Tulsa World: A dose of vitamin D a day keeps the doctor away

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A dose of vitamin D a day keeps the doctor away

By SUZY COHEN
Published: 11/7/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 11/7/2009 4:38 AM

Dear Pharmacist, I read your Facebook post about vitamin D and how it works better than diabetic medications. I have diabetes, and no one has ever told me this. Would you share more information? — L.N., Denver

Diabetes is an inflammatory condition, it is not just about high blood sugar like most people think. If left to run its devastating course, diabetes could steal your vision, destroy your kidneys, cause nerve pain, heart attack, stroke or amputation. So we have to take diabetes seriously and do all that we can to reduce blood sugar (glucose) and make our cells happier to see insulin (improve insulin sensitivity).

Doctors have many medications at their disposal to reduce blood glucose. I think natural vitamin D can help too, so I posted that comment on Facebook and Twitter. I was trying to help people with diabetes because they may not know that it's an inexpensive, over-the-counter dietary supplement.

My comment was based in clinical science. More specifically, on a 2004 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which found that raising a person's blood levels of vitamin D (from 25 to 75 nmol/l) could improve insulin sensitivity by a whopping 60 percent.

Compare that to metformin, one of our pharmaceutical gold-standards, which can dispose of blood sugar by a meager 13 percent according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Guess what else? Back in 2001, The Lancet found that infants who took 2,000 IU daily enjoyed a lowered risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Researchers have also found it may slash a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer in half. Just amazing.

I suggest you ask your doctor if he minds you supplementing with about 5,000 IU "cholecalciferol" or vitamin D3 every morning. The most usable form of vitamin D is D3 (not D2), so read your label carefully.

info@dearpharmacist.com By SUZY COHEN

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