There is power hidden in what I am about to eat, 00:00:01.36\00:00:04.00 the power of the sun. 00:00:04.03\00:00:05.80 Plants capture the sun's rays and translate it into a 00:00:05.83\00:00:09.37 stored form of energy that we call carbohydrates. 00:00:09.40\00:00:12.24 When we eat carbohydrates our body's convert it 00:00:12.27\00:00:15.21 and unleash the energy in the mitochondria. 00:00:15.24\00:00:17.65 Do you remember the mitochondria from our first episodes? 00:00:17.68\00:00:20.62 It's like the mitochondria reverse the whole process 00:00:20.65\00:00:24.39 they unpack the solar power and transform it into 00:00:24.42\00:00:27.82 electricity, life force, energy, and release it 00:00:27.86\00:00:32.29 inside of us. And what is sad is that so many of us are 00:00:32.33\00:00:35.96 avoiding the source of this energy whether it's from 00:00:36.00\00:00:38.73 the food we eat or sunlight. 00:00:38.77\00:00:41.14 Stay out of the sun, don't eat carbs, that's what we hear 00:00:41.17\00:00:44.51 and it's affecting us. Its changing our electro-magnetic 00:00:44.54\00:00:48.08 field. We've got failing energy, lower frequency and 00:00:48.11\00:00:51.48 it's time to change that. 00:00:51.51\00:00:53.48 The power of the sun enters into our body, 00:01:11.63\00:01:13.90 not only through the food we eat but also through our skin. 00:01:13.94\00:01:17.31 Sunshine hitting the skin is converted into a very 00:01:17.34\00:01:20.68 important substance we call Vitamin D, 00:01:20.71\00:01:23.04 in fact one of the ways we can measure 00:01:23.08\00:01:25.58 our sunshine deficiency is by testing 00:01:25.61\00:01:28.08 Vitamin D blood values. 00:01:28.12\00:01:29.62 Vitamin D plays an enormous role in keeping us healthy 00:01:29.65\00:01:32.95 and yet Vitamin D deficiency is reported to affect 00:01:32.99\00:01:36.89 one billion men, women, and children around the world. 00:01:36.93\00:01:41.40 Approximately 40% of Americans are Vitamin D deficient 00:01:41.43\00:01:45.70 and if we look at just our elderly population 00:01:45.73\00:01:49.10 61% are Vitamin D deficient. 00:01:49.14\00:01:52.14 One of the reasons for that is that the skin of a person 00:01:52.17\00:01:55.64 in their 70s produces roughly 25% of the Vitamin D3 produced 00:01:55.68\00:02:00.35 by a person in their 20's. 00:02:00.38\00:02:02.45 Don't think this is just a northern latitude problem, 00:02:02.48\00:02:06.52 60% of the Saudi Arabian population reportedly has 00:02:06.55\00:02:10.46 Vitamin D deficiency and over 80% adults in Pakistan, India, 00:02:10.49\00:02:15.20 and Bangladesh have insufficient D levels. 00:02:15.23\00:02:18.50 It's astounding, places like Turkey and Iran have 00:02:18.53\00:02:22.47 major insufficiency as well. If we're deficient in Vitamin D 00:02:22.50\00:02:26.37 then we are more susceptible to poor health, autoimmunity, 00:02:26.41\00:02:30.11 disease, death. We blame our disease on our genes 00:02:30.15\00:02:34.22 or virus but what about lack of sunshine? 00:02:34.25\00:02:37.25 There's still a lot of confusion on this topic 00:02:37.29\00:02:40.09 so I thought I'd ask is sunshine good or bad for us? 00:02:40.12\00:02:45.39 That's an easy question, it is amazingly good for you 00:02:45.43\00:02:48.50 in so many different ways. 00:02:48.53\00:02:50.33 Yes, sunshine is absolutely good for us but if we spend 00:02:50.37\00:02:53.87 too much time out there and get sunburn, that's bad. 00:02:53.90\00:02:57.11 Okay. We can increase our risk of cancer. 00:02:57.14\00:02:59.87 But, you know God gave us sunshine as the very best way 00:02:59.91\00:03:07.58 to build up Vitamin D in our systems. 00:03:07.62\00:03:10.19 Vitamin D is a very crucial vitamin, there are many benefits 00:03:10.22\00:03:15.86 of sunshine not related to Vitamin D but one of the 00:03:15.89\00:03:20.50 well-known benefits of the sunshine is the Vitamin D 00:03:20.53\00:03:23.37 that we get from it. And Vitamin D is actually more 00:03:23.40\00:03:28.74 like a hormone than a standard vitamin. 