Vitamin D Helps with Hormone Imbalances Like PCOS

PCOS and Vitamin D Very few things matter more to diabetics than proper blood sugar control. But Proper vitamin D levels should be important to everybody. In fact study after study has been showing just how important vitamin D levels are to people who suffer with conditions such as Thyroid, Fibromyalgia, Female Hormone Imbalances and every autoimmune condition you can think of.

While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.

Getting optimal amounts of vitamin D has been shown to have positive influence on blood-sugar levels, possibly preventing diabetes and “metabolic syndrome,” a group of metabolism abnormalities associated with insulin resistance.

More than 10 million Americans suffer from diabetes, which often leads to heart disease, kidney damage, Peripheral Neuropathy, nervous system impairments, and other health problems such as PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome).

Even more people have “metabolic syndrome“, which is characterized by heart-disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated levels of triglycerides, low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and abdominal obesity.

PCOS shares many of attributes of metabolic syndrome, and women with PCOS are more likely to develop diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In a past article I wrote, I talked about the surprising link between PCOS and Hashimoto’s autoimmune Thyroiditis. If you are a woman who has either had a miscarriage or you suffer with hypothyroidism, you will want to go back and read this article. In many cases of polycystic ovarian syndrome, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance is a significant contributing factor.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps transport glucose from the bloodstream into the cells, where it is used to produce energy. In people with insulin resistance, plenty of insulin is available, but the body has an impaired capacity to recognize or respond to its hormonal signal. Consequently blood sugar gets backed up and blood sugar levels go up.

In a recent study, vitamin D status was assessed in a group of healthy young volunteers. The degree of insulin resistance and the capacity of the pancreas to secrete insulin were also measured in each volunteer

The results showed that lower blood levels of vitamin D were associated with a greater degree of insulin resistance and with weaker pancreatic function.

Of those with suboptimal vitamin D levels, 30% had one or more components of the metabolic syndrome, compared with only 11% of those with normal vitamin D levels.

These results suggest that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of insulin resistance or of the metabolic syndrome.

As many as 70% of Americans may have vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is present in only a few foods, such as cod-liver oil, oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), and vitamin D-fortified dairy products and breakfast cereals.

Makes you wonder with all the enriched Vitamin D Americans get in their cow’s milk and enriched morning cereal grains why Vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic? (That’s a whole other article)

What about Vitamin D and Children.

Children with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have high blood pressure and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein, also known as good cholesterol — two factors that are considered major risk factors for heart disease later in life. Health.com: How cholesterol affects your heart’s health

Children with low vitamin-D levels also had higher levels of parathyroid hormone than their counterparts with adequate vitamin D in their blood. Parathyroid hormone is a measure of bone health. When levels are high, it suggests that bones need more calcium to grow.

Most of the vitamin D in your body is manufactured in the skin after exposure to sunlight this is why Vitamin D is called the “Sun Shine Vitamin”.

People who don’t receive adequate amounts of sun exposure are at risk of developing vitamin D deficiency.

If you’re unable to obtain that amount of sunlight exposure, vitamin D supplementation must be considered.

The amount recommended by most doctors ranges from 400 IU to 1,000 IU per day. However this amount should only be recommended after you have had a proper vitamin D Test.

You should request your doctor to evaluate your Vitamin D Levels both 25OHD and 1-25 OHD Levels.

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Source: Chiu, KC et al, Hypovitaminosis D is associated with insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction, Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, May 2004; 79:820-825