How Vitamin D Affects Every Organ and Tissue

Think you're gonna be quite blown away how broad vitamin d affects the different organs , the different tissues .

Typically , when we think about vitamin d , we think about bone , maybe the immune system , but , actually , you're gonna be quite surprised on the different areas that vitamin d affects .

It's actually quite fascinating .

Now vitamin d receptors are in almost every single cell , if not every single cell of your entire body .

And because vitamin d is a fat soluble vitamin , it penetrates the membrane and goes right to the center of that cell , the nucleus .

Okay ?

So it has huge effects over that cell .

And in reality , though , vitamin d is not really a vitamin , it's a hormone .

And it's been extensively studied .

Just PubMed , just doing a real quick search on PubMed , There's over 64,000 studies or reviews on vitamin d .

So there's a lot of people that looked at this vitamin extensively , and I think it's the most important fat soluble vitamin of any of the other vitamins .

In fact , 3 to 4% of our genome , is influenced by vitamin d .

Now what's a genome ?

Genomes are the all the genes in your body , which are all tightly packaged .

If we took your genes and unraveled them and extended them in a long series of , like , a string , it would go from here to the moon and back .

So we have a lot of genes .

And 3 to 4% of those genes are influenced by vitamin d .

So check this out .

I'm gonna go through all the different tissues and body parts and tell you a little bit about about how vitamin d influences , these parts of your body .

Let's start with the brain .

If you're deficient in vitamin d , you're not gonna sleep at night .

Vitamin d helps the circadian rhythm .

It helps the sleep centers in your brain , and that center is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus .

Not that you need to know that , but it's kind of a cool word .

So whether you have sleep apnea , or you just have insomnia , or you get up in the middle of the night because you have high cortisol , like , at 2 o'clock , vitamin d can greatly help you .

And I would recommend taking vitamin d before bed .

Vitamin d majorly influences the cognitive part of your brain , like , the part of the brain that helps you remember things and that helps you concentrate .

I mean , in Alzheimer's , Parkinson's , dementia , there's always a vitamin d deficiency .

And then we have your mood .

Your mood is greatly influenced by vitamin d .

Think about in the winter , what happens .

You have seasonal affective disorder .

You have depression .

Why ?

Because you don't get the sun , you don't get the vitamin d , and then you get depressed .

You get the blues .

You're sad .

I mean , think about how important vitamin d must be to your body if you can convert sun through your skin and make your own vitamin d from the cholesterol lining in your tissue .

I mean , you don't need to eat anything to get vitamin d .

You just need to expose your skin to sun .

So if you have anxiety or you're especially depressed , you need to take more vitamin d and it will definitely raise your mood , and it can also help your memory as well .

Alright .

Now what about hair ?

If you're deficient in vitamin d , your hair is gonna be very dry .

It's gonna be brittle .

You're not gonna be able to produce the numbers of hair because the growth of hair is dependent on vitamin d .

You may have early graying .

You may experience hair loss during stress .

That's a certain condition or hair loss during menopause , or you may develop an autoimmune disease , alopecia , and that can cause these patches of your hair to fall out .

So if you can control the inflammation , you can control the disease .

And vitamin d is probably one of the most potent anti inflammatories or natural anti inflammatories .

And then we have your scalp of your hair .

If you're deficient of vitamin d , you'll be more predisposed to getting psoriasis and even , eczema on your skin .

And so now let's just talk about the skin in general .

People that get acne are usually always low in vitamin d .

It can decrease inflammation on your skin .

It can help prevent vitiligo where you have , this whitening or a lack of pigment , on your skin .

People with vitiligo are always deficient in vitamin d .

If you're low in vitamin d , your risk for getting skin cancer , like melanoma , goes dramatically up .

Alright .

Now what about the sinuses ?

Yes .

The sinuses all have receptors for vitamin d in them .

And if you're deficient in vitamin d , you can have a stuffy nose , you can have sinusitis .

And the reason why the vitamin d is in the nose is to protect you against viruses that are coming in through the nasal passages .

And so we need vitamin d for the immune system , which is the next thing we wanna talk about .

The thymus gland , which is right on top of the heart , is the training camp for your T cells .

And , as you age , your thymus gland shrinks and so does your immune system .

So the thymus gland desperately needs vitamin d to help virtually every part of your immune system .

Every part of the immune system has vitamin d receptors .

So you have the b cells , the t cells .

You have both the innate immune system which you're born with as well as the acquired immune system needs vitamin d as well .

Vitamin d helps control the cytokine storm .

It helps control certain autoimmune diseases developing .

It helps control the self attack , which is involved in autoimmune disorders .

It's an immune modulator , so it helps buffer , an overreactive immune system .

That's why it's good for allergies as well .

And it also helps keep , viruses in check .

It decreases the risk of getting viral infections .

So as far as the immune system , vitamin d is the most important nutrient .

Then we have the eyes .

Right ?

