Tu_triky wrote:

It's all about the money, pal. More tests more money.

it's also about being efficient. most people don't have problems with vit d deficiency because their bodies automatically replenish their supplies from exposure to UV light. it's also provided in fortified foods, or naturally occur in fatty fish meats and eggs. so to test for vit d is usually not needed and would be a waste of funds in an already wasteful healthcare system. supply and demand also means this test is extremely expensive.

lilly_pad wrote:

it's also about being efficient. most people don't have problems with vit d deficiency because their bodies automatically replenish their supplies from exposure to UV light. it's also provided in fortified foods, or naturally occur in fatty fish meats and eggs. so to test for vit d is usually not needed and would be a waste of funds in an already wasteful healthcare system. supply and demand also means this test is extremely expensive.

Actually, I think that's increasingly untrue. Vitamin D deficiency is widespread throughout the country despite the prevalent belief that people think they get enough sunlight to produce the necessary amounts of vitamin D.

The consequences of deficient vitamin D levels, in terms of future health problems arising from low levels, far outweighs the expense of the test.

Even if you didn't have insurance you could get a home test for between 50 to 70 bucks.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029906_teenagers_Vitamin_D.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630143523.htm
http://calorielab.com/labnotes/20100306/vitamin-D-deficiency-widespread/
http://childrenshospitalblog.org/widespread-vitamin-d-deficiency-raises-serious-concerns/

Tu_triky wrote:

Actually, I think that's increasingly untrue. Vitamin D deficiency is widespread throughout the country despite the prevalent belief that people think they get enough sunlight to produce the necessary amounts of vitamin D. The consequences of deficient vitamin D levels, in terms of future health problems arising from low levels, far outweighs the expense of the test. Even if you didn't have insurance you could get a home test for between 50 to 70 bucks.

hmm. interesting. i'll have to learn more about it.

i know that in some countries that are in higher latitudes, they include special lights that emit certain spectra to reduce the risk of getting vitamin D deficiency.

lilly_pad wrote:

hmm. interesting. i'll have to learn more about it. i know that in some countries that are in higher latitudes, they include special lights that emit certain spectra to reduce the risk of getting vitamin D deficiency.

Indeed. But the growing body of peer reviewed clinical literature is indicating this has been a silent "deficiency" for a long time and the medical establishment is only now coming around to the problem.

Tu_triky wrote:

Indeed. But the growing body of peer reviewed clinical literature is indicating this has been a silent "deficiency" for a long time and the medical establishment is only now coming around to the problem.

just goes to show that we don't know everything. i hate the doctors who are arrogant and think they're god

that being said, my friend has a vit d deficiency. very strange because she lives in florida, loves the sun, and takes vit d four times a day. then again, she has metabolic issues. don't know what her current levels are, but she is not the norm.

lilly_pad wrote:

just goes to show that we don't know everything. i hate the doctors who are arrogant and think they're god

Agreed! And some physicians won't even discuss it with you if it's outside their frame of reference.

Quote:

that being said, my friend has a vit d deficiency. very strange because she lives in florida, loves the sun, and takes vit d four times a day. then again, she has metabolic issues. don't know what her current levels are, but she is not the norm.

Yeah well I'm in L.A. and it's dayem sunny here all the time too and my levels are bit on the low side still.

Tu_triky wrote:

Agreed! And some physicians won't even discuss it with you if it's outside their frame of reference.

what's that all about?? do they want you to make another appointment? what's the point then?

Tu-triky wrote:

Yeah well I'm in L.A. and it's dayem sunny here all the time too and my levels are bit on the low side still.

very strange. did your doctor have anything to say about that?[/quote]

lilly_pad wrote:

No not really. I've read studies on vitamin D deficiency in Los Angeles and how it's surprisingly far more prevalent than one would expect.

Tu_triky wrote:

No not really. I've read studies on vitamin D deficiency in Los Angeles and how it's surprisingly far more prevalent than one would expect.

intriguing. now i really do have to do more research on this. thanks for the info!

