Should you be supplementing with vitamin D?
Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Director of the Arizona Thyroid Institute in Scottsdale, AZ Explains:
More and more people are taking vitamin D. They have seen on the news or the web that it is good for them. Taking vitamin D is good for you…IF YOU NEED IT.
Modern diets are lacking in Vitamin D rich foods. What are Vitamin D rich foods? Liver, organ meats, lard, many forms of seafood, butter and egg yolks.
The best-known function of active vitamin D is to help regulate blood levels of calcium and phosphorous. Vitamin D increases absorption of minerals from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In combination with parathyroid hormone, it enhances their reabsorption from the kidneys and their mobilization from bones into the blood. Vitamin D helps maintain calcium levels even if dietary intakes are not optimal. Calcitriol affects growth of normal cells and some cancer cells. Adequate vitamin-D status has been linked to a reduced risk of developing breast, colon, and prostrate cancers.
Sunlight is another important factor and source of Vitamin D. BUT, you should NEVER take vitamin D without having your Vitamin D levels tested, specifically, 25 OHD and 1,25 OHD. Most doctors only test 25 OHD. I feel this is a mistake. It is very important to have both levels tested. I see at least one patient a week that comes in taking Vit D that have low or normal 25 OHD levels and high 1,25 OHD levels.
Why could it be bad a bad idea to take Vitamin D? One reason is because it is a fat-soluble vitamin. That means it is tougher for your body to get excess amounts out of your system. Vitamin D is most likely to have toxic effects when consumed in excessive amounts through supplementation. Excess vitamin D raises blood calcium levels, resulting in calcium precipitation in soft tissues and stone formation in the kidneys, where calcium becomes concentrated in an effort to excrete it.
Why is Vitamin D so important with patients that have low thyroid symptoms like hair loss, depression, weight gain and fatigue? Vitamin D deficiency is associated with many, many autoimmune conditions including Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Autoimmune rates have been skyrocketing in the past 20 years and have been correlated with decreased levels of Vitamin D in the general population.
The number one cause of low thyroid in America is an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto’s.
Adequate Vitamin D levels help to keep the immune system balance so it doesn’t swing out of control into an autoimmune disease. When it comes to Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, the problems with Vitamin D deficiency is made worse by genetics. There are studies that show that more than 90 percent of the people with an autoimmune thyroid or Hashimoto’s have a genetic defect affecting their ability to process Vitamin D.
The take home message here is to NOT just take vitamin D because you think it is good for you. Find a thyroid doctor that can actually do the detective work and find out if it is something that you need.
Listen To The Audio:
Low Thyroid Symptoms and Vitamin D