Tag Archives: vitamin d

Do you take vitamin D?  It may be toxic if you have this gene!

Happy Monday Clan!  I hope you all got information last week about he SB276, you shared and you got fired up about the potential future of our little ones. 

It’s a scary subject, but one that we can’t stand behind anymore.  I hope you got the information you need to continue protesting.

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This weekend, I went to a LIFE changing seminar.  I’ve been waiting to take a course of advanced genetics and methylation, and this weekend it finally came!  Wow, needless to say I will be changing ALOT in my nutritional practice now knowing what I know.

It seems also pointless for me to go back to doing nutritional protocols without looking at how you are actually processing things.  Today, we will be talking about just 1 gene in the entire pathway shown here.

I know right?!

The body is COMPLEX!  That’s why when people talk about detoxification and MTHFR gene, they miss a big part of the ENTIRE picture.  There’s SO much more than just that one gene, let me tell you!

Don’t worry, before you delete this email from overwhelm, I’m only talking about one gene here called VDR. 

What’s important for you to know as well, is that we cannot change our actual genes, but we CAN change and enhance HOW we express them, which can have huge effects!

For Example:
Recent progress in the understanding of nutritional influences on epigenetics suggests that nutrients that are part of methyl-group metabolism can significantly influence epigenetics.

During critical periods in development, dietary methyl-group intake (choline, methionine, and folate) can alter DNA and histone methylation, which results in lifelong changes in gene expression!!

Also when we are talking about gene regulation through nutrition, the genes we are talking about code for different enzymes.  These enzymes are either unregulated or down regulated causing effects within the body.

VDR is the enzyme responsible for breaking down Vitamin D. If we have a two copies of this gene from mom and dad, then there are extremely limited receptors for vitamin D.

This is how vitamin D converts in our body:
This gene plays an important role in how we can utilize vitamin D!

Which we know is huge for immunity, bone health, and much more.
If you have this gene, and do not have receptors for vitamin D, most likely in your bloodwork you will show low levels of vitamin D.  
But what does that mean?

Well, when you test vitamin D in the blood, that is its inactive form.  What usually happens though is that individuals then start taking vitamin D supplementation.  But this is NOT smart if you have this VDR gene, because you have LIMITED receptors to use it.  So what happens is that the vitamin D gets pulled into the bloodstream and can create calcification in the blood vessels.  

That means you will still be vitamin D deficient, because you’re not using it, but also are creating toxicity in your body by overdosing. 

This gene also has other roles:

-Immune system
-infections
-SIBO
-chronic fatigue
-depression
-Associated with autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s
-Leads to low dopamine levels-depression and reward seeking behavior
-body aches/pains

•Must have methylation cycles going to get full expression of VDR!

IF you know someone with chronic infections, chronic adrenal fatigue or depression, they most likely carry this gene. Giving continual adrenal support, or always detoxing and doing gut protocols will be an endless cycle with these people.  Also, those with LYME you most likely have this gene.  When you REV up this cycle the infections can’t hide!  That means if you have a lot of infections, this cycle isn’t working well if at all.

What needs to be done is add in what are called nutritional co-factors in order to switch that gene’s expression and actually ABSORB the vitamin D!

•Vitamin A protects against vitamin D toxicity and introduced the possibility that vitamins A, D, and K2 may be cooperative factors that should all be consumed in proper balance.

  • Magnesium is needed to exert positive influence over the human genome and may be involved in the genetic actions of vitamin D.
    Magnesium possibly has a role in vitamin D’s effect on the immune system.
    Magnesium works synergistically with vitamin D and calcium by stimulating calcitonin–which helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones
  • Fat is also needed to absorb Vitamin D.
  • Vitamin D is absorbed in the small intestine, requires adequate bile salts. Low HCL and food allergies can cause a binding of vitamin D in the small intestine rendering it totally unusable.
  • Probiotic help promote the full absorption of all nutrients, but especially vitamin D.  (Maybe affected by FUT variants.)
  • VDR balancing can help heal SIBO and greatly benefit the microbiome.
VITAMIN D BLOCKERS:

•Cortisol
•Caffeine-Don’t take Vit D.  with coffee
•Gallbladder issues-Decreases absorption of fat soluble vitamins (ADEK)
•Infections can reduce or block VDR function

 

So, think TWICE before taking just a vitamin D supplement when your vitamin D levels are low.  Make sure you know your genetics.  I like using ancestry.com, and decoding them from there.

More to come on other important genes, and how to clean them up!

I’m excited to incorporate this more and give patients LESS supplements, more SPECIFIC supplements at the cellular level to make lasting changes to allow YOUR body to do what it needs to do.

Have a great week!

Oil of the Week.

On the spotlight this week is DoTerra’s Lemongrass.

