Health & Fitness

01/14/20

People with mechanical heart valves need blood thinners on a daily basis, because they have a higher risk of blood clots and stroke. Researchers now identified the root cause of blood turbulence leading to clotting. Design optimization could greatly reduce the risk of clotting and enable these patients to live without life-long medication.

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School indoor air quality cannot be reliably assessed based on pupils' symptoms

Silica particles may lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes

Engineered ingestible molecular traps created from mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) introduced to the gut can have an effect on food efficiency and metabolic risk factors. The results from studies on mice demonstrate the potential to reduce the energy uptake into the body and could lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes.

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Silica particles may lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes

Engineered ingestible molecular traps created from mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) introduced to the gut can have an effect on food efficiency and metabolic risk factors. The results from studies on mice demonstrate the potential to reduce the energy uptake into the body and could lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes.

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What to do when your child swears

Young children are constantly reminding parents that they pay attention. They’ll do this in surprising ways, offering up new thoughts, actions, and especially words. Sometimes the choices are funny and impressive. Other times, what comes out of the mouths of children between ages 5 and 8 is not as adorable.

Namely, they swear.

It might be one word. They may not know what it means. You may not know where they heard it. Unfortunately, unwanted language is everywhere. “You can’t prevent them from being exposed to it,” says Dr. Jacqueline Sperling, clinical psychologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. A 2013 study found that by 8 years old, children know 54 taboo words. At that age, the most frequently used words are along the lines of “stupid” and “god.” But by 11 and 12, there’s a shift where the top two become decidedly more adult-like.

Children imitate swearing in others

“Imitation is a big part of development,” Sperling says. Children see and hear what’s said after someone stubs their toe or yells at another driver, and they decide to try it. Part of this is emulating a sibling or parent; part is attention; part is the reaction. Does it get people upset or get a laugh? The feedback can be encouraging, which is why it’s good to remain initially neutral, she says.

Home is also a safe place to get upset. That’s why children have meltdowns when they get back from school. After a day of following rules, they need to let go, says Gene Beresin, MD, executive director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

How can you handle swearing?

Fortunately, children this age are becoming more socialized, particularly through school. They know that adults act in ways that kids can’t. For example, Grandpa yells expletives at the television while watching a football game. They also know that there are different rules for different places — they don’t go to school or the supermarket without their pants on. “They understand context,” Beresin says.

So, consider context. If swearing is rampant, you most likely would have heard from their teacher or principal. Still, it’s not something to encourage. Kids still need occasional reminders of rules to live by.

When you hear swearing, try these guidelines:

Take a beat before you say anything. You don’t want to give unwanted behavior too much attention, Sperling says.
Ask why. Then, suggests Beresin, follow up with, “What were you feeling when you said that?” You might tease out that they were angry or frustrated.
Problem-solve together. How else could you say that? What are some mad words? What would you say if you were at school or Grandma’s house? “You’re building their repertoire. Our job of parenting is to give them tools of what to do and say in different settings,” Beresin says.
Explain acceptable behavior. If the word was directed at someone else, clearly express that this isn’t acceptable. “It’s an assault, and we don’t assault other people with words or physically. It’s out of the question,” Beresin says. Also explain that people make mistakes and apologize for them.
Encourage understanding through questions. How do you think that word made the person feel? How would you feel? How would it make you feel if they said sorry? It all helps build empathy. When they show empathy, praise them. Support the behavior that you want to see, Sperling says.
Be concrete. “Younger kids don’t understand subtleties, but they understand good/bad, yes/no, that’s the way things are,” Beresin says. Keep it simple: Swearing is something that adults do. It’s done at home, not in the store, a friend’s house, or the doctor’s office. Give examples of school rules they already know to reinforce context: You don’t cut in line. You don’t get up from the lunch table. The teacher doesn’t swear.

Building blocks for future success

Along with curbing bad language, you’re creating an environment to talk about feelings and building their social and emotional learning. Beresin says it’s an area that gets neglected, even though it’s essential for future success. “People lose jobs because of social gaffes and conduct,” he says.