00:03:28.77\00:03:32.51 What's interesting about Vitamin D is that it turns on 00:03:32.54\00:03:37.18 literally 10% of our genes. 00:03:37.21\00:03:39.95 Now we have these receptors on our genes called VDR's 00:03:39.98\00:03:44.59 that stands for Vitamin D receptors and the Vitamin D 00:03:44.62\00:03:48.76 binds to the receptor and activates and turns on 00:03:48.79\00:03:51.59 the genes and these genes play a role in controlling inflammation 00:03:51.63\00:03:57.73 for example in preventing cancer cells from forming, 00:03:57.77\00:04:03.37 and all sorts of other things that are really important to us. 00:04:03.41\00:04:07.34 So you're saying Vitamin D kind of hits this receptor 00:04:07.38\00:04:10.15 and once it's in there it turns on the ability for 00:04:10.18\00:04:13.42 our bodies to produce all these wonderful compounds that will 00:04:13.45\00:04:17.09 help us prevent cancer. 00:04:17.12\00:04:18.52 Yes. In fact the oncologists are realizing this now 00:04:18.55\00:04:22.72 and so they are actually prescribing quite a bit of 00:04:22.76\00:04:25.13 Vitamin D for their patients for many types of cancer. 00:04:25.16\00:04:29.30 Wait a second, I grew up hearing how all my sun exposure would 00:04:29.33\00:04:34.74 cause cancer. I asked Dr. Quave to give us some idea of what 00:04:34.77\00:04:39.11 a good Vitamin D level is? Sure, and a lot of times it 00:04:39.14\00:04:43.21 depends upon the lab what levels are considered normal 00:04:43.24\00:04:47.85 and what levels are not considered normal but 00:04:47.88\00:04:49.48 generally speaking when a person is under 30ng/dL 00:04:49.52\00:04:56.26 that's considered insufficient Vitamin D and most cancers 00:04:56.29\00:05:00.63 occur between the levels of 10- 40, so you really want to 00:05:00.93\00:05:05.67 get your levels at least 40 and higher. 00:05:05.70\00:05:09.07 In pain management I usually shoot for at least 50 to 70 for 00:05:09.10\00:05:13.48 our Vitamin D levels because at that point you're getting the 00:05:13.51\00:05:17.88 maximum benefit from Vitamin D, you're getting the maximum 00:05:18.08\00:05:21.18 anti-inflammatory benefit, you're getting the maximum 00:05:21.22\00:05:24.09 anticancer benefit, you're getting the maximum 00:05:24.12\00:05:27.89 immune system benefit from the Vitamin D. 00:05:27.92\00:05:31.69 You know for example, like with breast cancer, 00:05:31.73\00:05:37.60 If you get their Vitamin D level up to 50 you can reduce the 00:05:37.63\00:05:42.54 instances of breast cancer by 83%. 00:05:42.57\00:05:45.14 That's incredible. Pretty amazing, right? 00:05:45.17\00:05:46.84 What else can I tell you about Vitamin D? 00:05:46.88\00:05:52.61 Well, Vitamin D for example decreases the ability of 00:05:52.65\00:05:58.29 the cancer cell to metastasize, Vitamin D also decreases 00:05:58.32\00:06:04.53 the cancer cells to proliferate and it even reduces the 00:06:04.56\00:06:10.50 ability of new blood vessels to grow into the tumor cells 00:06:10.53\00:06:14.00 thereby making it more difficult for the cancer 00:06:14.80\00:06:17.11 to grow and spread. 00:06:17.14\00:06:18.47 I know there is always a fear about like oh, what about cancer 00:06:18.51\00:06:22.28 skin cancer because people who are afraid of getting cancer 00:06:22.31\00:06:25.58 and dying. but there is actually a lot of research that shows 00:06:25.61\00:06:28.85 a lot of the benefits of sunshine will not only for 00:06:28.88\00:06:35.99 other health benefits but it actually reduces 00:06:36.02\00:06:39.23 your cancer risk. 00:06:39.26\00:06:40.60 But I had one patient probably about 15 years ago 00:06:40.63\00:06:44.73 that was coming from a nursing home and I was taking off 00:06:44.77\00:06:47.70 skin cancer three or four lesions about every three months 00:06:47.74\00:06:51.34 and I had heard this thing about Vitamin D and they said 00:06:51.37\00:06:56.68 that it might affect skin cancers especially 00:06:56.71\00:06:58.81 and if you think about it, we tell people to stay out of 00:06:58.85\00:07:03.79 the sun because it burns them okay? but sun is where you get 00:07:03.82\00:07:07.86 the Vitamin D so you got a conflict here, right? 