Vitamin D will keep the doctor away

You  daily dose of vitamin D could keep the doctor Away

Vitamin D deficiency is a pandemic health problem estimated to affect one billion people worldwide and it is highly likely you are deficient. Deficiency in Vitamin D affects bone health in children and adults and has been associated with increased risk of death from common cancers, autoimmune diseases, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure and infectious diseases (1). The good news is you can do something about it.

Evidence for benefit

Several studies have found that supplementing your diet with Vitamin D can improve your health and lower risk of serious and life threatening illness. For example:

Post menopausal women taking 1,100 IU per day of vitamin D over four years experienced a 60% reduced risk of all cancers (2).
Girls aged 10-17 taking 200 or 2000 IU of Vitamin D for one year significantly increased their lean muscle mass, an indicator of improved bone health (3).
Older age individuals (average age 89) taking 800 IU a day of Vitamin D demonstrated a 72% lower incidence of falls over 5 months (4).
Children who received 2000 IU a day of Vitamin D during their first year of life had a 78% lower risk of developing type-1 diabetes (5).
Women taking 400 IU or more of vitamin a day had a greater than 40% reduced risk of developing the autoimmune diseases multiple sclerosis (6) and rheumatoid arthritis (7).
Women taking 4000 IU a day of Vitamin D demonstrated improvements in insulin resistance, an important part of type-2 diabetes (8).
Supplementation with 20,000-40,000 IU vitamin D per week for one year improved depression in overweight and obese individuals (9).
Women taking 5000 IU per day of Vitamin D through winter decreased their risk of developing symptoms of depression (10).
How much vitamin D do you need?

Vitamin D is know as the sunlight vitamin because it is produced in your skin in response to sun exposure. The major cause of vitamin D deficiency is lack of adequate sunlight as it is almost impossible to obtain adequate vitamin D from food (11). Vitamin D authority Dr Michael Hollick recommends “sensible sun exposure, which is often limited to no more than 5–15 min of arms and legs between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM in the spring, summer, and fall at latitudes above and below 35° and all year near the equator (12).”

For most people daily Vitamin D supplementation is necessary, particularly through the winter months. A daily amount of 800-1000IU per day will satisfy your body’s basic requirement and higher doses are needed to correct deficiency. To boost your levels leading advocates recommend you take 5,000 IU per day for 2–3 months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test and adjust your dosage so that blood levels are between 50–80 ng/mL (or 125–200 nM/L) year-round, usually a minimum of 2000 IU a day (13).

References

1. Holick MF, Chen TC. Vitamin D deficiency: a worldwide problem with health consequences. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Apr;87(4):1080S-6S.

2. Lappe JM, Travers-Gustafson D, Davies KM, Recker RR, Heaney RP. Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jun;85(6):1586-91.

3. El-Hajj Fuleihan G, Nabulsi M, et al. Effect of vitamin D replacement on musculoskeletal parameters in school children: a randomized controlled trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Feb;91(2):405-12.

4. Broe KE, Chen TC, Weinberg J, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Holick MF, Kiel DP. A higher dose of vitamin d reduces the risk of falls in nursing home residents: a randomized, multiple-dose study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007 Feb;55(2):234-9.

5. Hypponen E, Laara E, Jarvelin M-R, Virtanen SM. Intake of vitamin D and risk of type 1 diabetes: a birth-cohort study. Lancet 2001;358:1500–3

6. Munger KL, Zhang SM, O’Reilly E, et al. Vitamin D intake and incidence of multiple sclerosis. Neurology 2004;62:60–5.

7. Merlino LA, Curtis J, Mikuls TR, et al; Iowa Women’s Health Study. Vitamin D intake is inversely associated with rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Arthritis Rheum. 2004 Jan;50(1):72-7.

8. von Hurst PR, Stonehouse W, Coad J. Vitamin D supplementation reduces insulin resistance in South Asian women living in New Zealand who are insulin resistant and vitamin D deficient – a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Br J Nutr. 2010 Feb;103(4):549-55.

9. Jorde R, Sneve M, Figenschau Y, Svartberg J, Waterloo K. Effects of vitamin D supplementation on symptoms of depression in overweight and obese subjects: randomized double blind trial. J Intern Med. 2008 Dec;264(6):599-609.

10. Shipowick CD, Moore CB, Corbett C, Bindler R. Vitamin D and depressive symptoms in women during the winter: a pilot study. Appl Nurs Res. 2009 Aug;22(3):221-5.

