Vitamin D supplementation and recommendation by Dr. Grattan Woodson

[St Michael]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and recommendation by Dr. Grattan Woodson

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is independently associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the metabolic syndrome in men and women


Journal of Clinical Lipidology

Kevin C. Maki, PhDCorresponding Author Informationemail address, Martyn R. Rubin, PhD, Les G. Wong, BS, Jamie F. McManus, MD, Christopher D. Jensen, PhD, John W. Marshall, RN, Andrea Lawless, MD

Received 9 July 2009; accepted 13 July 2009. published online 21 July 2009.
Uncorrected Proof

Background

Low vitamin D status has been associated with markers of cardiovascular disease risk.

Objective

This cross-sectional study assessed the relationships between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and selected markers for cardiovascular disease risk, including metabolic syndrome and its components, in adult men and women.

Methods

Fasting blood samples, anthropometric measurements, and blood pressure were assessed in 257 men and women. Dietary intake was assessed with food frequency and dietary supplement questionnaires.

Results

total vitamin D intake and that from dietary supplements were significantly associated with increasing serum 25(OH)D tertile (both P < .001). Mean?SEM serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased in a graded fashion (P < .001) from the lowest (48.4?1.8mg/dL) to the highest (62.3?2.1mg/dL) 25(OH)D tertile. The relationship between 25(OH)D and HDL-C remained significant (P < .001) after adjustment for established determinants of the HDL-C, with each 10-ng/mL increase in 25(OH)D associated with a 4.2-mg/dL increase in HDL-C. Serum triglycerides (P=.008), waist circumference (P < .001), and body mass index (P < .001) showed graded, inverse relationships with 25(OH)D tertile, and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome decreased significantly from the lowest to the highest 25(OH)D tertile (31%, 14%, and 10%, respectively, P for trend=.001).

Conclusions

Lower serum 25(OH)D is associated with the metabolic syndrome and adverse values for some metabolic syndrome risk factors, particularly the HDL-C. Research is warranted to assess whether increasing vitamin D intake will improve the metabolic cardiovascular risk factor profile.

 

[St Michael]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and recommendation by Dr. Grattan Woodson

There seems to be a link between low Vitamin D levels and cardiovascular disease. Maybe that is the origin of some of the morbidity/mortality with influenza and low Vitamin D:

Low vitamin D levels linked to metabolic syndrome
By Stephen Daniells, 04-Aug-2009
foodnavigator.com

Increasing blood levels of vitamin D are linked to a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, as well as improved ?good? cholesterol levels, says a new study.

According to findings published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, the lowest levels of the sunshine vitamin were associated with a 31 per cent prevalence of metabolic syndrome, compared to only 10 per cent for people wit the highest average levels.

The researchers noted that the results do not prove that low vitamin D levels contributes or causes metabolic syndrome, and called for more studies to ?assess whether increasing vitamin D intake will improve the metabolic cardiovascular risk factor profile?.

?Although previous surveys have also reported associations between low 25(OH)D concentration and metabolic syndrome components, to our knowledge, the present investigation is the first to report this finding in a sample with a high prevalence of vitamin D dietary supplement users in which frequencies of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were low,? wrote the researchers, led by Kevin Maki from Illinois-based Provident Clinical Research

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition characterised by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Study details

The researchers analysed vitamin D levels in the blood of 257 men and women aged over 18. Dietary and supplementary intakes were assessed using a food frequency and dietary supplement questionnaires, said the researchers.

Their results showed that vitamin D blood levels were associated with HDL cholesterol levels.

?The most notable finding from the present study was the strong relationship between serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and HDL-C concentrations,? wrote the researchers.

?Each 10 ng/mL increment in 25(OH)D was associated with an increase of 3.8 to 4.2 mg/dL in HDL-C [...] This is of considerable potential importance given that each 1 mg/dL increment in HDL-C is associated with a 4 to 6 per cent reduction in coronary heart disease (CHD) risk.?

They also observed inverse associations between vitamin D levels and triglyceride levels, body mass index, and waist circumference, meaning that higher vitamin D levels were associated with lower values for these measurables.

Explanation

?A potential explanation for our observation of an inverse association between 25(OH)D and indicators of adiposity (waist and body mass index) may be that vitamin D is fat soluble and is therefore easily sequestered in adipose tissue,? wrote the researchers.

?Thus, there is a greater storage capacity for vitamin D in overweight and obese individuals, which may result in a reduced circulating concentration of 25(OH)D.

?As a result, in order to maintain a given circulating 25(OH)D concentration, overweight and obese individuals may have to consume higher quantities of vitamin D than would be the case for normal weight populations,? they said.

Source: Journal of Clinical Lipidology
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2009.07.003
?Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D is Independently Associated with High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and the Metabolic Syndrome in Men and Women?
Authors: K.C. Maki, M.R. Rubin, L.G. Wong, J.F. McManus, C.D. Jensen, J.W. Marshall, A. Lawless

 

[St Michael]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and recommendation by Dr. Grattan Woodson

The link between low D and heart disease is simple...

The body pumps cholesterol into the serum where it is transported to the skin. One of cholesterol's jobs in the skin is it is exposed to solar UVB and converted to vitamin D. If people avoid solar UVB the body is denied vitamin D and pumps more cholesterol into the serum. The body does not know our superior intellect has decided that UVB is toxic. So you get more and more cholesterol circulaitng plugging up the plumbing with heart disease as a result.

Pretty straight forward. We out smarted ourselves.

That may be the case.

Or it might not be that simple.

We just don't know yet.

We do know that nothing in medicine is ever as simple and straight forward as we would like.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and recommendation by Dr. Grattan Woodson

Considering that FT posters have proposed that statins are beneficial to pandemic influenza patients, it would seem that might contradict the Vitamin D level message.

Can we say for certain how the immune systems of people on statins will react to influenza?

.

 

[St Michael]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and recommendation by Dr. Grattan Woodson

Considering that FT posters have proposed that statins are beneficial to pandemic influenza patients, it would seem that might contradict the Vitamin D level message.

Can we say for certain how the immune systems of people on statins will react to influenza?

Nobody knows for certain, because the research Dr. Fedson has been proposing on statins for influenza was never undertaken.

Here's the thread with his 2006 study:

Pandemic Influenza: A Potential Role for Statins in Treatment and Prophylaxis

Clinical Infectious Diseases 2006

 

[SolarD]

Risk assessment and Vitamin D

Risk assessment and Vitamin D

The risks of not taking vitamin D exceeds the risks of taking it. A history of kidney stones should not keep one from simultaneously reducing the risk of cancers, heart disease, bone diseases, depression and autoimmune disorders.

Most kidney stones are calcium oxalate - reducing dietary oxalates and taking some calcium reduces absorption of oxalates - reducing the risk of stones. Also taking an absorbable form of magnesium reduces risk of calcium oxalate stones by changing the likelihood of precipitation out of solution in urine.

Vitamin D is not contraindicated in either sarcoidosis nor granulomatous disease. But it is prudent to measure both the 25- OH vitamin D level and the 1,25 di-OH vitamin D levels to monitor for any overconversion when using vitamin D in those patients.