Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today
Speaker 1: we're going to shed some light, quite literally on a
Speaker 1: nutrient that plays a pivotal role in your overall health,
Speaker 1: and that is vitamin D. And it may have heard
Speaker 1: me say before, I and many others think it should
Speaker 1: be reclassified as a hormone, a steroid hormone, because it
Speaker 1: actually regulates around three hundred genes. Now, it's often referred
Speaker 1: to as the sunshine vitamin, and it's synthesized by your skin,
Speaker 1: as many will know, in response to sunlight exposure. And
Speaker 1: it really is essential for your body because as part
Speaker 1: of regulating those three hundred genes, it actually is active
Speaker 1: in so many processes in the body that are relevant
Speaker 1: to our health. Yet a significant portion of the population
Speaker 1: does not get enough, either has vitamin D deficiency or
Speaker 1: vitamin D insufficiency, and that is in Australia as well
Speaker 1: as other countries like the UK where there's not much sun.
Speaker 1: And in fact, it's estimated that fifty seven percent of
Speaker 1: adults in the UK have vitamin D levels that are
Speaker 1: lower than optimal, and in Australia in twenty eleven, about
Speaker 1: a quarter of all Australians had vitamin D deficiency and
Speaker 1: about the cm where number were suboptimal, and research from
Speaker 1: Curtin University actually suggests that in Australia ninety percent of
Speaker 1: people have suboptimal intakes of vitamin D, and globally it's
Speaker 1: estimated that around a billion people have vitamin D deficiency
Speaker 1: and a whole lot more have suboptimal levels. So what
Speaker 1: happens when you're not getting enough vitamin D? The signs
Speaker 1: are really quite subtle, but they are impactful can be
Speaker 1: confused with other things, So let's explore some of the
Speaker 1: symptoms of this little but mighty vitamin and why it
Speaker 1: matters so much. So some of the most common signs
Speaker 1: of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency are persistent levels of fatigue,
Speaker 1: having frequent colds and infections because it supports your immune system,
Speaker 1: and bone pain and muscleaches are another sign, as is
Speaker 1: slow wound healing. Also, her loss are particularly alopecia and
Speaker 1: unexplained weight gain. So let's break those down and look
Speaker 1: at what the science actually tells us. So firstly, let's
Speaker 1: talk about fatigue and energy levels. If you're feeling unusually
Speaker 1: tired despite getting enough sleep, vinamin D may be playing
Speaker 1: a role, so studies have repeatedly linked low or suboptimal
Speaker 1: vitamin D levels with chronic fatigue. For example, a twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen study involving female nurses found that eighty nine percent
Speaker 1: of those who ported fatigue had deficient vitamin D levels,
Speaker 1: and another study in twenty nineteen show that older adults
Speaker 1: with low vitamin D were more likely to report fatigue symptoms. Now,
Speaker 1: vitamin D helps to regulate immune function and reduce inflammation,
Speaker 1: both of which contribute to better energy levels. Right, but
Speaker 1: before you go jumping to vitamin D deficiency as the
Speaker 1: cause of fatigue or any of these other things, is
Speaker 1: important that you do go and get a blood test. Now,
Speaker 1: let's talk about immune function and infections. So if you
Speaker 1: find that you're catching every code that comes your way,
Speaker 1: then your immune system may need a boost. Vitamin D,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, is absolutely crucial for immune health,
Speaker 1: and research suggests that adequate levels can help reduce the
Speaker 1: risk of acute respiratory infections, and that includes COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, men and Nalysis even found that vinamin
Speaker 1: D supplemmentation had protective effect against respiratory infections, though the
Speaker 1: degree of benefit varied amongst individuals and for those who
Speaker 1: are prone to frequent illnesses, particularly during winter, and they
Speaker 1: recommend a daily supplement of one thousand to two thousand
Speaker 1: I use of vinomin per day, and pregnant women, the elderly,
Speaker 1: and individuals with chronic conditions should obviously speak to their
Speaker 1: healthcare provider before you go supplementing. Let's talk about bone
Speaker 1: health and muscle strength. So vitimid d's probably best known
Speaker 1: for its role in bone health, and it enables your
Speaker 1: body to absorb calcium, which is essential for strong bones,
Speaker 1: and a lack of vitamin D can lead to soft
Speaker 1: bones and adults and rickets in children and people who
Speaker 1: have load fittib D might also experience chronic bone pain
Speaker 1: and muscle weakness. Now, muscles also depend on vinamin D
Speaker 1: for optimal function, and research has shown that people with
Speaker 1: chronic muscle pain often have low levels of vitamin D
Speaker 1: and that's because vitamin D interacts with nerve cells called
Speaker 1: no SI sceptors, which sense pain, and supplementing can actually
Speaker 1: improve muscle strength and reduce soreness. Next, let's talk about
Speaker 1: wound healing and skin health. So if you have slow
Speaker 1: wound healing. That's another overlook sign of a vitamin D deficiency,
Speaker 1: and a twenty fourteen study revealed that individuals with severe
Speaker 1: vitamin D deficiency had higher levels of inflammation, which can
Speaker 1: hinder the body's natural healing process. And in diabetic patients
Speaker 1: with foot ulcers, vitamin D supplementation improved healing rates significantly.
