Obesity has become a huge issue as the medical economy sees this as a threat to its existence.  That is there is more illness than the population can sustain.  At some point the health industry’s percentage of GDP will reach break point.  We are now close to twenty percent of GDP and I suspect very close to the break point.  So how did we get here?  It is very simple when we decided that nutrition cannot heal, treat, cure, or diagnose disease.  A well managed chronic disease state will fail as the overreach to sustain the economy loses control to biology.

• Vitamin D Deficiency rages about as government science struggles for economic reasons on how to tell the population.
• Our soils have become deplete of necessary magnesium and medicine has turned its head as there is no easy test to determine if the body has enough.
• Iodine has been replaced with halogen confusion as the human body has become a toxic waste dump.  Bromine, a known carcinogen, and fluorine have been substituted for our body’s iodine requirements.  Fluorine has been put in our water supplies as a lie to give us better teeth because it is now a chemical used in a process and not a hazardous waste that needs disposal.
• Sulfur has been ignored in its importance in our biological systems because it is ubiquitous in the body.  However, water sources have had the hardness removed thus removing the very sulfates that are essential for health.  This elimination of sulfates from our water supplies has reduced the body’s ability to create water soluble esters that take waste from our bodies.  This is to say nothing of the other biological importance of sulfur.
• A misunderstanding of the importance of fats in our bodies has lead to very serious disease.
• Other nutrients like vitamin C have been negated by the medical industry’s mantra – it’s just a vitamin!

By Henry Lahore Vitamin D Wiki with more on vitamin D, iodine, and magnesium

So then comes along obesity to destroy the perfect control that our science community felt it has over chronic disease to sustain its economy.  Obesity as an unsuspected consequence of genetically engineered wheat and air conditioning threatens to wreck the perfectly controlled system.  Sound like science fiction?  A science fiction that has made you just another laboratory test animal – and now we enter another episode of the Twilight Zone!  – Pandemic Survivor

Chill in the air sends excitement with goose bumps on the arms and warmth in the heart.  The first frost of October signals preparation of the smokehouse to receive the hickory wood for preservation of hams and shoulders.  After all, what would holidays or for that matter any winter morning be without the smell of fresh bacon cooking.  The thought of just cut tenderloin in hot homemade biscuits fosters  love in a warm household.  In the chilled morning air a large black iron kettle cracks and pops above the flickering fire as the fat is brought to a liquid state in preparation of lard.  The cracklings remains after the fat is removed are just begging to be placed in hot cornbread and hush puppies that will quiet even the most disturbed temperament.  Across the land the harvest is abundant as the above scene is played out many times with different types of food in anticipation of winter.

This historically has been and continues to be the inheritance of a successful nation.  An abundance of inexpensive food that has been processed over and over is now available as a replacement for a time when the family came together to bring in the harvest.  The chill in the air was all about the stimulation of appetite that is part of us just being mammals in anticipation of a hard cold winter.  Cold drives appetite.  With the introduction of air condition and food designed by profit hungry food companies to stimulate appetite, every morning is a chilled October morning.  This has been the condition of my house every since the first one I bought in the mid-seventies.  There was always appetite pleasing food and a cool ac environment, even on the hottest August day, you could hang meat for chilling.

For those of you who are regular readers, you know my discovery of being vitamin D deficient was stimulated by the finding there is a direct correlation between obesity and air conditioning in the US over the last fifty years.  I had always thought the correlation was driven by fat people who were hot and wanted to be cool.  As they became fatter they turned down the thermostat and installed more air condition for the comfort factor.  I then thought as a nation we had spent more time inside and the reduced vitamin D was the cause of obesity as it was plainly implicated in diabetes and metabolic syndrome.  However, it has been a “eureka” movement as I now believe air conditioning is directly responsible.  More air condition with unlimited amounts of chilled air drives an unlimited appetite.  Add to that processed food designed specifically to drive appetite after eating and you have an obese nation.

In those familiar words to scientists and engineers, a correlation does not mean causation.  However, without correlation there cannot be causation.  So how do we test this hypothesis that air conditioning has driven the obesity problem?  Of course an overweight nation seeking comfort will just immediately dismiss this as woo; defined by my European friend Henk Poley.  “Woo, a term used by scientific skeptics for pseudoscience, alternative medicine and New Age beliefs, or a person who holds such beliefs.” So if you want to test this woo yourself and need to shed a few pounds this summer then turn up your thermostat or just turn off the AC and open the window.  Hot, sweaty, thin, and healthy?  – Pandemic Survivor

The resources on vitamin D and obesity are long and deep.  Getting your serum level to that of a sunny country will not magically make your weight fall off.  As we begin to review the obesity issues we listed many causes.  Vitamin D is just one of those.  If you turn off your air conditioning and allow yourself to feel the extremes of temperature during the summer you most likely will not desire as much food.  I have tried this and it works. However, I also enjoy being comfortable.  There are many papers on cows and pigs and how to fatten them by controlling the temperature of their environment.  I do believe that both temperature driving appetite and not being outside during the highest incidence of UVB radiation both lead to increased weight gain.  Think about as the temperature cools in the fall, Americans consume more calories in October than any other month of the year.  I have always written this off to a natural instinct to build food storage for the winter that is driven by temperature, but also may be driven by falling vitamin D levels.  Air conditioning gives you both of these environmental effects.

