Re: [epilepsyresearch] Vitamin D Depletion from AED's

[Guest guest]

The importance of Vitamin D was a subject at the , British Columbia

conference on Vitamin D at which this was highlighted in the Vitamin D

report.

Of particular concern is the 3rd paragraph that I highlighted regarding

AED's Dilantin, Phenobarbitol and Tegretol. Now that we are getting more

sunshine in the Spring months, vitamin D is less of a concern, but in the

winter

months vitamin D supplementation becomes important. Cod liver Oil is a good

source.

Dr. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari did a wonderful job, not just presenting her

data

that optimal vitamin D blood levels need to be at least 40 ng/ml, but for

presenting Dr. Ed Giovannucci's data (who had to cancel for personal

reasons).

Dr. Bischoff-Ferrari reminded us that periodontal disease in inversely

related to vitamin D blood levels. She also reminded us that there is

strong

scientific evidence that vitamin D improves neuromuscular performance in

older

people. She didn't tackle the logical next question: will adequate levels

of

one of the most potent steroid hormones in the body improve neuromuscular

performance in younger people, such as that need for optimal athletic or

musical

performance? Philip, whose email to me is above, and other readers of this

newsletter have been telling me: yes, yes, yes.

Dr. Bischoff-Ferrari then presented Dr. Giovannucci's data that one reduces

your risk of all cancers about 17% for every 10 ng/ml of vitamin D in your

blood. For cancer of the digestive system, the risk reduction is 43%. His

data indicates all Americans should be taking about 2,000 IU per day and

some

Americans need even more to minimize cancer risk. No one know where the

curve

flattens out; that is, no one knows how much further cancer reduction one

gets from 20, 30, or 40 ng/ml incremental increases in blood levels.

The section on the enzymes that metabolize vitamin D reminded me how much

we

don't know about vitamin D. Millions of Americans take psychiatric and

other medications that interfere with the same system of enzymes

(cytochrome

P-450) that metabolize vitamin D. We've known for a long time that some

medications taken for epilepsy (Dilantin, phenobarbital, Tegretol) reduce

vitamin D

blood levels. However, which medications increase levels? I have seen a

number of cases of higher than expected levels in patients taking

psychiatric

medications metabolized by cytochrome P-450 enzymes and some non-psychiatric

medications interfere with these same enzymes. This practical area of

clinical

medicine needs more research.

Dr. Heaney presented by video hookup and made his quiet but powerful

case that about 75% of American women are vitamin D deficient (levels less

than 35 ng/ml), that about 3,000 units a day are needed to bring 95 % of

the

population out of the deficient range, and that 10,000 units a day is the

safe

upper limit. (This does not mean you should take 10,000 units per day, it

means scientists should be able to study 10,000 unit daily doses without

the

bureaucratic difficulty they now encounter).

Dr. Kimball, working with Dr. Reinhold Vieth, presented data that children

(age 10 -17) only increased their average blood level by 11 ng/ml when

given

14,000 units per week for eight weeks and that such dosing was safe. Dr.

Vieth is also trying to fill another need in vitamin D clinical science.

We need

a trial of healthy volunteers taking 20,000 units per day for two or three

years. Do blood levels stabilize with oral dosing as they do with sun

exposure? Does skin production produce other vitamin D compounds, like

dihydrotachysterol, which inhibits the production of calcitriol and thus

protects against

vitamin D toxicity? Do other vitamin D variants made in the skin induce

the

metabolism of vitamin D, lower levels, and protect against toxicity?

J Biol Chem. 1972 Dec 10;247(23):7528-32.

arnold

mjh

" The Basil Book "

http://foxhillfarm.us/FireBasil/