NEW! - CrossFit785 Foundations of Functional Movement Seminar Notes

These are the slide notes for the seminar presented by Dr Rich Foveaux DC, DACBSP, CSCS on October 15, 2011 at CrossFit785 in Manhattan, KS.

Foundations of Functional Movement

Vitamin D: To take, or not to take?

Vitamin D Update:

Vitamin D has been a hot topic in recent years. Its importance has been realized and now Vitamin D testing is becoming a common part of blood laboratory work ordered by doctors. It has been found to be associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and it’s been suggested that it may slow the growth or prevent growth of some forms of cancer.

Perhaps the most recent study (Ashraf et al, May 2011) found associations between vitamin D and insulin sensitivity, body mass index (BMI). People with who were morbidly obese had lower vitamin D levels than those who were obese, and individuals who were not obese had the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood. They also found that fasting glucose (blood sugar) levels were lower in people that had higher vitamin D levels. A subgroup of people with higher glucose levels were given a treatment of vitamin D and retested. They demonstrated reduced fasting glucose levels. Interestingly, higher levels of vitamin D were also associated with higher levels of LDL cholesterol and ALT (an enzyme that can indicate fatty liver disease, or liver stress). These results are not exclusive, and other studies have reported similar findings.

It’s important when hearing of studies or reading studies to understand that “an association” is not the same as “cause and effect”. When reading the results of this study, it can be difficult to look past the surface. This study wasn’t a controlled trial. It simply looked at characteristics of people and looked for a relationship between those characteristics and their vitamin D levels. It may be possible that rather than vitamin D causing people to have less body fat and lower blood sugar levels and higher LDL and ALT levels, instead its probable that people with the lower body fat ate healthier, nutrient rich foods than the low vitamin D group and thus, had high levels of vitamin D and lower fasting glucose levels. The curious findings in this study were that the higher vitamin D individuals had higher LDL cholesterol than the lower vitamin D levels. This does not mean that vitamin D causes high cholesterol. It may represent the fact that many morbidly obese and obese individuals are on cholesterol lowering medication. This was not controlled for in the study. Secondly it’s important to remind the public that cholesterol is not bad and that “higher cholesterol” is a relative term, and does not indicate the cholesterol levels were higher than healthy norms. It is a necessary building block of hormones that our bodies rely on and we need cholesterol.

The question remains, “should you supplement with vitamin D and is it beneficial?” Based upon other studies finding reduced fracture rates, reduced skin cancer growth, and lower blood sugar levels, coupled with no evidence that supplementation up to 10,000 IU daily increases any risk of health problems, I would say “YES!”

JointFit Chiropractic & Sports Medicine Center specializes in integrative health care combining physical rehabilitation with chiropractic care. We’re located in Candlewood Shopping Center in Manhattan, KS. More information is available at www.jointfitchiropractic.com .

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