Entry for May 18, 2008

Vitamins and Minerals for Diabetes

VITAMINS AND MINERALS THAT LOWERS BLOOD SUGAR

Minerals are the vital constituents for the formation of body structures such as bones and tissues. They are also involved in major physiological processes such as proper metabolism and energy production. There are various minerals that are helpful in treating diabetes and slowing down diabetic complications.

The most important mineral is Chromium. It is also known as Diabetic Mineral. It is because the main function of chromium in is body is to turn carbohydrates into glucose. Chromium also helps in the regulation and production of hormone insulin. It has been observed that due to chromium only the

Insulin works effectively in the body and without it, insulin simply would not function. Good sources of chromium are nuts, cheese, whole, grains, oysters, mushrooms, brewer’s yeast, etc. Long time researches have shown that the symptoms of diabetes completely reverses particularly of Type –2 Diabetes mellitus.

It is because insulin regulates and normalize blood sugar and it also improves body’s ability to transport blood glucose into cells. It has also been seen that the chromium supplements improves glucose tolerance and thus brings it to normal. It reduces fasting glucose and insulin levels in

gestational diabetes. It encourages the loss of body fat. It enhances insulin secretion and decreases trighlycerides Chromium also promotes muscular gains.

Vanadium: It is also associated with proper glucose regulation. It acts like insulin in the body and also enhances its effects. That is why this mineral is extensively known for its role in the management of diabetes. Food sources of vanadium include skin milk, lobster, vegetables, butter and cheese. Vanadium is named after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty and youth. Vanadium is also a building material of bones and teeth. Although, researchers have know vanadium for more than forty

years but the mineral is not yet considered as a essential constituent for humans. It is essential for plants and animals. But Vanadium must be needed to be as an essential nutrient in our diet. Vanadium in case of diabetics- improves fasting glucose levels. It also increases insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes. It lowers the insulin requirements in type –1 diabetes.

Manganese: Manganese maintains the blood glucose level in normal range and hence is useful in treating diabetes and hypoghlycaemia. Manganese is also used in our body for fat and protein metabolism and the production of energy. It is needed for growth, maintenance of connective tissue, bone, cartilage and

also helps in fatty acid synthesis. Manganese is also useful in the treatment of epilepsy, anosexia and iron deficiency. Moreover, the absorption of vitamin C, B and E depends upon the sufficient amount of manganese so the person’s multi-vitamin supplement should contain sufficient amount of manganese in it. Dietary sources of manganese include whole green cereals, leafy vegetables, nuts and tea.

Magnesium: Magnesium is mainly important for hypoglycaemics because it helps in the digestion of sugar, starches and fats and also helps in stabilizing blood sugar levels. It has been known from many years that the secretion and action of insulin require magnesium. Hence for diabetic patient and for persons

in whom intake of refined carbohydrates is too much, in them the supplement of magnesium is very much necessary. It is a person crave for chocolate, it may be an indication that he is low in magnesium. The dietary sources of magnesium are whole grains, nuts, seeds, cocoa milk, green vegetables, sea food,

brown rice. Magnesium is also involved in thyroid hormone production. Magnesium along with calcium helps in muscle contraction and helps in producing energy especially in muscle cells. Magnesium is also involved in producing stomach acid and digestive enzymes.

Zinc: Zinc is needed for proper release of insulin and many hypoglycaemics may be deficient. Zinc supplements are beneficial for patients with chronic diseases like diabetes. Some of the other Zinc’s functions include cholesterol, protein and energy metabolism growth, healing and immune functions. Dietary sources of Zinc include meat, eggs, sunflower seeds, milk, wholegrains, spinach etc. But a person should keep in mind that Zinc is destroyed when food is processed so they should eat the Zinc containing food in their natural form as much as possible. Moreover, Zinc absorption is reduced in alcoholics and diuretics. Stress also causes Zinc levels to drop rapidly.

Vitamins are an essential part of human body. The vitamin helps in improving digestion and therefore, increases the body’s ability to tolerate low glucose levels. They also know as Anti-Stress vitamins because of their good effects on the brain and nervous system. The B-complex vitamins are a group of eight vitamins, which include Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), Pyridoxina (B6), Folic Acid (B9), Cyanocobalmin (B12), Pantothenic acid and bioten. A particular potential benefit of vitamin B supplements for diabetics is mainly its ability to lower blood levels of homocysteine (a suphur-containing amino acid). Hence, the vitamins B are also essential for breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose, which provides energy for the body. It also helps in breakdown of fats and proteins, which helps in normal functioning of the nervous system.

Vitamin B-6 is helpful in the women reporting with gestational diabetes and for protection against metabolic imbalances associated with the use of some oral contraceptive. Vitamin B6 is also useful in the management of carpal tunnel syndrome. It help in reducing homocysteine. It maintains fluid balance and is essential for cellular energy production. It is somewhat beneficial to prevent skin eruptions also. Therefore, the amaging family of vitamin B is very helpful. Vitamin B6 levels are even lower in people with diabetes who have nerve damage i.e. neuropathy. So, the administration of bath Vitamin B1 (25 mg per day) and vitamin B6 (50 mg per day) shows significant improvement of symptoms of diabetic neuropathy after four weeks, because Vitamin B1 is also found to be low in people with type 1 diabetes.

Biotin (The Vitamin B) is needed to process of glucose. Patient with Type-1 of diabetes showed fasting glucose level dropped by 50% on administration of 16 mg of biotin per day for one week. Biotin may also reduce pain from diabetic nerve damage.

Vitamin C: Diabetic people also have low vitamin C levels. Vitamin C may reduce glycosylation. Vitamin C also lowers sorbital in people with diabetes. Sorbital is a sugar that can accumulate and damage the nerves eyes and kidney of people with diabetes. Vitamin C may improve glucose tolerance in patients with Type-2 diabetes. Vitamin C significantly reduces urinary protein loss in people with diabetes. Diabetic people should have 1-3 grams per day of vitamin C.

Vitamin B-12: Vitamin B-12 is needed for normal functioning of nerve cells. Vitamin B12 taken orally, intravenously or by injection reduces the nerve damage caused by diabetes in most of the people. The intake of large amounts of niacin (a form of the vitamin B 3), such as 2-3 grams per day, may impair glucose tolerance and shall be used by diabetic people only under doctor’s advice.

Vitamin D: It is needed to maintain adequate blood levels of insulin. Vitamin D receptors have been found in the pancreas where insulin is produced hence the supplements of vitamin D, increases insulin level in people suffering form diabetes. But it should be given in accurate dose as high dose of vitamin D can be toxic.

Vitamin E: Vitamin E prevents the destructive vascular damage that may occur in diabetes. Vitamin E supplements prevents the arterial degeneration in patients suffering from diabetes. Vitamin E decreases the requirement of insulin by diabetic people. Vitamin E is available naturally in whole grain products, wheat products, fruits, green leafy vegetables milk, whole raw or sprouted seeds.

Entry for May 17, 2008

For the past several weeks I’ve had a couple of different things happening and I’m not really sure of the cause. I’ve felt a subtle numbness in the tips of my fingers that seems to come and go. I’ve also had itchy watery eyes and I can’t seem to put my finger on it either. One day I’ll try chromium and then another day I’ll try calcium. They both seem to help stop my watering eyes and I’ve even noticed that eating fruits like apples, pears and bananas will improve my eyes on days that I don’t take any supplements. Weird…

The only thing I have in the back of my mind is diabetes or high/low blood sugar but I’ll need more research before I go running after that. Here’s what I found:

Calcium, vitamin D may lower diabetes risk
By Stephen Daniells, 03-Apr-2006

High intake of calcium and vitamin D, particularly from supplements, may lower the risk of diabetes by 33 per cent, say American scientists, as a leading European clinician reports that over a billion people are vitamin D deficient.