Your exchanges don’t have to be perfect. Kids can fumble with their language; parents can as well. It’s important that you’re modeling appropriate behavior, you apologize if you slip, and that the dialogue stays open and supportive. That consistency will help as conversations become more complex as children get older.

“We want our kids to be able to reflect and talk about their emotions and behavior, and be able to consider other’s people emotions and behavior,” says Beresin. “The earlier we start on this stuff, the better it is as a building block for their future.”

The post What to do when your child swears appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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Children's packed lunches lack nutritional quality

Fewer than two in every 100 packed lunches eaten by children in English primary schools meet nutritional standards, according to a major survey. Although the amount of sugary food in lunchboxes declined over 10 years it is still higher than recommended, and there has been a drop in essential vitamins and minerals. Researchers say the lack of fresh food is to blame.

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New route for tackling drug resistance in skin cancer cells

Children's packed lunches lack nutritional quality

Fewer than two in every 100 packed lunches eaten by children in English primary schools meet nutritional standards, according to a major survey. Although the amount of sugary food in lunchboxes declined over 10 years it is still higher than recommended, and there has been a drop in essential vitamins and minerals. Researchers say the lack of fresh food is to blame.

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Decoy molecule neutralizes a range of viruses

How to make it easier to turn plant waste into biofuels

Researchers have developed a new process that could make it much cheaper to produce biofuels such as ethanol from plant waste and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Their approach, featuring an ammonia-salt based solvent that rapidly turns plant fibers into sugars needed to make ethanol, works well at close to room temperature, unlike conventional processes, according to a new study.

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Washington Post Covers for Amazon’s Supplement Fraud

Amazon.com — which controlled 43.5% of all U.S. e-commerce¹ as of 2017 and handles more consumer searches than Google² — sells cannabidiol (CBD) products on its site, despite having a policy that prohibits CBD sales.

In my October 30, 2019, article “Why You Should Never Buy CBD Oil From Amazon,” I explained how Amazon is defrauding customers by preventing genuine high-quality CBD products from being sold on its site on the one hand, while promoting and selling products that claim to contain CBD but don’t on the other.

This warning was initially published by the Organic & Natural Health Association³ on October 15, 2019, which had hired a third-party laboratory to test Amazon’s best-seller, New Age Premium Hemp Oil 1000 MG, for the presence of cannabinoids.

In violation of Amazon’s policy, the product was found to contain approximately 1% CBD⁴ (7.7 milligrams of CBD per 30 drops), even though it does not list CBD on the label. In a statement, Karen Howard, CEO and executive director of Organic & Natural Health, said:⁵

“It’s really important for consumers to know that because Amazon doesn’t allow the sale of products with CBD, there are no reputable companies selling CBD on their site …

Amazon states it has banned the sale of CBD supplements on its site, but allows advertising and tagging of CBD instead, inviting an influx of products to consumers that the FDA has been warning about …

Essentially, the public is being defrauded twice. First, Amazon’s best-seller, New Age Premium Hemp Oil contains CBD even though its label does not list CBD. Second, those searching for CBD products are being misled into buying products containing zero CBD ...

This deception Amazon is spoon-feeding consumers on CBD is highly irresponsible to millions of Americans in search of legitimate CBD supplements to help specific health ailments including stress, sleep and pain.”

The Washington Post Pitches a Soft Ball

December 19, 2019, The Washington Post published an article^6,⁷ covering this issue. However, rather than focusing on how consumers are being intentionally misled, the paper cushioned the blow for Jeff Bezos, who conveniently owns both Amazon and The Washington Post.

The paper also did not credit Organic & Natural Health for the initial discovery and reporting of this problem. In the accompanying video commentary (see video above), The Washington Post notes that it tested 13 products for the presence of CBD (11 of which did) in order to see if merchants (not Amazon itself) are violating Amazon’s policy.