11. Holick MF, Chen TC. Vitamin D deficiency: a worldwide problem with health consequences. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Apr;87(4):1080S-6S

12. Holick MF. Vitamin D: a D-Lightful health perspective. Nutr Rev. 2008 Oct;66(10 Suppl 2):S182-94.

13. The Vitamin D Counsil. Understanding Vitamin D Cholecalciferol. www.vitamindcouncil.org. Accessed online at 26-04-2010

B Happy with the Vitamins that fight Fatigue

Do you often  feel tired, run-down, and lacking in energy, you’re not alone.  Low energy is one of our patient’s biggest health complaints.

Vitamin B12  is known as the “energy boosting vitamin”.  Your body requires this vitamin for  many functions in your body.  Your body requires B12 in order to produce energy, have an effective immune system, and in order to regulate the formation of red blood cells.

Study after study have show that at least 25% of us are deficient in B12 and nearly 50% of us are at suboptimal levels, that said, most of us are losing this essential vitamin that is critical in so many activities in your body.

How You Get Vitamin B12 Deficient

Vitamin B12 is present only in animal sources of food, so if you are a strict vegetarian or vegan, chances are that you are not getting enough B12 in your diet. This deficiency will need to be assessed in order to help you function  optimally.  I have seen in clinical practice that these groups of people have a tendency toward nervousness and tend to have visual disturbances more frequently than non vegetarians.

Moreover, the older you get the more likely you are to have a vitamin B12 deficiency.  this is because as you age, your digestive system becomes inefficient and sluggish and even worst if you have consumed poor dietary choices throughout your life causing you to not be able to absorb this critical vitamin.

The truth is as you age, your stomach lining produces less stomach acid (hydrochloric acid). This stomach acid is needed in order for B12 to be released from the food you eat.

Furthermore, people who regularly take antacids or other drugs that lower the stomach acid secretion, this decreases the ability to absorb vitamin B 12.  Individuals who have  Helicobactor pylori, a common contributor to stomach ulcers, can also result in vitamin B12 deficiency.

B Living Longer

B-12 also helps you live longer by cell formation and cellular longevity.In addition, B-12  supports female reproductive health, and promote normal nerve growth and development by maintaining the fatty sheaths. These fatty sheaths play a vital role as they cover and protect your nerve endings.

B Happy and Smart

Vitamin B-12 supports a healthy mood and feelings of well-being and promotes mental clarity, memory and concentration.

Some Reasons to take Vitamin B-12

Optimal  Energy levels and a feeling of wellness

Optimal Fertility

Optimal nervous system function

Optimal eye health

Optimal memory and clarity

Avoid:

Gastrointestinal imbalances such as constipation and gas

Feelings of irritation and moodiness

Cardiovascular Disease

Nervousness

Premature grey hair

Is Diet enough? You may need to supplement  and receive IntraMuscular injections with vitamin B-12, even if you eat foods rich in B-12.

You can eat plenty of meat, poultry, lamb’s liver, brewer’s yeast, clams, eggs, herring, mackerel, kidneys, milk, dairy products, or seafood — and still have low levels of B-12.  How can that be?

Naturopathic Assessment of B Deficiency

Your Naturopathic Doctor at the West Vancouver Wellness Centre will be able to assess the main cause of vitamin B 12 deficiency  that could be food-cobalamin malabsorption syndromes, a term researchers use for B12 deficiencies.  Cobalamin is the scientific term for vitamin B12.   This typically results when your stomach lining loses its ability to produce intrinsic factor which is a protein that binds to vitamin B12 and allows your body to absorb it at the end of your small intestine.  Your Naturopathic doctor at the West Vancouver Wellness Centre will be able to correctly assess what your deficiency state is and help enable the repair process through various Naturopathic modalities to ensure you are getting optimum levels of  Vitamin B12.

Ways to take B12 the most effective method:

Intramuscular B12 mixed with folic acid to make sure you don’t mask a deficiency of either vitamin.  Both are important.  Your Naturopathic doctor at the West Vancouver Wellness Centre may want to also prescribe a specific form of vitamin B12 along with folic acid to take orally along with various botanicals to support the gut lining to help support intrinsic factor.  Treating the root cause is the key to fixing the absorption problem.

Call the West Vancouver Wellness Centre and assess and book your B12 Intramuscular injection today. It is painless and quick.

www.healthydoc.com

604 925 2560

Debunking the Junk Food Craze of Today

We see junk food everywhere- at gas stations, grocery stores, schools, work, on television and even on billboards as we innocently drive home from work or school.  Not a day will go by where we are not exposed to junk food.  Junk food, although immediately satisfying, as the saying goes “a moment on the lips and a lifetime on the hips,” has negative consequences over time and may not seem so appetizing after all.

