Association between low serum vitamin D and greater all cause mortalityin older women

x-no-archive: yes

The obvious is that association is not proof of causation, BUT, vitamin
D is essential for infection fighting, bone and cancer prevention and
fighting, among other things. It's a critical hormone that most older
folks have a serum deficiency in. My mother's balance problem resolved
very quickly with high dose vitamin D supplementation at initiation,
then 2500 iu per day afterward.

Susan


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19761886

Nutr Res. 2009 Aug;29(8):525-30.

Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are associated with
greater all-cause mortality in older community-dwelling women.
Semba RD, Houston DK, Ferrucci L, Cappola AR, Sun K, Guralnik JM,
Fried LP.

Department of Ophthalmology, The Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, MD 21287, USA. rdsemba@jhmi.edu

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with osteoporosis, poor muscle
strength, falls, and fractures. The relationship between serum vitamin
D concentrations and mortality in older community-dwelling women has
not been well characterized. We hypothesized that women with lower 25-
hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations were at higher risk of
mortality. We examined the association between serum 25[OH]D
concentrations and all-cause mortality in a prospective, population-
based study of 714 community-dwelling women, aged 70 to 79 years, the
Women's Health and Aging Studies I and II in Baltimore, Md. The
studies were originally designed to evaluate the causes and course of
physical disability in older women living in the community. Vital
status was determined through follow-up interviews and matching with
the National Death Index. During a median of 72 months of follow-up,
100 (14%) of 714 women died. Women in the lowest quartile of 25(OH)D
(<15.3 ng/mL or 38.2 nmol/L) were at higher risk of death (hazards
ratio, 2.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-5.36; P = .02) compared to
women in the highest quartile (>27.0 ng/mL or 67.4 nmol/L) of 25(OH)D
in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for
demographics, season, and conventional risk factors. Older community-
dwelling women with low 25(OH)D levels are at an increased risk of
death.

PMID: 19761886 [PubMed - in process]

"Susan" <susan@nothanks.org> wrote in message
news:7lblkhF3d8ld6U1@mid.individual.net...
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> The obvious is that association is not proof of causation, BUT, vitamin D
> is essential for infection fighting, bone and cancer prevention and
> fighting, among other things. It's a critical hormone that most older
> folks have a serum deficiency in. My mother's balance problem resolved
> very quickly with high dose vitamin D supplementation at initiation, then
> 2500 iu per day afterward.

<read but snipped>

Hmmm... My MIL is in a nursing home and I don't think she routinely gets
taken outside for sunshine. She is in PA so we don't visit now being so far
away and all. When we did visit, we would take her out, but mostly she was
sitting under a gazebo. I can see how it would be easy for the people who
live there to get no sunshine, and then no vitamin D.

I do not like the outdoors very much but I do try to get out there pretty
much every day. My parent's Dr. told them they need about 10 to 15 minutes
a day outside with no sunscreen on. I think that's also important. I
generally do not ever wear sunscreen. I do burn easily and therefore try to
limit my time in the sun. This past summer I did not get any sunburn at
all. Neither did Angela. In fact, overall she has gotten very few
sunburns, unlike me. When I was a kid we didn't have sunscreen. And I
lived in Wichita until I was 7. In those days it was common to send the
kids outside to play. We'd sometimes be out there all day.

Here, I don't know if it is the times or the weather. We don't get a lot of
bright sunny weather. It's often overcast and today it is a bit chilly.
Kids just do not generally play outside. I think they are far more likely
to sit inside playing video games.

I have to find reasons to go outside. Angela and I will sit out there on
folding chairs and play games. We have a Wahoo game that is perfect for
that. It is a wooden board with marbles and dice. No cards or money to
blow away. If not that, we make up stories or play word games.

Today we took down our Halloween decorations. That took a while. I feel
like there are still spider webs on me. We had many large furry spiders
decorating our trees. A little girl came by with her dad and she was
talking to them.

Anyway... We got our sun for today. Now I just have to see about my knee.
Why does my knee always go bad on me this time of year? I don't know if
it's the psoriatic arthritis or the fibro. or what. My left knee always
gets stiff on me when it is cold. So far it hasn't subluxated but it is
stiff and painful. Too bad vitamin D won't help with that.

Susan <susan@nothanks.org> wrote in news:7lblkhF3d8ld6U1
@mid.individual.net:

> The obvious is that association is not proof of causation, BUT, vitamin
> D is essential for infection fighting, bone and cancer prevention and
> fighting, among other things. It's a critical hormone that most older
> folks have a serum deficiency in. My mother's balance problem resolved
> very quickly with high dose vitamin D supplementation at initiation,
> then 2500 iu per day afterward.
>

A fellow I read regularly who has very little use for supplements makes
only one exception: vitamin D. It has been shown to reduce the incident
of cancer - what more reason do you need to take it?

Chak

--
It is so important to be proved wrong when one is.
--Quentin Grady, posting to alt.support.diabetes

Susan wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> The obvious is that association is not proof of causation, BUT, vitamin
> D is essential for infection fighting, bone and cancer prevention and
> fighting, among other things. It's a critical hormone that most older
> folks have a serum deficiency in. My mother's balance problem resolved
> very quickly with high dose vitamin D supplementation at initiation,
> then 2500 iu per day afterward.

Interesting article! Leads to a question, do you know the answer or have
some leads to data? Compared with sunlight, how effective are D3
supplements at doing the above (infection fighting, bone health and cancer
prevention)? Are there other supplements that one can take in addition to
D3 to boost its effectiveness?

I live in sunny NM so you'd think I'd get enough sunshine. But on cool
days fall-spring, the only part of me that is exposed to the sun is my face.