A growing body of epidemiological, animal and clinical studies has linked insufficient levels of vitamin D and calcium to a broad range of health problems such as osteoporosis, cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Vitamin D is found in low concentrations in some food, and most vitamin D is manufactured in the skin on exposure to sunlight. Recent studies have shown that sunshine levels in some northern countries are so weak during the winter months that the body makes no vitamin D at all.

Indeed, at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Glasgow yesterday, Professor Roger Bouillon from the University of Leuven reported that more than a billion people of all ages worldwide needed to up their vitamin D intake.

The new study, published in the journal Diabetes Care (Vol. 29, pp. 650-656), used data from the Nurses Health Study, and related the vitamin D and calcium intake of 83,779 registered nurses to the incidence of type-2 diabetes.

None of the women had diabetes at the start of the study, and the average body mass index was 24 kilograms per square metre (meaning that very few of the women were overweight or obese, factors that are strongly associated with increased risk of diabetes).

After 20 years of follow-up, during which time dietary and supplementary intakes were measured using validated food frequency questionnaires every two to four years, the authors concluded: “A combined daily intake of more than 1,200 milligrams of calcium and more than 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D was associated with a 33 per cent lower risk of type-2 diabetes.”

Interestingly, lead researcher Anastassios Pitas, from the Tufts-New England Medical Center, found that dietary intake of vitamin D did not result in a statistically significant benefit. But women who consumed from that 400 IU vitamin D per day from supplements had a 13 per cent lower risk of diabetes, compared to women who consumed less than 100 IU per day.

Both dietary calcium and supplements were associated with significant decreased risks of type 2 diabetes, with women who had total daily intakes of calcium greater than 1,200 milligrams had a 21 per cent lower risk compared to women who had intakes less than 600 mg per day.

“For both vitamin D and calcium, intakes from supplements rather than from diet were significantly associated with a lower range of type 2 diabetes,” said Pittas.

The mechanism as to why vitamin D and calcium may reduce the risk of diabetes is not clear, but the researchers proposed that the two nutrients work together. Vitamin D facilitates calcium absorption in the intestine, while calcium is reported play a role in normalising glucose intolerance.

The researchers did not rule out a direct role of vitamin D, independent of calcium, noting that studies have reported that vitamin D insufficiency had been linked to insulin resistance and reduced function of pancreatic beta-cells.

Strengths of this study included the large-scale and long-term follow-up, but the authors note the inability of the study design to measure all the possible confounders. Also, no blood samples were taken to measure serum vitamin D levels.

“If these results are confirmed in prospective studies or in randomised trials, they will have important health implications because both of these interventions can be implemented easily and inexpensively to prevent type 2 diabetes,” concluded the researchers.

An estimated 19 million people are affected by diabetes in the EU 25, equal to four per cent of the total population. This figure is projected to increase to 26 million by 2030.

In the US, there are over 20 million people with diabetes, equal to seven per cent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $132 billion, with $92 billion being direct costs from medication, according to 2002 American Diabetes Association figures.

Entry for October 21, 2007

Flu Cases Per Month

It’s almost too simple to even think about the flu and the connection to vitamin D levels. I found this chart that basically sums it up for me. Here’s the chart with the text summary and not a mention of vitamin D.

The Flu Season

In the Northern hemisphere, winter is the time for flu. In the United States, the flu season can range from November to as late as May. During the past 25 flu seasons, months with the heaviest flu activity (peak months) occurred in November one season, December four seasons, January five seasons, February 11 seasons, and March four seasons.

Entry for October 21, 2007

Today I came across the most amazing article regarding Vitamin D. I’ve always been sceptical of the flu shot and never had one. After reading this article written by Natropathic doctor Jacob Schor, Vitamin D can be used to prevent the flu and here’s the story:

A Seasonal Stimulus for Influenza

The recent paper by John Jacob Cannell linking epidemic influenza outbreaks with vitamin D deficiency may turn out to be the landmark paper of the year. It certainly is going to change the way I answer questions about flu shots or approach lower respiratory infections. If Cannell’s hypothesis is correct, and there is little reason to think it isn’t, taking a giant dose of vitamin D makes as much or more sense as bothering with the flu shots.

There was a time when philosophy dominated the practice of naturopathy. A hundred years ago, everyone ate organic, all agriculture was local, genes were mysterious and the idea of modifying them was pure fantasy. Many of the health battles we wage in our practices today weren’t even worries back then. Most ‘medicines’ of the day would be considered natural in contrast to the pharmaceuticals of today.

Cannell’s paper awakens the old debate of germ theory versus fertile field. He starts the paper by going back a quarter century to the work of the British epidemiologist, Edgar Hope-Simpson. Hope-Simpson spent his later years studying influenza. He was convinced that a link existed between the seasonal outbreaks of influenza and the seasonal variations in ultraviolet light levels. He just didn’t know what the link was.

Influenza all but disappears during the summer months when ultraviolet exposure is at its maximum. If we were trying to explain this using germ theory, we would conclude that the ultraviolet light weakened the virus, making it less virulent. Indeed, as Cannell points out, people exposed to the flu virus during the summer are less likely to fall ill. People injected with attenuated flu virus in the winter are 8 times more likely to develop a fever than if the experiment is conducted in the summer.

It’s not the germ that is stronger in the winter but the immune system which is weaker. Vitamin D, we now understand, is essential for the immune system to fight infection. When D status is low, people are more susceptible to infection. Ultraviolet light triggers vitamin D production in the skin. During the winter months when ultraviolet light levels decline, vitamin D production decreases to the degree that a high percentage of the population will at least temporarily become deficient. Those at highest risk for deficiency, the elderly, the obese and those with dark skin are all at higher risk for viral infection. Black children develop pneumonia twice as often as white children. Deficiency makes them more susceptible to infection.

There’s an interesting story behind how Cannell came to write this paper. The man has always been a bit of a troublemaker. Born with a heightened sense of moral outrage, his career has been marked by constant attempts to rectify injustice. He has spent his life justifiably angry about social iniquities and campaigning for social redress.

He was an antiwar activist in the 1960’s, helping organize the “March on Washington “, and was there for 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. He practiced medicine among the coal mines of Appalachia and fought for miners with black lung to get fair disability payment. In the 1980’s he took on the nation’s school boards who were using a bogus standardized test that all but guaranteed that all the districts were “above average.” He became a psychiatrist and took on the lost memory recovery movement.

Cannell moved to Atascadero , California in the late 1990’s and has worked there since as a psychiatrist at Atascadero State Hospital , the largest hospital for the criminally insane in America . While there, he became fascinated with vitamin D and soon had all the patients on his ward taking large daily doses.

In April 2005, a flu epidemic broke out at Atascadero . The illness spread through the hospital, but none of Cannell’s patients became ill. This convinced Cannell that vitamin D protected his patients. He contacted the most prominent vitamin D researchers and with their assistance produced this current paper, published in the same journal that published Hope-Simpson’s earlier work on influenza and ultraviolet light.

How much D?

