051 – The Benefits of Vitamin D-3 – My Interview with Dr. John Cannell, MD

The importance of Vitamin D-3 should not be underestimated.

Dr. John CannellIn this interview I will discuss the importance of Vitamin D-3 with Dr. John Cannell, MD, executive director of the VitaminDCouncil.org. Dr. Cannell founded the Vitamin D Council in 2003. Dr. Cannell has published several peer-reviewed papers on vitamin D and often gives talks on the subject all over the country. As Cannell began to study the effects of vitamin D, he immediately realized that the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the U.S. Government’s Institute of Medicine (IOM) was placing many Americans at risk. He learned that vitamin D insufficiency was common in older adults, even using conservative cutoff levels for vitamin D blood levels, with a reported prevalence of 57% of medical inpatients.

Symptoms and Health Risks of Vitamin D Deficiency (source WebMD.com)

Symptoms of bone pain and muscle weakness can mean you have a vitamin D deficiency. However, for many people, the symptoms are subtle. Yet even without symptoms, too little vitamin D can pose health risks. Low blood levels of the vitamin have been associated with the following:

  • Increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease
  • Cognitive impairment in older adults
  • Severe asthma in children
  • Cancer

Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of different conditions, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes,hypertension, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis.

Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency

You don’t consume the recommended levels of the vitamin over time

Your exposure to sunlight is limited.

You have dark skin.

Your kidneys cannot convert vitamin D to its active form.

Your digestive tract cannot adequately absorb vitamin D.

You are obese.

What You Can Do

Have a vitamin D blood test. Then you will know where your vitamin D status is. Then you can make an informed choice about what to do next. If your blood tests low, then add more vitamin D supplements.  Test again in 6 months or a year and compare your results. Eventually you will discover your best dose. Learn more about the risks of deficiency and the benefits for more vitamin D. Apply what you learn to your own life as you pursue better health.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Isaac Mazaza Jere February 23, 2013 at 12:25 pm

This is wonderful. Now I know why some of these diseases are prevalent here in Africa.

I will start a campaign to sensitize the youth in Malawi about the importance of Vitamin D_3. Please come and do more research in Malawi so that we can serve our people from premature deaths.

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2 Steve Lankford February 23, 2013 at 1:04 pm

Good luck to you.

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