And, while The Post points out the difficulty of controlling unauthorized sales by third-party sellers, it ignores the fact that while small companies are punished for committing fraud, Amazon is essentially expected to be given a free pass simply because it’s “too big to police.” This despite the fact that Amazon has far vaster resources than any given manufacturer or merchant.

The real problem here is that Amazon specifically prohibits legitimate companies selling authentic high-quality CBD products that accurately list their CBD content from selling their wares, while simultaneously allowing outright fraudulent products to be sold — products that don’t accurately list their CBD content, or don’t contain any CBD even though they claim to do so.

What’s more, Amazon actively promotes these questionable CBD products by allowing CBD advertising on its site. Amazon spokesman Patrick Graham blames "bad actors" and dishonest retailers for this situation,⁸ but Amazon itself is clearly playing both sides of the field, and is profiting from the very CBD products it claims to prohibit.

By selling ads for CBD, controlling search results for CBD and not properly policing its marketplace, Amazon is willfully funneling consumers toward questionable products.

Why Does Amazon Prohibit CBD?

You may wonder why Amazon prohibits the sale of CBD products in the first place. Isn’t CBD legal in all U.S. states? Not really, and that’s probably why it’s on Amazon’s banned list. While many retailers claim CBD is legal in all 50 states, its legal status is still a vast gray zone.

Hemp (defined as Cannabis sativa L. with a maximum delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol or THC concentration of 0.3%⁹) was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill,^10,¹¹ which has led to the inaccurate belief that CBD from hemp was automatically legalized too.

Alas, the Farm Bill specifies that CBD is to be under the purview of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As explained on FDA.gov, while cannabis plants containing less than 0.3% THC are no longer considered controlled substances:¹²

“The 2018 Farm Bill … explicitly preserved FDA’s authority to regulate products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds under the FD&C Act and section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act).

FDA treats products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds as it does any other FDA-regulated products — meaning they’re subject to the same authorities and requirements as FDA-regulated products containing any other substance.

This is true regardless of whether the cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds are classified as hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill.”

This throws a monkey-wrench into the “all hemp-based CBD is legal” claim, as the FDA has approved a CBD-containing drug (Epidiolex), which automatically renders all other CBD products “unapproved drugs,” as far as the FDA is concerned.

On Federal Level, CBD Is Not a Legal Dietary Supplement

With CBD now technically being a drug in the FDA’s eyes, it seems unlikely that the agency would also approve it as a nutritional supplement or food ingredient. This means the FDA could, at any time, crack down on the sale of all the CBD products that are now proliferating.

Muddying the waters further, some U.S. states have enacted CBD-specific rules and laws, so while you may not sell or ship a CBD product across state lines, you would be allowed to produce, sell and possess CBD within those states. The legal statuses of CBD in each of the 50 states are reviewed in an August 8, 2019, article¹³ by Plant People.

The FDA also has not approved cannabis or cannabis-derived CBD for the treatment of any disease or condition, which means CBD products cannot legally make any health claims on their labels or in their advertising.¹⁴

In November 2019, the FDA sent out warning letters to 15 companies selling CBD products in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, as detailed in “FDA Cracks Down on CBD Oil.”

According to the FDA’s consumer update on CBD,¹⁵ dated November 25, 2019, there’s a lack of scientific information supporting the safety of CBD in food, stressing that “It is currently illegal to market CBD by adding it to a food or labeling it as a dietary supplement.”

So, to summarize, the only FDA approved CBD product is a prescription drug for the treatment of two severe forms of epilepsy,¹⁶ which makes CBD illegal for use in food, animal feed or supplements, and interstate commerce of such products prohibited per the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (although CBD-specific rules may apply in some states).

Please Don’t Buy CBD From Amazon

The growing recognition of CBD’s medicinal benefits has led to a rapidly expanding CBD market, despite its murky legal status. According to Project CBD, at least 50 conditions¹⁷ are believed to be improved by CBD, including pain, seizures, digestive disorders, degenerative neurological disorders, mood disorders and high blood pressure.