Cannell is currently suggests daily winter doses of 5,000 IU per day to prevent flu. At the first onset of symptoms, he is advocating much higher doses in what Europeans have called Stoss Therapy. By high doses, he means 2,000 IU per kilogram body weight for three days. This is very different from the 400 IU per day I learned in school.

If this hypothesis holds up over time, we could be in for some interesting changes. In a 1990 Russian study, athletes treated with ultraviolet radiation twice a year for three years. Compared to a matched control group, the treated athletes recovered faster from infection, had higher levels of salivary immunoglobulin, but most importantly developed half the number of respiratory infections. I find myself viewing these numbers and thinking in terms of germ theory. Would lowering flu cases by half, lower germ transmission and take the momentum out of an epidemic so it doesn’t spread? Could we add flu to that list of things like typewriters, record players and dial phones, that were once a big part of life, but which are now only vague memories?

 

Entry for August 12, 2007

The Morning After:

Woke up and the only place that was slightly burnt was the top of my shoulders. No visible burn on my chest or my back. Nothing! My wife had the same thing and Natalie with no sunblock whatsoever showed no visible tan anywhere. I was slightly shocked but more proud that it did work again using vitamins as a natural sunblock. My daughter drinks three to four glasses of goat’s milk a day and she probably had plenty of vitamin D for sun protection.

So if none of us got any kind of sunburn, what exactly does sunblock do?

Sunscreen may actually increase the risk of cancer, so proposed California researchers in a paper published in January, 1993, in the Annals of Epidemiology. The researchers contended that UVB- blocking sunscreens had contributed to increasing skin-cancer rates, by disabling the body’s natural alarm mechanism: sunburn. The researchers also posited that because UVB rays are the main source of vitamin D, and because vitamin D may inhibit the progression of melanoma, and because sunscreens block UVB rays- sunscreens might promote vitamin D deficiencies and cause melanomas. (UVB is the shorter wavelength of ultraviolet light that damages the skin. UVA is the longer of the two types of ultraviolet light that reaches the earth. UVA is responsible for tanning.)

In a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in January,1993, researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center applied three common types of sunscreen to mice and then exposed most of them to sunlamps twice a week for three weeks. Melanoma cells were then injected into all the mice. The mice exposed to the ultraviolet (UV) rays, even if they were treated with sunscreen, had a higher incidence of melanoma than those not exposed to UV rays. The researchers theorized that sunscreens may allow enough UV to penetrate the skin to suppress the immune response and/or damage DNA, thus allowing tumors to develop.

UVA can cause skin cancer, particularly melanoma, according to the Texas researchers. The sunscreens used in the mouse study blocked little or no UVA.

Entry for August 11, 2007

Just as we got to the beach, I took 1000 mg of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E and 400 IU of vitamin D and hit the water. From three o’clock until six thirty I spent the day in full sunshine. My wife didn’t use any sunblock either and we made the slightly nervous decision not to use any sunblock on my daughter who is 21 months tomorrow.

We had a great time and spent most of the time in the water with my shirt off. By the time we left, I didn’t feel burnt at all. My daughter looked fine with no visible tan lines.

I think it worked again! We’ll find out tomorrow…

Entry for August 10, 2007

Tomorrow I’m going up to Wasaga Beach and the weather forcast is 32 degrees and full sunshine all day. Last year I made the discovery regarding the sunblock vitamins so this year I’ll try the same thing again to see if it works.

Vitamins C, D and E.

Entry for August 09, 2007

Same minerals as yesterday except that I took an extra magnesium and after the first dosage, it’s not working. I have cold hands all morning and throughout the day and skip the nighttime dosage. I really need to do more research…

I’m really interested in calcium because it’s something I’ve avoided for so long.

1) Magnesium deficiency
2) Because it always made the vibration worse.

It’s time to take a closer look because I’ve fixed the magnesium loss and nothing else seems to really work and I know there is a link between calcium, nerves and the symptom of nervousness. I can stop the vibraton but I can never get rid of it.

Experimental studies show that magnesium deficiency also induces calcium deficiency despite a high intake of calcium and vitamin D. Even intravenous administration of calcium did not improve the induced calcium deficiency until magnesium was supplied as well.

If I do have a calcium deficiency, how or why did taking it make my symptoms worse? I still have a calcium/magnesium/phosphorus supplement so I’ll add vitamin D and try that tomorrow.

I’ve also been reading about Colloidal Minerals lately and I still have my bottle from the first time I tried so I’d like to start that again.

Entry for August 08, 2007

It’s no wonder that people are confused. A week after printing an article about a man who has osteoporosis despite drinking milk at every meal, the Toronto Star has another article about a women who has been diagnosed with osteopenia and her plan is to drink more milk and eat foods high in calcium. I love the picture of her guzzling down a pitcher of milk. She obviously didn’t read the article from last week…

So what about all the calcium supplements that don’t contain vitamin D? They ask a University of McGill chemistry professor for his opinion.

“Without vitamin D” says Dr. Joe Schwarcz, “you can have all the calcium you want and it’s not going into your bones.”

And the best quote from the article?

“At the rate food companies are pumping up their products, from calcium-fortified orange juice and super-calcium milk to vitamin D-enhanced yogurt, we soon may not need supplements.”

Huh? I’ve seen the orange juice with the added calcium and I won’t go near it. According to this article, it’s a complete waste of time! And what about the other minerals like magnesium, copper, zinc, boron, manganese or even vitamin K?

Another favorite quote?

“forgo the sunscreen for 15 minutes on sunny summer days between 10 a.m. and noon when our skin absorbs vitamin D.”

So basically, after the cancer society just announced that everyone is not getting enough vitamin D, this article admits that sunblock can decrease the body’s natural absorption of vitamin D and thus increasing your risk of getting cancer.

Boning up on calcium

Aging gracefully – and upright – means getting lots of this mineral

Aug 08, 2007 04:30 AM
Cynthia David
Special to the Star

If you find me soaking up the sun at noon without sunscreen, counting out 25 almonds for a snack or walking down the street with weights on my ankles, don’t worry – I’m just boning up on my calcium.

This odd routine began a few months back, when my family doctor announced that my first bone density scan revealed osteopenia – thinning of the bones – and some deterioration in my hips. And here I thought I was sailing into my 50s and menopause in great shape.

Though she didn’t seem overly concerned about the results, the doctor handed me a list of food sources and ordered me to start consuming 1,500 milligrams of calcium a day (the minimum recommended for Canadians over 50 is 1,200 milligrams) and 800 international units of vitamin D.

On the way home I passed an elderly woman, bent over and shuffling along with the help of a walker. Perhaps it is a good time to take the doctor’s advice.

Dr. Miroslava Lhotsky, a Toronto physician and author of The Healthy Boomer, assured me that a diagnosis of osteopenia doesn’t mean I’m at risk of developing osteoporosis, the debilitating disease that makes bones dangerously weak and brittle.

In fact it’s normal to start losing bone density after age 35. But she urged me to consider it a wake-up call to improve my eating habits and get serious about regular exercise. “Your bone mass may be low, but your bones still have structure so you can put lots of calcium in them” said Lhotsky, who likens bones to a bank, strengthened with deposits of calcium and vitamin D, and weakened by withdrawals such as smoking, or drinking more than three glasses of alcohol or caffeinated coffee a day.