00:07:07.89\00:07:11.46 This guy started taking his Vitamin D and after his level 00:07:11.49\00:07:18.13 got up to about 70, I saw him less and less 00:07:18.17\00:07:23.81 and I went for years without seeing him again. 00:07:23.84\00:07:27.44 He was getting no skin cancers and I was taking as I say 00:07:27.48\00:07:30.28 I was probably taking 12 skin lesions off a year on him 00:07:30.31\00:07:34.78 easily for years and so that's when I started seeing 00:07:34.82\00:07:38.82 maybe there's some other stuff going on here. 00:07:38.85\00:07:40.66 You know we have such an aversion because sun causes 00:07:40.69\00:07:46.16 cancer, skin cancer which no question, it can, 00:07:46.19\00:07:50.27 but are we...when you use sun screen you block the 00:07:50.30\00:07:56.07 production of Vitamin D. 00:07:56.10\00:07:57.44 So, we're often afraid that sunlight will trigger cancer 00:07:57.47\00:08:02.01 but the truth is that the sun actually can help prevent 00:08:02.04\00:08:07.55 cancer. In fact it might help prevent 30 dusk for each one 00:08:07.58\00:08:12.69 caused by skin cancer. 00:08:12.72\00:08:14.82 And there's a researcher Dr. Geo Vannucci from Harvard 00:08:14.86\00:08:19.03 that says... 00:08:19.06\00:08:20.50 So, I really need to rethink our perspective on sunlight. 00:08:32.61\00:08:38.11 and it's important for us to understand how beneficial 00:08:38.15\00:08:42.18 and important it is in so many different ways 00:08:42.22\00:08:44.32 even for anti-cancer benefits. 00:08:44.35\00:08:46.35 I first started measuring Vitamin D levels when I was 00:08:46.39\00:08:50.63 practicing in Guam and this was about 20 years ago 00:08:50.66\00:08:55.03 when I read a meta-analysis study from a Harvard physician 00:08:55.06\00:08:59.50 who showed that the levels of Vitamin D in your blood 00:08:59.53\00:09:04.14 correlated very strongly with your risk of future cancer. 00:09:04.17\00:09:08.74 Now this was based on the same data set used tobacco exposure 00:09:08.78\00:09:15.12 in risk of cancer, same data sets and so I was 00:09:15.15\00:09:20.29 like shocked at the time, I said well that's crazy... 00:09:20.32\00:09:23.06 He actually said that the study supported the fact that having 00:09:23.09\00:09:27.43 a low level of Vitamin D in your blood actually was a 00:09:27.46\00:09:31.03 greater risk factor for future cancer than if you smoke. 00:09:31.07\00:09:34.97 Now the study was not saying it was okay to smoke 00:09:35.00\00:09:39.01 we just need to realize the significance of Vitamin D 00:09:39.04\00:09:42.24 deficiency. 00:09:42.28\00:09:43.61 And I think because Vitamin D is part of the immune system 00:09:43.65\00:09:47.18 If vitamin D is low, your immune system is not working well. 00:09:47.22\00:09:49.78 You body's not able to identify what is the true foreign body, 00:09:49.82\00:09:54.69 foreign compound, the bad cell that's going bad 00:09:54.72\00:09:57.53 that's not breaking down like it should and what's a good cell? 00:09:57.56\00:10:00.70 I've always heard how sunlight causes cancer and yet 00:10:00.73\00:10:06.03 we're hearing how it can actually help us fight it. 00:10:06.07\00:10:08.64 One of the ways it helps us fight cancer is through 00:10:08.67\00:10:11.31 Its role in supporting the immune system. 00:10:11.34\00:10:13.81 And there's a receptor site for just about every cell in the 00:10:13.84\00:10:17.21 body for Vitamin D. 00:10:17.25\00:10:18.58 So Vitamin D does all kinds of things but the most important 00:10:18.61\00:10:22.15 thing it does is it regulates the immune system. 00:10:22.18\00:10:24.82 And so when I see a patient and their having all kinds of 00:10:24.85\00:10:30.39 problems, I want to know what their Vitamin D level is. 00:10:30.43\00:10:31.79 The thing that is so important about Vitamin D is it's not 00:10:31.83\00:10:34.20 really a vitamin, it's actually a hormone 00:10:34.23\00:10:37.17 and so it's really important for us to think about how Vitamin D 00:10:37.20\00:10:41.70 modulates the immune system and if we have low Vitamin D, 00:10:41.74\00:10:45.91 for whatever reason to me that means the immune system 00:10:45.94\00:10:50.71 in the body is really struggling it's using up all that Vitamin D 00:10:50.75\00:10:55.52 trying to modulate all the factors and the insults 00:10:55.55\00:10:58.59 that are happening in the body. 00:10:58.62\00:11:00.06 What does modulate mean? 00:11:00.09\00:11:02.32 What do we mean when we say that Vitamin D is modulating 00:11:02.36\00:11:06.26 the immune system? 