To learn more about the benefits of CBD, see “The Endocannabinoid System and the Important Role It Plays in Human Health.” That CBD has noteworthy health benefits seems indisputable, but quality is paramount.

The fact that Amazon is prohibiting vendors from selling high-quality CBD products on its platform while advertising and shuttling consumers toward fake ones is a double disgrace.

The take-home message here is this: Knowing that Amazon will not permit high-quality CBD products to be sold means you simply should not buy anything CBD-related from them. I also recommend caution when buying other nutritional supplements from Amazon, seeing how the platform has been caught selling counterfeit supplements on more than one occasion.¹⁸

Also keep in mind that since CBD oil became a focus of popular holistic medicine almost overnight, effective quality control has not caught up yet and some products do not meet the claims made on the label.^19,²⁰ Until such a system is in place, it’s important you purchase your CBD products from a trusted source.

Why I Recommend Organic CBD

The cannabis plant (including hemp) is an efficient extractor of heavy metals from the soil, making heavy metal testing particularly important for hemp-based CBD products. In fact, hemp is frequently planted for bioremediation purposes,²¹ which is great if it’s used for rope, fuel and other nonmedical uses.

When made into medicine, however, this soil-cleansing feature could pose significant problems, as it must be grown in clean soil. As a general rule, I recommend seeking out certified organic CBD products to ensure the least amount of contamination with pesticides and other harmful agricultural contaminants.

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You Will Eat Two Recycling Bins of Plastic in Your Lifetime

Tiny bits of plastic about the size of a sesame seed or smaller are everywhere. News headlines often show intact plastic bags, rings and bottles as the primary threats to the environment — and these are indeed harmful to marine life and more — but the smaller, more insidious plastic bits may be even more harmful.

These microplastics, as they're known, are smaller than 5 millimeters (mm), and found in a number of commonly consumed foods and beverages.

In a study at University of Newcastle, Australia, researchers for WWF International, they quantified what this means for humans, revealing a shocking finding that the average person could be eating about 5 grams of plastic per week — about the amount found in one credit card.¹ Reuters then extrapolated on the findings, revealing what 5 grams of plastic per week adds up to over a lifetime.²

Drinking Water Is the Largest Source of Plastic Ingestion

The University of Newcastle study analyzed the "existing but limited" literature available on the average amount of plastic ingested by humans. The calculations were based on 33 studies on the consumption of plastic via foods and beverages, such as drinking water, beer, shellfish and salt.³ Per week, the researchers estimated that the average person consumes:⁴

1,769 plastic particles from drinking water
182 plastic particles from shellfish
10 plastic particles from beer
11 plastic particles from salt

As the data show, drinking water is the greatest contributor to plastic ingestion for humans, and plastic particles were found in groundwater, surface water, tap water and bottled water throughout the world. In the U.S., 94.4% of tap water samples contained plastic fibers, as did 82.4% of tap water samples from India and 72.2% of those from Europe.⁵

Drinking bottled water is not a solution and, in fact, may contain even more plastic than tap water. Research published in Environmental Science & Technology even suggested people drinking bottled water exclusively may ingest more microplastics than those drinking tap water.⁶

It's thought the plastic pollution in bottled water originates from the manufacturing process of the bottles and caps. When researchers at the State University of New York tested 259 bottles of 11 popular bottled water brands — including Aquafina, Nestle Pure Life, Evian, Dasani and San Pelligerino — they found, on average, 325 pieces of microplastic per liter.^7,⁸

Shellfish represent another notable source of plastic exposure, contributing up to 0.5 grams a week. Part of the reason for their large contribution is because they're eaten whole, digestive system and all, after living in oceans polluted by plastic.⁹

Inhalation of plastic particles from the air was found to contribute only a negligible amount of humans' lifetime plastic burden, although the researchers noted that this could vary largely depending on local conditions and lifestyle.