If you're susceptible to getting cataracts , vitamin d can help slow down that process .

Vitamin d deficiencies are associated with macular degeneration , glaucoma , and especially dry eyes .

Now as far as the thyroid , which is located right in on your neck right through here about 2 and a half inches wide , the most common thyroid condition is Hashimoto's .

Like 90% of all hypothyroid type conditions is is autoimmune .

It's Hashimoto's .

And like I said before , vitamin d is the best natural remedy for any autoimmune problem at all because it drops inflammation .

And if you didn't have inflammation when you had any type of autoimmune disease , your complications , the side effects would be very minimal .

Because the side effects occur because of this autoimmune , your body's attacking itself .

So Hashimoto's and Graves' disease , both autoimmune , one's a hypo , one's a hyper problem with the thyroid , can greatly benefit from vitamin d .

Alright .

What about the teeth ?

Well , if you're deficient of vitamin d , you're not gonna drive the calcium into the bone .

And your teeth are bone made from calcium .

And so we need vitamin d to regulate that calcium .

And so if you're deficient in vitamin d as a little child or even when you're a baby inside your mother and you're deficient in this vitamin d , unfortunately , you can develop all sorts of bone malformations later in life or even earlier in life as problems with , the maxillary bone .

So you have an overbite or an underbite , or you have , you're gonna need braces because your teeth are crooked , or you might have missing teeth .

But it doesn't just affect your teeth , it affects the entire skeletal system .

You're more susceptible to getting scoliosis , which is in , like , an s curve of your spine , or a hunchback , which is kyphosis , or an exaggerated low back curve , which is lordosis , or even flat feet , or bowed legs , which is rickets .

So without vitamin d , the bone is softer and it it malforms .

I mean , this can be devastating for a child , the way they look , their confidence .

And then later in life , if they get surgery on their overbite or underbite , that's traumatic .

I I saw some videos recently on that , and I I had a hard time watching these videos of literally cutting into your your bone and removing your face and repositioning and screwing things back in to to make sure that the face is now symmetrical and the bite is correct , and not to mention wearing braces for years .

So all of this can be majorly prevented if that mother gets enough vitamin d early on when she's pregnant , if she's breastfeeding .

And so , hopefully , that child is getting enough vitamin d and other nutrients when they're developing .

But , you know , I had this interesting story with a patient .

He was a medical doctor .

And he came in , not by his own accord , but his wife pretty much forced him to come in because his symptom was hot flashes .

And his wife got relief from hot flashes coming in to see me when I was in practice , so her husband had hot flashes , and he came in and , to get help .

Now he was a medical doctor , and what he did is delivered babies .

And so I asked him about prenatals .

I said , now do you recommend , like , a a whole food prenatal or or what ?

Because he said , there is no difference between synthetic and natural .

They're both the same .

And I said , oh , okay .

So where did you learn that ?

He said , well , in in school , this is what they taught us .

I said I said , is it possible that that information is not true ?

Is it possible that's false information ?

He goes he started looking at it .

He goes , well , I don't think they would teach us any false information .

And I said , well , did you realize that majority of synthetic vitamins out there are produced by pharmaceutical companies .

Did you know that ?

He goes , no , I didn't know that .

I said , and is it possible that the pharmaceutical companies could , I don't know , influence certain data that is taught in medical school .

Is it possible ?

He goes , yeah .

Yeah .

It's definitely possible .

I said , also , the studies on antioxidants , they always use synthetic versions of an antioxidant , and the studies show that it increases risk for cancer taking antioxidants .

But they what they don't focus on is the type of antioxidant .

They're not using antioxidants that are coming from food .

They're using the synthetic versions .

I mean , here you are .

You get the study , you read this data , and you go , oh , antioxidants cause cancer .

I'm not gonna recommend it .

But they don't differentiate , does it come from food , or does it come from , a lab ?

So eventually , as we were talking , I kinda got him to look at a new viewpoint with synthetics versus natural things .

And I I think it's the most important , action for a woman who's pregnant to get the right nutrients .

Because if you're just deficient in one vitamin , vitamin d , that child could end up with major skeletal malformations later in life .

And it could be totally avoided by making sure that the diet is correct and making sure that those nutrients are high quality and not some synthetic prenatal that comes from petroleum .

So anyway , we eventually did help him with his hot flashes and , he started to recommend a higher quality , prenatal .

But the teeth are highly influenced by vitamin d as well as calcium .

I remember even as a child growing up , I craved butter .

I could eat an entire pound of butter in one sitting .

Little did I know , what was in that butter .

There was vitamin d in there , but there was also vitamin k 2 .

And vitamin k 2 works with vitamin d , especially in the formation of the strength of your teeth and your bones .

And , unfortunately , I was living on sugar and didn't get my butter fix , and I pretty much ended up with cavities in every single tooth in my skull .

But it just goes to show you the importance of the right nutrition as you're developing .

Alright .

Now what about the lung ?

Is vitamin d important for the lung ?

