Vitamin D is well-known for the importance in managing calcium from the gut, bones, and blood and disease resistance. However, many studies now show vitamin D levels affect can be a contributing consider many other health problems too.
Researchers now accept is as true plays a vital role in how cells communicate. Clinical studies link abnormal vitamin D levels to colon, prostate, and breast cancers as well as heart related illnesses, fat gain, and thyroid conditions.
Vitamin D Production
Vitamin D is exclusive compared to other vitamins, as it’s nearly impossible to acquire what you need from food. Instead, one’s body produces it naturally inside the skin if you’re exposed to natural or artificial UVB light.
Once your system produces vitamin D or maybe you take it like a supplement, it’s provided for the liver. The liver transforms vitamin D into 25(OH)D and sends it various parts of the body and activates it. Once activated, it really is ready to perform its duties.
Autoimmune Conditions
Autoimmunity takes place when the immune system treats someone’s healthy tissues and cells to be a threat. When this happens, their body produces an immune response and attacks. This response might cause damage, inflammation, and chronic pain in most parts of your body.
Vitamin D deficiencies may reduce your body’s power to fight infection and might link to or cause autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Grave’s Disease.
Clinical Studies
Several 2014 studies presented for the annual meeting with the Thyroid Association are of special interest. Researchers from Nanjing, China evaluated 34 patients with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and 32 with Grave’s Disease against 52 healthy patients. Researchers measured many thyroid-related factors including vitamin D3.
Vitamin D is a group of compounds classified vitamin D1, D2, and D3. Vitamin D3 may be the naturally occurring form with the vitamin, along with the most biologically active.
Researchers found patients with autoimmune thyroid disease had significantly lower vitamin D3 levels as opposed to healthy controls. Patients rich in thyroid peroxidase antibodies your body produces in thyroid autoimmune disease also had lower vitamin D levels. This suggests vitamin D insufficiency could url to or cause autoimmune thyroid disease.
Brazilian researchers studied 54 Hashimoto’s patients, in comparison with 54 healthy controls. They also found vitamin D deficiency in 63.2% in the patients. Those with low vitamin D levels also had higher thyroid-stimulating hormonal levels and a larger thyroid.
Lack of Vitamin D
Normally, the epidermis produces sufficient vitamin D when confronted with adequate UV light. However, the potential for loss of cancer of the skin or melanoma now mean some people use sunscreen and cover their own health. We also spend more time indoors for work and entertainment.
Since more scientific tests show the link between vitamin D and thyroid function, many physicians now recommend vitamin D testing in thyroid evaluation and care. Nonetheless, functional practitioners and doctors following medical model may treat you differently dependant on your results.
Medical Model vs Functional Model
The medical model recommends 400 International Units every day of vitamin D. They also define an acceptable serum 25(OH)D level as 50 nmol/L since it “covers the requirements of 97.5% with the population”. The test utilized to measure vitamin D levels inside 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test.
The medical model usually recommends supplementation to improve low vitamin D levels. However, the functional procedure for care recognizes multiple reasons could cause low vitamin D levels. Consequently, recommending supplements before considering overall health and also other possible issues may be ineffective and counterproductive.
Supplements don’t always correct low vitamin D levels, as they do not address underlying problems. The vitamin D receptor in most autoimmune patients cannot activate as a result of variations within their DNA sequence. Consequently, they require higher than normal blood numbers of vitamin D to stop vitamin D insufficiency.
Vitamin D is fat soluble, and several patients with thyroid issues like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis have low stomach acid and poor fat absorption. Autoimmune conditions including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s disease also make the defense mechanisms work overtime, which depletes your body’s stores of vitamin D. Therefore, addressing gut and digestive issues and modulating the defense mechanisms are of primary importance before considering vitamin D supplementation.
A highly qualified functional practitioner will be at your gut and digestive health insurance and if they’re satisfied, they might order a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test on your vitamin D levels.
Your practitioner may recommend supplementation to arrive at between 60 and 80 nmol/L. This is still well below the 125 nmol/L threshold in which a patient might experience uncomfortable side effects. After many months, they’ll retest. If their serum level rose with an acceptable level, your doctor will adjust vitamin D intake so serum levels stay between 50 and 60 nmol/L.