00:11:06.29\00:11:07.63 So what Vitamin D does, it really helps to balance 00:11:07.66\00:11:11.73 the immune system, so if the immune system is hyper-reactive 00:11:11.77\00:11:15.74 it helps down-regulate it and bring it back down to a 00:11:15.77\00:11:18.97 even normal level. And so when I'm thinking about modulating 00:11:19.01\00:11:21.54 I'm thinking about your immune system is really low 00:11:21.58\00:11:25.18 it will help bring it back up to where it needs to be 00:11:25.21\00:11:27.18 if it's really high and over- reacting, it will help bring it 00:11:27.22\00:11:29.55 back down so modulates it so that it balances itself out. 00:11:29.58\00:11:33.12 In addition, we have these white blood cells that are part of our 00:11:33.15\00:11:38.79 non-specific defense called natural killer cells and 00:11:38.83\00:11:42.40 natural killer cells, their responsibility is for 00:11:42.43\00:11:44.77 killing virus', they kill cancer cells, and they are 00:11:44.80\00:11:51.07 activated by Vitamin D. 00:11:51.11\00:11:53.07 Vitamin D is critical for really all conditions. 00:11:53.11\00:11:58.75 it's important for diabetics, it's important for 00:11:58.78\00:12:01.62 heart patients, it's important for pretty much everybody 00:12:01.65\00:12:04.99 but it's also really important for minimizing our 00:12:05.02\00:12:09.92 personal risk for auto- immune disease. 00:12:09.96\00:12:12.13 And one of the best studies to showcase this fact 00:12:12.16\00:12:17.57 was over a 10-year study done in the nation of Finland 00:12:17.60\00:12:22.84 that has the highest rate per capita of Type I Diabetes 00:12:22.87\00:12:28.94 which is a very common unfortunately auto-immunity 00:12:28.98\00:12:34.65 where because of some infection or some toxic exposure 00:12:34.68\00:12:42.22 that child or young adult, could happen really at any age 00:12:42.26\00:12:47.26 usually in their early formative years will have an 00:12:47.30\00:12:52.13 auto-immune reaction against the beta cells of the pancreas 00:12:52.17\00:12:55.20 completely destroying them so now that they require 00:12:55.24\00:12:59.11 the insulin just to survive, just to control 00:12:59.14\00:13:01.44 their blood sugar, so that's a Type I diabetic which is 00:13:01.48\00:13:04.91 very different than the Type II diabetic. 00:13:04.95\00:13:08.35 This study, they said basically pregnant women and their infants 00:13:08.38\00:13:13.62 and children up to the age of 10 were to take an average 00:13:13.66\00:13:17.53 2,000 units of Vitamin D a day. So during pregnancy 00:13:17.56\00:13:21.43 and as soon as the baby is born taking 2,000 units a day 00:13:21.46\00:13:25.80 that's not too much, okay, and as indicated by that study 00:13:25.83\00:13:31.31 and they took that same amount 00:13:31.34\00:13:33.34 for the period of 10 years. Those individuals that did them 00:13:33.38\00:13:36.98 verses those that didn't had 80% of their risk of Type I 00:13:37.15\00:13:42.58 diabetes removed. In other words in the country 00:13:42.62\00:13:44.89 that has the highest rate of Type I diabetes 00:13:44.92\00:13:47.29 auto-immune condition, over 80% of that illness 00:13:47.32\00:13:51.89 was eradicated, prevented by just simply optimizing 00:13:51.93\00:13:58.93 Vitamin D blood levels in those infants and youngsters. 