Air Pollution and Vitamin D Status in Healthy Women

I admire the ingenuity of these researchers in Iran, who looked at the effects of air pollution on vitamin D status in otherwise healthy women.

Dr. F Hosseinpanah and colleagues, took a cross-section of 200 free living housewives with ages between 20 and 55 years old. They looked at the vitamin D levels in the women living in Tehran (a highly polluted area of Iran) and the women living in Ghazvin (a low pollution area of Iran).

The researchers then measured the ground level of UVB by using a Haze meter as a way of measuring air pollution.

The findings confirmed what I have discussed in my book about the importance of pollution blocking the UVB needed for the skin to make vitamin D.

Read more

More on Asthma and Vitamin D

Another article looking at the importance of vitamin D in patients with asthma has just been published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and  Immunology.

The authors, MS Sandhu and TB Casele, point out that evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency is associated with lung airway over-responsiveness, worse asthma control, and possibly resistance of asthma patients being able to respond to steroid treatment.

They point out that the cells in the lung show high amounts of the enzyme necessary to convert vitamin D to the activated vitamin D within the lung.

This activated vitamin D has been shown to inhibit the manufacture of certain molecules that promote inflammation in the lung. Therefore having sufficient vitamin D would contribute to less lung inflammation, which is the cause of asthma.

They also point out that vitamin D in the lung helps manufacture several natural anti-infective molecules that can help prevent infections, like bronchitis.
Read more

Mental Health and Vitamin D

I was recently interviewed about the role of vitamin D in depression. When the article comes out I will post a link on my blog.

What I basically said is that the medical literature supports the possibility that vitamin D deficiency is connected with depression but more studies need to be done to prove the connection.

Now in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology a new article has been published,entitled "Vitamin D, light, and mental health". The author is MB Humble.

Read more

Tai Chi Helps Fibromyalgia! A Seminal Study !

Fibromyalgia is a common and very complex condition which is characterized by chronic and widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and physical and psychological impairment.

Before about 10 years ago, patients who presented with these symptoms with told that they were depressed and should take a SSRI drug. These patients realized it was not depression, but they were told it was all in their mind. Within the last years the American College of Rheumatology has finally acknowledged this diagnosisand even given it an ICD-9 code.

In my office we see and treat many patients with this fibromyalgia. We usually use an interdisciplinary approach to helping them. We give the patients anti-inflammatory natural supplements as well as change them to  an anti-inflammatory diet. We also give them support for their adrenals and other stress organs, as well as liver support. In addition, the patients will get acupuncture and bodywork. Bodywork is especially important because often these patients have poor posture and "backwards breathing" and need to learn how to stand and walk sit and breathe in a correct way.

Now I am delighted to see a randomized trial of Tai Chi for fibromyalgia being published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. For those of my readers who do not know, Tai Chi is a mind-body practice which began in China as a martial art. It includes meditation along with slow, gentle, graceful movements as well as deep breathing and relaxation. The idea of it is to move the body's life force called "Chi" throughout the body. The beauty of it is that integrates physical psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and behavioral components. It was thought that because of its mind and body attributes that tai chi would be especially well-suited to the treatment of fibromyalgia.
Read more