Sorting fact from fiction on vitamin D
by William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
The clock is running out on 2011, but it looks like there’s still time to squeeze in one last phony vitamin panic.
In this one, researchers claim high levels of vitamin D will boost your risk of serious heart problems — despite what their own study REALLY found: that LOW levels of the sunshine vitamin will up your odds of heart failure, high blood pressure, kidney failure, and diabetes.
Of course, they didn’t want to talk about any of that.
Instead, the presentation at a recent American Heart Association meeting focused on the most freakish conclusion of the entire study: Patients with the highest blood levels of vitamin D — 100 ng/ml or higher — had a bump in the risk of atrial fibrillation.
Why is it freakish? Because I’ve been called an extremist for recommending blood levels of HALF that — 50 ng/ml — and even people who live in the tropics and get constant sun exposure all day long generally hover at around 60 ng/ml.
In other words, these just aren’t optimal or even realistic levels of vitamin D3 — and I’d bet that very few of the 132,000 participants in the new study actually fell into this category.
We don’t know for sure, because the researchers didn’t actually break it down for us.
We also don’t know how many patients fell into the next-highest category, between 80 and 100 ng/ml, but I’d bet this was the next-smallest group — yet these patients actually had the LOWEST A-fib risk of anyone in the study.
That means we’re supposed to believe that 100 ng/ml will prevent the condition — but 101 ng/ml will cause it.
PUH-leaze!
Ignore the panic and take your vitamin D3. Not only are “high” levels safe, but studies have repeatedly found that the sunshine vitamin will boost everything from your cardiovascular health to your immune system.
Winter is here, the sun is low — and you need your D now more than ever.
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Just another example of the main stream supporting what Bob Barefoot has been teaching for over 30 years.
Just take your Vitamin D each and every day.
Free Vitamin D Infomercial Sees Huge Response
GULF BREEZE, FL – After launching a nationwide infomercial in select test markets, Bob Barefoot, known as “Mr. Coral Calcium” is seeing a tremendous response to his message and his offer for “Free Vitamin D for Life”.
Barefoot says that Vitamin D3 is a critical nutrient that the vast majority of us are not getting enough of. He reports that after the medical industry (led mainly by Dermatologists) initiated a nationwide scare some 30-40 years ago, warning us to avoid the sun, we saw a major increase in Vitamin D deficiency. Most of us know that Vitamin D helps build strong, healthy bones. But Barefoot tells us that’s only a very small part of the story; explaining its role for cell function, brain development, and overall good health and disease prevention.
Recent studies conducted by top medical institutes as well as the US Government show that Vitamin D3 can actually help ward off a host of diseases. In a recent article published on the US Government’s National Center for Biotechnology Information website states: “There is enough evidence that severe deficiency of vitamin D may lead to skeletal and nonskeletal disease. Both children and adolescents seem to be in high risk of low vitamin D status especially during winter. Having a diet higher in calcium and vitamin D as well as oral supplementation with vitamin D may be necessary for children and adolescents not only in the absence of sun exposure in winter time but also in preventing other diseases such as diabetes type 1, cancer and cardiovascular disease.”
Bob points out that when our skin is exposed to natural sunlight, the penetrating UVB rays generate huge amounts of vitamin D; as much as 50,000 international units (IU) in as little as 30 minutes. But most of us do not get enough sunlight or exposure on a regular basis, to guarantee we’re producing enough Vitamin D3. He also states that the vitamin D in our foods is usually Vitamin D2, which is not useable by our bodies. So that leaves supplements to pick up the slack.
Bob Barefoot has been selling “coral calcium”, calcium derived from the coral reefs in Okinawa, Japan, and promoting its health benefits as well as researching the link between calcium and vitamin D for many years. In the recent infomercial, where he’s interviewed by Kim Estes, he offer’s viewers bottles of “Barefoot Free Vitamin D3” with 90 tablets each containing 2000 IU of Vitamin D3. The vitamin D is free and his callers pay only a very small shipping and handling charge.
Barefoot routed all the calls to his Navarre, Florida call center which is managed by BarefootAndHealthy.com. Owner Brad Riley reported that the response to the infomercial was overwhelming and tells us: “With the recent press and media concerning the importance of Vitamin D and calcium, I feel that we’re clearly in a position to help America become healthy again, and then help the world!”