What are the origins of a plant’s unique essential oil? The answers lie in genetics. Genes function as a code, similar to the code that runs an app. If you know how to read an app’s code, you can construct in your mind the various functions, and the look and feel of the app. The same applies to genes. Scientists have made great strides in knowing how to read what a gene’s code will make.

 

DNA is a sequence of linked nucleotides, which are a form of small molecule. A gene is a cluster of these nucleotides. It used to cost billions of dollars and years of extremely hard work to sequence the genes of an organism. In the last 20 years, sequencing technology has improved dramatically, such that now sequencing genes is quick and relatively inexpensive. Scientists have found that most genes code for distinct proteins. Proteins perform almost all of the functions of a cell, including producing the various chemical components of an essential oil.

 

Scientists in India studied the genetic origins of Lemongrass essential oil, which is native to India. Lemongrass, Cymbopogon flexuosus, produces many secondary metabolites, including essential oils. Of the genes relating to secondary metabolites, 18 percent coded for terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, 1 percent for monoterpenoid biosynthesis, 1 percent for sesquiterpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis, and 5 percent for limonene and pinene degradation. That represents a significant investment by the Lemongrass plant in producing a diverse essential oil. The diversity of these genes correlates to the diversity of components in Lemongrass essential oil.

 

It is theorized that plants with more diverse essential oil component profiles also have a diverse profile of essential oil biosynthesis genes. The chemical component makeup of a plant’s essential oil isn’t created by chance, but is due to evolutionary pressures working on the genes of the plants over time. The essential oil of Lemongrass (and other plants) are therefore the product of thousands of years of evolutionary selection to give you the very best that nature has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunlight, Cancer & Vitamin D

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all enjoyed last month’s topics around post partum care!  All this month we will be focusing on topics all about summertime health, including guest speakers and more!

Last year I wrote a blog on sunlight, cancer and vitamin D.  I thought it pertinent to resend the blog since many still need to see it!  Hawaii did also just outlaw sunscreen on its beaches… why?? Read on…

For some of us, we have been trained to believe that sunlight causes cancer.  Correct?  Who has told us this?  The sunscreen industry, your dermatologists or by the cancer industry.  Maybe it’s not really true….. You may think that I am crazy, but what if I told you that sunlight actually prevents skin cancer, and other types of cancer as well?  Well, it’s true.  Sunlight alone does not cause skin cancer.

For example, office workers have a greater melanoma risk than farmers, construction workers and even lifeguards! Based on population studies, melanoma rates are higher in Minnesota than Arizona, as well as higher in Norway than in the south of France.

Another fact: Melanoma often occurs in dark places shielded from the sun, including the soles of the feet, the genitals, inside the nose and mouth, and under the fingernails.

Why?  We’ve all been told that myth for so long that most of us believe it.  If you lay out in the sun like this,

then the UV rays from the sun penetrates our skin and cause cancer.  That’s only a one variable equation. One thing: sunlight exposure causes one effect: skin cancer.  What if it was actually more complex than that?  What if it was the interaction of the sunlight and your skin health?  Or, getting more specific, the level of antioxidants in your skin when you are exposed to the sunlight?  Well, as it turns out, with most anything, it really is a two variable. If you look back in history you can see why this is..

Take a look at this image.  You can say that this woman looks a little red.

Do you know where the term “red neck” actually comes from? The term red neck came from the south of the United States during the colonial period when the southerners experienced extreme nutritional deficiencies. Specifically, the B vitamins because they didn’t know how to treat their corn to extract the B vitamins.  As a result when they got exposed to sunlight they got “burned”.  They got burned because a result of two variables: 1. sunlight exposure 2. nutritional deficiencies resulting from their inability to treat food before they ate it.
So the term redneck comes from the simple truth that sunlight combined with nutritional deficiencies can cause sunburn.  What that means, is that if you are out sunbathing and you don’t have good nutrition, you CAN get sunburned which is bad for your heath.  Sunburn is bad, can’t deny that. However, the way to avoid sunburn is not to slather on toxic sunscreen.  Rather, the way to avoid sunburn is to increase your nutritional intake so you have more antioxidants in your skin so you won’t get the burn and you won’t get the increased risk for skin cancer. In fact, you will have a decreased risk of skin cancer.

If you are darker in pigmentation you block the UV rays naturally.  It’s almost like having your own built in sunscreen.  This causes vitamin D deficiencies if you don’t spend enough time in the sun.  Why?  Because the UV rays are what go into your skin and activate your skins manufacturing of Vitamin D.  If you are darker skin you’re going to need MORE vitamin D exposure in comparison to fair skin because of this barrier. The difference?  I might need around 20 mins of sun exposure a day in comparison with say an African American which would need around two hours a day to get the same amount of vitamin D. Why are African American’s suffering more serious cancers?  This is one of the big answers.  The sunlight is not getting to them because of the pigment of their skin, which makes them vitamin D deficient.  Of course the cancer industry won’t tell you this!