According to my chart, eating 1,500 milligrams of calcium a day is possible on paper, at least. A typical day might include two cups of 1% milk (660 milligrams), a whole wheat English muffin (100 milligrams), 3/4 cup of fruit yogurt (250 milligrams), a half-cup of canned pink salmon with bones (175 milligrams), a cup of cooked broccoli (90 milligrams), an ounce of almonds (57 milligrams), an orange (50 milligrams) and five dried figs (135 milligrams).

While you’re at it, Montreal dietitian and author Louise Lambert-Lagacé suggests adding a little soy every day to help in the process of “resorption” as we continually shed and build new bone. She recommends calcium-fortified soy milk, tofu prepared with a calcium-containing salt, 2 tablespoons of soy nuts or green edamame soybeans.

Vitamin D is another story. Unless you love cod liver oil (1,382 IU per tablespoon) or eat lots of salmon and canned sardines, getting 800 to 1,000 IU a day from food is difficult. Yet this year’s “miracle” vitamin is essential to help our bones and teeth absorb calcium.

“Without vitamin D” says Dr. Joe Schwarcz “you can have all the calcium you want and it’s not going into your bones.” The University of McGill chemistry professor and co-author of Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal, adds that vitamins and minerals are better absorbed from food than from pills.

At the rate food companies are pumping up their products, from calcium-fortified orange juice and super-calcium milk to vitamin D-enhanced yogurt, we soon may not need supplements. But if you can’t make the numbers with food alone, head to the drugstore, where a veritable wall of calcium awaits.

Calcium carbonate pills (some contain oyster shells) are the cheapest, though they may cause constipation and gas, notes Schwarcz. For best absorption, take them with meals or with a snack of at least 300 calories.

Calcium citrate pills are about three times more expensive, but can be taken any time of day and are readily absorbed without any annoying side effects. Calcium pills with magnesium also minimize constipation.

When buying supplements, look for the amount of  “elemental” calcium inside. And don’t buy the biggest pill you can find – Schwarcz says two 500-milligram doses of elemental calcium a day are much better absorbed from the digestive tract into the bloodstream than one 1,000-milligram pill.

For extra insurance, choose a calcium or multi-vitamin pill with added vitamin D or buy a 30-gram (1 ounce) vial of drops containing 1,000 IU per drop. Another option is to forgo the sunscreen for 15 minutes on sunny summer days between 10 a.m. and noon when our skin absorbs vitamin D.

Entry for August 08, 2007

Woke up this morning with a slight vibration but I’m very happy with the new found results and I think it’s from the extra calcium/magnesium. Because of the vibration, I’m going to add niacin back into the rotation. 100 mg dosage, three times a day and I’m also going to reduce the amount of phosphorus by half.

Daily Supplement Summary:

900 mg Calcium/Magnesium (300 mg 1/1 ratio)
300 mg Niacin (100 mg)
300 mg Phosphorus (100 mg)
600 mg Vitamin D (200 mg)
90 mg Zinc (30 mg)
25 mg Manganese

Entry for August 07, 2007

Today I’m back at work so my routine is a bit more stable. I’ve decided to take three doses of 300mg calcium/magnesium in the 1/1 ratio along with the phosphorus and vitamin D. No reason for the change just want to keep trying something different until I find something that works.

I also changed the zinc dosage from two doses of 50 mg to three doses of 30 mg. I didn’t take any niacin today as I’m still not convinced that it’s the cause of the vibration although I didn’t have any all weekend.

By the end of the work day the eyes aren’t as itchy and the stuffiness in my nose feels better than usual. I’ll keep doing this combination of minerals for sure!

The million dollar question….Will it have any effect on the vibration?

I’ve always been very confused as to why taking extra calcium would make the vibration stronger and today I still don’t have an answer. I’m wondering if the magnesium deficiency caused a high calcium ratio? What are the effects of low magnesium and the effect on calcium?

Calcium

Elevated calcium levels are associated with arthritic / joint and vascular degeneration, calcification of soft tissue, hypertension and stroke, an increase in VLDL triglycerides, gastrointestinal disturbances, mood and depressive disorders, chronic fatigue, increased alkalinity, and general mineral imbalances.

If magnesium is insufficient potassium and calcium will be lost in the urine and calcium will be deposited in the soft tissues (kidneys, arteries, joints, brain, etc.).

Calcium Synergists

Copper is required to fix calcium in the bones and helps raise the tissue calcium level. Many people have biologically unavailable copper which causes their calcium problems. In fast oxidizers, copper deficiency contributes to a calcium deficiency. Adequate adrenal hormone levels are also essential for proper calcium metabolism.

Calcium Antagonists

Sugar upsets the calcium/phosphorus ratio in the blood more than any other single factor, according to researcher Dr. Melvin Page. It also stresses the adrenal glands and upsets the hormone balance which affects calcium metabolism.

Copper Bio-Unavailability A Major Cause of Candida Infection

The most commonly observed mineral imbalance we find in many patients with Candida infection is termed bio-unavailable copper. Bio-unavailable copper is indicated on a tissue mineral test. Other mineral indicators of a candida overgrowth are an elevated calcium level, elevated calcium/magnesium ratio, or a low sodium/potassium ratio.

Entry for August 03, 2007

When I saw this article I was stunned but not surprised. You’ve really got to question what we are doing to our health when you read stories like this. So is it the sunblock or not?

Age-old children’s disease back in force

Diagnoses of rickets, caused by lack of vitamin D, on the rise

Jul 25, 2007 04:30 AM
Suzanne Carere (Special to the Star)

A primitive disease has skulked back onto the scene, hidden in the wake of new health concerns that seem to arise each week.

Rickets, the disease that weakens bones in children, is back.

Although it’s hard to believe, a growing number of studies across North America shows that children of the 21st century are suffering from the same vitamin D deficiency that devastated families more than 100 years ago. The difference is that today we should know better.

Rickets was first described medically in 1650 by Francis Glissen: “We affirm therefore, that this disease doth rarely invade children presently at birth … but after that it beginneth by little and little daily to rage.” The disease became an epidemic in industrialized cities across Europe and North America. Heavy smog blacked out the sun in large cities, making it impossible for growing children to create enough vitamin D through their skin.

The result was weak bones, including leg bones bowed under the weight of children’s upper torsos.

At the time, the disease hit hardest at black people living in England, because darker skin pigmentation requires greater sun exposure to create vitamin D.

Finally, in 1921, Elmer McCollum, an American biochemist, isolated from certain fats the substance that prevents rickets. He named it vitamin D because it was the fourth vitamin discovered.

Soon, it was discovered that irradiating certain foods with ultraviolet light produced vitamin D. Harry Steenbock, a researcher from the University of Wisconsin, patented a highly effective technique for irradiating milk that led to an almost-instant reversal of rickets. By 1930, the disease was nearly eradicated in North America.

That lasted until now.

Rickets is no longer a disease of the past, according to a report published in American Family Physician in 2006. The journal explains that, though there’s a lack of national data at the moment, more and more cases of rickets are being discovered by physicians in the U.S.

Health Canada has noted on its website: “Canadian studies and the ongoing surveillance of childhood illnesses by the Canadian Paediatric Society provide evidence that vitamin D deficiency rickets has not been eradicated.”

According to the pediatric society, 69 cases were confirmed within the first 18 months after the society launched a surveillance study in 2002. The society concluded that “the incidence of vitamin D deficiency rickets is rising worldwide” and “Canada is no exception.”

The reasons for this resurgence appear to be common among all studies. They involve cases of cautious mothers who were doing everything they thought they should to keep their infants safe. Their children were breastfed exclusively and were covered up when exposed to sunlight using a combination of clothing and high-SPF sunscreens.