They did note, however, that indoor air contains more plastic pollution than outdoor air, due to more limited air circulation and the fact that household dust and synthetic textiles are significant sources of microplastics in indoor air.

Microplastics Traveling to Remote Regions

Further, while humans are exposed to more microplastics via food and beverages than air at this time, microplastics are known to be airborne and have been found in remote locations you wouldn't expect, including the top of the Pyrénées mountains in southern France¹⁰ and "in the northernmost and easternmost areas of the Greenland and Barents seas."¹¹

The size and shape of the plastics (small and weathered) found suggested they had come not from local areas, but had traveled great distances. Calling the northeast Atlantic section of the Arctic Ocean a "dead end" for the plastic debris, researchers hypothesized that the seafloor below would be a catch-all for accumulating plastic debris.¹²

In separate research, it was also revealed that plastic pollution has reached the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.

"It was thought that the Southern Ocean was relatively free of microplastic contamination; however, recent studies and citizen science projects in the Southern Ocean have reported microplastics in deep-sea sediments and surface waters," researchers wrote in the journal Science of The Total Environment.¹³

You May Eat Two Recycling Bins of Plastic in Your Lifetime

It's likely that you're consuming plastic daily and, as mentioned, Reuters used the disturbing statistic that people are likely consuming 5 grams of plastic per week to illustrate just how much plastic you may be ingesting over time. Five grams of plastic, the news outlet noted, is about the same weight as a plastic bottle cap or enough plastic bits to fill a porcelain soup spoon. Further, in time this amounts to:¹⁴

Every month — 21 grams of plastic; the same weight as five die or enough shredded plastic to fill a rice bowl half way
Every 6 months — 125 grams of plastic, which is enough shredded plastic to fill a cereal bowl nearly to the top
Every year — 250 grams of plastic, which is enough to fill a dinner plate with a heaping portion
Every 10 years — 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of plastic; the same weight as a standard life buoy
In a lifetime — Based on an average human life span of 79 years, the average person will consume 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of plastic, which is the same weight as two full-sized plastic recycling bins

Thava Palanisami of the University of Newcastle, who was involved in the featured study, told Reuters:¹⁵

"We have been using plastic for decades but we still don't really understand the impact of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles on our health … All we know is that we are ingesting it and that it has the potential to cause toxicity. That is definitely a cause for concern."

What Are the Health Risks of Ingesting Plastic?

The long-term effects of plastic ingestion are unknown, but there's reason to be concerned. Microplastics for textile fibers, for instance, make up 16% of the world's plastic production. It's been suggested that inhaled plastic textile fibers could persist in the lungs, leading to inflammation.

Such plastics also contain contaminants, such as polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which may be genotoxic (i.e., causing DNA damage that could lead to cancer), along with dyes, plasticizers and other additives linked to additional toxic effects, including reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity.¹⁶ As noted by the University of Newcastle report:¹⁷

"In marine animals, higher concentrations of microplastics in their digestive and respiratory system can lead to early death. Research studies have demonstrated toxicity in vitro to lung cells, the liver, and brain cells.

Some types of plastic carry chemicals and additives with potential effects on human health. Identified health risks are due to production process residues, additives, dyes and pigments found in plastic, some of which have been shown to have an influence on sexual function, fertility and increased occurrence of mutations and cancers.

Airborne microplastics may also carry pollutants from the surrounding environment. In urban environments, they may carry PAHs — molecules found in coal and tar — and metals."

It's difficult to link human health problems back to microplastics, especially considering the heavy toxic burden most are exposed to daily, but many of the chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics are also known to disrupt embryonic development, dysregulate hormones and gene expression, and cause organ damage. They have also been linked to obesity, heart disease and cancer.

As Pete Myers, Ph.D., founder and chief scientist of the nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences and an adjunct professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, told Consumer Reports, "There cannot be no effect."¹⁸

More Nurdles Than Ever

What are nurdles? As explained by Kim Preshoff in the TED-Ed video above, a key plastic pollutant you may never have heard of is nurdles — tiny plastic pellets that form the raw material for plastic products of all kinds. Ranging in size from microscopic grains to millimeter-sized pellets, nurdles are now found in lakes, rivers and oceans across the globe.

