Vitamin D to Prevent Everything from A to Z

What if you could just pop a vitamin to improve your overall health and prolong your life? There's a vitamin that's being touted as the most underrated tool in preventative medicine.

The latest research shows up to 85-percent of us could have a Vitamin D deficiency... not good!

Doctors say it can effect something as simple as your energy level to more serious problems, like multiple sclerosis. A local woman has gotten her painful condition under control with this simple and natural treatment.

Shelly Munoz is a nurse, who works for Dr. Don Ford at Internal Medicine Associates of Sugar Land. She is used to being the caretaker, until 6 years ago, when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and says she had total numbness and was paralyzed on the right side of her body. Shelly was so weak, she had to depend on adult daycare.

Like many healthcare workers, she didn't realize just how significant Vitamin D is to our bodies. That is, until, Dr. Don Ford, suggested she be tested for a Vitamin D deficiency. Her levels were incredibly low.

"After 6-weeks of supplements, I haven't had any numbness or tingling. No more of those difficult treatments, IV steroid infusion, which is not fun - weight gain, mood swings, extreme fatigue." says Shelly.

She says she owes all of that to Vitamin D Supplements. Doctors say it doesn't affect all MS patients that way, but studies are underway to figure out why he helps some MS patients a lot.

Doctors have now linked Vitamin D deficiencies to the deadliest cancers... like colon, breast, prostate, and lung. The list goes on and on.

A Vitamin D deficiency can cause weight gain and depression, things that plague almost everyone at some point in life. Researchers say having a lot of Vitamin D can lessen the effects of chronic conditions like diabetes, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, and schizophrenia.

The interesting thing about it - Vitamin D isn't a vitamin at all.

"Vitamin D is not a vitamin - it's a misnomer. It's not really a nutrient either. Vitamin D is a hormone that effects more than 2,000 genes in the body, and through that regulates a lot of genes that have to do with cancer, inflammation, heart disease, and our general health", says Don Ford, M.D.

Dr. Ford tests all of his patients for a Vitamin D deficiency. He says many of his patients don't have any symptoms at all, but he says supplements may help prevent them from disease.

We met another patient, who thinks he's benefiting from it. Britt Hatfield says since he started taking Vitamin D, the changes are subtle, but he feels better and has lost some weight.

Dr. Ford says, unless you work outside, it's almost impossible to get the Vitamin D you need from the sun. Plus, you can accidentally wash off the Vitamin D you're making.

"If you jump into the water, you're going to wash off that Vitamin D and you're not going to absorb it", says Dr. Ford. The darker your skin, the less Vitamin D you make, and the older you are, the less you make.

It's also hard to get Vitamin D through nutrition.

Some of the only foods its found in is oily fish like salmon and herring, eggs, and mushrooms.

Milk is fortified with it, but with the latest nutritional guidelines, doctors say you'd have to drink 10-tall glasses, to get your daily allowance.

Dr. Ford's best advice... get your levels checked. Talk to your doctor about it. His patients take at least 2-thousand units a day of Vitamin D3, not D2, which is less effective. When they've tested positive for a deficiency, they take a lot more than that for at least 6-months, until they achieve a normal level.

Dr. Ford insists that taking Vitamin D in pill form, or by putting drops on your tongue, could be the best thing you ever do for your health.

Many other countries use Vitamin D as a natural immune booster, instead of flu vaccines, even swine flu shots. Research shows it's important to take a high dosage of Vitamin D over 9-days and reduce it every 3-days to make it work correctly.

Dr. Peter Osborne with Town Center Wellness also recommends the natural treatment to his patients.  You can click here for more information about vitamin D and flu shot protection

Of course, it's always important to talk to your doctor, before taking even natural supplements.

It also allows you to sign up for a series of reports on Vitamin D, including a report on using high dose Vitamin D to combat the flu.

Here's a link to Dr. Don Ford's website: http://www.imasl.info/ He has been an Internist for years, and has interpreted functional medicine into his practice the past few years.

That means he tries to get to the core of the problem, instead of just writing out a prescription for his patients. He says many times a nutritional deficiency is the problem.