Sunny News for the Grey Days of January: Medical Advice You Didn't Ask For....

I have not to date posted anything "medical" in nature and certainly don't plan to use this blogspot as a platform for opening up shop/practice. However, as a wife, mom and trained, but not currently practicing NP I do care about physical health and wellness. I attempt to keep up peripherally with medical research in an attempt to be a good steward of the body I have been given and those lives that I am responsible to care for physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. So, read on at your own risk....

A plethora of research abounds in the scientific realm warning of the epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency and the resulting consequences. Although called a vitamin, vitamin D funtions more like a hormone (a substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activity of certain cells or organs). Vitamin D, best know for its role in promoting teeth and bone health, also plays a foundational role in the function of the immune system and preventing inflammation; these two functions are tied to the majority of health ailments!

Our skin manufactures vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure. However, most of us don't live in the tropics and our skin has likely been hidden from regular sun exposure since August. Compounding the problem further are warnings to avoid sun exposure or lather up in sunscreen and inhibit the UVB rays the skin needs to manufacture vitamin D (I share concern for skin cancer and would advocate all the more strongly for vitamin D supplementation rather than baking in the sun for a prolonged time). Of particular interest is a study conducted on people who live in sun-drenched Hawaii who had an average of 11 hours a week of total body exposure to sunlight without sunscreen. Interestingly, over half of the study participants had low levels of vitamin D!

So why should you care about vitamin D? Current scientific research concludes that a huge host of health problems arise or progress in direct correlation with vitamin D deficiency. The list of health problems that research ties to vitamin D deficiency include:

autism
autoimmune illness
cancer (17 types of cancer so a tie with vitamin D deficiency)
chronic pain
depression
diabetes
heart disease
hyperparathyroidism
hypertension
influenza

multiple sclerosis
myopathy
osteoporosis

I really am not one to easily jump on any ole' medical bandwagon. However, the research I have waded through in the past year continues to be very compelling, enough so that I provide supplementation for my own family and even purchased vitamin D (1000 IU tablets) for several close friends at Christmas. The traditional mulitvitamin on your shelf will only provide 400IU a day of vitamin D and the milk you purchase contains far less- ALL the research indicates we need far more in sun starved areas of the country like Wisconsin! I care about your health and would encourage you to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider heightened supplementation of vitamin D for you and your family. Ofcourse, we will not lengthen the days appointed for us by our Maker but in properly and thoughtfully caring for the life, breath and bodies He has given to us for a season we will be better able to serve Him.

The Vitamin D Council has asssembled very conservative recommendations for Vitamin D supplementation. Health experts urge all adults to have regular (at least annual) checks of vitamin D levels in their blood. There is a good chance that you will be deficient for at least part of the year if you live in North America.