Facts You Need To Know About Calcium and Vitamin D

  -Vitamin D 800-1000 IU/Day reduces cancer, osteoporosis, Type 1 diabetes, & multiple sclerosis
  -Vit D production decreases with age, so especially elderly people need higher levels.
  -The “National Academy of Sciences–Institute of Medicine recommended adequate intake [of vitamin D3] should be revised upward to at least 2,000 to 4,000 IU/day. Adoption of the new adequate intake [of vitamin D3] would substantially reduce the incidence of cancer, and there are no consistently established adverse effects of vitamin D3 intake in the range below 4,000 IU/day that would be sufficient to justify a lower adequate intake [of vitamin D3].”

(I personally recommend that patients try to get at least 2000 IU per day, especially if they do not get much daily exposure to sunlight.)
 
Vitamin D deficiency is now associated with higher risks of 22 forms of cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, flu and many other disorders!

An Intake of 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 would lead to 25% reduction in incidence of breast cancer and 27% reduction in incidence of colorectal cancer inNorth America.

Higher sun exposure in childhood and adolescence reduce the lifetime incidence of prostate cancer by about 50%.

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in June, 2007, a four-year clinical trial followed 1,200 women who took high levels of vitamin D and matched them against a control group who did not take the vitamin. Those rich in vitamin D had up to 77 percent fewer cancers as compared to the control group. That's twice the impact on cancer risk attributed to smoking!

The evidence that vitamin D has profound effects on our body's innate immunity is rapidly growing...

In a 2007 study, 104 women given vitamin D were three times less likely to report cold and flu symptoms than placebo controls. “A low dose (800 IU/day) not only reduced reported incidence, it abolished the seasonality of reported colds and flu. A higher dose (2000 IU/day), given during the last year of their trial, virtually eradicated all reports of colds or flu.

Pregnant women should consult their physicians about getting at least 2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily - this is 10 times the current government recommendation, and much higher than you will find in prenatal vitamins!

1200 mg of Calcium per day also decreases risk of colon cancer by 27 percent.  This should be taken always with it's sister mineral in a 1:2 ratio, 600 mg Magnesium.

Ideally, healthy adults should get between 1500mg to 2000mg of Calcium per day, with 600mg to 1000mg of Magnesium.  After age 35 women can no longer deposit calcium into their bones using most regular supplements.  A supplemental form of calcium which can build bone in women after age 35-- and even after menopause--is called microcrystalline hydroxyapitate.  It is available from a few different companies, but the one I recommend  is “Bone Up” by Jarrow Formulas.  Six (6) capsules per day supply sufficient calcium, magnesium, some vitamin D, and many other cofactors for continued bone growth and maintenance. 

More than 50% of women already being treated for osteoporosis are Vitamin D deficient.
25-50 % of the population over age 50 is Vitamin D deficient

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of…
-        22 types of cancer including breast, colon, and prostate
-        Multiple sclerosis
-        Hypertension
-        Rheumatoid Arthritis
-        Type I Diabetes
-        Chronic Pain Syndromes (90 percent of people with chronic non-specific pain have Vit D deficiency)

* Sometimes receiving about 10 Minutes of daily sun exposure can prevent Vit D deficiency *  The time of year, the latitude at which we live, the amount of clothing we wear, our skin pigmentation, and the amount of sun screen we have on are all factors which affect how much Vitamin D we can produce from the sun...

Click here to read an excellent article explaining these factors in detail.
Conditions Contributing to Vitamin D Deficiency (a partial list)
•       Geography – northern latitudes have decreased amounts of sun radiation
•       Weather/Season – overcast, rainy, or cold regions requiring less outdoor time and more
       clothes cover for the body
•       Statin Drug users or patients on cholesterol lowering medications
•       Malabsorption syndromes – especially interfering with fat digestion
•       Normal ageing
•       Institutionalized elderly patients with decreased sun exposure
•       Lack of sun exposure and sunscreen use – the UV(B) burning rays that sun screens are designed to  block are the same wavelength necessary to produce Vitamin D in the skin.
•       People who largely spend their days indoors due to work, climate, habit
•       Cancers: prostate, colon, breast
•       Long-term: use of prednisone, anti-convulsant medications
•       Use of medications with photosensitivity precautions
•       Liver and kidney disease – including kidney stones and gall stones
•       Congestive heart failure
•       Peripheral arterial disease
•       Rickets
•       Systemic Lupus Erathematosus (S.L.E.)
•       Osteoporosis
•       Osteomalacia

Approximately 3,000 research studies have been published in biomedical journals investigating the inverse association between vitamin D, its metabolites, and cancer, including 275 epidemiological studies, according to a PubMed search.

