By Supplementing with Vitamin D3, You can Improve Health
Vitamin D3 is one of the most important nutrients that your body depends on, and there seems to be no end to the positive news on 
Vitamin D. Vitamin D has been extensively researched, and it continues to be. With a vitamin that has been studied as much as Vitamin D, you would think that we would know all the benefits that it can have on the body. This, however, isn’t true, and researchers are constantly coming up with more benefits of consuming plenty of Vitamin D. Vitamin D works throughout the entire body, and its lesser known benefits include, help with type II diabetes, weight management, eye support, brain support, and immune system support.
Where Do I Get Vitamin D?
The sun is the most important and natural source of Vitamin D, but supplementing with Vitamin D can also be a good source. If you are going to supplement with Vitamin D it is important to find a natural Vitamin D3 supplement. It is essential to make sure that you’re not consuming the synthetic Vitamin D2, which isn’t as effective within the body. It can also be beneficial to surpass the daily allowance of Vitamin D, because healthy blood levels of Vitamin D is the most important factor in getting the benefits of Vitamin D, not meeting the daily allowance. In order to achieve healthy Vitamin D levels some doctors recommend up to 8000 I.U. of Vitamin D a day, which far surpasses the daily allowance.
When consuming Vitamin D it is also important to get plenty of Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 works together with Vitamin D to support the body, and low levels of Vitamin K2 can lead to Vitamin D toxicity, which may cause:
- Too Much Calcium in the Blood
- Nausea
- Weakness
- Hardening of the Arteries
- Poor Kidney Function
It is hard to determine the perfect ratio of Vitamin D3 to K2 for everybody, but most people should consume 100 micrograms of Vitamin K2 to every 1000 I.U.s of Vitamin D3.
Vitamin D3, Type II Diabetes, and the Waistline
Vitamin D supplementation may offer support to those with type II diabetes. Researchers found that those with more abdominal fat were more likely to have insulin resistance. Insulin plays an important role in glucose management, because it brings glucose to the cells where it can be used to produce energy. Vitamin D may also be helpful to those with prediabetes. Research has dictated that those with high Vitamin D3 levels were up to 30 percent less likely to develop diabetes.
So a healthy waistline plays an important role in the development of type II diabetes, but a healthy waistline is also important to overall health. Extra fat on the waistline can be an indicator of poor health, and besides increasing the risk of type II diabetes, it may also drastically increase the chances of heart disease. Vitamin D may help to support a healthy waistline, and one study showed that healthy levels of Vitamin D supported a reduction in the waist size when mixed with resistance training. Researchers at Purdue University also found that Vitamin D supplementation could lead to more speed and power in those regularly exercising.
Vitamin D, the Brain, and the Eyes
Vitamin D3 is also important to maintaining the health of the brain and the eyes. It may help with neurological diseases, like epilepsy, and other diseases of the brain, like Alzheimer’s. Research that was conducted in Hungary found that epileptics with low Vitamin D levels have more trouble controlling their seizures, and supplementing with Vitamin D may offer help. It is important to note that many of the drugs used to treat epilepsy can lead to a Vitamin D deficiency or hinder its activity within the body. These drugs work to help enzymes in the liver that breakdown Vitamin D into unusable forms. One study found that 10 out of 13 epileptics experienced a decrease in seizures, and five subjects also noted a reduction by as much as 50 percent. The average seizure reduction in the study was 40 percent.
Vitamin D may also help with Alzheimer’s disease, and it helps to reduce amyloid beta. Amyloid beta may be an indicator for Alzheimer’s disease, and it is commonly found within the brain of those with Alzheimer’s disease. It is believed that high levels of Vitamin D may reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.
Healthy vision is important to how you interact with the world and live your life on a day to day basis. Because of this many people look for ways to support healthy eyes and vision, and Vitamin D may offer help. It may work to reduce the speed at which the eyes age, and it may help to reduce the amount of amyloid beta within the eyes, which is a risk factor for age-related macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness, and it occurs when the macula begins to deteriorate. Vitamin D may also work to reduce ocular inflammation.
Vitamin D, the Immune System, and the Lungs
Vitamin D is also an important nutrient for the immune system. It helps the immune system by supporting the production of calcitrol. Calcitrol is a metabolite of Vitamin D, and it may help to fight microbes. It may also support healthy cytokine levels, which may help with inflammation. Vitamin D works particularly well to fight disease and infections within the lungs, like tuberculosis and pneumonia. Many think of tuberculosis as a disease of the past, however this isn’t true. Today it is one of the top three global causes of death for women who are between the ages of 15 and 44. One of the initial treatments for tuberculosis was sunbathing. For years doctors didn’t know why this provided help, but today we know that it is because of the support that Vitamin D offered.
A recent study found that combining Vitamin D supplementation with antibiotics helped to reduce the duration of tuberculosis. Those who consumed the beneficial combination fought tuberculosis bacteria out of their body in just 23 days, compared to the people who just took the antibiotic, which took 36 days. Vitamin D may also help with pneumonia. It was found those with pneumonia and poor Vitamin D levels were far more likely to be admitted to intensive care and their mortality rate went up.
New benefits of Vitamin D are constantly being uncovered. With new findings showing that it can support a healthy waistline, help with type II diabetes, and support the nervous and immune systems, consuming plenty of Vitamin D3 is important. Our office has American made Vitamin D supplements that can make it easy for you and your family to get the right amounts of Vitamin D3.
If you have any questions about how much vitamin D3 you should take we can discuss that at a nutritional consultation.
Dr David M. Spitz is the founder and clinic director of the Chiropractic Health Center of Bristol, located in Bristol, CT. Since 1982, he has treated thousands of patients for various conditions ranging from neck and back pain, to migraine headaches. He specializes in treating patients who have suffered whiplash injuries and/or back injuries in a motor vehicle accident.
Dr Spitz was a volunteer EMT-I and a lieutenant for several years at the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department. He has lectured throughout CT on various topics including, chiropractic, stress management, headaches and preventing back injury in the workplace.
