10 Warning Signs Of Vitamin D Deficiency

Hello Health Champions. I bet you've heard  that vitamin d is important but despite all the  

attention vitamin d has been getting recently  we are only just beginning to understand how  

important vitamin d really is. Vitamin d is more  actually like a hormone or a pre-hormone because  

we have to activate it before we can use it. And  it is also one of the fat soluble vitamins. It's  

traditionally known as being super important for  bone because it helps us absorb minerals. So if  

we don't have enough vitamin d we can't absorb  calcium and then our bones suffer. That's kind  

of what we've learned, but it's also important  for absorbing some other things like magnesium  

and phosphorus. This is what we get in the form  of cola calciferol so whether we make it in the  

skin from sun exposure or whether we consume it  in the diet the cholecalciferol or d3 is the way  

that we get it. But it's not useful for us yet.  We have to turn it into calcifidiol or calcidiol  

in the liver. So calcidiol is the predominant form  of vitamin d in the body. Most of the vitamin d we  

have circulated is in this form but it's still not  totally activated we have to take one more step  

in the kidney and turn it into calcitriol. And  now this is an active compound with hormone-like  

function and this is where it gets interesting  because we have something called a vitamin d  

receptor. So the only way that vitamin d can have  an effect the way that it can have a function  

is if it fits into a receptor so the question  then is what tissues have receptors for vitamin d,  

because that's where it's going to have its  effect. And it was discovered in 1969, and since  

then the research has been increasing especially  recently. And they found these receptors now in  

brain in hypothalamus, which is the body's  main regulator right between the brain stem,  

and the brain in the heart and in the immune  cells. We have found vitamin d receptors  

in over 400 tissue types and cells so virtually  every cell every tissue in the body has vitamin d  

receptors which means its function is dependent on  or regulated by vitamin d there are 951 genes at  

the latest count that are regulated and influenced  by vitamin d. And I have to be honest with you,  

even though I routinely test for vitamin d and I  supplement lots of people with vitamin d, until  

I started doing some research on this I really  had no idea just how profound the impact is on  

vitamin d. So I hope that you stay with me because  we're going to talk about these signs and symptoms  

but we're also going to highlight the width of  the function of this incredible little compound.  

Sign and symptom number one is bone problems. And  this is the classical understanding of vitamin d  

that if you don't have vitamin d you can't  absorb calcium and then you get bone loss and  

osteoporosis. So normal bone has it's kind  of spongy it has these pores and trabeculae,  

is what these little branches are called, but if  we don't have enough calcium then these branches  

they thin out. These trabeculae get very very thin  and the bone gets very fragile. That's known as  

osteoporosis if we have especially early  in life if we have severe deficiencies  

now we have difficulty mineralizing the bone so  the bone gets soft that's called osteomalacia.  

And if this happens in kids when their bones  are forming if they have extremely low levels  

of vitamin d then they can't even make straight  bones because when they put weight on them they  

get a bowing deformity and that's the hallmark of  rickets. Another interesting thing that we can get  

is called hyperparathyroidism so right next  to the thyroid which sits up in your neck  

there are four little spots two at the top and two  at the bottom called the parathyroid. It is the  

gland that's responsible for calcium metabolism.  It puts calcium into the bone and it pulls calcium  

out of the bone because long term the body really  likes to have calcium in the bone but short term  

it's much more important to have an exact level  of calcium in the blood. So when we don't have  

enough vitamin d and we don't have enough calcium  we can't absorb the calcium we're deficient in.  