According to researchers from McMaster University, the ratio of protein to carbohydrates in your diet will determine your waist-to-hip ratio.  Most junk food is carbohydrate-rich and protein deficient.  According to The Journal of Circulation, women and men ages 45-79 that had the highest waist-to-hip ratio also had the highest risk for diseases including heart disease and most of them reported eating junk food on a regular basis. 

We know that junk food is not good for us and when we consume junk food, our body gives us negative signs just like a car if it is not fed the right substances.  Your body gives you hints similar to that of an engine light on the dashboard of your car being turned on in the event of engine trouble.  Junk food will present itself in symptoms such as chronic fatigue , acne, rashes, digestive problems and mood disturbances like depression.  The long term side effects of improper eating can cause chronic inflammation in the body that contributes to almost every disease state.  Weight gain is the equivalent to that of an engine light going on in the car signaling you that you are on your way to becoming a statistic for heart disease, cancer and diabetes, similar to eventual engine failure in a car.

Now, if a light turned on in your car telling you that you need to fill up some gas, check your engine oil or breaks, you would certainly take your car in to be fixed, whatever the cost in order to prevent the vehicle from incurring engine failure or further damage.  Why not do the same for your body?

Our everyday food supply contains artificial colors, flavours, sweeteners, preservatives, pesticides and other chemicals.  Furthermore, our food supply consists of hidden and delayed allergens that most people are not aware of as it can sometimes take four minutes to four days for the body to react.  Lastly, our food supply is plagued with inflammatory foods that can accumulate and damage our body’s metabolic processes, making us inefficientast fighting various diseases.

Other research from high profile institutions such as Stanford and Harvard have shown that people who eat more vegtables not only reduce their risks for various cancers, but other inflammatory diseases such as heart disease and start by eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.  Look for these colors- green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple and white- as the more colorful fruits and vegetables you eat, the wider the range of nutrients ingested.  Each color offers something unique to your diet, such as disease-fighting phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals as well as fibre that all work synergistically at supporting a good healthy foundation for your diet.  Phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals may act as antioxidants that work at deactivating cancer causing toxins and fibre works by suporting digestion and the elimination of toxins from the body.

The first step to debunking the junk is to be aware that just because it is found everywhere, it doesn’t mean that it is good for you.  It is important to change the way you eat and educate yourself on some of the toxins that exist in our everyday foods like refined sugars, artificial flavours and pesticides.  The toxic burden of these substances over time will lead to diseases, especially in children, whose little bodies are in need of nutrients, not chemicals that eventually build up and cause illness.

Think of all the things about your body that you would like to change: chronic neck and back pain, muscle pain, fatigue, depression, acne, digestive disturbances and high blood pressure.  You can change the biochemistry of your body and avoid these unpleasent and life-threatening symptoms and treat the root cause by including healthy foods into your diet.

Just as different cars require specific gas, oil and parts, different people require different foods.  The right food for you can be determined by the delayed food allergy test IgG, also called an ELISA blood test.  These tests are routinely preformed by naturopathic doctors.  More than 70% of people have delayed food allergies, otherwise known as hidden food allergies.  Avoiding delayed food allergies specific to you coupled with nutritious foods, can modulate and boost your immune system, reduce your risk for cancer, change your mood and even make you feel and look younger.

Research led by John Hopkins University studied how vegetables and fruit, with emphasis on broccoli, reduced cancer growth by up to 40% and, according to the World Research Cancer Fund, people who ate more vegtables also reducedtheir risk for other inflammatory diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, to name a few.

Increase your fruit and vegetable intake by chowing down on the following:

• Blues and Purples: blueberries, purple grapes, plums, purple cabbage, eggplant and purple peppers
• Greens: avocados, green apples, honeydew, kiwi fruit, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, leeks and peas
• Whites: bananas, brown pears, white peaches, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, parsnips, potatoes and white corn
• Yellows and Oranges: apricots, cantaloupe, oranges, papayas, pineapple, butternut squash, carrots, yellow summer squash and sweet potatoes
• Reds: red apples, cherries, cranberries, pomegranates, strawberries, red peppers, radishes, radicchio, tomatoes

You can make shopping a fun and educational experience for your kids by allowing them to pick out different colored fruits and vegetables and explaining that these rich colors are good for them.  At meal times, you can identify the colors and name all the healthy foods.

Colorful eating is an easy and important concept to teach your children at a young age so they too will adopt healthy eating habits and will then teach their children, passing good health and wellness from one generation to the next.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the blog of Dr. Nigma Talib, ND.