The storage form of vitamin D, calcidiol, 25(OH)D, stores in all tissue in your body.  As you become more obese the amount of vitamin D per weight decreases because you have not increased your production and\or intake of vitamin D.  The reduction of vitamin D levels because of obesity puts you at significant risk for all diseases.

People, who are trying to lose weight, typically, do not ‘plateau’ if they are vitamin D replete.  Vitamin D directly combats metabolic syndrome so if you have been suffering from this there is hope.  I personally know four people that were type II diabetic that after taking enough vitamin D to get their serum level above 60 ng/ml found that they did not suffer the munches.  They have all lost more than 30 lbs.  Only one fines that it is still necessary to take the diabetic med.  If you have type II diabetes and want to try this then be sure to work with your doctor.

I would suggest that you have your doctor read this paper by Dr. Heaney – Vitamin D requirements in health and disease This paper shows how calcium absorption flattens and blood sugar is blunted at serum 25(OH) D levels above 32 ng/ml.  If you are extremely obese, it may take a significant amount of vitamin D to get you to a healthy level.

Here is a link to Pub Med for the medical research from the Vitamin D Council:  http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/researchObesity.shtml

On the lighter side, you may enjoy this group of graduate students as they perform the dance of Vitamin D and Beta cells.  I really like this because I know this group of future vitamin D researchers gets it!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTFBRPFRh8

Henry LaHore in a recent email, offered this info on vitamin D and obesity:

Studies so far disagree about losing weight by taking vitamin D without low calorie diet, etc.

Obese have decreased bioavalability of vitamin D – 2000 PDF

Clinical Trials of Obesity and Vitamin D

• 37 clinical trials with obesity and vitamin D in the title as of Aug 2010
• 30 with 7,000 IU vitamin D and 30 controls, expected completion Jan 2012
• 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 IU should have completed April 2010
• Treatment of Obesity With Vitamin D 40.000 IU Per WEEK for 1 Year Completed 2008
• Supplementation With Vitamin D Improves Leptin Resistance 400 IU and 4,000 IU – unsure of status

Clinical Trials for Weight Loss and Vitamin D

• Trial to Assess Response to Oral Vitamin D3 Supplementation in Obese Individuals with 2000 IU to 4000 IU for 8 weeks. should have completed March 2010

Henry Lahore http://www.VitaminDWiki.com has 2000+ Vitamin D files – subscribe to news in some/all categories, get latest vitamin D news from web, etc.

Well there you have more than you would ever want to read about vitamin D and obesity.  Turn off your air conditioning and spend some time outside this summer.  You may find you sweat more than you want but it will make you less hungry.  – Pandemic Survivor

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

Fiber is significantly important to the digestive system.  One of the things that I should mention here is that vitamin D seems to have significance to the bowel at lower levels of vitamin D.  The lining of the bowels are made of similar cells to skin cells.  What we have done to our digestive systems is truly egregious.  We have removed the fiber from our foods and then starved our systems of sunlight and ultimately vitamin D.

Here is a brief list of benefits of fiber:

• Normalizes bowel movements – insoluble fiber
• Maintains integrity of the bowel – insoluble fiber
• Controls blood sugar levels – soluble fiber
• Lowers cholesterol levels – soluble fiber
• Aids in weight loss – soluble fiber

Please read the Mayo Clinic page for the full benefits of fiber.

The thing that you should recognize immediately from this list is that excess cholesterol levels are related to how much sugar you eat and absorb and not to dietary fat.  I know that this is different than what you have heard all of your life but medicine is slowly changing while trying to save face.

I do not know the mechanisms, but when you eat fruit with fiber like whole fruit you do not absorb as much of the fructose in the fruit as when the fiber has been removed.  Drinking fruit juices with the fiber removed is dangerous to your health.  If you watch the video from my previous post on sugar by Dr. Lustig, Sugar: The Bitter Truth – UC television, you can appreciate the way he has you remember the importance of fiber. It is “fat or fart”.

It seems that one of the reasons that dietary fiber has been removed is that it adds to significant flatulence.  That is the reason when you eat beans that you have a lot more gas.  The bacteria in our guts that digest dietary fiber become active and create this gas.  It is typically methane gas or the worst of the greenhouse gasses.  That is the reason that Al Gore wants to shot all of our cows.  Just kidding!  The other reason that dietary fiber has been removed is that it adds to bulk which makes the shipment of foods more expensive.

So there you are with your glass of apple juice or orange juice with the dietary fiber removed and eating your white bread sandwich that also has the dietary fiber removed.  I hate to think about all of those meals that I feed my kids when they were growing up that was made of the above fiber-less foods.  I could have just given them a beer and whole wheat pretzels and it would have been as healthy.

It also seems that fiber helps our bodies to know when we have had enough food.  The fiber in food somehow aids the lepton signal to the brain to say, ‘ hey dude, you have had enough’.  I do not know if this is from bulk or from some other mechanism.  It was mentioned in Dr. Lustig’s video.

So, today it is beans for me, no wheat or sugar, and lots of sunshine and maybe some flatulence.  – Pandemic Survivor