Health and Wealth 247

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The BIG question…how much do we need?

The Sunshine Vitamin, in more ways than one. Emerging research has highlighted Vitamin D as one of the most important factors for good health. Most of us are aware that our skins make it in sunlight and that it is important for bone growth, development, and maintenance.

What has become realized lately is that vitamin D is really a hormone and has important roles to play in many other areas of our lives. Deficiency leaves us vulnerable to many problems, not just bone problems. Recent research reveals Vitamin D has an important role to play in preventing the growth and progression of cancer cells, particularly in colon and prostate cancers, but is also protective in breast, lung, ovarian, stomach, bladder, esophageal and kidney
cancers.

Vitamin D influences the effects of insulin, renin, serotonin and estrogen, all important hormones involved with Diabetes, hypertension, brain function and female well being respectively, so one can see its emerging importance. It also can affect obesity through Leptin, reduce inflammation in bone conditions and teeth disease and strengthen theimmune system, so how do we get enough of this “Wonder Vitamin”?Well firstly we need to know what we need. The old recommendations of up to 600 IU daily depending on age are now thought to be
outdated so the new value is at least 1,000 IU daily (it is safe up to 10,000 IU daily but there is
no point in going beyond 2,000 IU).

There are dietary sources of Vitamin D, some quite good, cod liver oil for example (ugh) provides 1360 IU per tablespoon but a cup of milk a bit surprisingly only 100 IU, so it is difficult to get your 1,000 units a day this way, although dietary Vitamin D (about 3 or 400 units a day for most of us helps a bit. Sunlight…now this is the real source for us. Wandering around in a tee shirt for ½ an hour or so in the summer will produce about 2,000 units from facial and arm skin, which is lots. Unfortunately if you live above the 30th parallel (yes, that’s you in LA too!) you will not get enough Vitamin D in the winter and the further north you get the longer you will need to supplement.

Our current recommendations are that everyone in northern latitudes, (remember that’s north of 30), should supplement with 1,000 IU daily from September until the end of May. ProVit Xcell + contains 1,000 IU plus lots of other good things). If you want to do the sun thing properly, apply your sun tan lotion only immediately before you go out in the sun as it takes 20 or 30 minutes to work. Darker skinned people or people who tan easily can apply it after 20 or 30 minutes in the sun (unless you live near the equator!). If you do that then you will get enough with your supplements at other times of the year. One last thought…if you sit outside with no sun tan lotion (it blocks UVB) for 20 minutes in a bathing suit you will produce more Vitamin D than you get from 100 glasses of milk!

Dr. Philip A. White

Technorati Tags: Nutrients, Vitamin D, Vitamins and Minerals

Dr. White has been known to talk about antioxidants and the need to protect our cells and how nature has given us powerful weapons in the cell protection armoury in the shape of the ones we make ourselves and the ones that we have to get from our diet. Additionally I mentioned that animals’ cells need protection too and the fact that we use a standard called the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) unit to measure the antioxidant potential of any given substance with antioxidant properties, and there are many, ranging from the three intracellular ones to vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and a host of others.

Antioxidants, as we now know, ward off the attacks of the free radicals produced from energy production in our cells. If we do not have sufficient antioxidant protection our cells suffer damage to all of their components including the DNA. We minimize that damage with the right combination of self-produced and dietary sourced protection. The problem with the average North American diet though is that it is poor in really good antioxidants and high in salt, fat and sugar…not so good. So we can improve protection in two ways, 1) Eat better 2) take the highest quality antioxidant formulation around such as Provit Xcell +.

Those two will really protect your beleaguered cells in concert with those intracellular ones we make ourselves. So how do we know what is a good antioxidant preparation versus a moderate or poor one? We measure its Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) which tells us how much of that nasty old corrosive by-product of intracellular energy production the preparation will mop up.

The higher the score in ORAC units, the better the antioxidant protection. This is where SomaLife’s outstanding ProVit Xcell + comes in. It was formulated by the scientific advisors to have the highest ORAC unit score of any product that we are aware of, in the right blend of vitamins, minerals and plant based antioxidants to provide all of the other non antioxidant related benefits that many of these substances have in addition to their antioxidant protection. Brilliant concept, exceptionally well executed, and even without the fish oil, ProVit Xcell + has an ORAC unit rating of 7200, which is far in excess of the 5 or 6,000 units we need daily to protect ourselves fully, and more than twice as much as in the average North American diet which contains only about 3,000 ORAC units worth of protection. This really is a case of more is better and anyone not taking it should consider how seriously they really take their own well being. Interestingly, the more active you are, the more protection you need as you will need more energy and hence make more free radicals.

So it is even more vital for the athlete, or very active individual, and the cats whose basal metabolic rate (remember?) is higher than ours, to avail themselves of optimal antioxidant protection. Unfortunately for Chubby George the Marmalade Cat and Evie the Svelte black one that I fall over at night now that fall is almost here and it is dark by 8pm or so, we have not got an optimal antioxidant product for them yet, but we will and hopefully they will be able to enjoy some health and life extension benefits. Next month, Fish oils (the cats should be happy with that!) and why you must take them.

Technorati Tags: age management, Antioxidants, SomaLife, Supplements