Unfortunately, breast milk (unlike infant formula) is not a good source of vitamin D and without adequate sun exposure, children are unable to make it themselves.

Although pediatricians know to give supplements in these cases, the pediatric society notes that many children in Canada do not have pediatricians.

This situation represents only half the problem. The other involves the nutritional status of the mothers.

If a pregnant woman is deficient in vitamin D, her child can be more susceptible to rickets after birth. A study published in May in the Journal of Nutrition reported that, in the U.S., “92.4 per cent of African-American babies and 66.1 per cent of white infants were found to have insufficient vitamin D at birth.”

The obesity crisis has brought to light the lack of outdoor activity in both adults and children. Mix this with fears about hormones in milk, skin cancer from sun exposure and mercury in fish such as salmon that contain plenty of vitamin D and a deficit is created.

The solution is straightforward: Drink milk or fortified soy milk, eat fish more often, play outside with your kids at least once a week and ensure you talk to a doctor about including formula or vitamin D supplements when breastfeeding.

The World Health Organization defines health as “the state of complete physical, mental and emotional well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Translation: Live more, not less, by learning to keep your overall health in balance.

Entry for August 01, 2007

All this week I’ve had the cold hands around lunch time and nothing seems to fix it. It doesn’t seem to matter what I take or what I eat, it always happens around lunch and it doesn’t return. Sometimes I skip my evening vitamins just to see what happens…nothing!

I go back to researching phosphorus again and I’ve been into a few health food stores lately looking for phosphorus and everyone seems to think it’s weird that I am asking for such a thing. I came across some info with a theory as to what can cause a phosphorus deficiency and it makes perfect sence to me.

DEFICIENCY

Fructose: A recent study of 11 adult men found that a diet high in fructose (20% of total calories) resulted in increased urinary loss of phosphorus and a negative phosphorus balance (i.e., daily loss of phosphorus was higher than daily intake). This effect was more pronounced if the diet was also low in magnesium. A potential mechanism for this effect is the lack of feed back inhibition of the conversion of fructose to fructose-1-phosphate in the liver. In other words, increased accumulation of fructose-1-phosphate in the cell does not inhibit the enzyme that phosphorylates fructose, using up large amounts of phosphate. This phenomenon is known as phosphate trapping. This finding is relevant because fructose consumption in the U.S. has been increasing rapidly since the introduction of high fructose corn syrup in 1970, while magnesium intake has decreased over the past century.

I did manage to find a web site that sells liquid phosphorus but I’ll wait a bit longer before I do something like that.

In my phosphorus reserach, I come across a bit of information that suggests that phosphorus plays a role with glucose. Could this be why chromium has an effect?

Not getting enough phosphorus can contribute to the following health problems: anxiety, bone problems, fatigue, irregular breathing, irritability, numbness, skin sensitivity, stress, teeth weakness, tremors, weakness, worry, and weight changes. You can also get malaise, stiff joints, and bone pain. It may also cause glucose intolerance, irregular heartbeat and difficulty breathing. Phosphorus deficiency results in bone loss just as calcium deficiency does. Phosphorus toxicity can result in twitching, jerking, and convulsions.

A diet consisting of junk food can have too much phosphorus and this effects the body’s processing of calcium. It has also been found that vitamin D boosts the effectiveness of phosphorus. Magnesium helps in the absorption of phosphorus. Phosphorus speeds up healing, helps to prevent and treat osteoporosis, helps treat bone diseases such as rickets and prevents stunted or slow growth in children.

Phosphorus is needed for healthy nerve impulses, normal kidney functioning, and the utilization of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins for growth, maintenance, and repair of cells and for energy production. Phosphorus is a component of DNA and RNA and serves in the preparation of glucose for energy formation.

With the link between riboflavin and niacin, I really need to see if I can find some phosphorus…

Entry for June 08, 2007

Here’s what Dr. Mercola has to say about vitamin D and sunblock.

Learn Why the Myth of the Sun Causing Skin Cancer Can Hurt Your Health

Most of us have been bombarded about the dangers of the sun by experts and the media. However, because it is one of the most pervasive and inaccurate myths persisting in most of the patients I see, I can only assume you are under the same misunderstanding. Unfortunately, this myth has contributed to massive amounts of disease and illness in our society.

Can sun exposure cause skin cancer? Absolutely. However, appropriate sunlight actually prevents cancer. Exposure to the sun provides many benefits such as promoting the formation of vitamin D. We also have strong evidence that sunlight is protective against MS and breast cancer.

The key is to never burn.

Although the American Academy of Dermatology will have you bathing in sunscreen, it is one of the LAST things you want to put on your body. It is a toxic chemical that can cause problems in your system. Even if it didn’t contribute to disease, the central issue is that it doesn’t even work.

A British dermatologist published an article earlier this year which showed no clear indication that sunscreens worked. Another study in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology last year found the same thing. A far more logical solution would be to use clothing to protect you against the sun.

You must exercise caution. At the beginning of the season go out gradually, perhaps as little as ten minutes a day. Progressively increase your time in the sun so that in a few weeks, you will be able to have normal sun exposure with little risk of skin cancer.

Remember also never to use sunscreen, another key. You can creatively use your clothing to block the sun’s rays during your build-up time.

The bottom line is, please avoid getting sucked into the hype that sunlight is dangerous. It is only dangerous if you are clueless about fat nutrition, which most medical doctors are. If you choose to ignore your omega 6:3 ratio and stay out of the sun, you could limit your risk of skin cancer, but is that worth the risk of getting MS, breast or prostate cancer?

Entry for June 08, 2007

Today I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this article in the Toronto Star. But what it doesn’t say is that when people use sunblock, it actually stops the absorption of vitamin D from the sun. Thank god for Dr. Mercola…

Start taking vitamin D, Cancer Society says
Vitamin D linked to reduced cancer risk

Jun 07, 2007 06:31 PM

Associated Press
Canadian adults should consider taking a specific amount of vitamin D, says the Canadian Cancer Society, basing its new recommendation on an expanding body of evidence linking the vitamin to reduced risk for colorectal, breast and prostate cancers.
The recommendation coincides with a study published in a U.S. journal Friday which found that taking vitamin D supplements and calcium substantially reduced all cancer risk in post-menopausal women.

The four-year study, conducted by researchers at Creighton University in Nebraska, initially enrolled 1,180 women who were over the age of 55 and living in a nine-county rural area of the state.

Of the 1,024 who completed the trial, those randomly assigned to take calcium and vitamin D and who had higher levels of both in their blood were 77 per cent less likely to develop cancer after the first year compared to those taking placebos or calcium alone.

The Canadian Cancer Society released its recommendation today for adults in Canada to consider taking a vitamin D supplement of 1,000 international units daily during fall and winter.

The recommended amount takes into consideration vitamin D intake from other sources, including food, water and a multivitamin, said Heather Logan, director of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society.

Adults at risk of having lower Vitamin D levels should consider maintaining the recommended intake level year round, the organization said in a release. This includes people who are older, have darker skin, don’t go outside often and wear clothing covering most of their skin.

“A thousand units is really a reasonable recommendation (for) people, according to the evidence and guidelines that exist currently across North America,” Logan said.

But she cautioned that total vitamin D intake — from supplements and diet — should not surpass 2,000 international units.

In addition to the Nebraska research findings, the cancer society said another study released in May suggests women who consume more calcium and vitamin D may be less likely to develop breast cancer before menopause.