Speaker 1: And it also plays a role in controlling skin inflammation,
Speaker 1: repairing tissue, and fighting infections, and which is really essential
Speaker 1: for recovery after injury or surgery. And I am certainly
Speaker 1: looking at optimizing my vitamin D levels before my upcoming surgery.
Speaker 1: Then the next one, I got the memo pretty late
Speaker 1: on this, and this is her loss. So her loss,
Speaker 1: particularly alopecia, has been linked to low vitamin D levels,
Speaker 1: and alopecia's many of you will know as an auto
Speaker 1: immune condition that causes patchy her loss, and studies actually
Speaker 1: suggest that vitamin D could help with her regrowth. So
Speaker 1: one study found that applying a synthetic form of vitamin
Speaker 1: D topically for twelve weeks led to significant her regrowth
Speaker 1: in participants and for general her health. Ensuring adequate vitamin
Speaker 1: D levels can make a noticeable difference. Next one is
Speaker 1: about weight gain and metabolic health. So whilst vitamin D
Speaker 1: deficiency or insufficiency isn't a direct cause of weight gain,
Speaker 1: it does appear to play a role in metabolic health.
Speaker 1: Many people with the basically have low levels of vitamin D,
Speaker 1: and studies suggest that supplementation could slow the progression from
Speaker 1: pre diabetes to diabetes. Let's now then talk about how
Speaker 1: you can get more vitamin D. So obviously, the first
Speaker 1: one is sun exposure, because your skin produces vitamin D
Speaker 1: when it's exposed to sunlight, and you should be aiming
Speaker 1: for it. Depends where you are in the world and
Speaker 1: how dark your skin is, anywhere between ten and thirty
Speaker 1: minutes of uncovered sun exposure a few days a week
Speaker 1: or most days, depending on your skin tone and your location.
Speaker 1: Morning sunlight's actually ideal because it's less intense and doesn't
Speaker 1: increase the risk of skin damage as much as midday
Speaker 1: sun does. Then let's talk about food sources. Probably the
Speaker 1: best is oily fish, salmon, sardines, and mackerel. They're very
Speaker 1: rich in vitamin D. And then things like red meat
Speaker 1: and liver are good sources of vitamin D as are
Speaker 1: egg yolks and mushrooms that have actually been left out
Speaker 1: in the sun for five or ten minutes before eating
Speaker 1: because they actually absorb the vitamin D and that can
Speaker 1: increase their amount. And then fortified milks, whether it's dirry
Speaker 1: or plant lest milks, lots of them are now fortified
Speaker 1: in vinamin D, which is probably a good option. And
Speaker 1: then your next one, and particularly if your levels are suboptimal,
Speaker 1: would be supplements. So the NHS in the UK recommends
Speaker 1: four hundred I use a day, some people recommend a
Speaker 1: thousand I use, just depending on your levels. So it
Speaker 1: is really is pretty key to get your levels checked
Speaker 1: before you go and do it. So how much vitamin
Speaker 1: D should we actually have? So this really depends who
Speaker 1: you ask. Different countries have got different levels, but I'll
Speaker 1: give you the ones. The cut offs for Australia, well,
Speaker 1: they talk about severe deficiency being less than thirteen nanimals
Speaker 1: per liter. Now just be a wirre that different countries
Speaker 1: use different units, so you can just look up the
Speaker 1: conversion if you're in the United States or any of
Speaker 1: those other areas. So back to the Australian guidelines, they
Speaker 1: will say that moderate deficiency is thirteen to twenty nine
Speaker 1: animals per lead, Mild deficiency is thirty to forty nine
Speaker 1: animals per liter, and adequate levels are basically at fifty
Speaker 1: millimles per liter or more. But if you talk to
Speaker 1: integrated medicine doctors and they will tell you that optimal
Speaker 1: levels would be one hundred to one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: animals per liter, or maybe even a little bit more.
Speaker 1: And I certainly like to play in that range of
Speaker 1: one hundred to one hundred and fifty animals per liter.
Speaker 1: But like I said earlier, before you go and buyinging
Speaker 1: down lots of supplements, you can have an excess of
Speaker 1: vitamin D. So it is important that you get your
Speaker 1: levels checked, whether that's going to your doctor to get
Speaker 1: them checked or ordering some of these consumer tests that
Speaker 1: you can now get in lots of different countries. But
Speaker 1: I think, just given vitamin d's really wide role in
Speaker 1: lots of different health processes and regulation of genes, that
Speaker 1: actually getting yours tested and making sure that it is
Speaker 1: optimal is a very good strategy for improving your health
Speaker 1: and your health span and lifespan. That's it for this week, folks,
Speaker 1: Catch you next time.