[jolie-fleur]

I know that not enough sunlight or lack of food based Vit D would cause a deficiency in some. But what about those myriads of chronically ill that get plenty--even perhaps TOO MUCH sun, and take multi-vitamins?

DS1 has Diabetes and was tested low for Vit D. We don't fit many of the risk factors.

I'm interested in any research you have!

Thanks!

 

[lil_miss_understood]

The first thing that comes to mind is a lack of cholesterol, possibly from too little B5 or cysteine. However, (after a very short search and quick glimpse through wikipedia's information) a purine called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is also required for cholesterol synthesis and seems to be implicated in some cases of diabetes. (In the wiki article on ATP, it mentioned something about glucose and glycolysis, so I did a quick Google search on ATP and diabetes.)

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org...act/54/11/3065

According to this site, insulin plays an important role in the production of ATP.

Hope that helps you some.

 

[dnr3301]

I think it's also important to remember that Vit D isn't actually a vitamin, it's a (fat-soluble) hormone, so anything that interferes with hormone production could impact its production as well.

 

[tanyalynn]

Since lots of people with celiac (when they're first diagnosed) have low vitamin D, I'd think the nutritional stress from not absorbing nutrients would be part of it for some folks. I had lots of nutritional stress (not celiac) and ended up with hormones that are out of whack (stress hormones like cortisol, and progesterone and estrogen) and my cholesterol is really low. So some subset seems like it'd be worth looking into.

 

[FrannieP]

Just wanted to add that ppl with thyroid disorders are notoriously low in Vit D - also to do with the ATP I suspect - so it's not surprising that it's also seenin diabetes. And yes, it's actually a hormone.

 

[mbravebird]

Vitamin A is needed for the body to properly use vitamin D. And we are all chronically low in vitamin A these days, because we don't eat many of the traditional food sources of vitamin A. Vegetable sources of vitamin A are not optimally abosrbed at all, especially by diabetics and those with low thyroid function. Children don't convert betacarotene to vitamin A very well at all, and low fat or low zinc interfere with vitamin A synthesis from veggies, too. Synthetic vitamin A from multivitamins doesn't function the same in our bodies.

So if you're low in vitamin A, you'll be low in vitamin D even if you get sun, etc.

 

[sbgrace]

This source has tons of research on vitamin D. http://www.vitamindcouncil.org
It takes quite a bit of vitamin D from food or supplement sources to keep vitamin D stores up. More than the currently recommended RDA. And people need different amounts of vitamin D--factors from genetics to stress on the body play into that. My son with medical issues needs 2000 IU per day to keep him in the "good" D range and that is with lots of outside time in the summer. I take 5,0000 IU's per day and am still low in the winter at least. Most areas don't have the latitude for vitamin D production in the winter. People with dark skin don't absorb as much from the sun as those who are more fair. http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/con...ract/92/6/2130 People getting tons of sun (28.9 hours per week) in Hawaii (so good latitude) and 50% were still deficient.

There are some conditions that cause the body to have low vitamin D in an attempt to regulate calcium absorption (like parathyroid disease) but that wouldn't apply to your son. However, many believe that low vitamin D is a cause of parathyroid disease but in fact it's likely the low level is actually protective/caused by the disease instead. There is a strong link between low vitamin D and pediatric diabetes. Could be another case of the disease interacting with the body to suppress vitamin D or affect absorption. Or could be a factor in the formation. I don't know that there is an answer on that at this time. http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3...597-0/abstract

There is difference of opinion on vitamin A and vitamin D interaction. http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsl...december.shtml Read the second answer.

Quote:

The crux of the problem is that a form of vitamin A, retinoic acid, weakly activates the vitamin D response element on the gene and perhaps blocks vitamin D's more robust activation. In fact, the authors of a 1993 study state "there is a profound inhibition of vitamin D-activated...gene expression by retinoic acid."

I mention because I would not use vitamin A as a basis for raising your son's levels when he is deficient until I had done some research. This from the woman who does give her kids (who aren't deficient) cod liver oil.