As far as supplements go, turns out I'm only taking in about 2500IU of vitamin D....

bmwracer wrote:

As far as supplements go, turns out I'm only taking in about 2500IU of vitamin D....

That's probably the most popular recommendation right now is to take around 2000IU of vitamin D daily. I think you are faaaar ahead of the game. You don't need to take more like I am unless it's really warranted. I would guess those ppl take less than a thousand are probably not taking enough, regardless of the situation.

I transferred this from the "Got Something You Want To Say?" thread:

Enna wrote:

Hey guys you probably already know this info, but here are some reasons why you may not be absobing your vitamin D intakes: •1 Take vitamin D with calcium. •2 Avoid taking mineral oil or products containing mineral oil. Mineral oil can interfere with vitamin D absorption •3 Avoid overuse of antacids. They will interfere with absorption. If you have perpetual digestive problems, consult with your doctor. •4 Check your medications. Some can interfere with absorption of vitamin D, such as cortisone and other steroids. •5 Be careful if you are taking diuretic drugs. They can upset the calcium/vitamin D ratio in your body. •6 Assess your need for vitamin D if you have liver problems, gallbladder disease or gastrointestinal disorders. All of these can interfere with vitamin D absorption Tu_triky wrote: The website I quoted above the necessary cofactors for Vitamin D metabolism. I don't think calcium personally because my diet has an abundance of calcium in it; magnesium is more important. Good info, tho', Enna.

Thanks Tu_triky.
Aren't calcium and magnesium supposed to be taken together in supplement form in order for both to be absorbed well?

Enna wrote:

Aren't calcium and magnesium supposed to be taken together in supplement form in order for both to be absorbed well?

I thought it was calcium and vitamin D.

Enna wrote:

I transferred this from the "Got Something You Want To Say?" thread: Thanks Tu_triky. Aren't calcium and magnesium supposed to be taken together in supplement form in order for both to be absorbed well?

You're absolutely right. They are. Many people overemphasize calcium supplementation without any thought of taking magnesium. They should ideally be taken together.

The point I was trying to make is for me, and I'd gather for many Americans, I get more than enough calcium in my diet and I'm more than likely getting less than enough magnesium, (not eating enough veggies) which can be problematic. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, of course. My concern with some people who supplement with too much calcium, let's say for bone health, is that they may be overdoing it. Like you said if you don't have the proper cofactors for calcium metabolism, magnesium being one of them....you could be getting too much calcium which your body then deposits in areas other than teeth or bone, for example...in soft tissues areas such as joints or arteries which can lead to calcification which can cause problems.

One way to avoid that though is by taking Vitamin K, particularly K2 (in a form called MK-7). Clinical studies have shown that Vitamin K2 can actually remove excess calcium from the arteries and deposit it in bone maintaining clearer arteries that are more flexible avoiding the problem of calcium deposits in your cardiovascular system which can lead to hardened arteries. Ppl are always obsessed with cholesterol but calcium can also clog your arteries too and does. That's why ppl who have heart disease are often tested for a calcium score which is a special CT Scan that measures your arteries for calcium build up.

Anyway, I take Vitamin K2 (MK-7).

Okay I'm tired now....

bmwracer wrote:

I thought it was calcium and vitamin D.

You're right that's true too.

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/11/how-ultra-processed-foods-are-killing-us/65614/

How Ultra-Processed Foods Are Killing Us
By Marion Nestle

In the current issue of the online Journal of the World Public Health Nutrition Association (of which I am a charter member), Carlos Monteiro, a professor at the University of São Paulo writes, "The big issue is ultra-processing." Because his commentary is so lengthy, I am taking the liberty of extracting pieces from it, not always in the order presented.

