with increased levels of E-cadherin, which moderates colon cells‘ movement and proliferation.

A third study on the same 200-patients shows high levels of iron in the diet are linked to low levels of APC, a protein whose absence in colon cancer cells leads to their runaway growth.

All three studies — scheduled to be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in San Diego — use colorectal biopsy samples and are part of a larger effort to identify a portfolio of measurements which taken together could predict the risk of colon cancer.

“We want to have the equivalent of measuring cholesterol or high blood pressure, but for colon cancer instead of heart disease,” Bostick says in a statement.