00:13:58.97\00:14:03.37 So we do know that Vitamin D and low Vitamin D is associated 00:14:03.41\00:14:08.44 with auto-immune disease and or worsening outcomes for 00:14:08.48\00:14:12.91 auto-immune disease and so I'm really thinking through 00:14:12.95\00:14:15.98 how all these pieces play together in the Vitamin D 00:14:16.02\00:14:19.59 as a modulator an immune modulator so when you have 00:14:19.62\00:14:22.52 auto-immune disease, Vitamin D is being used up trying to help 00:14:22.56\00:14:25.23 normalize the immune system response so you would expect 00:14:25.26\00:14:29.10 that you would need more Vitamin D to help the 00:14:29.13\00:14:32.10 immune system settle in and know what it's supposed to do 00:14:32.13\00:14:34.50 to modulate it. 00:14:34.54\00:14:35.87 You know, I don't think we realize how healing sunlight is, 00:14:35.90\00:14:39.91 that it is one of nature's doctors, Vitamin D is said 00:14:39.94\00:14:44.01 to affect all body tissue including the thyroid. 00:14:44.05\00:14:47.68 In fact Vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency is associated with 00:14:47.72\00:14:52.75 increased risk of reduced thyroid function and thyroid 00:14:52.79\00:14:56.69 immunity. Low levels of Vitamin D are linked with aggressiveness 00:14:56.73\00:15:01.56 of thyroid cancer too. 00:15:01.60\00:15:03.03 Vitamin D turns out to be a very important supplement 00:15:03.06\00:15:07.40 to consider for thyroid disorders since it's been found 00:15:07.44\00:15:10.37 to consistently help thyroid. 00:15:10.41\00:15:12.34 In fact, the lower the Vitamin D, the higher the chance 00:15:12.37\00:15:16.34 of thyroid disorder. 00:15:16.38\00:15:17.71 And the lower the Vitamin D, the higher the levels of 00:15:17.75\00:15:20.38 thyroid antibodies. 00:15:20.42\00:15:21.95 Think Hashimotos. 00:15:21.98\00:15:23.72 Perhaps nowhere more relevant than in auto-immune diseases 00:15:23.75\00:15:28.32 that I am involved with so the most common... 00:15:28.36\00:15:30.99 There are two common auto- immune diseases that 00:15:31.03\00:15:33.16 endocrinologists treat and that one would be auto-immune 00:15:33.19\00:15:36.23 thyroiditis, things like Hashimoto's thyroiditis 00:15:36.50\00:15:38.83 which often causes hypo- thyroidism or Graves' Disease 00:15:38.87\00:15:43.81 which is an auto-immune condition causing the thyroid 00:15:43.84\00:15:46.27 to be overactive. And then we treat Type I diabetes 00:15:46.31\00:15:49.08 which is also an auto-immune process where the beta cells 00:15:49.11\00:15:52.15 in the pancreas are under attack by the immune system 00:15:52.18\00:15:55.35 and killed off until where there is no more insulin production 00:15:55.38\00:15:58.35 from the pancreas leading to Type I diabetes. 00:15:58.39\00:16:00.99 We have more and more evidence that's accumulating that 00:16:01.02\00:16:06.86 Vitamin D is important for helping the immune system 00:16:06.90\00:16:11.30 to maintain itself in a balanced state. 00:16:11.33\00:16:14.17 Vitamin D is an anti- inflammatory, Vitamin D also 00:16:14.20\00:16:19.41 affects auto-immunity, if Vitamin D is low, your immune 00:16:19.44\00:16:23.08 system is not working well, your body's not able to 00:16:23.11\00:16:26.05 identify what is the true foreign body, foreign compound 00:16:26.08\00:16:30.42 the bad cell that is going bad that's not breaking down 00:16:30.45\00:16:33.22 like it should. 00:16:33.25\00:16:35.39 We need a good working balanced immune system 00:16:35.42\00:16:38.86 as we learned about in a previous program, 00:16:38.89\00:16:40.90 it can help us prevent auto- immunity, cancer, and help us 00:16:40.93\00:16:44.93 fight sickness such as Covid. 00:16:44.97\00:16:47.24 You know there was a study in Spain that showed that whenever 00:16:47.27\00:16:52.44 a person's Vitamin D level was over 30, no one died 00:16:52.47\00:16:59.15 from Covid in Spain, not a single person in the study. 00:16:59.18\00:17:02.55 A recent meta-analysis published in the Journal Nutrients 00:17:02.58\00:17:07.82 in October of 2021 showed that if you got Covid of the Delta 00:17:07.86\00:17:17.03 variety, the worse one that we've had so far, 00:17:17.07\00:17:19.27 okay, but your Vitamin D level was above 50 Nano grams per ml 00:17:19.30\00:17:27.18 that your risk of actually dying of that Covid experience 00:17:27.21\00:17:31.11 was near zero. That's good news, now I would never rely on 00:17:31.15\00:17:36.05 Vitamin D alone to protect me from any disease. 