Calcium now we have to get it from the bone we  have to keep pulling it from the bone and now that  

parathyroid has to overwork and we can actually  have a hypertrophy. We could have a growth and  

swelling of that parathyroid so this is called  secondary parathyroid because it's secondary  

to low calcium and vitamin d the second thing we  can get is mitochondrial dysfunction and what do  

mitochondria do they're little inclusions they're  like little bacteria inside your cells but they're  

your friends they're very very friendly bacteria  they make energy they're responsible for 95  

of your energy production and if we don't have  enough mitochondria then our energy production  

falls and not only that but when the mitochondria  wears out and you have to make new ones  

then without vitamin d we don't make as  many so the reproduction the biogenesis  

of mitochondria suffers as well as a result of  decreased energy production we can of course have  

fatigue but energy is used for so much more in  the body so most of your energy like when you're  

sleeping when you're healing when you're digesting  it's your organs that use most of the energy and  

if they don't get the energy now they can't work  and what are the organs that use the most energy  

it's your brain your liver and your heart as well  as the functions of digestion and immunity they're  

very very energy expensive so without mitochondria  without vitamin d when we're deficient  

we can have trouble with the function of all these  organs and systems if you've been watching this  

channel you know how important inflammation is  because virtually all chronic degenerative disease  

is caused by a low-grade chronic inflammation and  vitamin d has a lot to do with that it regulates  

the inflammatory cytokines so cytokines are  chemical messengers that turn on and off  

inflammation and other things and  vitamin d regulates that communication  

if you have enough vitamin d then you can turn  on and off at the right time and you can down  

regulate the pro-inflammatory cells the ones that  cause too much inflammation and then there's a  

number of conditions that are correlated with  a lack of vitamin d meaning they don't know the  

exact mechanism in all the cases but they do  know that if you don't have enough vitamin d  

you're going to have more cardiovascular  disease more asthma more irritable bowel  

disease chronic kidney disease non-alcoholic  fatty liver disease and you're going to have  

worse outcomes meaning you're going to have more  severe and slower recovery from acute infections  

furthermore a lack of vitamin d results in more  reactive oxygen species in more free radicals  

that do damage in the body when they're in excess  and also a low vitamin d will decrease the body's  

antioxidant activity and defenses number four is  mood low vitamin d has been linked to depression  

again the mechanism is not exactly known but the  more they look the more they find and they do know  

that there are vitamin d receptors in the areas  of the brain that are involved with regulation of  

mood and like we mentioned the hypothalamus which  is one of the main regulators of homeostasis in  

the body also has vitamin d receptors they know  that in growing children vitamin d is very very  

important for brain development so a deficiency  can result in poor brain development and another  

possible mechanism for white effects mood is that  if you watched other videos of mine you know that  

the frontal lobe which is very highly dependent  on energy if you have enough energy and activity  

in the frontal lobe it can inhibit and turn off  anxiety and depression so we talked before about  

how energy can suffer because the mitochondria  don't make enough energy so there's multiple  

different mechanisms that could result in a  depressed mood in my office we routinely do blood  

work and i always measure vitamin d because it's  super important and a good level what is that well  

you're classified as deficient if you have less  than 20 nanograms per milliliter and now if you're  

overseas in different parts of the world then they  measure in nanomoles per liter and then that same  

level is less than 50. so you have to really watch  the units carefully before you start comparing  

because if they measure in animals it can look  like you're two and a half times higher than  

this level so if you just look at the 50 you  might think hey i'm good when in fact you're  

still deficient if you're not totally deficient  you're a little better off but not enough it's  

called insufficient and that's if you're less  than 30 nanograms or less than 75 nanomoles  

in both of these cases i would say that it's a  really good idea for you to take some vitamin d  

because the optimal level meaning where things  are working the best the way they're supposed to  

it is now estimated that somewhere between 40 and  60 and in animals that would be 100 to 150. now  

it's super important that we understand especially  with something like vitamin d that even though it  

is rather difficult to get toxic to get too  much more is not better if you are deficient  

meaning your body has to have something but you  don't provide it there is a problem if you're  

deficient and you provide it the body is going to  be much better off in a thousand different ways  

but that doesn't mean that if you have enough  and you add more that you're going to be better  

off so we have to shift our mindset that vitamin  d is necessary but more isn't going to add any  

additional benefit another thing we want to  understand is that there's multiple factors  

