Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Here is an interesting item from Dr. William Ferril, MD. I blogged today about Vitamin D supplementation and flu prevention, but research has also linked Vitamin D defiency to asthma. Please check out his article below, and do not hesitate to contact me via my website www.MyBellevilleChiropractor.com or via email at drenyart@mybellevillechiropractor.com with any questions.
The sunshine treatment
If your child is loaded up on asthma meds, it's time to look to the sky for some answers.
New research confirms that a lack of vitamin D -- called the sunshine vitamin, because
our bodies can make it from natural daylight striking our skin -- may be one of the
culprits.
In the latest study, researchers found a direct connection between vitamin D deficiencies
in children and more severe asthma and allergies.
The researchers looked at 616 asthmatic children in Costa Rica, where you might be
tempted to think they get all they need from the sun.
But clearly, they don't.
More than a quarter of these kids weren't getting enough of the stuff, and they were
suffering as a result.
The researchers found that 24.6 percent of the kids had "insufficient" levels, while 3.4
percent of them were "deficient" in vitamin D. These children had more severe allergies
and higher odds of being hospitalized for asthma symptoms.
The results were published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine.
I've been helping both kids and adults win their battles with asthma for years, and in
almost all cases, it's caused by either an allergy or a nutritional deficiency in something
as essential as vitamin D.
I've found vitamin D can even help folks who have the harder-to-control steroid-resistant
asthma, and other studies have confirmed that link.
It's a nutrient that's easy to ignore -- if our bodies can make it from the sun, we probably
get what we need, right?
Wrong. After all, if the children in a sun-rich nation like Costa Rica aren't getting enough
vitamin D naturally, chances are you're not either.
Many of my neighbors here in Montana spend all day working in the sun. But I often
advise them to take a supplement, even in summer, because everything from cloud cover
to clothing to sunblock can impair your body's ability to make enough vitamin D from
sunlight alone.
It's an inexpensive and widely available supplement, and it protects you from so much
more than asthma. It can help you prevent or fight neurological diseases, breast and
bowel cancers, eczema, colds and even the flu.
There's even evidence that vitamin D can help you live longer, too -- all from a natural
supplement that beats out any pricey Big Pharma "wonder" drug.
------Dr. William Ferril, MD