00:17:36.08\00:17:40.26 Okay, but that's a simple remedy that everybody should be taking 00:17:40.29\00:17:45.26 advantage of and that for most of us does require some 00:17:45.29\00:17:49.06 supplementation unless you're literally spending time in the 00:17:49.10\00:17:53.27 mid-day on a regular basis outside and you verify the 00:17:53.30\00:17:57.64 effectiveness of that with a blood test where your 00:17:57.67\00:18:00.44 blood levels are above 50. 00:18:00.48\00:18:02.08 Well, we knew that Vitamin D was important for the 00:18:02.11\00:18:05.18 immune system long before Covid came along that one on the 00:18:05.21\00:18:09.05 fascinating things that we learned about Vitamin D 00:18:09.08\00:18:11.29 was that if you had a Vitamin D level in you blood of probably 00:18:11.32\00:18:15.16 forty or higher, if you got Covid, your chance of dying 00:18:15.19\00:18:19.16 from Covid was dramatically less than if you had a 00:18:19.19\00:18:23.97 blood level of Vitamin D of less than 30 perhaps. 00:18:24.00\00:18:26.63 Cytokine storm it is a situation where the immune system 00:18:26.67\00:18:30.37 has lost control of itself, it's been tasked with 00:18:30.41\00:18:33.78 fighting this infection, fighting this virus, 00:18:33.81\00:18:36.34 quelling inflammation in the lungs and elsewhere. 00:18:36.38\00:18:39.28 But if the immune system doesn't have the proper system of 00:18:39.31\00:18:42.68 breaking or slowing itself down it may ramp up and overproduce 00:18:42.72\00:18:48.49 these chemicals called cytokines. 00:18:48.52\00:18:50.09 These are chemical messengers that the immune system cells 00:18:50.13\00:18:53.66 like lymphocytes produced and put out into the bloodstream 00:18:53.70\00:18:57.13 to affect other tissues. 00:18:57.17\00:18:58.50 The cytokines are harmful to tissue, they're part of the 00:18:58.53\00:19:01.90 way that the immune system uses to kill a cell that's infected 00:19:01.94\00:19:04.41 with the virus. In cytokine storm it turned out that 00:19:04.44\00:19:07.81 that process was just over abundant, over-exuberant 00:19:07.84\00:19:11.41 and as a result of cytokine storm, tissues in the lungs 00:19:11.45\00:19:15.62 and the blood vessels were being damaged by the body's 00:19:15.65\00:19:18.35 own reaction to the Covid virus infection, 00:19:18.39\00:19:20.99 adequate Vitamin D prevented that to a large degree. 00:19:21.02\00:19:24.99 They found that people that had Vitamin D levels that 00:19:25.23\00:19:28.86 are greater than 55 which is kind of toward the higher end 00:19:28.90\00:19:33.44 their survival rate from Covid is way higher. 00:19:33.47\00:19:36.87 Vitamin D level is directly correlated with thyroid 00:19:36.91\00:19:40.64 so if your Vitamin D level is low your thyroid level is low. 00:19:40.68\00:19:43.45 In fact, they will say in functional medicine that 00:19:43.48\00:19:47.85 if your Vitamin D level is below 70, your thyroid's not 00:19:47.88\00:19:50.15 working well, it's got to be above 70. 00:19:50.19\00:19:51.89 That's a metabolic endocrinologist okay, 00:19:51.92\00:19:56.76 or functional endocrinologist, if it's a cardiologist, 00:19:56.79\00:19:59.76 we have several metabolic cardiologists there, 00:19:59.79\00:20:03.03 that's what they call themselves, they say that the 00:20:03.06\00:20:05.67 heart doesn't work well below 80 for Vitamin D. 00:20:05.70\00:20:09.04 So, thyroid's directly correlated with Vitamin D level. 00:20:09.07\00:20:13.61 In the periphery, the T4 has to change to T3, that's the 00:20:13.64\00:20:18.85 active form, but to actually absorb it you have to have 00:20:18.88\00:20:22.48 Vitamin D to help absorb the thyroid at the cell level 00:20:22.52\00:20:26.49 that's why it has to be at a certain level. 00:20:26.52\00:20:28.22 You can have everything else done beautifully on your 00:20:28.26\00:20:31.09 thyroid panels but if your Vitamin D is low, 00:20:31.13\00:20:33.26 I'm not getting proper thyroid. 