Vitamin D prevents cognitive decline too....….

Today's post: Thursday, 2-5-2009

There still is a book called SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven G. Pratt. MD et al.

Other than the soy foods section which is likely quite wrong according to many sources, this is otherwise a great book with superb advice. There are also other legitimate SuperFood candidates he leaves out.

But these foods either support your health so well OR in so many important ways all at once, it’s clear they deserve to be called SuperFoods.

It now looks as if vitamin D3 not only deserves the title of SuperNutrient, it may even qualify to be Number ONE in that category!

Yesterday, Weds, 2-4-2009, in the Early to Rise email, for its health article of the day, they had an article that listed just a few of the documented benefits we now know an intake of 2,000 iu a day or a bit more of vitamin D3 each day has and then added the incredibly good news that this intake of Vitamin D3 help prevent mental decline too!

Here’s the article.: (I’ll add my comments after it as I often do.)

“This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com .”

“Keep Your Brain Young with This Vitamin

By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

If you've been reading ETR for any length of time, you probably already know at least a half-dozen reasons why you should be taking a vitamin D supplement. Bone health. Mood improvement. Physical performance. Vitamin D's demonstrated anti-cancer effects. And if all that weren't enough, a new study adds another benefit: cognitive performance.

In the study, to be published in the Journal of Geriatric Psychology and Neurology, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan report an association between the risk of cognitive impairment in older folks and low levels of vitamin D.

More than 1,750 men and women 65 years or older were given neurocognitive tests. The testing revealed that 212 of the participants had cognitive impairment. The researchers then compared the vitamin D levels of those without cognitive impairment to those with cognitive impairment - and found that the risk of impairment significantly increased as vitamin D levels declined.

In fact, participants whose vitamin D levels were in the lowest 25 percent of the group had a whopping 2.28 times greater risk of cognitive impairment than those whose levels were in the top 25 percent. Since cognitive impairment is a major risk factor for developing dementia, anything you can do to lower your risk can help protect your brain for the long haul.

The best way to get adequate levels of vitamin D is through sun exposure. That means getting outside for about 10 to 20 minutes a day, three times a week - more often in the winter. I also personally recommend vitamin D supplements, about 1,000 to 2,000 IU daily. You can find vitamin D supplements at any health food store, even at Walmart.

[Ed. Note: For more information about natural methods that can improve your health - and help keep your weight down - check out nutrition expert Jonny Bowden's website, JonnyBowden.com.

Sunshine and vitamin D not only contribute to keeping your brain young, they can have a positive effect on everything from cancer and diabetes to athletic performance and neonatal health…..]”

X* X* X* X* X* X* X*

I found that www.JonnyBowden.com did get to his website OK.

I’ve only a few points to add.

1. In case you didn’t know it already, the mood improvement of taking vitamin D3 (or taking even 20 minute walks near Noon time if you have time and a safe place to walk) in the winter is to combat the lack of vitamin D from sun exposure during the rest of the day. Taking 2,000 iu or 3,000 iu or a bit more vitamin D3 daily seems to help prevent or nearly eliminate SAD, a kind of depression cause by this lack of sunlight. So taking vitamin D3 for mood improvement works best during the darker days in Winter.

2. Second, since the old RDA for vitamin D was 400 iu, if that’s all you knew, you’d think that 2,000 to 3,000 or even 5,000 iu of vitamin D3 is a lot. So it’s extremely important to know that it’s been found that your body will use 2,000 to 3,000 iu of vitamin D each day if it’s available and that your body will make something like 15,000 to 20,000 iu a day from sun exposure during the summer if you are outside much at all. That means that 2,000 to 5,000 iu of vitamin D3 daily as a supplement, particularly in the 2,000 to 3,600 iu range is actually quite reasonable. In addition, you might well wonder if your body prefers to use 2,000 to 3,000 iu vitamin D each day if it’s available if your body might not be a bit short on less. The research is in fact beginning to show that for best health, on multiple factors, your body very probably DOES need 2,000 to 3,000 iu of D3 a day. To put it bluntly, that means any RDA, for vitamin D of less than 2,000 iu a day is too low and based on outdated information.

3. Third, the same immune system boost from vitamin D that is thought to be responsible for it helping to prevent ALL cancers also will help you avoid getting colds and flu in the winter and from getting worse things such as pneumonia, secondary chest infections from colds or flu, and, even according to one study I saw, tuberculosis if you are exposed to it.

So to me that means that anyone who knows the current info on vitamin D and who wants to be and to stay in good health should be taking at least 2,000 iu a day of vitamin D3. When a bottle of 100 capsules of 1,000 iu of vitamin D3 only costs about $6, it is easily affordable.

4. Lastly, it IS possible that some of the good effects attributed to vitamin D are from the fact that being outside in pleasant natural surroundings or exercising regularly while outside.

So, don’t stop at just taking vitamin D. Regular exercise has an even longer and overlapping health benefits list than vitamin D. As we’ve posted on not that long ago, regular exercise prevents mental and cognitive decline too and in multiple ways. By all means do regular exercise too – even if it’s inside.

Lastly, there was a study that found that even in less affluent neighborhoods, people who live near parks live longer and have better health than people who don’t. So if you live near a park that is safe to visit, go walk around it occasionally. You’ll get some exercise, may relive some stress, and if you do it in daylight, you’ll get some extra vitamin D too.