Vitamin D & Not Dying Early

You may know that Vitamin D is an important nutrient.

You may think you know all that it does.

There is so much more to it.

How much does it affect your chance of dying prematurely?

Let's go deep and learn more with Dr. Rhonda Patrick.

Vitamin D3 into the Steroid Vitamin D:

Vitamin D3 is a common nutrient that is converted by your body into a steroid hormone.

This is done through an enzyme in the liver called CYP2R1. This enzyme changes D3 into something called 25(OH)D3.

The final step has the kidney converting 25(OH)D3 into the Vitamin D steroid hormone that your body needs.

Once Vitamin D Hormone is in your blood stream, it affects the workings of over 1,000 genes. This has a significant affect on the way your body functions.

It has been shown in many studies that insufficient levels of Vitamin D lead to a significant rise in all cause mortality (dying from all reasons - mainly heart disease, cancer and strokes).

Am I Getting Enough Vitamin D?

The only way to tell what your levels of Vitamin D are in your blood stream is to take a blood test. The test will show the amount of 25(OH)D3 that is in your blood.

Studies have shown that people with a level of 40-60 ng/ml have much lower overall rates of death from all causes.

You can raise your Vitamin D levels by 5 ng/ml for every 1000 IU of Vitamin D (taken daily).

What other factors affect your body making Vitamin D?

Here are some factors that lower your bodies production of Vitamin D:

Sunscreen - blocks the sun's rays.
Skin Pigmentation - a natural sun block.
Body Fat - Vitamin D is fat soluble so it traps Vitamin D from your blood stream. This means less Vitamin D is bioavailable.
Age - Your body makes less as you age.
Living Up North - Outside of summer, the skin makes very little Vitamin D in the northern latitudes (above 37º N). This is due to little or no UVB rays.

Vitamin D Deficiency Accelerates Aging

Let's take a look at 2 mice.

One that has normal levels of Vitamin D
One that has been genetically altered so it cannot convert Vitamin D

The lower photo is 4 months later.

Clearly Vitamin D is a substance that regulates aging.

Why is this Important?

70% of Americans have insufficient levels of Vitamin D.

It is extremely important to have your levels in the right range (40-60 ng/ml).

Be aware that it is not good to have Vitamin D levels ABOVE 60 ng/ml. Vitamin D can be toxic at higher levels. So you want to be WITHIN the range of 40-60 ng/ml.

The only way to tell where you are is with a blood test.

There are many home tests available in the $50-120 range. We suggest testing yourself in the summer and the winter so you can see what your levels are at the time. The amount of time you are in the sun can make a huge difference. You may not need Vitamin D in the summer but you might in the winter.

Once you know where you are, you can take the appropriate amount of Vitamin D3 to get your body into the right range.

How to Get More Vitamin D (Outside of the Sunshine)

If you need to supplement with Vitamin D, you can do this one of 3 ways:

Regular tablets or powders
Liposomal Vitamin D
Intravenous (directly into the blood stream by IV)

The difference between these methods if cost and bio-availability.

Bioavailability is what percentage of the nutrient is actually available for your body to use once it has been absorbed into the blood stream.

Regular Vitamin C is cheap but it has very low bioavailability. It also has a tendency to upset the stomach and bowels. If something hurts your tummy and you have to go to the bathroom all the time, you're going to be less likely to take it.

Lipsomal avoids the upset stomach and has a greater bioavailability. It does cost more but works better and more effectively.

Intravenous is by far the best bioavailability. However, it is extremely costly compared to the other 2 options. There have been great results with this method but it is very expensive. Costs can range for $150-350 every 2 weeks for this treatment.

We feel that Lipsomal is the best option for most people.

We believe that our Liquid Liposomal Vitamin D3 is the way to go.

This is the reason that we formulated these products in the first place. You may think we are biased but after studying all the facts about Vitamin D, we believe this is best solution.