What about pale skin?  If you or you know someone that has pale skin, you can know right away they are vitamin D deficient unless they are taking a lot of supplementation to compensate.  A tan person is a healthy person……..

In cultures where tan skin is not preferred like in some asian cultures where they want porcelain skin, where they carry an umbrella or shade their entire body from the sun.  These are the women who are first to get breast cancer.

If you didn’t know vitamin D decreases the risk of 4 out of 5 cancer types! There is a 78% reduction in cancers just from more vitamin D in your body.  

RECAP: Sunlight exposure alone does not cause skin cancer.  Sunlight in combination with nutritional deficiencies can cause sun burn, which can cause skin cancer.  However, sunlight in combination with good nutrition can prevent cancer because it allows you to create Vitamin D.

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Do you notice in the winter months is usually when people are getting sick?  Colds, flu.  Why?  Because they are vitamin D deficient.  In the summer, more people are outside! Most tumors actually grow in the winter months.  Vitamin D has many other qualities as well including kidney health, bone density, diabetes, mental health ect.  Without vitamin D you can’t absorb calcium, so if you have weak bones, doesn’t matter how much calcium you take, you aren’t making them stronger.  Sunlight is great Medicine!!!  It is the light of life.  There would be no life on this planet without it.  It’s like saying air is bad for you.  It is lack of sunlight that causes degenerative disease in our country today.   Don’t live in darkness!

Sharing the light on sunscreen: 

Sunscreen keeps you in darkness.  It blocks the Vitamin D production in your skin which helps you fight skin cancer!  It contains chemicals that themselves may cause cancer.  So the more you put this on, the higher your risk of cancer can get.  Photocarcinogenic ingredients like the vitamin A derivatives retinol and retinal palmitate turn toxic when exposed to sunlight – causing a 21 percent increase in the development and spread of cancerous skin tumors and lesions.  This is not the same as vitamin A found in food and supplements that are essential for good health.  Vitamin A additives are different. Sunscreen also blocks a pigment called melanin, which is your body’s innate protection against burning via tanning. Regular sunscreen use has another liability: You’re more likely to burn on the days you forgo sunscreen.

The idea that sunscreen prevents cancer is a myth.   It’s a myth promoted by a profit-seeking tag-team effort between the cancer industry and the sunscreen industry. Did your doctor mention studies showing that people who spend a greater percentage of their time outdoors have the lowest risk of melanoma?

ALTERNATIVES:

What to use instead?  Use nutrition! So you have a built in internal sunscreen!  A diet rich in antioxidants, vegetables, fruits and whole foods.

Antioxidants:
-Spirulina
-Blue green algae
-Chlorella
-Berries
-Vegetables- Greens
-Juicing or what I like better Blending
-Fatty fish, Fish oils

You can also use specific oils for sun shielding such as :
-Raspberry seed oil (SPF 30-50)
-Shea butter (SPF 20)
-Coconut OIl (SPF 4-10)
-Macadamia Oil (SPF 6)
-Jojoba Oil (SPF 4)
-Avocado Oil (SFP 4)

-Also Beauty Counter makes a great natural deodorant- which you can purchase here:
https://www.beautycounter.com/product/countersun-mineral-sunscreen-mist-spf-30

I’m not saying go out in the sun for 8 hours if you have pale skin and fry yourself to a crisp.  You gotta use some common sense on this.  Start taking antioxidants for 30 days.  Then go out in the sun for a reasonable amount of time and see what happens.  That may be 20 minutes before you notice some burn.  You then may work up to two hours.  I was out in the sun for 2+ hours today not using sunscreen and didn’t burn at all.

Get out safely in the sun with good nutrition and prevent cancer, be healthy, get stronger bones, boost your immune system and energy.

Vitamin D deficiency is very common.  I see it in the office all the time, and can complicate cases of chronic pains.  Symptoms can include but are not limited to :
-muscle/joint pain and weakness
-bone pain
-tiredness or fatigue
-depression

Taking vitamin D supplementation is not perfect either.  It depends on your gut health and ability to absorb it, so consult with your natural doctor or myself on which is safe to use.!

I hope this newsletter proved helpful for you this week!  Please share this information with others so they can be informed and cure their own cancers!

 

 

OIL OF THE WEEK


Sun exposure is good, but too much of it can cause irritation. Next time you deal with discomfort from too much sun, try this after-sun soothing spray with essential oils.

Ingredients
1 cup aloe vera juice
¼ cup doTERRA Fractionated Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon vitamin E
8 drops Lavender oil
8 drops Melaleuca oil
8 drops Peppermint oil

Note: You can find aloe vera juice at your local health food store.

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in glass spray bottle.
  2. Shake to combine.