HEALTH
INFORMATION ON INTERNET DISTORTED BY COMMERCIAL GROUPS
Low Vitamin D Levels Tied To Increased Risk For Type 2 Diabetes.
HealthDay (2/24, Predit) reports that a study published in the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, a publication of the
Endocrine Society, suggests that “people with low levels of vitamin D appear to
have an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, even if they aren’t overweight or
obese.” The 150-patient study could not “tease out, however...whether or not
vitamin D played a role in causing diabetes or other disorders that affect the
metabolism of glucose.”
The Endocrinology
Advisor (2/24, Foster) reports, “In a scientific statement on the non-skeletal
effects of vitamin D, the Endocrine Society notes that research suggests that
people with low levels of vitamin D are more likely to be obese as well as have
type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and metabolic syndrome when compared to” people
whose levels of the vitamin are normal. The Daily Mail (UK) (2/24, Davies) also
covers the story.
HEALTHDAY
is a commercial provider of Health related news, culled from the Internet and
watered down and altered to suit the pressures of the commercial world, to
buyers who can then distribute it or quote it.
It
is presented as if Vitamin D deficiency leads to Diabetes, regardless of your
weight.
Obesity
is far more common than normal weight in most countries. This study was done in
Spain. They dumped together Pre Diabetes which is not a disease but a
laboratory paper construction of few abnormal results which are almost always
due to Insulin Resistance, which may lead to Type 2 Diabetes. The numbers were
very modest, about 15 people in each arm of the study.
I
was not impressed with this study. Instead of rushing out to buy Vitamin D
tablets , which I am not sure would increase your Vitamin D levels, eat fish
and you see your vitamin D levels rise, go out in the sun and exercise a
little, your vitamin D levels would rise.
My
feeling is that Insulin Resistance and Low Vitamin D levels may both be caused
by the similar objects and we have to find what it is, and try to correct it.
So we can take care of all these laboratory values and make people feel healthy
again.
If
doctors tell their patients they are not healthy based on laboratory tests they
will not feel that good.
There
is growing evidence that changes in microbiome in the gut and their production
of inflammatory substances may lead to Obesity and Insulin Resistance. I am
inclined to think that there is a connection between this and Hypovitaminosis
D. there is emerging evidence that the vitamin D pathway may be important in
gut homeostasis and in the signaling between the microbiota and the host. There is emerging evidence that the vitamin D
pathway may be important in gut homeostasis and in the signaling between the
microbiota and the host.
Taking
Vitamin D tablets are not going to help you prevent Type 2 Diabetes!
( photo above shows a Bedou woman from Sinai. Studies from Israel show that they are deficient in Vitamin D regardless of the fact they live in the desert)
The
Vitamin D question has also looked with the cultural context in mind. Most Asians
have low Vitamin D levels, Chinese and Japanese more so. Moslem women who cover
themselves them head to toe; regardless of whether they are in the Arabian Desert
or KL metropolis have lower Vitamin D levels. The vitamin D levels are higher
in non-veiled women than veiled women in Middle East and Europe.
I
remember reading an article when I was a Medical Student in London about
Punjabi women migrating to Scotland and subsequently suffering from
Osteomalacia... lack of sunshine as well as the enriched flour they were using to
make their chapatis was leeching the calcium away?
In
my opinion, like Cholesterol, vitamin D levels are an indication that something
has gone wrong metabolically and just correcting the numbers are not going to
bring back the health they have supposed to have lost due to the deficiency of
Vitamin D or excess of cholesterol.
Remember,
all that bunk about Low Fat is now laid to rest. A few years ago you couldn’t enter
a supermarket without seeing thousands of Low Fat items. My advice to my
patients living in Indian reservations is: avoid these terms when you see them
on a food package
High
Low
Modified
Hydrogenated
Enriched
Natural
In
fact most of these words are used to hide some toxic substances or other which
may in fact increase
Your
cholesterol
Your
Insulin Resistance
Your
chance of becoming overweight
Your
chance of becoming unhealthy….