that influence how well we can use it so  there's something called a binding protein  

and in the case of vitamin d it's called a vitamin  d binding protein vdb or sometimes just dbp and 85  

of all your vitamin d is bound to this  protein they have a very high affinity  

but then there's another protein in  your blood that's the dominant it's  

the predominant protein in the blood to give it  a certain thickness that's called albumin and 15  

of your vitamin d is bound to albumin we can't  use vitamin d if it's bound to a protein only  

free vitamin d can fit into a receptor can get  into a cell and fit into the receptor and less  

than 0.03 percent of the vitamin d in your body is  available or free at any given time so it's a tiny  

tiny fraction that you can actually use so why  does the body do this because it needs to regulate  

the amount of active vitamin d because the vitamin  d has a certain lifespan it has a half-life  

and sometimes if we went for so many  days or weeks or months without vitamin d  

the body would perish if it didn't have a way of  sort of portioning it out so the vast majority is  

going to be bound and a tiny little bit is going  to be free and available now this becomes extra  

interesting if we compare different populations on  the planet so very often blacks or afro-americans  

versus caucasians the blacks are known to have  less vitamin d in their blood so they're more  

often classified as deficient but when we measure  how much is free when we measure how much of this  

binding protein they have it turns out that even  though they have much less total vitamin d they  

have the same amount of vitamin d activity  meaning the same amount of free vitamin d  

and just to give you a little illustration if the  yellow here is all the vitamin d in your body then  

this little black line here would be 0.09 percent  so that how much is free and i couldn't make it  

any smaller than this because this would only be  like one pixel wide so this is still three times  

more so the vast majority of the vitamin d in  your body is bound to a carrier protein so that  

your body can portion it out and vitamin d is also  super important for brain function for the health  

of neurons vitamin d is known to stimulate  and regulate the activity of macrophages  

and some of these macrophages are involved with  clearing what's called beta amyloid plaques that  

are a hallmark in Alzheimer's disease so without  vitamin d with low vitamin d then these plaques  

are able to proliferate and go untouched  to a greater degree we also have vitamin d  

involved in regulating neurotrophic factors so i  often talk about BDNF brain derived neurotrophic  

factor which is like miracle growth for the brain  it allows the brain to grow these branches and  

make new connections and new synapses to make for  a more stable more functional brain well besides  

BDNF there are others called neurotrophic factor  3 and something called glial derived neurotrophic  

factor and the names are not important but just  for you to see that vitamin d is active at so  

many different levels in terms of proliferating  brain tissue so these are very very critical for  

neurons survival for the longevity of your brain  cells and their connections and all of this is  

critical for something called neuroplasticity  the ability to remodel and reconnect and repair  

the brain and its networks and vitamin d promotes  this neuroplasticity so when we're talking about  

the classic neurodegenerative diseases like  Alzheimer's disease Parkinson's disease and  

also multiple sclerosis all of these can benefit  greatly from having enough vitamin d number  

six is muscle problems and vitamin d affects  muscles on so many levels if you have aching  

muscles weakness fatigue poor endurance that  could all be related to a vitamin d deficiency  

repair and atrophy if you work out then you're  breaking muscles down exercise does not build  

muscle it's the repair after the exercise that  builds the muscle without adequate vitamin d  

you can't perform that repair properly and  low vitamin d levels are associated with  

muscle atrophy one more aspect is the contraction  relaxation phase so when you're lifting a weight  

when you're performing muscle work your muscle is  firing at a certain frequency it's turning on and  

off on and off many many times per second and  a lack of vitamin d is going to make that pause  

between the contraction and relaxation longer  it's going to prolong extend that relaxation phase  

so the muscle is not as fast and responsive  as a result we suffer in postural stability  

because postural stability depends on the  ability to fire those muscles very very quickly  

and make small corrections all the time and  as a result of this they've also noticed that  

there's an increased risk of falling with a  vitamin d deficiency and this affects you at  

