Vitamin D: Miracle Nutrient for Your Immune System

Crohn’s disease is a chronic condition that causes inflammation of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The cause of Crohn’s is thought to be impairment in the way your immune system handles intestinal bacteria. Vitamin D is the miracle nutrient for your immune system.

A new study has found that Vitamin D can counter the effects of Crohn's disease.

Researchers found that Vitamin D acts directly on the beta defensin 2 gene, which encodes an antimicrobial peptide, and the NOD2 gene that alerts cells to the presence of invading microbes.

Both beta defensin and NOD2 have been linked to Crohn's disease. If NOD2 is deficient or defective, it cannot combat invaders in the intestinal tract. Read more

Boost Your Immune System with Power Foods and Vitamin D

You already know most of the common sense techniques for avoiding the flu, be it the swine flu, a standard flu, or even a common cold. This article explores "power foods" that help build your defenses by enhancing your immune system. Combine these super foods with common sense and you will be prepared for any flu that comes your way.

With the threat of the H1N1 flu virus this year, you might want to trade the sugary treats for some “power foods” to boost your immune system.

Nutritionists agree that by adding “super foods” to your diet, you may keep the flu at bay. Christen Sherwood, owner of the Healing House Center for Natural Health in Clear Lake, said that one such power food — elderberries — are “proven to work as good as Tamiflu.” Read more

The Best Way to Prevent Colds and Flu: Vitamin D

As the weather becomes colder and we stay indoors more, people often catch colds or other viruses. Dr. Joseph Mercola says that taking vitamin D is the number one way to combat colds or flu.

... Many people believe that colds and flu are caused by bacteria, but this is simply incorrect. Colds and flu are caused by viruses, and using antibiotics to treat a viral infection is inappropriate and completely ineffective.

Viruses are orders of magnitude smaller than bacteria and have entirely different structures that make antibiotics useless. (Occasionally antibiotics are required if there is a secondary bacterial sinus infection or bronchitis/pneumonia, but this is the rare exception.)

It is also important to recognize that, although a virus triggers your cold or flu symptoms, it is not the real cause of the illness.

So, what is the real cause of colds and flu?

My simple and short answer has always been that it’s due to an impaired immune system. That’s still true. However, research has confirmed that “catching” colds and flu may be a symptom of an underlying vitamin D deficiency! Less than optimal vitamin D levels will significantly impair your immune response and make you far more susceptible to contracting colds, influenza, and other respiratory infections.

Although there are many ways you might end up with a weakened immune system, the more common contributing factors are: Read more

You're as Old as You EAT: Guide to Anti-Aging Food

While aging is inevitable, physical decrepitude is not. Many of the outwards signs of growing old can be slowed - and life may even be prolonged - by eating key foods that have been show to an ally against aging.

Keeping in peak condition in old age can be boosted by nutrition, which scientists are proving is a powerful weapon in fighting off diseases. As new research shows that olive oil could play a vital role in protecting against dementia, we look at the key foods that have shown to be an ally against ageing. Read more

Vitamin D: How to Determine Your Optimal Dose

Vitamin D has recently been recognized as being necessary for humans to maintain optimal health and wellness to the point at which some consider vitamin D to be a “miracle substance” that prevents a number of diseases, including various cancers, coronary heart disease, diabetes and multiple sclerosis, as well as several autoimmune and neurological diseases. The recommended daily allowances are useless, so how do you determine your optimal dose?

In the wide world of supplements, vitamin D is the superstar. For the last few years, this humble nutrient has been featured prominently in allopathic and alternative circles alike. It has basked in the rays of media publicity, and has survived an onslaught of scientific scrutiny. And while such widespread publicity is often good cause for skepticism in the realm of health and medicine, vitamin D appears to be the real deal. Whether we`re talking about heart disease, cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or Alzheimer`s disease, the "sunshine vitamin" delivers benefits unseen before our time (1).

