Monthly Archives: July 2010

Vitamin D’s Time is Now

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The media is finally starting to get it.  Or should I say willing to write about vitamin D and forgoing the fear of losing medical industry advertising.  Now we read that more than half of the world’s population is vitamin D deficient. What does this mean as far as disease states and pain, suffering, and death from these diseases?  What does it mean for the medical economy and economy in general?

Some media outlets are writing about vitamin D like it is some new discovery when actuality the understanding goes back to at least the late 1930’s.  Then there is the fact that a huge campaign has been waged against sun exposure since the 1960’s.  The science has been there all along and now with the internet and not depending on newspaper reporters to tell us what is actually happening; people are finally starting to see the medical industry for what it is.

Here is the news:

NY Times – What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D, Jane E. Brody  July 26, 2010.

USA Today – Vitamin D Researchers May Have Doctors Prescribing Sunshine, The Associated Press, May 21, 2005

Wait, I thought that you said this is news?  Yes that is right, five years later some changes have started to happen as the public is becoming more aware of the reality of sunshine.  The USA Today article from 2005 shows a good indication of the battles that are being waged for your health care dollar and your health.  Obviously the sicker the population, the greater the opportunity is for that industry to make money.

Statements are now being made that just maybe the minor cancers that you get from sun exposure are not as significant as the cancers that you get because of being vitamin D deficient.  Interestingly enough, this same thing was said by researchers in 1941.  In one medical peer reviewed journal paper, Dr. Cedric Garland states that there are over three thousand peer reviewed medical journal papers showing the inverse relationship between vitamin D and cancer.  That is as vitamin D levels increase, the cancer rates go down.  Every cancer patient’s vitamin D level should be checked and normalized to that of a sunny country.

So what does this look like for other chronic disease?  Here is a chart that has been complied by wiki vitamin D. So what you see is a significant decrease in all levels of chronic disease and just maybe eradicating many of them.  So how does the serum 25(OH)D levels on the chart represent where my serum level should be?  If you notice from the chart that most chronic disease starts to go away at 50 ng/ml.  Typically, people in a sunny country have serum levels of vitamin D between 54 ng/ml and 90 ng/ml.

Everyone is now holding their breath and waiting for the release of the vitamin D and calcium report of the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board.  The report was supposed to come out in May but now has been put off until November.  Can you just imaging what is going on in the board rooms of medical institutions across the world.  Given the above chart of the decrease of chronic disease, we could easily be looking at a 25 to 50 percent reduction in disease states, which means a similar reduction in the medical economy.  Ouch!  Will a spoon full of sugar really make this ‘medicine’ go down?   – Pandemic Survivor

Solving Obesity – Iodine

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Of the several nutrients in which we are deficient, iodine should be high your list as one to be concerned with.  When consuming large amounts of vitamin A your serum vitamin D reduces as the body uses it with vitamin A.  A similar thing happens with iodine and vitamin D levels.  Here is an interesting article to give you pause: Vitamin D / Iodine

There are number of great articles on iodine and I would suggest that you read all three of these articles:

Michael B Schachter MD  – http://www.mbschachter.com/iodine.htm

Donald W. Miller, Jr. MD – http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller20.html

William Davis MD – http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/oct2009_Halt-on-Salt-Sparks-Iodine-Deficiency_01.htm

The path of iodine has gone a similar way as the path of vitamin D.  There is no profit in a very inexpensive nutrient and analogs are not easy to develop.  However, with iodine, the use of meds to control the thyroid has been reasonably successful, certainly for profit.

The reason that the amount of daily iodine requirement is so low as specified by the government is because of concern of shutting down the thyroid.  I believe this response in the thyroid is because the iodine depletes the levels of vitamin D and this causes the thyroid to shut down.

The balance of iodine, magnesium, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, sodium, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin A is a magical dance that occurs in the body and when you get it right your body celebrates.

Iodine is necessary to make the hormones in the thyroid that control your body temperature and energy production.  Not only are these hormones essential for energy, they are also powerful neurotransmitters and help you from getting depressed or becoming manic.

I will not even comment on how much iodine that you should take as this is really yet to be determined.  I do believe that about 35 to 40 IU per pound of body weight for vitamin D is correct.  I am sure there is a correct level for iodine but it has been difficult to determine what that level is.  One hundred fifty micrograms is too low as a total intake.  I suspect that twenty five milligrams is too high as a total intake.  The Japanese on average get around 12 mg per day of iodine because of the amount of seafood and kelp that they eat.

Dr. Davis has reported that two of his patients has toxicity issues when taking 12.5 milligrams iodine per day.  http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/iodine-update.html

I will simply tell you what I have done and then you will have to make your own decisions.  I tried to build my iodine stores to reasonable levels by taking two milligrams everyday for a year.  I was not replete until I took 50 mg a day of Iodoral for two weeks and then to taking one of the 12.5 mg tablets per day.  Please note that I am a large guy at 228 pounds. Yes, that is right if you have been following my weight loss – down twelve pounds.

As the halides that were improper in my body started to resolve, I did note some reddish sores develop on my shoulders and back.  This is from the fluorine, chlorine, and bromine that the body has used because I was not getting enough iodine.  These eruptions disappeared after several days.  I also noticed that some fatty lumps that I had under my skin have also disappeared.  I would suppose this is because iodine is significant in promoting cellular apoptosis or cellular death when a particular cell is no longer required by the body.  Not giving iodine to cancer patients is outrageous as it is significant in stopping tumor growth.

