Understanding the Importance of Vitamin D

Vitamin D

Understanding The Importance Of It

Continuing with the theme of "Understanding The Importance Of It," I offer you information on vitamin D as it was first given to us by Dr. Royal Lee, originally published in Vitamin News back in April of 1934.  The following information is taken from Vitamin News, Part of the Royal Lee Library Series, published by the International Foundation for Nutrition and Health.  As always, appreciate the information being pure and unadulterated and given with the only intention of educating others, without trying to sell you something that you don't need.  It also continues to help you appreciate how research was done without a particular outcome in mind, unlike today's research where they are trying to prove something specific, instead of being surprised by the outcome.  Please enjoy the following.

Vitamin D  The physiological action of vitamin D is to increase the ability of the blood serum (and lymph) to carry diffusible calcium.  This means that dietary calcium is better absorbed, and calcium reserves loosely held in certain tissues (metaphyses of bone-the area above the shafts of the long bones) will be absorbed in some degree, while more calcium is thereby made available for tissues having a greater affinity for it.  The shafts of the long bone grow under these circumstances at the expense of the metaphyseal calcium.

The kidneys excrete calcium as soon as the serum content rises above a certain threshold point, and the administration of excessive doses of vitamin D can cause nephritis and nephrosis (internal kidney inflammation) from this over activity. 

The ovaries secrete a hormone that causes (in pregnancy) a great increase in the affinity of the cells in the "storage areas" for calcium, thereby lowering the serum content below the threshold point so that none is eliminated, and the calcium reserves become greatly built up during the first few months, with a temporary increase in the thickness of the bone walls, and a greatly increased need for vitamin D to aid in the absorption, and an increased need for vitamin C to supply the connective tissue matrix for the osseous (bone) deposits.

Vitamin C is also highly important to the child in the same connection.  It is now recognized that vitamin C rather than vitamin D deficiency is responsible for defective tooth development through the incomplete formation of the connective tissue matrix.  It is probable that the connective tissue matrix can only be formed when the vitamin C is present, and this is particularly true of teeth.  In vitamin C deficiency, this matrix tends to dissolve, with elimination of calcium.  This effect is a part of the general degeneration of connective tissue characteristics of scurvy.  Pyorrhea (infection of the gums) and caries (cavities) will disappear when vitamin C becomes recognized as the specific preventative and remedy for these conditions.  (See Sherman-Smith The Vitamins pages 161-168).  The use of vitamin D has been overrated for these conditions, it being the minor factor.  In scurvy, the bones become decalcified, particularly the parts that are the last to undergo ossification, and the joints become swollen and sore.

Over-secretion of the ovarian calcium-depressing hormone is responsible for the nervous, irritable and hysteretic type of woman, because of the nervous irritability occasioned by low serum calcium.  Vitamin therapy is particularly successful in normalizing this type, and the use of "Catalyn" is indicated.  Vitamins C, D and F are all factors.  This type usually has a prematurely aged appearance, and the effect of vitamin therapy is often an obvious rejuvination.

There is a vitamin antagonist present in oatmeal that is antagonistic in action to vitamin D, its effect on serum calcium being somewhat similar to the ovarian hormone in this respect.  The use of oatmeal water as a preventive of toxic effects of too much sunlight (such effects being chiefly due to the formation of excessive amounts of vitamin D in the skin with consequent immediate absorption) has long been a practice of persons working in the sun.  Like the use of cod liver oil for rickets, long before vitamins were thought of, this practice is now known to have a scientific basis.

Some observers have made the statement that vitamin D caused a reduction in serum calcium.  Small doses do this, by increasing the diffusibility of the serum present in the blood serum, enabling its immediate escape into calcium-starved tissues.  Certain of the glands supplying digestive fluids require considerable calcium, and these show one of the first indications of calcium increase when vitamin D is administered. The parotid secretion normally contains three times the calcium of the blood serum, and the rise in saliva calcium after vitamin D administration is greater than the rise in serum calcium.  It is an established fact that the calcium dissolved out of the tooth enamel surface by fruit acids etc. is replaced from the salivary calcium.

