I hadn't thought much about Vitamin D before until a few years ago when I learned I was extremely deficient in it. We all know that we can get Vitamin D naturally from sunshine but many of us live too far north or south of the equator and work and live indoors, preventing us from being able to get enough Vitamin D from the sun for a large part of the year. When I learned I had a deficiency in Vitamin D, I read Dr. Michael F. Holick's book on the subject The Vitamin D Solution-A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problems, as well as many other articles. Dr. Holick is one of the leading experts on the subject. I want to share a few facts because the information I learned can change and even save lives. I learned that proper levels of Vitamin D and supplementation of it can prevent osteoporosis, falls, multiple sclerosis, cancer of all types, pain caused by some medications, heart attack, congestive heart failure and peripheral vascular disease flu, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune and infectious diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia, osteomalacia, back pain, rickets, psoriasis, and PMS. It has also become increasingly well known that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an inability to fight off respiratory viruses, such as the current Covid-19 virus. Since there are receptors for Vitamin D in nearly every tissue and cell type in the body, its effects are immeasurable.
Are you deficient in Vitamin D?"Based on the new definitions for vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, it has been estimated that more than one billion people worldwide are either vitamin D deficient or insufficient. A multitude of studies have reported that 50-100 percent of the elderly men and women in the US and Europe are vitamin D deficient. Children, pregnant and lactating women, and young adults are at equally high risk. At the time of birth, 76 percent of mothers and 81 percent of newborns were vitamin D deficient even though the women were ingesting ~600 IU of vitamin D/day during pregnancy. It has been estimated that more than 50 million teenagers in the US are either vitamin D deficient or insufficient. Fifty percent of children ages 1 to 5 and 70 percent of children 6 to 11 years of age were found to be vitamin D deficient or insufficient in the US." This article I am quoting, by Dr. Holick,
The Vitamin D Deficiency Pandemic: a Forgotten Hormone Important for Health gives a great summation of the problems of Vitamin D deficiency and the importance of the vitamin which he describes is really a hormone, as well as treatment for a deficiency. A simple blood test done in your docter's office can give your current level of Vitamin D. The recommended levels for health is 40-60 nanograms per milliliter.
Treating a Vitamin D deficiency"To treat vitamin D deficiency, pharmacologic doses of vitamin D are often required. A simple strategy is to fill up the empty vitamin D tank by giving 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 once a week for eight weeks. This is equivalent to taking 6000 IU of vitamin D a day. However, to prevent a recurrence of vitamin D deficiency, an effective strategy is to then give 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 once every two weeks indefinitely
(see link)." . The 50,000 IU dose can be prescribed by your doctor but I have also found over the counter supplements with capsules as high as 5000 IU. Vitamin D toxicity is very rare and can only happen if a person takes over 10,000 IU daily for over 6 months.
Natural sources of Vitamin D besides sunlight include oily fish, cod liver oil and some mushrooms but since there is no way of measuring how much Vitamin D you are getting from these sources, based on my own experience, I would recommend being tested often if you have ever been Vitamin deficient to ensure you maintain high enough levels. There is also debate about the quality of many types or brands of cod liver oil, so it may be difficult to ensure you are really getting a quality product that increases your levels of Vitamin D.
PreventionWhen you begin reading up on how vitamins and nutrients or the lack thereof affect our bodies, you realize that these are essential components of a healthy lifestyle, in addition to eating a healthy diet.
About half of the nutrients found in our foods have decreased significantly than the nutrients from those foods in the 1950's, according to this study. The sad thing about our society, from what I have witnessed, is that many of us wait until we have a health problem to go to a doctor and the doctors then prescribe drugs (that many times have harmful side effects) to treat the problem. Another approach might be create a healthy lifestyle with diet, exercise and informed supplementation and to have preventative check-ups where the doctor could ensure with proper testing (upon our request) that we have no nutrient deficiencies that so greatly increase our risks for future, severe health problems like those mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Other Supplements for HealthThe best overall basic supplements for health that I have learned about are Life Long Vitality Supplements. They meet all the requirements of purity, potency and testing of pharmaceutical grade supplements. They are 3 bottles of supplements scientifically formulated for optimum health. They have been proven to help with energy, immune function, mood management, healthy inflammatory response and more. Alpha CRS+ is a proprietary formula combining a cellular longevity blend of botanical extracts.The ingredients in Alpha CRS+ have been shown to support healthy cell proliferation and lifespan, mitochondrial energy production and to support healthy cellular inflammatory response. dōTERRA’s xEO Mega is a revolutionary formula blending CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® essential oils with natural plant-sourced essential fatty acids delivering 340 mg EPA and 240 mg DHA per daily serving. Essential fatty acids support healthy cardiovascular, immune, joint, and brain health among other health benefits. xEO Mega also includes a unique form of the carotenoid astaxanthin cultivated in microalgae using pure water and sunlight, and natural vitamin E providing additional antioxidant protection, and natural vitamin D. DōTERRA’s Microplex vMz is an all-natural, whole-food formula of bioavailable vitamins and minerals that are often deficient in our modern diets. The formula includes a balanced blend of essential antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E, and an energy complex of B vitamins presented in a patented glycoprotein matrix. It also contains food-derived minerals calcium, magnesium, and zinc and 72 organic trace minerals for optimal bone and metabolic health. Microplex vMz also includes a whole-food blend of cayenne, kelp, and horstail powder and a patented- enzyme delivery system to optimize nutrient absorption. dōTERRA’s Tummy Tamer blend of pepper- mint, ginger, and caraway seed helps to calm the stomach for those who may have experienced stomach upset with other vitamin and mineral products. Microplex vMz is encapsulated using vegetable capsules, and does not include any animal products or synthetic ingredients.
These 3 supplements combined are the best I have found for a basic multivitamin and nutrient supplement-containing 1600 IU of absorbable Vitamin D in a daily dosage. (I use them for overall health and recommend extra Vitamin D supplementation for Vitamin D deficiency as well). When not taking a prescription for deficiency, doTERRA Bone Nutrient Complex is a great addition for extra vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium.
I love the changes I have seen in myself since starting to take the Life Long Vitality Supplements: increased energy and mood, improvement in my immune system, and improvement in skin, hair, nails. I also know of people who have had severe health problems whose lives have been turned around after starting to take the Life Long Vitality Supplements daily. One man was diagnosed with a medical condition that medication didn't help him with. Some days he couldn't even get out of bed because of the pain and fatigue. After taking the supplements for just 5 days he noticed improvement in how he felt, after 10 days he was able to do yard work and after 3 weeks he was lifting weights and felt that he had his life back again . I have been so fortunate to know so many people who have had similar life-changing experiences with the Life-long Vitality Supplements. Such a small change--adding these scientifically formulated supplements to a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference in a person's life!