00:20:33.29\00:20:34.70 So you are saying that someone could be having symptoms 00:20:34.73\00:20:37.27 and think hmm, I think my thyroid is off and they 00:20:37.30\00:20:39.97 go to the doctor, they get their blood work and the doctor's like 00:20:40.00\00:20:42.80 nope, your thyroid's fine because your blood work 00:20:42.84\00:20:44.84 is great...Absolutely. But it still could be a thyroid 00:20:44.87\00:20:47.64 problem because maybe they are deficient in Vitamin D 00:20:47.68\00:20:50.18 and that thyroid is not reaching their cells. 00:20:50.21\00:20:52.11 That's correct, that's what they are telling us 00:20:52.15\00:20:53.85 and it seems to be playing out here in the office clinically. 00:20:53.88\00:20:58.25 So whereas with thyroid, the lower your Vitamin D, 00:20:58.29\00:21:02.69 the lower the thyroid. 00:21:02.72\00:21:04.06 With obesity, the lower the Vitamin D, the more obesity is. 00:21:04.09\00:21:09.06 it's just exactly inverse. 00:21:09.10\00:21:10.60 This sunshine vitamin is all over the place, 00:21:10.63\00:21:14.00 I hope that you are seeing just how valuable 00:21:14.04\00:21:17.37 it is to multiple parts of our health 00:21:17.41\00:21:19.91 including our heart health. 00:21:20.04\00:21:21.94 Vitamin D is an essential vitamin for our 00:21:21.98\00:21:29.22 cardiovascular health, there has been a lot of debate... 00:21:29.25\00:21:32.65 You know I remember 15/20 years ago I was in a fellowship 00:21:32.69\00:21:38.33 and they were just laughing about Vitamin D saying 00:21:38.36\00:21:41.90 you know, it's not important, this quack has given Vitamin D 00:21:41.93\00:21:45.50 it doesn't have nothing to do with the heart 00:21:45.53\00:21:48.50 and we know important Vitamin D is and very essential. 00:21:48.54\00:21:52.77 There was a study that was published in the Journal of 00:21:52.81\00:21:55.98 Investigative Dermatology in January 20 that found that the 00:21:56.01\00:22:02.02 nitric oxide that is stored... Remember that we talked about 00:22:02.05\00:22:05.65 the nitric oxide for the endothelial cells. 00:22:05.69\00:22:07.79 Well this nitric oxide that is stored in the top layer 00:22:07.82\00:22:11.89 of the skin reacts to sunlight and causes blood vessels 00:22:11.93\00:22:17.73 to widen and the oxide moves into the bloodstream, 00:22:17.77\00:22:21.90 that in turn lowers the blood pressure so Vitamin D 00:22:21.94\00:22:27.18 is essential. 00:22:27.21\00:22:29.44 Do you know what your Vitamin D level is? 00:22:29.48\00:22:31.78 It's important to know, remember we have Vitamin D receptors 00:22:31.81\00:22:35.45 on nearly every cell of the body so it makes sense 00:22:35.48\00:22:38.55 that it will impact a lot. 00:22:38.59\00:22:40.52 The people back in the 30's again they didn't have all these 00:22:40.56\00:22:44.79 labs to go by, they were going by how they felt 00:22:44.83\00:22:47.53 and sometimes that makes more sense than what we think 00:22:47.56\00:22:52.40 the lab test is telling us. 00:22:52.43\00:22:54.40 So it adds another dimension to medicine as to what 00:22:54.44\00:23:00.58 and how we treat them. In the 30's they were treating 00:23:00.61\00:23:04.15 rheumatoid arthritis with 200,000 International Units 00:23:04.18\00:23:09.78 of Vitamin D daily and curing it. 00:23:09.82\00:23:11.82 Now, it's not considered Kosher in medicine to talk about cures 00:23:11.85\00:23:17.59 but they were curing it. The problem is they had one 00:23:17.63\00:23:21.70 or two patients that came down with a liver problem 00:23:21.73\00:23:24.23 and because Vitamin D is a fat soluble compound 00:23:24.27\00:23:27.67 it goes through the liver and they decided that 00:23:27.70\00:23:30.81 it was Vitamin D that had ruined the liver. 00:23:30.84\00:23:33.91 No double-blind studies, this is all coming from case reports. 00:23:33.94\00:23:40.68 So you mind sharing just connecting the dots 00:23:40.72\00:23:44.32 how Vitamin D would improve rheumatoid arthritis? 