The small pellets easily escape during production, transport, processing and waste management procedures, such that an estimated 5 billion to 53 billion plastic pellets are lost by British production companies annually.¹⁹

It takes about 600 nurdles, which resemble plastic lentil beans, to make one disposable water bottle, and these tiny plastic pieces are similar in size and shape to fish eggs, making them appealing snacks to marine animals. This is another way that microplastics are deadly, as consuming microplastics is known to inhibit appetite in marine animals.²⁰

Further, nurdles, like other plastics, are efficient at absorbing toxins from waterways and can concentrate them to extreme levels.²¹ They're so ubiquitous that nurdles are said to be "the second-largest direct source of microplastic pollution to the ocean by weight."²²

And, once in the environment, nurdles and other plastics are unable to biodegrade, allowing them to persist and accumulate in the environment for generations to come. As journalism organization Orb Media and researchers at the State University of New York at Fredonia explained:²³

"Being composed largely, if not entirely, of hydrocarbon chains, the lack of double bonds or other functional groups provides an inherent stability to its molecules, and its synthetic nature means that the vast majority of microorganisms haven't evolved to utilize plastic as a food source.

Thus while plastic will break into smaller and smaller particles via photo-oxidative mechanisms, the fundamental molecule structures of the material change very little throughout that process.

Plastics become microplastics become nanoplastics, but they are all plastics, just of increasingly smaller size, allowing them to be more easily ingested and perhaps even cross the gastrointestinal tract to be transported throughout a living organism."

A Call to End Plastic Pollution

WWF is calling on governments worldwide to support further research into how plastic and microplastics enter living organisms as well as their consequences on health. They also suggest establishing national targets for plastic reduction, recycling and management, along with an international treaty to stop plastic pollution in the oceans.

"The current global approach to addressing the plastic crisis is failing. Governments play a key role to ensure all actors in the plastic system are held accountable for the true cost of plastic pollution to nature and people," WWF noted, adding:²⁴

"Systemic solutions using strategic and tactical interventions are required to stop plastic pollution at its source, and bold action from a broad range of stakeholders is needed across the full plastic lifecycle to implement these interventions."

That being said, don't underestimate the impact one person — you — can have by making simple tweaks to your daily life. By avoiding the use of single-use plastics like straws, utensils, bags and bottles, and seeking to purchase products that are not made from or packaged in plastic, you can make a dent in the amount of plastic waste and pollution being produced.

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Vitamin D Protects Against Infections

If you don’t know your vitamin D level, getting your blood tested to find out is one of the most important steps you can take to support good health. Low levels of vitamin D are linked to a host of physical and mental problems, while optimal levels protect against chronic disease and infection.

Vitamin D upregulates your ability to fight infections, as well as chronic inflammation, and produces antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), one of which is cathelicidin, a naturally occurring broad-spectrum antibiotic. The cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, or CAMP, is made by immune cells and skin and gut cells, which act as a barrier to infection.¹

In general, AMPs are used by your body's innate immune response to kill invading pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi and other pathogens. According to Dr. Richard Gallo, professor and chief of dermatology at University of California San Diego School of Medicine:²

“AMPs are our natural first line defense against infection. They are evolutionarily ancient and used by all living organisms to protect themselves … Too little CAMP and people experience frequent infections. The best example is atopic eczema (a type of recurring, itchy skin disorder). These patients can experience frequent Staph and viral infections.”

Vitamin D Promotes CAMP, Provides Infection Barrier

Gallo and colleagues conducted a study to find out more about how vitamin D and CAMP work synergistically to ward off infection.³ Using a mouse model for vitamin D-induced CAMP expression, it was found that CAMP can be regulated by vitamin D3 in mice.