If you currently have thyroid issues that you are controlling with meds then be very careful in supplementing with iodine.  The thyroid hormones are so powerful in their effects on the brain and mind, that it will literally drive you crazy if you get the balance wrong.  Work very closely with your endocrinologist as you try to reduce your meds with iodine, magnesium, and vitamin D supplementation.  The thyroid meds will have to be adjusted to keep a proper balance.  If your doctor does not want to work with you and just keep you on the meds then find another doctor.

Death is an essential part of life when cells have reached their end.   – Pandemic Survivor

Statins – Number Needed to Harm

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Just this past week there were two studies reporting that statin drugs were not effective in reducing death in people that are at risk for cardiovascular disease.  How could this be when that is all we see in commercials on tv about the advantages of lower cholesterol.  Does lower cholesterol really prevent strokes and heart disease?

Here is a study where data from eleven studies on statin drugs were pooled and it was found that there were 1447 deaths in the group taking a placebo and 1346 deaths in the group that were taken statins.  The writer concludes that there is no statistical significance in the difference.

Business Week June 28, 2010 – Statins May Not be as Helpful to Those Without Heart Disease

In another article as reported by Mike Adams, The Health Ranger; there were more people harmed than helped when taking statins.  Out of every 10,000 people tested there were 271 fewer people with heart disease.  However, out of every 10,000 people tested there were 443 harmed.  Attributed to the statin use were cases of cataracts, muscle weakness, liver damage, and kidney failure.

Also here is Dr. Mercola’s take on statins:  New Bombshell of Diastrous Statin Side Effects from Statins.

Number needed to treat and number needed to harm are the most important thing that you should know about a drug before deciding to take it.  Ideally, the number needed to treat should be one.  That is it benefits everyone that takes the drug.  Also you would expect the number needed to harm should be zero.  These are ideals and no drug will live up to this.  Antibiotics most likely have the best outcomes in number needed to treat.  However, they can be very damaging to the body and the number needed to harm may be large.  The FDA has required that medical providers most make this information available to you on request.  If you ask your doctor about this, he may not have the information at hand, but he can look it up for you.  Also a great source for this information is your pharmacist.

I have written previously on heart disease and cholesterol and it may be worth your time to read this post again.  Thinking about Cholesterol

It may just be that statins are a poor substitute for vitamin D.  It has been found that people with statins have on average a higher serum level of vitamin D.  Most people that I know have found that when they take vitamin D their cholesterol levels go done.  This makes a lot of sense.  Vitamin D is made by exposing cholesterol on your skin to UVB and it converts to pre vitamin D.  Once your body becomes replete with vitamin D; your liver and skin will stop producing so much cholesterol.

Try getting your serum level to that of a sunny country with vitamin D (25(OH)D between 54 ng/ml to 90 ng/ml) and see what happens to your cholesterol levels.  – Pandemic Survivor

Solving Obesity – Wheat

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I am happy to report that since I have given up wheat and sugar that I have lost a total of eight pounds as of the past Monday, June 28 (three weeks).  This is especially amazing as I have had a series of family get together’s over a three week period and ate everything that was presented.  Especially, since I consumed most all of the desserts.  One out of town wedding lasted for four days.  It is important when on a diet or eliminating foods that you do not insult anyone including yourself during special events.

I did not come up with the wheat thing on my own.  I thought when I first read about this from Dr. William Davis, cardiologist, The Heart Scan Blog, that surely wheat was not that bad of an actor.  I was wrong.  I have also noticed that my mind clears on days that I am completely wheat free.  I also noticed that my vision is significantly better since I have stopped eating wheat.  I have noticed as well that I have less anxiety about everyday life.  Dr. Davis reports that the wheat we eat today is not the same as wheat that was consumed two thousand years ago.  The significant difference is in the amount of protein.  The old wheat was about 40 percent protein and today’s modern varieties are about fifteen percent protein.  That is a huge difference. When you throw in modern processing of flour with the fiber removed and bleached; then, it becomes a real ‘killer’.

Here is a link to Dr. Davis blog, The Heart Scan Blog.  This link is for his Posts on Wheat.  If you know someone with heart disease, please tell them about this site.  You may save their life.

Who would think that wheat is this bad of an actor?  We are indeed doing ourselves long term damage by consuming products that are modified to make the large agricultural companies more profitable.  The other thing that you should know about wheat and bread is that the US is the only country in the world to allow bromine as potassium bromate to be used.  The bromate replaced iodine in the bread to stabilize the cell walls that are formed when the bread rises.  This happens by the bromate affecting the protein in the bread.  Bromine and fluorine are bad actors in blocking iodine receptors in particular if you are iodine deficient.  But that is a topic for next blog.  The reason that bromine is band is that it has been found to be cancer forming.  Now why would the FDA continue to allow this toxin to be used when the US is the only country in the world that allows it?  Our tax dollars at work!

Okay, imagine that I was vitamin D deficient, iodine deficient, and magnesium deficient.  All of these directly affect the workings of mitochondria or our energy engines in each cell.  Next up is iodine.

Skinnier in the Sun – Pandemic Survivor