so many different levels because as you get  older your brain starts firing a little bit  

slower already then with the lack of vitamin  d there is a further slowing of that process  

and then if you're low in vitamin d your bones  get more brittle so now you're more likely to  

fall but you're also more likely to break a bone  if you fall and that is the number one cause  

of fatal trauma in the elderly elderly people  who fall and break a leg fifty percent of them  

die within six months because their bodies just  can't recover from so many different factors  

low levels of vitamin d is also linked to insulin  resistance which is something we talk a lot about  

on this channel and the exact mechanism is not  known but we do know that we need vitamin d for  

insulin synthesis to actually make the insulin  and we also know that there's a correlation that  

low levels of vitamin d are associated with  insulin resistance and adequate levels of vitamin  

d are associated with insulin sensitivity and  there's also a link between vitamin d deficiency  

and gestational diabetes meaning a lesser form  of insulin resistance that develops into diabetes  

during pregnancy because of all the factors  involved the mother becomes more susceptible  

and even more severe is something called  pre-eclampsia this also happens during pregnancy  

where halfway through the pregnancy or so all of  a sudden the mother gets high blood pressure and  

in severe cases they can have blood disorders and  kidney and liver failure and a host of terrible  

things all associated with low levels of vitamin  d number eight is poor wound healing if you don't  

have enough vitamin d you may not be able to  heal wounds very well the skin cells are called  

keratinocytes and what's interesting here is that  the skin of course is the primary place where  

we make vitamin d and even though most of the  activation of vitamin d happens in the liver and  

kidney the skin does have the capacity to activate  its own supply of vitamin d because even though  

it makes it it still depends on it it's needed in  the skin so the skin has vitamin d receptors that  

regulate the function of the skin and vitamin  d will act on many many different steps  

of wound healing and skin production so enough  vitamin d will assist in the differentiation  

meaning that the cells start out as immature cells  and then they go through different steps to mature  

and this process is guided by vitamin d but it's  equally important to be able to control to turn  

things on and off at the right time so vitamin d  will also shut down the proliferation to say well  

now we have enough of this type of cell let's go  to the next one let's turn it into the next thing  

so therefore vitamin d has a tumor suppression  function so it's kind of interesting we're so  

afraid of the sun because of skin cancer but if  we get some sun if we get a balanced amount of  

sun then that will produce vitamin d that will  actually suppress that tumor and that cancer  

in the skin but here's the interesting part that  even though vitamin d is so critically important  

it is not classified as essential for the simple  reason that the body knows how to make it itself  

but even though we can make it there are many  reasons why it would be a good idea to measure  

and maybe supplement for example as we said the  vitamin d can only do what it does by activating  

vitamin d receptors but there are some pathogens  virus bacteria etc who can deactivate this vitamin  

d receptor so if the pathogen can block our  ability to express vitamin d now it has lowered  

our defenses and it has a free playground  in our bodies there are also mutations or  

variations of this vitamin d receptor so different  populations express vitamin d differently even if  

we're getting or making adequate amounts we still  have to convert the vitamin d into its active form  

and this conversion decreases with aging and with  any sort of disease in the liver and kidney we  

also need a healthy liver and a gallbladder so  that we can have enough bile to emulsify the fat  

because vitamin d is fat soluble and if we  have things like gut inflammation then we're  

going to absorb less so this is another case  of these vicious cycle that if our vitamin  

d is low now we get more inflammation and we  have more gut problems and now we can absorb  

even less vitamin d which means we have even less  and so on and so on if we have a lot of stress  

then high levels of cortisol will deplete  vitamin d and interfere with its activity  

and another reason that we can become deficient  is when we get really really stupid advice such  

as this one i picked up from another video it  says go out in the sun but make sure to wear  

sunscreen and protective clothing so that doesn't  work does it like if you cover yourself up then  

the sun has no impact and you make no vitamin  d so there are many reasons why it might be a  

good idea to supplement some vitamin d and if  you run a blood work and you come in below 20  