Specifically, mice with the human CAMP gene were more resistant to gut infections, and a bioactive form of vitamin D was useful for treating staph infections on the skin. In an Oregon State University (OSU) news release, study author Adrian Gombart, professor of biochemistry and biophysics in OSU’s College of Science and a principal investigator at the university’s Linus Pauling Institute, explained:⁴

“Vitamin D3 regulates the expression of the CAMP, and Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen that causes skin infections. With our mouse model, we showed that treating a skin wound infected with S. aureus with the bioactive form of vitamin D significantly reduced the number of bacteria in the wound.”

In short, it’s believed that vitamin D protects against infection by increasing CAMP levels.

Vitamin D Is Beneficial With Wound Dressings, Sutures

Previous research by Gombart and colleagues also found that loading vitamin D3 into the nanofibers of a wound dressing significantly increased production of a peptide called hCAP18/LL37, which disrupts the membranes of microbes, effectively killing them.

Nanofibrous dressings containing vitamin D3 could “enhance innate immunity by inducing antimicrobial peptide production,” the researchers noted,⁵ and in so doing could help wounds heal faster without contributing to the drug resistance that’s characteristic with many antimicrobial compounds.⁶

The same principle worked when adding vitamin D3 and the pam3CSK4 peptide to sutures.⁷ Vitamin D3 was released steadily over a four-week period, while pam3CSK4, which activates cells’ toll-like receptor that triggers immune responses, in which vitamin D plays a role, was released in an initial burst along with a longer release over the study period.⁸ Gombart further explained how the process works to fight infection:

“When the toll-like receptor is activated, you induce a particular enzyme to convert 25D3 to its bioactive form, known as 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3, that activates the vitamin D receptor. When activity increases, that increases expression of vitamin D receptor target genes, one of which produces the LL-37 peptide, which kills microbes by disrupting their membranes.

The idea is, if you were to have an infection, the sutures would activate the toll-like receptors and start increasing production of 1,25D3 from the 25D3 that’s being released from sutures — so you get both local induction and an increase in the production of the antimicrobial peptide.”⁹

Anti-infective sutures exist currently, but they typically contain triclosan, an antibacterial chemical and known endocrine disrupter. In addition to contributing to the spread of bacterial resistance, triclosan is linked to health risks such as liver damage, cancer and impaired muscle function. Using vitamin D instead thwarts these risks entirely because it has no such adverse effects and it acts on multiple targets.

“[A] compound like vitamin D not only targets bacteria via the antimicrobial peptide, but other immune responses can also be modulated to help combat infection,” Gombart said in a news release. “Targeting on multiple fronts helps minimize the chance of resistance.”¹⁰

Vitamin D Fights Many Types of Infection

In addition to helping ward off skin infections, vitamin D, via its role in promoting healthy immune function, shows promise for preventing a variety of infections. For instance, low levels of vitamin are linked to an increased risk of respiratory infections,¹¹ and a Japanese study showed that schoolchildren taking 1,200 units of vitamin D per day during winter significantly reduced their risk of getting influenza A infection.¹²

Vitamin D also plays a role in HIV, with those with abnormally low levels having shorter survival times than those with higher vitamin D levels.¹³ Even tuberculosis is linked to vitamin D, as it’s been found that low vitamin D levels may increase the risk of active tuberculosis.¹⁴

Tuberculosis is a lung disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium, and a single oral dose of vitamin D enhances immunity to mycobacteria.¹⁵ And, according to GrassrootsHealth, achieving a vitamin D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL during pregnancy can lead to reduced infection risks in babies, including:¹⁶

70% lower prevalence of common cold
66% lower prevalence of ear infections
62% lower prevalence of lung infection

Dutch scientists further revealed that measuring patients’ vitamin D levels can accurately predict their risk of dying from pneumonia within a month of admission to the hospital. The findings suggest that treating patients who have pneumonia with vitamin D supplements may stimulate their immune systems and improve outcomes.¹⁷

Adding vitamin D measurement to the pneumonia severity index could also help improve the accuracy of this prognostic tool.¹⁸ Vitamin D supplements were also found to be beneficial for treating and preventing community-acquired pneumonia in children.¹⁹

What Else Is Vitamin D Good For?