The most important factor now, when considering food, nutrition and public health, is not nutrients, and is not foods, so much as what is done to foodstuffs and the nutrients originally contained in them, before they are purchased and consumed. That is to say, the big issue is food processing�\or, to be more precise, the nature, extent and purpose of processing, and what happens to food and to us as a result of processing.

Monteiro makes it clear that all foods and drinks are processed to some extent. Fresh apples are washed and, sometimes, waxed. Drinking water is filtered. Instead, he distinguishes three types of processing, depending on their nature, extent, and purpose:

• Type 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed foods that do not change the nutritional properties of the food.

• Type 2: Processed culinary or food industry ingredients such as oils, fats, sugar and sweeteners, flours, starches, and salt. These are depleted of nutrients and provide little beyond calories (except for salt, which has no calories).

• Type 3: Ultra-processed products that combine Type 2 ingredients (and, rarely, traces of Type 1).

The purpose of Type 3 ultra-processing is to create:

durable, accessible, convenient, attractive, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products. Such ultra-processed products are formulated to reduce microbial deterioration ('long shelf life'), to be transportable for long distances, to be extremely palatable ('high organoleptic quality') and often to be habit-forming. Typically they are designed to be consumed anywhere�\in fast-food establishments, at home in place of domestically prepared and cooked food, and while watching television, at a desk or elsewhere at work, in the street, and while driving.

Monteiro argues: "the rapid rise in consumption of ultra-processed food and drink products, especially since the 1980s, is the main dietary cause of the concurrent rapid rise in obesity and related diseases throughout the world."

As evidence, he notes that ultra-processed products as a group are:

• Much more energy-dense than unprocessed and minimally processed foods and processed culinary ingredients taken together.

• [Contain] oils, solid fats, sugars, salt, flours, starches [that] make them excessive in total fat, saturated or trans-fats, sugar and sodium, and short of micronutrients and other bioactive compounds, and of dietary fiber.

• Relatively or even absolutely cheaper to manufacture, and sometimes�\not always�\relatively cheaper to buy.

• Often manufactured in increasingly supersized packages and portions at discounted prices with no loss to the manufacturer.

• Available in 'convenience' stores and other outlets often open late or even 24/7, and vended in machines placed in streets, gas stations, hospitals, schools and many other locations.

• The main business of transnational and big national catering chains, whose outlets are also often open until late at night, and whose products are designed to be consumed also in the street, while working or driving, or watching television.

• Promoted by lightly regulated or practically unregulated advertising that identifies fast and convenience food, soft drinks and other ultra-processed products as a necessary and integral part of the good life, and even, when the products are 'fortified' with micronutrients, as essential to the growth, health and well-being of children.

Overall, he says:

Their high energy density, hyper-palatability, their marketing in large and super-sizes, and aggressive and sophisticated advertising, all undermine the normal processes of appetite control, cause over-consumption, and therefore cause obesity, and diseases associated with obesity.

His groups the main points of his argument in three theses:

• Diets mainly made up from combinations of processed ingredients and unprocessed and minimally processed foods, are superior to diets including substantial amounts of ultra-processed products.

• Almost all types of ultra-processed product, including those advertised as 'light', 'premium', supplemented, 'fortified', or healthy in other ways, are intrinsically unhealthy.

• Significant improvement and maintenance of public health always requires the use of law. The swamping of food systems by ultra-processed products can be controlled and prevented only by statutory regulation.

Lest there be any confusion about the significance of this proposal for public health nutrition, an accompanying editorial (unsigned but assumed to be by Geoffrey Cannon) poses a serious challenge: "Nutrition science: time to start again."

This editorial is about the significance of food processing, and in particular of 'ultra-processed' food and drink products. It is also about the nature, purpose, scope and value of nutrition science, which as conventionally taught and practiced, is now widely perceived to have run into the buffers or, to change metaphor, to have painted itself into a corner.