Given the remarkably powerful benefits of vitamin D, many find themselves wondering how to actually go about obtaining it. We know that vitamin D is good for us, but how much do we need, and where do we get it? Most people know that sunlight is somehow involved in vitamin D production, but is sunlight alone sufficient to produce the incredible results demonstrated by recent vitamin D research? What about supplements? There are so many different preparations - with doses ranging from 400 IU to 50,000 IU - that it can get a little confusing. Are such supplements necessary, and if so, how much should we be taking? Read more

Use Vitamin D to Fight Off Winter Back Aches, Pain

A new report recommends that everyone should consider taking extra vitamin D during winter months, especially if you have back aches and pains.

It's no wonder that many people feel extra soreness and aches in their backs during winter months -- they're often not getting enough vitamin D. The body makes vitamin D from the sun's ultraviolet rays, so it's known as the sunshine vitamin. However, even in the sunniest parts of America, this essential vitamin for keeping bones healthy is in short supply during late fall and winter.

Up to 8 out of 10 persons will have back pain in their lifetimes. In many cases, there is no evidence of any injury, disease, or bone problem like a slipped disk. An extensive review of clinical research in a report from Pain Treatment Topics found that help may be available from a surprising champion of pain relief Vitamin D. Read more

Increasing Your Vitamin D Protects against Swine Flu

Soram Khalsa, MD, is on a mission to get Americans to up their levels of vitamin D. Dr. Khalsa even had a patient hand deliver a copy of his book The Vitamin D Revolution to Michelle Obama, in which he wrote, ‘Vitamin D can help the country’s health-care crisis. Please contact me if you are interested." Khalsa hasn’t heard from her yet. What a surprise that Michelle Obama isn't interested in something that doesn't make money for the pharmaceutical companies.

Soram Khalsa is on a mission to get Americans to up their levels of Vitamin D. Why? To protect them against a myriad of illnesses, including cancers, heart disease and diabetes. He even had a patient from his who’s-who-studded medical practice in Beverly Hills hand deliver a copy of his book, The Vitamin D Revolution, to Michelle Obama. “In the front, I wrote, ‘Vitamin D can help the country’s health-care crisis. Please contact me if you are interested’ and included my phone number. I haven’t heard from her yet, but...” Read more

Tumeric and Vitamin D May Reverse of Alzheimer's Disease

Can something as simple as a regular sprinkling of turmeric in our meals and regular doses of sunshine ward off Alzheimer`s disease?

Research into methods of preventing or reversing the damaging effects on the brain caused by Alzheimer's disease is heating up -- namely with a common spice, turmeric, and something so simple, the sun. A new study by UCLA scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, cited in the July issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, reports findings suggesting the possibility that Vitamin D3 and a chemical, curcumin, found in the spice turmeric, might possibly not only prevent, but may help reverse damage done by the typical plaques and tangles which are characteristics of Alzheimer's disease. Read more

Lack of Sunlight Could Increase Asthma

Lack of vitamin D may increase the risk of asthma caused by air pollution, scientists warn at the launch of a major investigation.

Thousands of children in London will take part in research to establish whether lack of vitamin D exacerbates pollution-related asthma.

Vitamin D which is made by the body from sunlight and a small proportion gained from diet is vital for good lung development in the womb and in childhood, it has been found.

Air pollution, which is higher in London than elsewhere in the UK and has among the highest rates in Europe, can trigger asthma and exacerbate symptoms in those who already have it. Read more

Get Your Antioxidants from the Grocer

For your consideration: according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association some supplements are worthless at fighting disease. Of course, other recent studies indicate that vitamins C and D in particular have great benefits.

I've noticed that studies which show that dietary supplements are worthless or dangerous tend to come out right before a big push to restrict the public's access to them. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies don't much like the idea of self-care and health freedom. In their view, that's lost profit they could be pocketing. Nevertheless, the point that you should eat a healthful diet and not strictly rely on supplements for your nutrition is valid.

Lack of Vitamin D Link to Parkinson's

Recent studies have shown that vitamin D prevents up to 77 percent of all cancers. Now a new study suggests a link between vitamin D deficiency and Parkinson's disease.

Lack of vitamin D is significantly associated with Parkinson's disease, a study has shown.

Scientists found that lower blood levels of the vitamin were more common in people with Parkinson's than healthy individuals. But whether vitamin D deficiency was a cause of Parkinson's or resulted from it still had to be determined.

The part of the brain most affected by the disease is highly sensitive to vitamin D, suggesting that the vitamin may be important to this region. Read more