When you optimize your vitamin D levels, you’ll not only enjoy a lower risk of infection but also improved overall health, as a deficiency in vitamin D has been implicated in such problems as multiple sclerosis²⁰ and chronic heart failure, for starters.²¹

Vitamin D also significantly reduces oxidative stress in your vascular system, which can prevent the development of heart disease.²² In addition, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best flu-prevention strategies available and can also slash your cancer risk.

Previous research found that a vitamin D level of 47 ng/ml was associated with a 50% lower risk of breast cancer, for instance.²³ Vitamin D has a favorable effect on immune health, mental health and life expectancy, and, overall, if everyone in North America optimized their vitamin D levels, it’s estimated that:²⁴

All-cancer incidence rates would decrease by 25%
Influenza and pneumonia rates would decrease by 30%
Septicemia would decrease 25%
Multiple sclerosis would decrease by 40%
Negative pregnancy outcomes (including asthma, infections, bone disorders, heart failure, and autism in the baby) would be reduced by 10%

Ensuring children’s vitamin D levels are optimized is also important, as a deficiency in childhood may affect their behavior in adolescence, according to a University of Michigan study.²⁵

In later life, vitamin D status is associated with rates of cognitive decline, with one study finding, “Low VitD [vitamin D] status was associated with accelerated decline in cognitive function domains in ethnically diverse older adults, including African-American and Hispanic individuals who exhibited a high prevalence of VitD insufficiency or deficiency.”²⁶ In addition:

Higher intake of dietary vitamin D was associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease among older women²⁷
Among the elderly (including the “oldest-old”) in China, low vitamin D levels were associated with increased risk of cognitive decline and impairment²⁸
Low vitamin D levels among older women in the U.S. were associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment and decline²⁹

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?

To ward off infection and prevent chronic diseases, the level you're aiming for is between 60 and 80 ng/mL, with 40 ng/mL being the low cutoff point for sufficiency to prevent a wide range of diseases, including cancer.

Research suggests it would require 9,600 IUs of vitamin D per day to get 97.5% of the population to reach 40 ng/mL,³⁰ but individual requirements can vary widely, and you’ll need to get your levels tested to ensure you take the correct dosage required to get you into the optimal range.

Regular sunlight exposure is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D (as well as glean the other health benefits of sun exposure), but many people have difficulty getting out in the sun, whether it’s due to working indoors, weather or physical limitations. As such, many will need to take an oral vitamin D3 supplement, especially during winter months.

The only way to gauge whether you might need to supplement, and how much to take, is to get your level tested, ideally twice a year, in the early spring, after the winter, and early fall when your level is at its peak and low point.

It’s important to note that vitamin D supplementation must be balanced with other nutrients, namely vitamin K2 (to avoid complications associated with excessive calcification in your arteries), calcium and magnesium.

GrassrootsHealth makes testing easy by offering an inexpensive vitamin D testing kit as part of its consumer-sponsored research. By signing up, you are helping further vital health research that can help millions in coming years. All revenues from these kits go directly to GrassrootsHealth. I make no profit from these kits and only provide them as a service of convenience to my readers.

GrassrootsHeallth is also working to end vitamin D deficiency in children and pregnant women, and believes a new standard of care should be implemented for pregnant women that involves vitamin D testing three times during pregnancy and maintaining blood levels of 40 to 60 ng/mL.

Although such testing is not yet widespread, you can request a vitamin D blood test from your health care provider or, if you’re a woman who is between 12 to 17 weeks pregnant, enroll in GrassrootsHealth’s Protect Our Children NOW! Project. If you’re unsure of your own, or your children’s, vitamin D levels, getting your levels checked is the first step to optimization and better health.

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