The editorial argues that nutritionists' focus on nutrients, rather than foods, has led to the assumption that if foods contain the same nutrients, they are the same�\even though it is never possible to replicate the nutritional content of foods because too much about their chemical composition is still unknown:

This notion is an exquisite combination of stupidity and arrogance, or else of intelligence and cunning. For a start, similar results can only be of those chemical constituents that are at the time known, and actually measured.

These are important ideas, well worth consideration and debate. I am struck by their relevance to the latest survey of soft drink availability in American elementary schools. Despite the efforts of the Clinton Foundation and the voluntary actions of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, the availability of soft drinks to young school children increased from 49 percent to 61 percent just in the year from 2006-07 to 2008-09. Soft drinks, in Monteiro's terms, are ultra-processed. Doing something about them requires statutory regulation.

Ten States With The Deadliest Eating Habits

http://247wallst.com/2011/02/09/ten-states-with-the-worst-eating-habits/

Cherries for Health: Better Than Advil?
Posted: 04/11/11 08:16 AM ET

Sometimes the latest research on nutrition involves a substance or supplement with an obscure name that only a scientist could get excited about. But other times, there is something absolutely delicious that, it turns out, is also great for you.

Which brings us to cherries.

With cherry blossom season in the air, now is a great time to celebrate the beauty of nature and one of my favorite fruits, the cherry.

The delicious sweet and tart flavor of cherries is matched by remarkable health benefits.

Cherries are a rich source of:

vitamin C
potassium
boron, a mineral that plays an essential role in bone health, especially for women.

Cherries Fight Inflammation

Cherries are important for their ability to control inflammation. A growing body of scientific research indicates that inflammation contributes to diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, and obesity.

Sweet or tart, cherries are a powerhouse of anti-inflammatory nutrients.

A study from University of California at Davis found that regular consumption of cherries for 28 days produced a decrease in biochemical signs of inflammation in blood, including a 25 percent reduction in C-reactive protein (CRP), the most widely studied marker of inflammation. Elevation of CRP in blood is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Cherries Better Than Aspirin for Pain?

According to research done at Michigan State University the anthocyanins that make cherries red could also help relieve pain more effectively than aspirin. The study found that anthocyanins were potent antioxidants that could prevent oxidative damage and also inhibited enzymes called cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 (Cox 1 and 2), which is similar in the way anti- inflammatory drugs seek to reduce pain. The study appeared in the Journal of Natural Products published by the American Chemical Society.

Lead researcher Muralee G. Nair, Ph.D., Professor at Michigan State University College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, noted about this cherry effect "It is as good as ibuprofen and some of the nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs." Nair said that his lab results indicate that consuming 20 tart cherries could provide anti-inflammatory benefits.

Finding a natural way to reduce pain is important, given the serious side effects from common pain relievers called NSAIDs, examples of which include Advil, Motrin, Aleve and aspirin. Learn about these surprising side effects in my article Why Medication Can Be Dangerous to Your Health

Cherry Juice for Workout Recovery

A presentation at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference found that drinking tart cherry juice helped reduce pain after exercise for long distance runners. This research, from the Oregon Health & Science University, indicated that cherries could act like medications that runners use to reduce inflammation after workouts.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the researchers explain: "Considering the natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacity of tart cherries, it is plausible that cherry consumption before and during strenuous exercise may have a protective effect to reduce muscle damage and pain."

"For most runners, post-race treatment consists of RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) and traditional NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)," said Kerry Kuehl, M.D., a sports medicine physician and principal study investigator, who added: "But NSAIDS can have adverse effects -- negative effects you may be able to avoid by using a natural, whole food alternative, like cherry juice, to reduce muscle inflammation before exercise." Please see References below for the link to the full text of this interesting study.

Reducing pain in sports would be a great benefit, given the pain that some professional athletes go through, which you can learn more about in: Football and Painkillers

Cherries and Gout

Another study from the University of California at Davis found that a single dose of cherries reduced the blood level of uric acid in healthy women. Excess uric acid causes gout, a very painful type of arthritis. The use of cherries to prevent gout is well established in Western folk medicine.

