When we first started writing about vitamin D 10 years ago, there were only a few scientific articles being published and virtually no mention of this important seco-steroid hormone was made by the mainstream media. Now, hundreds of scientific articles are published every month and you can’t pick up a newspaper or magazine without reading something about the many benefits of vitamin D. So, let’s take a look at what we know, what we don’t know and what we need to know about vitamin D.
What we know about vitamin D. Every cell and organ in the body requires an optimal health level of vitamin D in order to function normally. Therefore, anything that encourages the American public to maintain an optimal health level of vitamin D should be supported and encouraged. In addition, a deficient/insufficient blood level of vitamin D plays an important role in the development of the following diseases/conditions listed below:
- Addison’s disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Asthma
- Autism
- Autoimmune diseases
- Benign prostatic hyperplasia
- Bladder cancer
- Brain cancer
- Breast cancer
- Celiac disease
- Cerebral palsy
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Chronic pain
- Cognition
- Colon and rectal cancer
- Cystic fibrosis
- Depression
- Endometrial cancer
- Epilepsy
- Eye cancer
- Gaucher’s and Barry’s disease
- Graves disease
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
- Heart disease
- HIV and AIDS
- Hypertension
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Innate and adaptive immunity
- Liver cancer
- Liver function
- Lung cancer
- Melanoma
- Mental illness
- Mineral metabolism
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Muscle weaknes
- Neurological diseases
- Obesity
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteomalacia
- Ostenopenia
- Osteoporosis
- Otosclerosis
- Ovarian cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Parathyroid function
- Parkinson’s disease
- Premature death
- Prostate cancer
- Renal function
- Rickets
- Sarcoidosis
- Sickle cell disease
- Skin cancer
- Stroke
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Turner’s syndrome
Authors Note: Take another look at the many vitamin D-mediated diseases and conditions shown above. This begs the questions: Why aren’t more doctors recommending that their patients get their vitamin D level checked and that their patients maintain a vitamin D blood level of at least 100 nmol/L (48 ng/ml) year-round?
What we don’t know about vitamin D. The primary thing we don’t know about vitamin D is whether or not there is a difference between an optimal-health blood level of vitamin D achieved through the use of supplements versus the same blood level achieved through exposure to controlled ultraviolet radiation. In other words, is UVR-induced vitamin D better than supplement-induced vitamin D? Does supplemental vitamin D have the same biological potency as UVR-induced vitamin D? As far as we can tell, there aren’t any studies shedding light on these important questions and it should be obvious why answering this question should be a high research priority.
In addition, we do not currently know the intracellular level of either 25-OH-D or 1, 25-OD-D, or the threshold level of intracellular vitamin D that is necessary for optimal cell function and signaling. This information will be necessary in order to completely understand the role that vitamin D plays within the cell itself, especially as it pertains to a normal cell transforming into a malignant (cancerous) cell.
What we need to know (and hopefully will know 10 years from now). The precise role maintaining an optimal-health blood level of vitamin D plays in:
- The prevention of disease
- Allowing a normal cell to “transform” into a malignant cell
- Cellular signaling
- Optimal physiological and psychological functioning
In addition, we need to know the precise level of vitamin D (both 25-OH-D and 1, 25-OD-D) that exists within cells and the threshold intracellular level equal to optimal health.
In conclusion, there is no longer any doubt that maintaining an optimal level of vitamin D plays a key role in human health or that individuals who have a deficient/insufficient blood level dramatically increase their likelihood of developing one of the diseases listed previously in this article. In fact, maintaining an optimal blood level of vitamin D significantly decreases the probability of dying prematurely. Moreover, unless and until there is scientific proof that dietary and supplemental vitamin D is equal to or better than UVR-induced vitamin D, it is scientifically unacceptable to rely on the former and ignore the latter.
Patricia E. Reykdal and Donald L. Smith operate the Non-Ionizing Radiation Research Institute in Tucson, Ariz. They have written many articles promoting the benefits of controlled ultraviolet radiation exposure (CURE). You can e-mail comments or questions to reyksmith@aol.com.