FurPaw

--
We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.
-Eric Hoffer

To reply, unleash the dog.

x-no-archive: yes

FurPaw wrote:

> Interesting article! Leads to a question, do you know the answer or
> have some leads to data? Compared with sunlight, how effective are D3
> supplements at doing the above (infection fighting, bone health and
> cancer prevention)? Are there other supplements that one can take in
> addition to D3 to boost its effectiveness?
>
> I live in sunny NM so you'd think I'd get enough sunshine. But on cool
> days fall-spring, the only part of me that is exposed to the sun is my
> face.

I haven't researched this sufficiently to give a well informed answer,
since unlike most pituitary-adrenal patients, I have normal vit D levels
and supplementing causes me to experience symptoms of adrenal
suppression every time. But I've found it's worth doing for a day or
two when I feel myself coming down with something; it seems to fight
stuff off. I can't recall the last time I've had a full blown URI, for
example.

I do know that the problem is not just one of exposure; a lot of folks
don't convert to the active form even if they get adequate sunlight, and
this could be due to loss of kidney function in part. If you can't make
the stuff, then D3 will raise your vit D for a while, anyway. Most
deficient folks I know drop right back down to below normal once they
stop taking the 50,000 iu weekly recommended for deficiency for 8 weeks.

I'd think that cutting carbs and reducing hyperinsulinemia, getting more
skin exposure during highest sunlight hours for at least 20 minutes a
few times weekly without sunglasses would be helpful. I know I sound
like a broken record, but I reversed all my diabetic kidney damage with
diet, so I'm connecting that to the ability to convert by the kidneys if
they're healthier.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Lots of good links to research.

Susan

FurPaw <furrealpawdog@gmail.com> wrote in
news:hf61nq$gaa$1@news.eternal-september.org:

> Interesting article! Leads to a question, do you know the answer or
> have some leads to data? Compared with sunlight, how effective are D3
> supplements at doing the above (infection fighting, bone health and
> cancer prevention)? Are there other supplements that one can take in
> addition to D3 to boost its effectiveness?

I think the current recommendations (at least, the ones I've read) are
1000 to 2000 units per day, but it doesn't seem to be differentiated for
various age groups.

Chak

--
It is so important to be proved wrong when one is.
--Quentin Grady, posting to alt.support.diabetes

x-no-archive: yes

Chakolate wrote:

> I think the current recommendations (at least, the ones I've read) are
> 1000 to 2000 units per day, but it doesn't seem to be differentiated for
> various age groups.
>


A family physician I know online and her group practice once tested all
of their patients for 25(OH)D and found 68% were deficient. That number
is probably much higher if you shoot for optimal levels above the
minimum of 32.

To treat actual deficiency, 50,000 iu weekly for 8 weeks of D3 is the
best recommendation, then retest.

1 or 2 k isn't going to get it done, but might be fine for maintenance.

Susan

On Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:35:58 -0500, Susan <susan@nothanks.org> wrote:

>x-no-archive: yes
>
>Chakolate wrote:
>
>> I think the current recommendations (at least, the ones I've read) are
>> 1000 to 2000 units per day, but it doesn't seem to be differentiated for
>> various age groups.
>
>A family physician I know online and her group practice once tested all
>of their patients for 25(OH)D and found 68% were deficient. That number
>is probably much higher if you shoot for optimal levels above the
>minimum of 32.
>
>To treat actual deficiency, 50,000 iu weekly for 8 weeks of D3 is the
>best recommendation, then retest.

I had to do two courses of this to even approach the lower bound. I've
been at 2K per day plus 50,000 iu every other week for over six months
and still test at 29 to 30.
--
Kai Jones snippy@panix.com

x-no-archive: yes

Kai Jones wrote:

> I had to do two courses of this to even approach the lower bound. I've
> been at 2K per day plus 50,000 iu every other week for over six months
> and still test at 29 to 30.

Most pituitary patients I know see it plummet as soon as they stop
taking it.

Are you taking D3 gel caps, cholecalciferol? Do you have any kind of
kidney disorder? Possible Cushing's syndrome?

Susan

On Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:47:10 -0500, Susan <susan@nothanks.org> wrote:

>x-no-archive: yes
>
>Kai Jones wrote:
>
>> I had to do two courses of this to even approach the lower bound. I've
>> been at 2K per day plus 50,000 iu every other week for over six months
>> and still test at 29 to 30.
>
>Most pituitary patients I know see it plummet as soon as they stop
>taking it.

I take thyroid, but that's not pituitary is it?

>Are you taking D3 gel caps, cholecalciferol?

Yes.

>Do you have any kind of
>kidney disorder? Possible Cushing's syndrome?

I suspect it's connected to my asthma meds; until recently I was
taking Advair, now I'm taking Singulair.
--
Kai Jones snippy@panix.com

x-no-archive: yes

\Kai Jones wrote:

> I take thyroid, but that's not pituitary is it?

TSH is a pituitary hormone. Thyroid is often suppressed by excesses of
other hormones, like cortisol.

>
>> Are you taking D3 gel caps, cholecalciferol?
>
> Yes.
>
>> Do you have any kind of
>> kidney disorder? Possible Cushing's syndrome?
>
> I suspect it's connected to my asthma meds; until recently I was
> taking Advair, now I'm taking Singulair.

Steroid, YES. Inhaled and nasal steroids do cause pituitary and adrenal
damage. I hope you do better on the Singulair than I did; it really
spiked my blood pressure and made me feel tense and agitated.
Definitely a better choice than steroids, overall, if you do well on it.

Susan