“This is a really exciting, emerging area of cancer prevention research and we’ll continue to follow it carefully, and as new information emerges we will update our recommendations accordingly,” said Logan.

The organization said Canada’s geographic location was also a motivating factor for issuing the recommendation. The country’s northern latitude, coupled with weakened sun rays in fall and winter, result in Canadians not producing enough vitamin D from sunlight.

But Joan Lappe, lead investigator on the Creighton University study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said the implications of her study aren’t to suggest people living closer to the Equator in warmer climates require any less of the vitamin.

“Their vitamin D health is probably more optimal, but the point is that many people further north in the northern hemisphere … north of the 37th latitude just do not get enough months of sunlight exposure to give them optimal vitamin D in the whole year,” she said in a phone interview from Omaha, Neb.

That doesn’t mean Canadians should spend too much time in the sun, basking under harmful ultraviolet rays where they face overexposure, a prime risk factor for skin cancer, Logan said.

“We’re definitely not talking about going out to get a tan, or to go in the middle of the day when the UV index is high,” she said.

“(Supplementation) maximizes the potential benefits in reducing the risk of developing cancer with very few side effects at the doses that are recommended.”

Lappe said based on the study findings, examining the role calcium played requires further investigation.

“In the group that received calcium only there was a decreased incidence of cancer, but it wasn’t as strong as in the group that had both calcium and vitamin D.”

“We know from studies that calcium can bind some byproducts in the colon that actually prevent colon cancer in that way, but I’m not aware of any studies that show what (the) combination does together.”

Logan said while the Nebraska study is “compelling,” there are limitations to applying the results looking at a very specified group of subjects in one American state to the Canadian population at large.

“A large-scale clinical trial would include a much larger participant group that were more representative of the Canadian population, given our diversity, and they would be followed for a longer period of time,” she said.

“If these results can be replicated in a large-scale clinical trial they really would be a remarkable result.”

At this time, the Canadian Cancer Society said it does not have a recommendation for vitamin D supplementation for children.

Recent research highlighting the protective effect of early sun exposure on cancer risk outlines the need to consider boosting vitamin D intake for those at a younger age, said Dr. Reinhold Vieth, director of the bone and mineral lab at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

“It’s plausible, I think, that vitamin D over a relatively short period like the four years of study here does help to prevent cancer, but you can even take it another step further and start earlier in life to prevent the cancers,” Vieth said.

More vitamin D early in life also influences predisposition to get diabetes and multiple sclerosis, Vieth said.

While there are different schools of thought in regards to calcium and cancer, the influence of vitamin D is more difficult to dispute, Vieth said.

“The thing that is unambiguous, zero debate is that more vitamin D is good,” he said.

“This is one agent that has a lot of different science backing it up.”

Entry for January 06, 2007

 

I start going through the blog to see if I have missed anything. Looking for anything, any clues that I may have overlooked. I come across an entry on April 29th and this is when I first discovered the Niacin deficiency. It mentions about a how a deficiency can cause anxiety and lower the absorption of the A, D and E vitamins. How interesting. It wasn’t until I saw the iridologst a few months later did I discover that I had anxiety and this was before I tried taking vitamins A, D and E to know I had a deficiency.

Another interesting point? Niacin is usually the only vitamin that is not included in a multivitamin. They normally use Niacinamide instead at a very low dosage. I have been taking 150-300 mg of Niacin everyday since last April. Was I taking enough to correct a deficiency?

Niacin
Niacin (nicotinic acid) is another one of the B-complex vitamins that may be linked to neurological damage. Mild niacin deficiency is associated with weakness, tremor, anxiety, depression and irritability.

Niacin helps increase energy through improving food utilization and has been used beneficially for treating fatigue, irritability, and digestive disorders, such as diarrhea, constipation, and indigestion. It may also stimulate extra hydrochloric acid production.

Nicotinic acid also helps reduce blood pressure and, very importantly, acts as an agent to lower serum cholesterol. Treatment with about 2 grams a day of nicotinic acid has produced significant reductions in both blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

In general, niacin deficiency affects every cell, especially in those systems with rapid turnover, such as the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and nervous system. Other than photosensitivity, the first signs of niacin deficiency are noted as decreased energy production and problems with maintaining healthy functioning of the skin and intestines. These symptoms include weakness and general fatigue, anorexia, indigestion, and skin eruptions. These can progress to other problems, such as a sore, red tongue, canker sores, nausea, vomiting, tender gums, bad breath, and diarrhea. The neurological symptoms may begin with irritability, insomnia, and headaches and then progress to tremors, extreme anxiety and depression. The skin will worsen, as will the diarrhea and inflammation of the mouth and intestinal tract. There will be a lack of stomach acid production (achlorhydria) and a decrease in fat digestion and, thus, lower availability from food absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, and E.

Found this entry from May 4th, 2006:

Diagnosis and Treatment

Niacin deficiency must be distinguished from other causes of stomatitis, glossitis, diarrhea, and dementia. Diagnosis is easy when the clinical findings include skin and mouth lesions, diarrhea, delirium, and dementia. More often, the condition is less fully developed, and a history of a diet lacking niacin and tryptophan is significant.

Multiple deficiencies of B vitamins and protein often occur together; therefore, a balanced diet is needed. Supplemental niacinamide 300 to 1000 mg/day should be given orally in divided doses. In most cases, 300 to 500 mg is sufficient. Niacinamide is generally used to treat deficiency states, because niacin can cause flushing, itching, burning, or tingling sensations, whereas niacinamide does not; however, niacinamide does not possess hypolipidemic or vasodilating properties as does niacin.

When oral therapy is precluded because of diarrhea or lack of patient cooperation, 100 to 250 mg should be injected sc bid to tid. In encephalopathic states, 1000 mg po plus 100 to 250 mg IM is recommended. Other B-complex vitamins should also be given in therapeutic dosages.

Entry for October 13, 2006

Made a new discovery today. My mother in law was watching the weather channel and they happened to mention something on magnesium deficiencies and the relation to our climate in Canada. They talked about the lack of sunshine in the Canadian winters and how vitamin D can effect the absorption of magnesium.

I’d heard the connection to vitamin D before but I’ve also read the opposite. I’ll start taking it again and see what happens. Vitamin D is a fat soluble and I’ve already taken it for a while and I didn’t notice any difference.

I’ll try it again…

Here’s what I found:

The effects of three dietary levels of vitamin D (500, 1500 and 3000 IU/kg diet) on magnesium metabolism and on some bone parameters related to bone mineralization were studied in vitamin D-repleted pigs fed normal magnesium intakes (0.2 per cent) for two months. Apparent absorption and retention was measured in 10-day balance studies (prior to slaughter) in three groups of four 10-week old pigs. Except for vitamin D, the pigs received the same diet which met the recommended dietary allowances for growing pigs. The highest vitamin D level used was only three times the recommended level in French pig husbandry. At slaughter, the fibula and two main metatarsals (right hind leg) were collected to determine bone breaking strength, apparent density and bone mineral (ash, calcium, magnesium) contents. Blood was collected to determine plasma concentrations of calcium, magnesium and vitamin D metabolites. Magnesium absorption increased linearly from 28-39 per cent intake with increasing dietary vitamin D. Urinary magnesium was not affected, thus magnesium retention also increased linearly as a function of vitamin D intake. Plasma calcium and magnesium were not altered by vitamin D. Plasma 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentrations reflected vitamin D intakes, while plasma 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol was unchanged. Density, breaking strength and mineral contents of the bones were lower in the pigs fed 1500 or 3000 than in those fed 500 IU vitamin D/kg diet. This suggests that bone resorption was stimulated by the higher dietary vitamin D. Thus, vitamin D at physiological doses may enhance magnesium absorption in non previously vitamin D-depleted pigs fed diets with abundant magnesium. This nutritional situation may help explain the predominant bone-resorbing effect of vitamin D supplementation.