To date there have been 748 randomly controlled reasearch trials that assigned vitamin D supplements to
study participants, according to a  PubMed search in August 2008.” Supplementation was found to be safe
at levels up to 4,000 IU per day.*

* (Cedric F. Garland Dr PH, Edward D. Gorham MPH, PhD, Sharif B. Mohr MPH, FrankC. Garland PhD. Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention: Global Perspective Annals of Epidemiology Volume 19, Issue 7, July 2009, Pages 468-483 ))

THE POTENTIAL DANGERS OF CONSUMING GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

While scientific progress and recent technological breakthroughs in the agricultural field have appeared to have many profoundly beneficial effects with respect to creating more plentiful and hardy crops, these breakthroughs may have come at a high cost.  The following article contains excerpts from various authors who look at some of the dangers in consuming genetically modified foods which you may not have been aware of.  

For example, some experts have found that, despite their outward appearance, many genetically modified foods contain only 2/3 or less of their original nutrient content, and compared with organic foods, genetically modified foods may typically have only 1/3 the nutrient content!


Here is a link to the full article published on my website...


www.depthhealing.com/ArticlesGMO.html

Study links painkillers to Birth Defects

The use of mild painkillers such as paracetamol (Tylenol), aspirin and ibuprofen during pregnancy may partly account for a sharp increase in male reproductive disorders in recent decades!

Here is a link to a study just recently published showing once more that any medications we take, when studied long enough, may reveal previously unknown very dangerous side-effects.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6A72VD20101108

Understanding Muscle Balance for Athletics and Your Health

For many of us, when we think of a tight region of our body or a recurring sports injury or repetitive stress related problem, we tend to focus too narrowly. Our first tendency is to think in terms of treating only the area of pain or stiffness, seeking immediate relief from what most obviously appears to be ailing us. However, research over the years has shown in chiropractic and orthopedic medicine that pain or stiffness in a particular area or region of the body may be caused or perpetuated by neighboring or even opposing muscle groups, especially those which are tied into our repetitive postures, favorite sports, or athletic pursuits.

Below are two links to explain how muscles in our upper body and lower body are linked together in ways which result in typical syndromes resulting in common kinds of injuries which plague our work and athletic environments. Understanding these relationships is key to working from a "Big Picture" approach to achieve lasting relief from chronic and/or recurring musculoskeletal problems.

Upper Body Muscle Relationships -- "Upper Cross Syndrome"

http://backintoit.com/what-is-upper-crossed-syndrome/

Lower Body Muscle Relationships -- "Lower Cross Syndrome"


http://backintoit.com/what-is-lower-crossed-syndrome/

Nutritional Recommendations for Patients

Here is a link to a list of nutritional supplements I recommend to my patients after evaluating their musculoskeletal conditions and their diets and overall health. These supplements are particularly great finds with respect to excellence of formulation, quality, and great price. Be sure to consult with your health professional before taking any of these formulas, since your individual dietary practices and health condition may warrant different choices in nutritional supplementation.

Click on the following link, and scroll to the bottom of the page, for Dr. Michael Ackerman's list of Nutritional Supplement Recommendations for his Patients...

http://depthhealing.com/Articles.html

What Your Doctor May Not Have Told You About Statin Drugs

"Statin" drugs are a class of medication commonly prescribed for managing your cholesterol, they include Lipitor, Mevacor, Altocor, Cresor, Zocor, Simcor, Advicor, Vytorin, Pravachol, Lescol, Livalo, Lipostat, Caduet, and others.

Although Statin Drugs may achieve a 30-50% decrease in your LDL cholesterol, please thoroughly consult with your medical doctor about your alternatives to them…


Statin Drugs have many side effects you may not be aware of:

While these drugs lower the risk of heart disease, Statin drug users don’t have an overall lower mortality rate! Instead of dying from heart disease, death rates actually increase from other causes and drug-induced side effects, for example…

- Cancer – rates increase in part because Statin drugs lower the production of a compound called NFicB in white blood cells, which would otherwise act to fight cancers.

- In lowering cholesterol, Statins also lower the body’s Vitamin D levels
This Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of:
- 22 types of cancer including breast, colon, and prostate
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Hypertension
- Rhuematiod Arthritis
- Type I Diabetes
- Chronic Pain Syndromes (90 percent of people with chronic non-specific pain have Vitamin D deficiency)

*Thus you need an extra 1000 IU Vit D per day, or about 2-3000 IU total daily supplementation of Vitamin D3, if you are on Statin Drugs…


Statin Drugs also lower Coenzyme Q10 production
Due to this Coenzyme Q10 production deficiency…
- Statin drugs destroy connective tissue
- Statin users have a 14 X greater likelihood of peripheral neuropathy
"pinched nerves” throughout their bodies
- 2 years on Statin drugs increase the likelihood of a peripheral neuropathy
by about 26 fold !
- Note: If you take Coenzyme Q10 with any diabetes medication, beware that it has a further blood sugar lowering effect, consult your doctor or pharmacist!

*Thus you need to supplement an additional 500-600 mg CoQ10 per day (which is very costly) if you are on Statin Drugs.


