An Important Discovery About Vitamin D

[tex]

Hi All,

Very little definitive research has been done to actually focus on how vitamin D levels might be connected with Lupus in particular, (and autoimmune responses in general), but here is a study which contains some very revealing observations. This study shows that not only do vitamin D levels directly affect the symptoms of Lupus, but it points out that healthy controls who are ANA-positive, are much more likely to be vitamin D deficient than ANA-negative controls. IOW, this study says that lupus can be treated with vitamin D, and furthermore, it says that low vitamin D levels open the door to the development autoimmune disease. That's pretty profound information.

Conclusions The observation that ANA-positive healthy controls are significantly more likely to be deficient in vitamin D than ANA-negative healthy controls, together with the finding that vitamin D deficiency is associated with certain immune abnormalities in SLE, suggests that vitamin D plays an important role in autoantibody production and SLE pathogenesis.

http://ard.bmj.com/content/70/9/1569.ab ... e=HWCIT&ct

I predict that at some point in the future, someone will study the combined effects of gluten-sensitivity and vitamin D deficiency, to discover that this amounts to the "perfect" recipe for the development of all sorts of autoimmune diseases, (including IBDs).

Love,
Tex

[Zizzle]

Interesting, but I've always wondered WHY those with autoimmune disease have lower levels of Vit D. Assuming they have the same sun exposure or access to supplements as a healthy person, why is the level of D lower in the diseased person? Does the disease process eat up unusual amounts of vitamin D? I've been supplementing for a year and can't reach 30!

[sarkin]

Z,

I think it's likely that people don't get the same sun exposure when feeling even 'somewhat' unwell... and also that the process of converting sunshine to Vitamin D is disturbed especially by digestive conditions, even before they're sufficiently symptomatic to get a patient's (much less a GI's) attention (that would apply to ingested supplements especially).

Since so much autoimmune disease seems to have gluten sensitivity lurking in the shadows, it makes sense to me that either that disturbance messes up Vitamin D production & management in the body *or* - maybe more likely - the body's demand for Vitamin D goes up drastically because it is under siege, so it would take prodigious quantities of sunlight and supplementation to make up for the daily need.

I bet, as you heal, and your D symptoms reduce further, your level will go up (and I might switch brands once in a while - I have always wondered how we know which brand is better than another, and whether some brands might agree more with some of us than others.

I'm having my bloods drawn and will report back! I get a fair amount of sun at this time of year and am supplementing on all but my most sun-baked days. So my level "should" be OK... but may not have recovered from the MC-crash of March.

Frightening that the daily reference intake levels *and* maximum recommended levels are still so low, eh?

--S

[tex]

Assuming they have the same sun exposure or access to supplements as a healthy person,

I agree with Sara - I don't believe that we can make that assumption. Many people don't get very much sun exposure, and they don't take supplemental vitamin D. Also, many people who do get sun exposure, tend to wash off the oils and chemicals that are part of the intermediate chemical reaction that converts sunlight to vitamin D. That reaction takes 24 to 48 hours to complete, and few people are willing to leave a sweaty, oily film on their skin that long, these days - they promptly wash it off.

I also believe that it may be true that all autoimmune diseases "deplete" 25(OH)D levels at an accelerated rate. (We know for a fact that IBDs do that - I can site a reference if you want). And, as Sara suggests, it's even possible that the mechanism by which vitamin D absorption is interrupted, when an IBD is present, may have something to do with chemical and/or neurological signals between the mucosa of the gut, and the skin - they are both epidermal tissues, with similar characteristics. When the epidermal surface of the gut is inflamed, it might communicate something to the exterior epidermal surface, (skin), that interferes with vitamin D synthesis. That would imply that a food-sensitivity might not only interfere with vitamin D absorption in the gut, but the effect might extend to vitamin D synthesis on the skin. Obviously, that's just speculation, on my part, though - I'm just thinking out loud, here.

One other consideration is cholesterol and/or statins. Cholesterol is necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D from sunlight. Is your cholesterol level high enough? My post from a year ago, at the following link describes what happened to me when my cholesterol level plummeted drastically - so did my vitamin D blood level. There are probably a lot of people running around these days with compromised vitamin D synthesis capability, because they are taking a statin, or for some other reason, have a lower than ideal cholesterol level, (and my idea of an "ideal cholesterol level" most definitely does not coincide with the "ideal cholesterol level" concept promoted by most doctors).

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12008

Normally, about 90% of bile acids are absorbed, (for recycling), in the terminal ileum, and the terminal ileum, (along with the ascending colon), is one of the most likely locations for the most intense inflammation markers, associated with MC. Therefore, it is very likely that when MC is active, bile acid recycling is attenuated, (due to the malabsorption problems caused by the inflammation), resulting in a much greater demand by the body to produce bile for the digestive system, which then depletes the normal reserves from which cholesterol is normally synthesized. The end result is a lowered availability of cholesterol that can be used to synthesize vitamin D.

My own example, (described in the thread at the link above), is a good illustration of this effect, because part of my terminal ileum was surgically removed, prior to my cholesterol "crash", resulting in a huge reduction in my vitamin D level. It went from 96.8 ng/mL, to 46 ng/mL.

Tex

[sarkin]

Tex,

I recently saw (in a newsletter, but I didn't note which one) a story about someone whose Vitamin D levels plummeted after a traumatic accident - this person had had a recent test with good levels, and while in hospital tested *very* low. So the trauma of illness, of medical procedures, of a near-celiac crisis (as it's possible both Z & I had, but were lucky enough not to get all the way there), and perhaps the trauma of your surgery caused both cholesterol and Vit.D to drop - or by causing one to drop, depleted the other.

I think most doctors don't realize how being ill really messes up your health.

Z, whether you should up your intake is unclear to me... do you think that would help? If not you're absorbing it, do you need to do a short-term super-boring diet and then increase the D? If you're using more because you're working on healing, maybe increasing it would actually help the process? I have a chicken-and-egg question going on here, right?

L,
S

[Zizzle]

I'm taking 2,000 IU during the summer and plan to take 5,000 IU in the colder months. My cholesterol was in the low 150s (not fasting) after my MC diagnosis, which is strangely low for me and my family. My Vit D was in the high 20's then too. I'm sure they are related, so I guess I'm asking a chicken-and-egg question too. When my post-partum autoimmune issues started 7 years ago, my D level was 17!! But I don't think my low D CAUSED my autoimmune antibodies to rise or my MC to be triggered. I think the D levels are a result of the disease process. Tex mey be right about the mechanisms of how that can happen.

[sarkin]

Z,

I take 4000-6000 IU on days when I'm not in the sun. I just had my bloods drawn this morning, so I should have some feedback about my regimen soon. I think maybe it's right that I take more than you would, since I'm older, and more recently had my MC 'crash' occur. Maybe. (I'm going to ask for an AI workup as followup to these bloods, plus thyroid panel.)

Whatever else it means, it does seem as though D-levels are a good marker for what's going on with health. If the low D doesn't cause problems per se, then raising it might not help... I think there's a good reason for the chicken/egg confusion here, because it really is just that complex, with interplay in both directions.

Or maybe I mean it's a vicious cycle... though it's possible I've just tripped into a whole metaphor-mixing morass.

Ai...

S