Entry for August 27, 2006

William Grant, an atmospheric scientist. I google him to see what I can find out about him. I come across a site called “The Citizen Scientist” and it has a published article:

New Findings by a Physicist/Atmospheric Scientist Regarding Diet and Solar Ultraviolet Radiation for Maintaining Optimal Health

William B. Grant, Ph.D.
Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC)
2107 Van Ness Avenue , Suite 403B
San Francisco, CA 94109-2529 , USA

How does one determine the dietary and lifestyle choices associated with optimal health? Well, one can read the popular books, ask an MD, or search the web. However, noting that recommendations and fad diets change, and that the profit motive seems to color many recommendations, I sought a better way: I decided to study the literature and interpret the appropriate data. However, since I’m neither trained in the study of nutrition and health nor funded for my research, I had to find an approach that is relatively simple and inexpensive, yet reliable. The approach I stumbled upon while investigating the role of acid rain and ozone on eastern oak and hickory forest decline is called the ecologic approach.

The Ecologic Approach

In the ecologic approach, populations defined geographically, such as states or countries, are the units of study. Population disease outcomes (incidence, prevalence, or mortality rates) are used along with population-averaged risk modifying factors such as diet, smoking, and solar ultraviolet (UV) irradiances. This approach was fairly widely used in the 1970s and early 1980s to make links between various factors and risk of disease, but was largely abandoned in 1981 after two leading British cancer researchers declared that ecologic studies could only generate hypotheses but not determine causality. Fortunately, I didn’t realize this until I had published a few papers using the approach.

Today, many countries are unwittingly conducting a large number of experiments related to health and well being in the form of culturally-linked diets and lifestyle habits. What is needed is a way to interpret the results of these ongoing studies. The ecologic approach provides such a tool; the data are often available but without interpretation related to diet or lifestyle.

One of the important lessons I learned while studying physics at UC Berkeley was that many important scientific discoveries are made by people outside the field who do not accept the paradigms of the field and often use different approaches. In my case, my physics education and atmospheric sciences background provided a solid foundation in experimental and theoretical research, which has proven very useful in health studies.

Applying the Ecologic Approach

My first use of the ecologic approach for health studies was to identify dietary risk modifying factors for Alzheimer’s disease. I identified total caloric supply and total dietary fat as the important dietary risk factors and fish and cereals/grains as the important risk reduction factors, and received press coverage by Dan Rather and CNN when my paper was published in June 1997. It was like hitting a home run the first time at bat in the major leagues, so I was hooked. (My findings were disputed at first, but later generally confirmed, although there are good fats and bad fats.) I kept my day job in atmospheric sciences at NASA, but spent many evenings and weekends on my health research. I went on to confirm dietary risk factors for coronary heart disease (sugar), rheumatoid arthritis (meat), and several types of cancer (animal products). I could tell that I was doing important work since, for three of my press releases, the related disease organization issued press releases rejecting my findings. In my opinion, many such organizations prefer to serve the pharmaceutical corporations and disease care system, rather than to determine simple ways to reduce the risk of disease.

When the latest version of the Atlas of Cancer Mortality Rates in the United States was published in 1999, I noticed that mortality rates for many cancers were about twice as high in the northeast as in the southwest. At first, I tried to find dietary data for different parts of the country in order to explain the differences, but I quickly learned that there are no more than 10-20% differences in dietary components for different quadrants of the U.S. I then started reading the work of Cedric and Frank Garland, who in 1980 first hypothesized that solar UVB reduced the risk of colon cancer through production of vitamin D. They arrived at this hypothesis after they had seen the first version of the Atlas of Cancer Mortality Rates and reasoned from their hiking experience in Arizona and New Mexico that the states with the lowest colon cancer rates were the sunniest ones. and that the main physiological effect of solar radiation was production of vitamin D. I found that solar UVB irradiation had been associated with four cancers by 2000: breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate.

Two Key Questions

I posed two questions to address: How many cancers are UVB/vitamin D-sensitive, and how many Americans die prematurely annually due to insufficient UVB/vitamin D.

Being a NASA atmospheric scientist who, at that time, flew around the world on various field missions to measure aerosols and ozone, I was aware of the UVB data for the U.S. provided by NASA’s Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite. The UVB map for July 1992 shows a very strongly asymmetrical distribution, with the UVB irradiance east of the Rocky Mountains being much lower than at the corresponding latitudes in the Rockies and to the west. The primary reason for this difference is that as the prevailing westerly winds approach the Rockies , they push the tropopause up, making the stratospheric ozone layer thinner. In addition, some of the states have higher surface elevations than states east of the Rockies . This asymmetry was an excellent (inverse) match for the breast, colon, ovarian, and many other cancer mortality rates. Thus, I had an excellent data set to use along with the cancer mortality rate data, assuming that the high summertime UVB is most important in reducing the risk of cancer. Seeing that the cancer mortality rate data were available by county, state economic area, and state, I elected to use the state economic area data. This meant digitizing the color map of UVB for 500 regions of the country, a process that took several months. I then did simple linear regressions of UVB with cancer mortality rates for males and for females.

Using the ecologic approach with these data sets, I identified over a dozen types of cancer that had inverse correlations with UVB irradiance. To estimate the number of people who died annually due to insufficient UVB/vitamin D, I assumed that the value of cancer mortality rate represented the maximum protection from UVB and that any rate higher than that should be considered preventable. My estimate was 17-23,000 premature deaths per year, based on the population in 2001. I submitted the manuscript to the journal Cancer and it was quickly accepted and published in March 2002.

Expanding the Study

Then the criticism began. The primary criticism was that I had not included other risk modifying factors in my analysis, and that, until doing so, I couldn’t claim that the findings could not be explained by other important cancer risk modifying factors. Thus, I embarked on the second phase of this study, the use of a number of reasonable cancer risk modifying factors to explain the geographic variations. I obtained state-averaged data for alcohol consumption, degree of urbanization, fraction of the population living below the poverty level, fraction of the population considered Hispanic, and lung cancer mortality rates as the index of the adverse health effects of smoking. The main cancer risk factor not included in the analysis is diet, but that doesn’t vary much by state. The added complexity of the analysis made the project much more difficult. Nonetheless, I was able to show that most of the generally-associated risk factors for various types of cancer were easily identified and quantified using the ecologic approach with these data sets. An interesting finding was that vitamin D-cancer mortality rates were often associated with urban residence. I attribute this result to the fact that living in an urban area reduces one’s UVB irradiance.

However, in trying to get this work published, my lack of formal education in epidemiology and statistics became an impediment, so I invited Cedric Garland and coworkers to provide the epidemiology expertise and hired a statistician. The manuscript should be finished and resubmitted in the very near future.