- Statin Drugs may also cause transient global amnesia
- Statin Drugs are linked with an increased likelihood of Multiple Sclerosis


A large study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (a part of the National Institute of Health) which looked at sleep patterns of people who took the statin drug Zocor or Simvastatin found they had significantly worse sleep quality compared with people who took Pravachol or pravastatin, another non-Statin type of cholesterol-lowering drug. "The findings are significant because sleep problems can affect the quality of life and may have adverse health consequences, such as promoting weight gain and insulin resistance, as well as lowering growth hormone levels and slowing connective tissue and wound repair" said Dr. Beatrice Golomb, of the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine.

Strangely, Statin drugs work to help fight heart disease more as a result of their property of lowering inflammation in the body, versus their other property of lowering cholesterol in the body! While they lower bad cholesterol “LDL’s”, they don’t raise good cholesterol “HDL” levels, and this doesn’t create an ideal health picture. So if a person wishes to achieve the same inflammation lowering effect as Statin drugs while positively affecting their LDL and HDL cholesterol levels, the following supplements (especially combined with diet and exercise), can be better alternatives without all of the dangerous side effects discussed above…


- Omega 3 fatty acids - found in fish oils. They are 44% better at reducing overall mortality vs. Statin drugs. A daily supplement should contain 2400 mg of EPA and 1200 mg of DHA total per day. Two of the least expensive and convenient supplements which supply this amount of EPA and DHA are GNC’s “Triple Strength Fish Oil” or Puritan Pride’s “Highly Concentrated Fish Oil”, available from www.puritan.com. 5 capsules/day with meals. * DO NOT ADD FISH OILS TO YOUR DIET IF YOU ARE REGULARLY TAKING ASPIRIN OR BLOOD THINNERS. CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FIRST. *


- “Ruby Red” Grapefruit - research has shown than eating one per day gives you nearly the equivalent cholesterol lowering effect that Statin drugs have.

(SOURCES: Gorinstein, S. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Feb. 3, 2006; online edition. News release, American Chemical Society.)


- Psyllium husk fiber (10 gm/day) and/or Ground Flax seed (50 gm/day)


- Gum Guggul: 75/100 mg/day can produce a cholesterol reduction of
14 %to 27% in 4-12 weeks, in addition to a 22% to 30%
drop in bloodtriglyceride levels, in patients with
hypercholesterolemia and/or hypertriglyceridemia.


- Policosanol: 10-20 mg / day can decrease your LDL cholesterol
between 17% and 25%, and raise HDL levels up to 29%
-- better than Statins which don’t raise HDL’s

There are several supplements on the market which combine Gum Guggul, Policosanol, and several synergistic herbal and fiber blends: "ChoLESStat” by MRM and "Cholesterol Support” by Now Foods, art two examples.


Eliminate excess Cholesterol, Saturated Fats, and Partially Hydrogenated Oils (containing Trans fat) from your diet…

Most people could achieve a cholesterol level of 150-180 by just adopting a low fat diet with a daily ingestion of no more than…

7-15 grams (65-135 calories) of saturated fat and 150-200 mg of cholesterol


Although saturated fat is the main dietary culprit that raises LDL, trans fat and cholesterol eaten in your diet also contribute significantly. Trans fat can often be found in processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as
vegetable shortenings and some margarines, especially margarines that are harder), crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, and baked goods. Read labels which now are required to list the types of fat content in foods. The daily intake of about 5 g of trans fat is associated with a 25% increase in the risk of coronary artery disease.


Add Cardiovascular Exercise – a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes, at least 3x per week, at 75% of your maximum heart rate level, i.e., (220-Your Age) X .75 = target heart rate. This frequency and intensity has been shown to increase HDLs and lower LDLs. If you are out of shape, start training at a lower heart rate level, for less time, and gradually build up to a level of 75% of your maximum heart rate. A good rule of thumb is never exercise at a sustained level which has you breathing so hard that you cannot carry on a normal conversation.


AS A FINAL NOTE, TAKING IN TO ACCOUNT ALL OF THE ABOVE …

In a revealing article, “The Case for Statins: Has it Really Been Made?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, October 2004; Volume 97, Number 10, pp. 461-464, the authors state:

The ‘positive’ outcomes of statin research studies “have been magnified by the manner of presentation of results...” For example, in a study where 100 patients take statin drugs, 2 will have a fatal heart attack. Out of 100 patients taking a placebo, 3 will have a fatal heart attack. The absolute risk reduction of a heart attack is thus clearly only 1 percent. Yet the drug company spins the pathetic results by dividing 2/3 and publishing the relative risk, which is a 33 percent reduction of a fatal heart attack! This is intentionally misleading and dishonest. These authors claim an honest disclosure based on available research to date would be to state “if you take statins then, in seven years time, there is a one chance in about 120 that your death will have been prevented.”



** Be Sure to Never Discontinue Prescription Drugs Without the Advice of your Medical Doctor **

Save a Life With The New CPR Method

Here is a link to a video demonstrating the new method of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation... It's so easy you could save a life without undergoing special training or certification, although training is highly recommended...

Visit http://tinyurl.com/2fx8r59