00:23:44.35\00:23:48.02 As an interesting aside here, I had several patients where 00:23:48.06\00:23:52.03 we actually put them on Vitamin D at fairly high doses 00:23:52.06\00:23:54.56 because of various things and hopefully, my older sister will 00:23:54.60\00:23:59.13 forgive me, she was one of them because we have 00:23:59.17\00:24:01.77 rheumatoid arthritis in our family because we have 00:24:01.80\00:24:04.71 Scottish blood, Scottish blood has to do with those B vitamins 00:24:04.74\00:24:07.48 okay, if you are not absorbing the B vitamins you tend to have 00:24:07.51\00:24:10.35 more of these auto-immune problems. 00:24:10.38\00:24:11.71 At any rate, she had heard this lecture and she decided 00:24:11.75\00:24:16.89 that she was going to start taking Vitamin D 00:24:16.92\00:24:19.59 and so she started taking 50,000 International Units daily 00:24:19.62\00:24:25.33 and eight months later she was still on that dose, 00:24:25.36\00:24:29.26 her arthritis was totally gone, she was feeling wonderful 00:24:29.30\00:24:35.20 her husband who is an Orthopedist at Mayo Clinic 00:24:35.24\00:24:38.81 back east where they live said hey don't you think you 00:24:38.84\00:24:42.41 ought to test your level you know it is toxic, she tested it 00:24:42.44\00:24:46.08 and her level was 675. 00:24:46.11\00:24:48.08 Now I don't want to say everybody can do that, 00:24:48.12\00:24:51.45 she was feeling fantastic when I told her you can probably 00:24:51.49\00:24:55.16 back down now that you are up that high, 00:24:55.19\00:24:56.99 she didn't want to because she felt so good. 00:24:57.03\00:24:59.39 There are many benefits of sunshine not related to 00:24:59.43\00:25:02.76 Vitamin D but you know one of the well-known benefits 00:25:02.80\00:25:06.20 of sunshine is the Vitamin D that we get from it. 00:25:06.23\00:25:09.07 And Vitamin D is actually more like a hormone than 00:25:09.10\00:25:14.84 a standard vitamin and what's interesting about Vitamin D 00:25:14.88\00:25:19.91 is that it turns on literally 10% of our genes. 00:25:19.95\00:25:24.59 We have these receptors on our genes called VDR's 00:25:24.62\00:25:29.22 that stands for Vitamin D receptors and the Vitamin D 00:25:29.26\00:25:33.40 binds to the receptor and it activates and turns on 00:25:33.43\00:25:36.36 the genes, and these genes play a role in controlling 00:25:36.40\00:25:41.67 inflammation for example, in preventing cancer cells 00:25:41.70\00:25:46.47 from forming and all sorts of other things that are 00:25:46.51\00:25:51.01 really important to us. 00:25:51.05\00:25:52.38 Did you hear that? This is potentially 00:25:52.41\00:25:56.35 life-altering information. Insufficient Vitamin D 00:25:56.38\00:26:00.69 could be giving loose reign to the inflammatory gene 00:26:00.72\00:26:04.09 and it's running wild in our bodies. 00:26:04.13\00:26:06.53 To help us understand it, I asked him to say it again. 00:26:06.56\00:26:10.43 So, other ways that Vitamin D can be helpful specifically for 00:26:10.47\00:26:16.60 people with chronic pain are number one is, it reduces 00:26:16.64\00:26:20.84 inflammation, we actually have a gene that codes for 00:26:20.88\00:26:28.15 inflammation and there is a Vitamin D receptor 00:26:28.18\00:26:32.55 attached to that gene and if we don't have enough Vitamin D 00:26:32.59\00:26:36.93 the Vitamin D doesn't bind to that receptor and we have 00:26:36.96\00:26:41.80 uncontrolled inflammation. 00:26:41.83\00:26:43.16 So low Vitamin D can ramp up pain? 00:26:43.20\00:26:46.57 Yes, the descending pain pathway is actually what we call a 00:26:46.60\00:26:53.58 serotonergic pathway and when we're low in serotonin 00:26:53.61\00:26:58.28 we're unable to activate that pathway as well and 00:26:58.31\00:27:02.02 tone down the pain. 00:27:02.05\00:27:03.39 Sunshine is medicine, this is not to say that you shouldn't 00:27:03.42\00:27:07.72 listen to your Dermatologist, we need to think this through, 00:27:07.76\00:27:10.63 how can we have smart sun exposure? 00:27:10.66\00:27:12.59 There's a whole other aspect of sunlight that we will be 00:27:12.63\00:27:15.36 looking at in our next episode of Made For Health. 00:27:15.40\00:27:18.37 I hope you join us. 00:27:18.40\00:27:19.97