Are low levels of Vitamin D associated with an increase risk of Diabetes?

In part 1, I shared details of supplements that may help alleviat ethe winter blues.  In this blog post I want to share other lifestyle tips. 1. Exercise If you suffer from winter blues it is likely that your GP would perscribe a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).  This is the standard drug to treat depression and one of medicines all time bestsellers.  Researches compared aerobic exercise aginst the Lustral (SSRI sertaline) foudn that exercise and the drug were equally effective at reducing depressive symptioms.  But only exercise had long lasting effects.  Of the patients declared free of depression at the end of the study, those who had been in the exercise only-group were less likely to see their depression return during the next 6 months. 2. Eat Fish If you love fish like I do, then science says you are less likely to get depressed.   In one study women who ate fish two or more times per week where less likley to get depressed than those who ate fish less often.  It is thought the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are responisble for lifting mood.  A number of studies have found that omega-3 supplements have a significant antidepressant effect. 3. St John's Wort A herb commonly used in Germany to treat mild depression.  Scientists have established that not only better is the herb better than a placebo its as effective as an antidepressant. References Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Moore KA, Craighead WE, Herman S, Khatri P, Waugh R, Napolitano MA, Forman LM, Appelbaum M, Doraiswamy PM, Krishnan KR. Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Oct 25;159(19):2349-56. Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Doraiswamy PM, Watkins L, Hoffman BM, Barbour KA, Herman S, Craighead WE, Brosse AL, Waugh R, Hinderliter A, Sherwood A. Exercise and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Psychosom Med. 2007 Sep-Oct;69(7):587-96. Babyak M, Blumenthal JA, Herman S, Khatri P, Doraiswamy M, Moore K, Craighead WE, Baldewicz TT, Krishnan KR. Exercise treatment for major depression: maintenance of therapeutic benefit at 10 months. Psychosom Med. 2000 Sep-Oct;62(5):633-8.

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that vitamin D plays a crucial role in disease prevention and maintaining optimal health.  You have about 30,000 genes in your body and vitamin D affects nearly 3,000.  This is in addition to all the vitamin D receptors through out your body. Inflammation is the body's attempt at self-protection; the aim being to remove harmful stimuli, including damaged cells, irritants, or pathogens. While inflammation is a vital part of the body's immune response, it can also be problematic and plays a role in some chronic diseases e.g asthma, arthritis. Researchers investigated specific signalling events that vitamin D suppresses in order to inhibit inflammation.  Research published in The Journal of Immunology called it the "inflammatory cascade"; low vitamin D levels failed to inhibit the cascade while adequate levels did the job.  Researchers concluded that patients with chronic inflammatory diseases who are also vitamin D deficient may benefit from supplementation. Researchers in Turkey, reported in the international Journal of Rheumatic Diseases that chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain is improved with vitamin D.  Fibromyalgia sufferers and other patients with chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain were given 50,000 iu/week oral vitamin D3 for three months.  Afterwards scientists discovered decreases in pain, fatigue upon awaking, lack of energy, tender points and depression.  Significantly there were 30 Fibromyalgia patients at the beginning of the study and only 20 at the end! Next week I want to look at the relationship between low vitamin D levels and common ailments. References Zhang Y, et al. (2012). Vitamin D Inhibits Monocyte/Macrophage Proinflammatory Cytokine Production by Targeting MAPK Phosphatase-1. The Journal of Immunology.

1. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heart_vascular_institute/clinical_services/centers_excellence/womens_cardiovascular_health_center/patient_information/health_topics/vitamin_d_and_the_heart.html

Following on from my introduction to Hypertension (High BP), in this blog I want to discuss lifestyle strategies to prevent and assist the treatment of Hypertension (High BP). Manage your Stress I know its obvious, but I thought it was worth starting with this.  The link between hypertension and stress is well documented as are the long list of things that help you cope including exercise, counselling, massage, reflexology etc.  While we are on the subject of the obvious, I would like to remind readers that High BP is associated with high salt diets, smoking and high alcohol consumption too. Optimise your Vitamin D levels Ateria stiffness (atherosclerosis) is a driving factor for hypertension.  As your blood travels from your heart, cells in the wall of your aorta, called barorecptors, sense the pressure load, and signal your nervous system to either raise or lower the pressure.  However, the stiffer your arteries are, the more insensitive your baroreceptors become, and the less efficient they become at sending the signals.  Vitamin D deficiency is, in turn, linked to stiff arteries, which is why optimising your vitamin D levels are so important. Get enough sleep In a study presented at the American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions, researchers found a strong link between sleep quality and a type of high blood pressure known as resistant hypertension, which does not respond to typical drug-based treatments. In fact, women who had resistant hypertension were five times as likely to also have poor sleep quality. While the average length of sleep in this study was only 6.4 hours a night (and nearly half slept fewer than six hours each night), it was sleep quality, not quantity, that appeared to influence hypertension risk. While this study only found an association with women, other studies have also linked hypertension in men to a lack of deep sleep,¹ and sleeping fewer than seven hours a night has been linked to hypertension in both men and women.² Read Part 3 References ¹ Hypertension AHA August 29, 2011 ² Sleep. 2006 Aug;29(8):1009-14.