I keep pondering to myself why I see so many patients with low blood levels of vitamin D. Well in Oregon, it must be because we do not get enough sunshine right? Well I actually think this is wrong. Of course UV (ultra-violet) light is a synthesizer of vitamin D but I have seen research where people who live in Arizona and California are also deficient in vitamin D. This lead to me think about what other factors maybe going on in the body that could produce low levels of vitamin D. My opinion is that it is not necessarily we are not getting enough vitamin D but we are using it up at a faster rate than we are able to produce it. There was a recent study done on obese children with diabetes and low vitamin D levels. The initial thought was that these kids were not getting enough dairy in their nutrition. Let me be the first to tell you if you do not already know that dairy is not all that it is cracked up to be from a health stand point. Here is a tip, if you do consume dairy, make sure it is in its whole form. Stay away from non-fat or low-fat products. So getting back to the study, when these children incorporated more dairy into their diet, the researchers did not see an increase in vitamin D levels. So what else is going on? My thought is that it is the diabetes. A significant amount of my patients that have low vitamin D levels also have blood sugar problems and I have found that when I fix the blood sugar issue, the vitamin D levels improve without the need for life long high dose vitamin supplementation. I am really beginning to believe that imbalanced states of blood sugar is a tremendous cause of chronic disease and illness.
Hear is your health tip for balancing blood sugar, snack every couple hours on a veggie/fat/protein snack to keep blood sugar levels stable and prevent a hypoglycemic state.
Until next time, Keep Breathing. Dr. Buttler.