The Outlook for Vitamin D Research

The interest in vitamin D is increasing rapidly: The National Institutes of Health sponsored two vitamin D conferences recently; a number of articles appeared in the popular press, and increasing research effort is now being devoted to determining the role of vitamin D in reducing the risk of a large number of diseases. In addition to the mounting evidence that vitamin D reduces the risk of cancer, there is very good evidence that adequate levels of vitamin D can prevent falls and osteoporotic fractures, in part by helping with calcium absorption and metabolism, and in part by improving neuromuscular function. There is also very good evidence that vitamin D in winter can help reduce the risk of multiple sclerosis by strengthening the immune system during the season of most infectious diseases. There is also some evidence that vitamin D slows the progression of rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, lowers blood pressure, and reduces the risk of heart disease. Finally, there is tantalizing evidence from season-of-birth rate data that a number of birth defects and mental disorders are linked to maternal vitamin D insufficiency during pregnancy.

There are, of course, adverse health outcomes from excess solar UV irradiance, but these effects can largely be minimized by avoiding sun burning and excessive tanning. I do not recommend using sunscreen over prolonged periods but do recommend indoor tanning as a way to obtain vitamin D in the absence of adequate solar UVB irradiance and developing a good tan prior to traveling to sunny vacation spots.

The Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center

I retired from NASA in early 2004 and moved to San Francisco , where I formed the non-profit organization, Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center (SUNARC). To follow along on my journey of discovery through the world of health research, please visit our web site, http://www.sunarc.org. There are a number of essays and press releases related to my work, as well as links to other web sites that provide some of the data used in my work or present interesting views on how to maintain optimal health. I’d be interested in hearing from readers on additional topics to study, perhaps as joint projects.

Entry for August 14, 2006

I start the day organizing the myelin sheath building vitamins. B1, B6, B12, folate, vitamin C, D, and E, Magnesium, Omega 3 and Lecithin.

Here’s what I find on magnesium absorption:

Best taken: At bedtime with calcium in the ratio of one or two parts calcium to one part magnesium. Most absorbable forms are magnesium orotate and amino-chelated magnesium. Magnesium gluconate and magnesium chloride are less effective but can be taken orally.

The process of digestion and absorption of magnesium is very similar to that of calcium. The suggested ratio of intake of these two vital nutrients is about 2:1, calcium to magnesium. Magnesium also requires an acidic stomach environment for best absorption, so taking it between meals or at bedtime is recommended. Meals high in protein or fat, a diet high in phosphorus or calcium (calcium and magnesium can compete), or alcohol use may decrease magnesium absorption.

Usually, about 40-50 percent of the magnesium we consume is absorbed, though this may vary from 25-75 percent depending on stomach acid levels, body needs, and dietary habits.

The levels of magnesium used by physicians are commonly in the range of 600-1,000 mg.; however, the researchers in the kidney stone studies used only 200-300 mg. of supplemental magnesium oxide. Calcium and magnesium are both alkaline minerals, so they are not taken with or after meals, as they can reduce stomach acid as well as being absorbed poorly when taken with food. They are absorbed better when taken between meals or on an empty stomach, especially with a little vitamin C as ascorbic acid.

Many calcium-magnesium combinations are formulated with hydrochloric acid and vitamin D to aid the mineral absorption. And taking them before bedtime may be very helpful in increasing utilization of both these important minerals and lead to a sleep-filled night.

The best forms of supplemental magnesium seem to be the ones chelated to an amino acid (magnesium glycinate, magnesium taurate) or a krebs cycle intermediate (magnesium malate, magnesium citrate, magnesium fumarate). These forms seem to be better utilized, absorbed, and assimilated. Try to stay away from inorganic forms of magnesium like magnesium chloride or magnesium carbonate because they may not be absorbed as well and may cause gastric disturbances.

The magnitude of increased absorption with true amino acid chelates is biologically profound. Comparing a magnesium amino acid chelate to magnesium oxide (a typical salt found in many supplements) the amino acid chelate had 9 times the absorption as the oxide. This study compared the use of the single mineral. If another inorganic mineral were given at the same time, such as calcium carbonate, the usual effect would be no reduction of the amino acid chelate, but a further 70-80% reduction of magnesium absorption from the oxide form. The net effect on absorption of chelated to inorganic magnesium, if two or more inorganic minerals are taken, can be 20-30 fold greater absorption or more of the amino acid chelate.

Magnesium-containing products are either used in treating a primary or secondary magnesium deficiency or are given for prophylaxis as food supplement. Various inorganic (oxides, chlorides, sulfates and carbonates) and organic (citrates, aspartates) magnesium compounds are available for oral administration.

A comparison of the magnesium content of food as stated in tables of nutritional values and the actual analytical values showed that food contains less magnesium than reported in the literature. This means that a deficiency may arise even when the calculated intake is sufficient. Also, food processing, such as polishing rice or cooking fresh vegetables, can lead to loss of magnesium. However, insufficient supply due to nutrition is only one of many causes of magnesium deficiency.

Those suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome also seem to do better with magnesium given by injection. This may be due to the superior absorption of injectable magnesium or because high concentrations in the body are necessary for maximal therapeutic effects.

Entry for August 14, 2006

And this:

It is now known the cause for the destruction of the myelin in the lesions is overactivation of the microglia in the region of the myelin. An enzyme that converts glutamine to glutamate called glutaminase increases tremendously, thereby greatly increasing excitotoxicity. Mercury also activates microglia, even in subtoxic doses.
 
Any dietary excitotoxin can activate the microglia, thereby greatly aggravating the injury. This includes the aspartate in aspartame. The methanol adds to this toxicity as well. Now, the secret to treatment appears to be shutting down, or at least calming down, the microglia. It has been found that the antibiotic minocycline powerfully shuts down the microglia. I tried this treatment on a friend of mine who just came down with fulmanant MS. He was confined to a wheelchair. I had him placed on minocycline and now, just a few weeks later, he is walking.
 
The good news is that other things also calm the microglia-the most potent are: silymarin, curcumin and ibuprophen. Phosphatidylcholine helps re-myelinate the nerve sheaths that are damaged, as does B12, B6, B1, vitamin D, folate, vitamin C, natural vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) and L-carnitine. DHA plays a major role in repairing the myelin sheath. Vitamin D may even prevent MS, but it acts as an immune modulator, preventing further damage – the dose is 2000 IU a day. Magnesium, as magnesium malate, is needed in a dose of 500 mg 2X a day. They must avoid all excitotoxins, even natural ones in foods-such as soy, red meats, nuts, mushrooms and tomatoes. Avoid all fluoride and especially all vaccinations since these either inhibit antioxidant enzymes or triggers harmful immune reactions.

Phosphatidylcholine helps re-myelinate the nerve sheaths. What is this stuff and how can I get me some?

Phosphatidylcholine is a phospholipid that is a major constituent of cell membranes. Phosphatidylcholine is also known as 1, 2-diacyl-:ussn:ue-glycero-3-phosphocholine, PtdCho and lecithin.

So Phosphatidylcholine, is a fancy name for lecithin. Perfect! I already have some. Interestingly enough, three of the main supplements that are required for rebuilding the myelin sheath, the iridologist told me I didn’t need them:

Magnesium, Vitamin D and DHA from Omega 3.

More about Magnesium Malate:

Heavy Metal Toxicity

Magnesium malate may be one of the few compounds capable of pulling aluminum from the body over time.

And my hair analysis came up with high aluminum levels and this form of magnesium is recommened for building the myelin sheaths and removing aluminum from the body. The Naturopath didn’t mention this? She gave me a standard calcium/magnesium but I’m sure it wasn’t magnesium malate.