From the Doctor’s Desk: Research Shows Vitamin D Insufficiency Linked To Cancer

Inadequate sunlight exposure has been linked to many cancers. (Click here for article.)

• Breast
• Colon
• Ovary
• Prostate
• Bladder
• Esophagus
• Kidney
• Lung
• Pancreas
• Rectum
• Stomach
• Uterus
• Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

Recent research suggests that vitamin D therapy can prevent cancer.  Another article suggested that Vitamin D levels greater than 55 ng/ml would prevent 60,000 cases of colorectal cancer and 85,000 cases of breast cancer in North America. The same article projected that 250,000 cases of colorectal cancer and 350,000 cases of breast cancer world wide would be prevented each year.  In fact, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently showed a 77% reduction in breast, ovarian, colorectal cancers as well as lymphoma and leukemia just by normalizing the amount of Vitamin D in a patient’s body.

Vitamin D Therapy Another Cog In The Wheel of Wellness.

I practice Integrative and Functional Medicine and this research supports my approach. By replacing exactly what the body needs, in this case Vitamin D, my patients can improve their bone health, improve symptoms in a myriad of other conditions, and possibly even prevent cancer in their bodies. No anti-depressants, no relaxants, no harmful medications, and no side effects. Our focus is treating the cause of symptoms and, as a result, providing true health and wellness.

Related articles by Zemanta and others:

• How Much Vitamin D Should You Be Taking? (health.usnews.com)
• http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/vitamind.aspx
• Why Black People Need More Vitamin D
• 5 Ways Vitamin D Could Save Your Life (abcnews.go.com)

From the Doctor’s Desk: I Nominate Vitamin D As “Vitamin of the Year”

With all the attention it’s been getting, I think it’s safe to proclaim Vitamin D the vitamin of the year! That attention is certainly deserved. I have been promoting the wellness effects of Vitamin D for several years. And here’s why.

Vitamin D Therapy Is Great For Bone Health.

Vitamin D has long been known for increasing bone health. It increases calcium and phosphorus absorption in the gut and makes bones stronger. It induces osteoclast maturation—that means it helps with bone restructuring and makes bones heal. It increases calcium deposition in bone and makes bones more dense. And it reduces the parathyroid hormone helping to maintain bone strength. But Vitamin D and bone health are just the beginning.

The Rest Of The Story.

Vitamin D’s benefits are not limited to bone health. Vitamin D receptors are located all over the body: in your bones, instestines, brain, breast, prostate, and lymphocytes. Additionally, many cells have active intracellular receptors such as the pancreas, immune cells, nerve cells, prostate, ovaries, and pituitary gland. Vitamin D benefits your whole body. It is very important for your overall wellness.

As Vitamin D is absorbed by the intracellular sites, additional benefits are implicated. Vitamin D provides benefits for all of these conditions:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Osteoarthritis
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Depression
• Epilepsy
• Migraines
• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
• Musculoskeletal pain
• Autoimmune diseases
• Inflammatory Conditions
• Cancer
• Fibromyalgia

Now that you are more aware of how Vitamin D helps your body, let’s talk about how you can get adequate amounts of Vitamin D.

Good Sources of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D Milk

Twenty minutes of unblocked sun exposure daily is a natural source of Vitamin D. But pay close attention to your skin during sun exposure. If you have any sign of sunburn, it’s time to get out of the sun. Vitamin D is also readily available as a supplement in the form of drops, capsules and even injections. Injections are occasionally necessary in patients with extremely low levels of Vitamin D.

Is fortified milk a good source of Vitamin D? Unfortunately, no. Fortified milk does not adequately supply your body with the Vitamin D it needs.

In my next post, I’ll discuss Vitamin D insufficiency and its affects on the body.

More articles about Vitamin D:

• 7 in 10 Kids Have Low Vitamin D
• Healthy Nutrition and Vitamin D
• Vitamin_D

The Seasons Top Five: How to Pursue Wellness

Here are the Seasons top five suggestions for the pursuit of wellness.

1. Evaluate Your Diet. Do you make good food choices? Are you overweight? The latest statistics indicate that 58 million Americans are overweight, 40 million are obese, and 4 million are morbidly obese. The vast majority of illness is caused or complicated by being overweight.

2. Evaluate Your Activity. Do you exercise? Small choices add up to increased physical activity, So park further from the grocery store entry and WALK. Take the stairs. Stop working at the computer for 5 minutes and do 50 situps.

3. Have A Wellness Checkup at Seasons of Farragut. The Seasons approach to wellness is centered around balance and prevention. A few medical tests will reveal where your body is deficient. A wellness regimen tailored to YOUR body will relieve hot flashes, sleep difficulties, mood swings and even weight gain.

4. Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Vitamin D. Studies indicate the importance of Vitamin D in disease prevention. The level of cold and flu increases in the winter largely due to the decrease of Vitamin D in our system. Medical research even suggests that Vitamin D is the BEST prevention for flu–even better than the vaccine. At Seasons, we evaluate your Vitamin D levels and offer medical-grade Vitamin D supplements in capsules, drops, and even injections, if needed.

5. Decrease Stress. Stress is the enemy. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Take time to smell the flowers. Find a de-stresser that works for you, whether it’s weekly Bible Study, a good book, or coloring with your kids.

An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth A Pound of Cure. Benjamin Franklin said it best when he coined the phrase that’s been repeated for generations, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Former Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona echoed Franklin’s advice in an opinion published by the Arizona Daily Star.

“Sadly,” says Dr. Carmona, “in the United States spending to treat preventable chronic diseases accounts for more than 75 percent of the approximately $2 trillion we spend each year on health care. Americans spend more money on health care than any other nation, yet rank 42nd in life expectancy worldwide, down from 11th two decades ago. While our federal and state governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on treating diseases, they spend less than $10 per person per year to prevent diseases. We are a treatment-focused society, when the real benefits to health and happiness come from preventing diseases before they ever occur.”

Startling, isn’t it. Reading Dr. Carmona’s words reminds us that pursuing wellness should be the focus of our health care. We need to jump off the bandwagon of a treatment-focused society and jump into the pursuit of wellness.

At Seasons, we help you achieve renewal of the body by finding balance. What kind of balance? It’s that “I-don’t-know-what-it-is-but-something-is-definitely-not-right” kind of feeling that seems to plague women in their post-childbearing years. For some women it means hot flashes, sleep difficulties, mood swings, and even weight gain. For others, it’s more vague – perhaps a feeling of general fatigue or malaise. If any of these symptoms sound familiar to you, we can help. For more information, contact our office at (865) 675-WELL (9355).