Absolutely .

Asthma can be improved very quickly in a child if they're out in the sun playing .

So vitamin d just helps open up the lungs and asthma .

It's great for , lung infections , pneumonia , bronchitis .

Any type of inflammatory condition in your lung , vitamin d should be at the top of the list .

Also , vitamin d keeps viruses in remission and is awesome for things like COPD and even cancer of your lungs .

Alright .

Now let's shift to the muscles .

I mean , muscles desperately need vitamin d .

If you don't have enough vitamin d , your muscles are not going to recover after exercise .

They're you're gonna get muscle cramps .

Why ?

Because vitamin d helps control calcium , and calcium is involved in the contraction and relaxation of your muscles .

And so it might not be an electrolyte that's causing your cramps .

It could be the vitamin that helps you absorb one of these electrolytes .

And you also need magnesium when you take vitamin d .

They both work together .

And magnesium is also very important in muscle physiology .

So to get rid of achy muscles or cramping muscles or weak muscles , you need vitamin d .

All right .

Now what about your adrenal glands ?

I mean , the main hormone on the out outer portion of your adrenal glands , which is called the cortex , is cortisol .

And cortisol works very similar to vitamin D .

They both are powerful anti inflammatories .

They both help your immune system .

And if you have high levels of cortisol , you're gonna also need more vitamin d .

So vitamin d is very , very important in the adrenal glands and helping the adrenal glands to work .

If you have high levels of cortisol , you're gonna lose vitamin d , and the demand for vitamin d goes straight up and vertical .

Alright .

Now what about the pancreas ?

Yes .

Especially the cells that make insulin called the islets of Langerhans .

These beta cells , require vitamin d to make insulin .

And if you have an autoimmune disease like in type 1 diabetes , it could have been set up or your body can be very susceptible to getting that condition if you're low in vitamin d .

And if you have the condition , vitamin d is very , very important in keeping inflammation as low as possible .

Now what about the heart ?

A huge association between coronary heart disease and low vitamin d .

Vitamin d helps keep the inflammation low inside your coronary arteries .

Also , the topic on high blood pressure .

Vitamin d is one of the best things to drop blood pressure .

If you have high blood pressure , I will guarantee you're low in vitamin d .

And so that's one of the big benefits from taking vitamin d is just to help you lower your blood pressure , which can then have effects on helping decrease your risk of getting a stroke , and also can decrease your risk of having other problems with the kidney and with the heart .

Alright .

Now what about your liver ?

Well , without vitamin d , your risk for insulin resistance goes higher , and so many people have insulin resistance .

Vitamin d helps insulin in absorbing other nutrients as well , especially calcium .

There's a high association with low vitamin d when you have a fatty liver , and there's definitely a high association if you have a if you have inflammation in your liver as in hepatitis with low vitamin d .

So if you have inflammation in any organ , especially the liver , you need to be taking more vitamin d .

Now with the kidney , you're more susceptible getting stones if you're low in vitamin d .

And the kidney is one of the last , stops , for vitamin d in its conversion .

So if you have any kidney damage , you're not gonna be able to convert vitamin d as well .

But realize that all of your cells have the capacity to convert into the active form of vitamin d , but the kidney plays a big part in this conversion of making the inactive into the active form of vitamin d .

So many people have irritable bowel syndrome , they have ulcerative colitis , they have Crohn's and diverticulitis .

Any inflammation in the gut can be greatly improved with vitamin d .

And if that inflammation continues , it creates leaky gut .

So there's gaps in the , intestine , and then you start developing autoimmune diseases , allergies , and all sorts of sensitivities to certain things , both food and environmental .

If you're low in vitamin d , your prostate could enlarge .

You can have problems with the , ovaries and the testicle .

The other real great thing about vitamin d , it can help your joints .

Whether you have stiffness , pain , inflammation , you need vitamin d because vitamin d is a natural anti inflammatory .

It gets rid of pain .

And it's especially important in all the itises like arthritis , both rheumatoid and osteo .

And , of course , I initially mentioned the importance of vitamin d in bone health .

But if you're deficient in vitamin d , you can have , osteomalacia , which is softening of the bone .

That's where the bones can start to malform , especially early on in life .

Then osteopenia , which is kind of like a pre osteoporosis .

And then actual osteoporosis , where the bones , they're becoming very , very thinned , and they're losing the density .

And so one indication to know that you are deficient in vitamin d is just to press on your sternum , okay , and your breastbone here or on your shin .

And if you have pain , it's a good way to know you are deficient because lacking vitamin d causes bone pain , and especially pain in your lower back .

Even myself , I remember last , winter , boy , I had some low back pain and then I remembered about vitamin D , and I started taking vitamin D , and it was completely gone within probably 2 hours .

So I hope you now understand the importance of vitamin d for virtually every part of your body .

But I also now want to introduce you to vitamin k 2 , which is also needed when you're taking vitamin d 3 .

I put that video right here .

Check it out .