nanograms per milliliter i call that an acute case  and you should probably get on some around 5000  

ius per day if you come back with a more normal  blood test then you might just do maintenance  

at 2 000 IU's or something like that but it's  important to understand also that our ancestors  

made it to this point without any supplementation  right the body does have an ability so the  

supplementation is really just to compensate for  the factors that make us not get enough we still  

should have a baseline naturally normally we would  get some exposure to sunlight but during the time  

of year where we don't that's when it's extra  important to get some vitamin d and a good source  

is going to be cod liver oil cod liver oil is good  for many reasons first of all it has about 1500  

IU's per tablespoon but also it contains omega-3s  and these omega-3s affect the vitamin d binding  

protein so normally the vitamin d is very tightly  bound to that binding protein and the body can  

ditch out a little bit at a time to make it  free and available but the omega-3s loosen  

up this affinity the binding to this protein  so we have more vitamin d available the body  

becomes better at regulating at increasing the  vitamin d the active vitamin d supply when needed  

and the other thing to understand is that there  are thousands of factors in the body affecting  

everything including how well your body absorbs  and expresses vitamin d so as an example i had a  

patient who came in to me and we saw her just for  chiropractic at the time and she had a blood test  

that was very low on vitamin d she had been going  to her medical doctor and they had been injecting  

her with fifty thousand IU's once a week  and then on top of that they gave her  

ten thousand IU's in a pill every day and she  still had her level under 20 nanograms per  

milliliter they might have raised it like a couple  of points i don't remember the exact numbers but  

they basically made no difference so then she  came in and started working with us she was on our  

nutrition protocol where we start addressing many  different things and we put her on a low dose we  

took her off for other stuff the vitamin d we put  on a low dose which was somewhere like 1200 IU's  

of vitamin d but we worked on other things  that are supposed to work in the body as well  

and within a matter of weeks her level was back up  over 50 nanograms and i couldn't tell you exactly  

which factor it was but that's sort of the idea  with holistic healthcare that you do the best  

you can with everything because all the pieces  fit together number nine is immunity and this is  

probably why vitamin d has gotten so much  attention recently because of the covid pandemic  

and it's linked to immunity and the first thing  to understand here is that all immune cells have  

vitamin d receptors that means that vitamin d is  involved with regulating all aspects all forms of  

cell-based immunity so if you have frequent colds  and flus that could be a vitamin d deficiency  

and if you remember that we make some of the  vitamin d from sunshine then in the winter  

we have less sunshine less vitamin d and that's  where we also know that as a cold season also  

we need to remember that cancer is an immune  condition and low levels of vitamin d have been  

associated with higher levels of lung cancer and  of course i don't think anyone has missed how  

there's a lot of talk about vitamin d improving  the outcomes related to covid19 so the next step  

from immunity issues is of course autoimmunity  which can be devastating and is affecting  

more and more people across the world we have  type 1 diabetes that have shown increasing  

numbers with low vitamin d and we have multiple  sclerosis this is one of the first ones where they  

observed a link to low vitamin d because they  found that there was more multiple sclerosis  

in northern regions where there is less sun and  then there's a long list of devastating autoimmune  

conditions like lupus systemic lupus erythematosus  with psoriatic arthritis with Crohn's disease with  

rheumatoid arthritis debilitating conditions that  are all linked to low levels of vitamin d and as i  

did my research and i searched some of these terms  and questions something that came up all the time  

virtually every search there was a question that  said is it good for blank and you fill in the  

blank with whatever you like and i just want to  point out that vitamin d isn't good for anything  

of of all the things we've talked about but a low  level a lack of vitamin d is devastating and what  

am i saying here that if you have adequate amounts  things are working the way they're supposed to  

but more isn't better and when we ask these  questions is it good for blank and we fill in  

a condition then we think that vitamin d is going  to act like some medication and treat a symptom  

and now we're off on the wrong track if you enjoy  this video you're going to love that one. And if  

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