You can enjoy the benefit of cherries all year round with unsweetened cherry juice, unsweetened cherry juice concentrate, or frozen organic pitted cherries, which make a delicious snack or dessert. [/b]

bmwracer wrote:

Cherries for Health: Better Than Advil? Posted: 04/11/11 08:16 AM ET Sometimes the latest research on nutrition involves a substance or supplement with an obscure name that only a scientist could get excited about. But other times, there is something absolutely delicious that, it turns out, is also great for you. Which brings us to cherries. With cherry blossom season in the air, now is a great time to celebrate the beauty of nature and one of my favorite fruits, the cherry. The delicious sweet and tart flavor of cherries is matched by remarkable health benefits. Cherries are a rich source of: vitamin C potassium boron, a mineral that plays an essential role in bone health, especially for women. Cherries Fight Inflammation Cherries are important for their ability to control inflammation. A growing body of scientific research indicates that inflammation contributes to diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, and obesity. Sweet or tart, cherries are a powerhouse of anti-inflammatory nutrients. A study from University of California at Davis found that regular consumption of cherries for 28 days produced a decrease in biochemical signs of inflammation in blood, including a 25 percent reduction in C-reactive protein (CRP), the most widely studied marker of inflammation. Elevation of CRP in blood is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Cherries Better Than Aspirin for Pain? According to research done at Michigan State University the anthocyanins that make cherries red could also help relieve pain more effectively than aspirin. The study found that anthocyanins were potent antioxidants that could prevent oxidative damage and also inhibited enzymes called cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 (Cox 1 and 2), which is similar in the way anti- inflammatory drugs seek to reduce pain. The study appeared in the Journal of Natural Products published by the American Chemical Society. Lead researcher Muralee G. Nair, Ph.D., Professor at Michigan State University College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, noted about this cherry effect "It is as good as ibuprofen and some of the nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs." Nair said that his lab results indicate that consuming 20 tart cherries could provide anti-inflammatory benefits. Finding a natural way to reduce pain is important, given the serious side effects from common pain relievers called NSAIDs, examples of which include Advil, Motrin, Aleve and aspirin. Learn about these surprising side effects in my article Why Medication Can Be Dangerous to Your Health Cherry Juice for Workout Recovery A presentation at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference found that drinking tart cherry juice helped reduce pain after exercise for long distance runners. This research, from the Oregon Health & Science University, indicated that cherries could act like medications that runners use to reduce inflammation after workouts. Publishing their findings in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the researchers explain: "Considering the natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacity of tart cherries, it is plausible that cherry consumption before and during strenuous exercise may have a protective effect to reduce muscle damage and pain." "For most runners, post-race treatment consists of RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) and traditional NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)," said Kerry Kuehl, M.D., a sports medicine physician and principal study investigator, who added: "But NSAIDS can have adverse effects -- negative effects you may be able to avoid by using a natural, whole food alternative, like cherry juice, to reduce muscle inflammation before exercise." Please see References below for the link to the full text of this interesting study. Reducing pain in sports would be a great benefit, given the pain that some professional athletes go through, which you can learn more about in: Football and Painkillers Cherries and Gout Another study from the University of California at Davis found that a single dose of cherries reduced the blood level of uric acid in healthy women. Excess uric acid causes gout, a very painful type of arthritis. The use of cherries to prevent gout is well established in Western folk medicine. You can enjoy the benefit of cherries all year round with unsweetened cherry juice, unsweetened cherry juice concentrate, or frozen organic pitted cherries, which make a delicious snack or dessert. [/b]

Cool. I knew about the Cherry-Gout connection for quite some time. Good info to share.

Tu_triky wrote:

Cool. I knew about the Cherry-Gout connection for quite some time.

Me too, since both of my older brothers have gout.

And another source for potassium!