Vitamin D has been charged with causing over-development of osseous (bone) structures.  But more careful investigations have shown that cases of relative enlargement of diaphyses (the shaft of the long bones) should be interpreted as caused by the healing of a condition of rickets.  Where an ample supply of vitamin D is always available, as in the tropics, the tendency is for bone development to be completed sooner, with consequent reduced stature.

Over-dosages of vitamin D is followed by toxic effects, characterized by damage to kidney perenchyma, and pathological calcium deposits in blood vessel walls, liver and kidney.  The relation between the toxic dose and the therapeutic dose varies, and is dependent upon the nature of the diet as well as the body requirements for calcium.  It has been found that there is no danger of toxic effects during pregnancy and lactation, in animal tests, even with doses that will be harmful to the animal otherwise.  The feeding of oatmeal increases the need for vitamin D in test animals, and brings on rickets more quickly than other foods for the reasons before noted.  This antagonistic vitamin probably is also beneficial, however, and its use in food should not be discouraged, rather it should be more used, but with care that vitamin D is not forgotten.  It is probable that disease can also result from the deficiency of the oatmeal vitamin, and that it is no doubt just as essential to health as vitamin D, which becomes toxic only when there is an absence of such cooperating principles.

To summarize, we can say that vitamin D is an agent that enables blood serum to pick up calcium, it increases the diffusibility of the serum calcium, increases the absorption of dietary calcium, and increases the amount of calcium available to tissues and organs that must have this element.  There are other calcium-regulating principles, however, that control the affinity of these tissues and organs for calcium, upon which the utilization of calcium depends.  Unless these are present, the effect of vitamin D is to increase temporarily the serum calcium beyond the renal threshold point until the kidney restore the normal balance, and this increase may be as much due to absorption from the bone reserves as from dietary sources.

Thank You Dr. Lee. 

Sources of vitamin D 

Vitamin D is found naturally in fatty fish, such as salmon.  Since vitamin D is produced naturally in the body in response to sunlight, it is the only vitamin the body can manufacture on its own.  Technically, vitamin D is a hormone.  For many people, sunlight is the primary source of vitamin D, since it is found naturally in only a few foods.  Fortunately, as little as 10 to 15 minutes of midday sun exposure two to three times a week is enough to satisfy vitamin D requirements in the summertime.  In winter, people in northern climates may need to supplement if they do not get enough sun exposure.

If You Get Too Little

A lack of vitamin D can cause rickets in children, a condition where bones fail to knit together properly.  These weakened bones cannot support the weight as the child grows, and this results in bone deformities such as bowlegs and knock-knees.  In adults, vitamin D deficiency can contribute to osteoporosis and, more rarely, osteomalacia (softening of the bones).

If You Get Too Much

An excess intake of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, a high level of calcium in the blood, resulting in loss of appetite, nausea, weight loss, and slow bone growth.  It can also cause sun stroke.  Excess calcium is deposited in the soft tissues and organs of the body, causing irreversible damage to the heart and kidneys.  It is difficult to get toxic levels of vitamin D unless supplements are used.  Children are particularly susceptible to vitamin D overload. 

What To Consider

In an effort to always help the reader, the natural question becomes, "Do I have enough vitamin D," or more importantly, "Am I assimilating it from my food sources, or do I have a deficiency?"  If you suspect that you may have a deficiency due to various vitamin D related symptoms, please stop into the office and ask me to to check you for vitamin D.  If you are deficient, we can offer you the highest quality vitamin D product, Cataplex D from Standard Process.  This whole food supplement will help to give the body all the natural vitamin A necessary to promote balance function within your body.  And that can only be a good thing.

My Offer To You

Dr. Huntoon has a single mission:

To support as many people as possible in their quest for health and enable them to improve and maintain their health to the highest level possible, while educating them about the benefits of Chiropractic, Natural Healthcare and Holistic Living, so they in turn can teach others to support us having a healthy community.

Your Choice

• Continue doing the same thing and nothing changes or it may get worse

OR

• Try something different and get a different result that makes you happier and healthier.