Hello Everyone!

In this newsletter I originally planned to just talk about Vitamin D’s role in preventing colds and flu’s during the winter (and I do get into that later). But as always I got lured into making this longer than I originally intended, because I felt it would be almost criminal not to reference its wider array of crucial roles throughout the body.

Vitamin D was originally “famous” for bone health and preventing rickets. However recent years have seen its emergence as being not just “beneficial” but critical for many aspects of health, longevity and prevention of serious disease. Our range of Vitamin D products is found here, but I hope you’ll all read about which Vitamin D product I advocate and take myself before you go (further along in this article). 

Vitamin D Benefits beyond bone health, and preventing colds and flu.

1. Immune System Support

• Pathogen Defense: Vitamin D enhances the pathogen-fighting effects of monocytes and macrophages, white blood cells that are crucial to immune defense. 
• Autoimmune Modulation: Vitamin D helps regulate the immune response, potentially reducing the risk of autoimmune conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes.

2. Mood and Mental Health

• Mood Disorders: Vitamin D receptors are present in the brain, where it is believed to affect the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin. Studies suggest that low levels of vitamin D are associated with a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
• Cognitive Health: Vitamin D also plays a role in cognitive function, with deficiencies linked to an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults.

3. Cardiovascular Health

• Blood Pressure Regulation: Vitamin D may contribute to regulating blood pressure by influencing the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which is involved in blood pressure control.
• Heart Health: Research links low vitamin D levels to increased risks of heart disease, as deficiency may lead to inflammation, arterial stiffness, and impaired blood vessel function.

4. Blood Sugar Regulation and Diabetes

• Insulin Sensitivity: Vitamin D has been shown to play a role in insulin secretion and sensitivity, which can be important for blood sugar control.
• Type 2 Diabetes Prevention: Low vitamin D levels are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and improving vitamin D status may improve insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function, both of which are crucial in diabetes management.

5. Cancer Prevention and Progression

• Protective Against Certain Cancers: Some studies suggest that higher vitamin D levels may be protective against cancers such as colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers. Vitamin D may inhibit cancer cell growth and promote cellular differentiation, reducing the risk of malignant cells.
• Mechanisms of Action: Vitamin D’s role in regulating cell growth, apoptosis (programmed cell death), and inflammation helps in cancer prevention.

6. Anti-Inflammatory Effects

• Chronic inflammation is a factor in numerous conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. Vitamin D helps regulate the production of inflammatory cytokines, aiding in inflammation control throughout the body.

7. Muscle Function and Fall Prevention

• Vitamin D is crucial for muscle strength and function, especially as people age. It aids in muscular development and contraction, reducing the risk of falls and fractures in older adults.

8. Skin Health and Wound Healing

• Wound Healing: Vitamin D plays a role in producing antimicrobial peptides, which help fight infections in skin wounds, facilitating faster healing.
• Skin Conditions: It’s also been used in treatments for conditions like psoriasis, due to its effects on cell growth and inflammation.

9. Hormone Regulation and Fertility

• Vitamin D is involved in hormone production and regulation, including sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone, which are essential for reproductive health.
• In women, sufficient levels are linked with fertility and healthy pregnancies. For men, vitamin D can support testosterone levels, which may influence fertility.

10. Oral Health

• The presence of vitamin D receptors in gum tissue suggests its importance in dental health, helping to prevent gum disease, tooth decay, and other oral health issues by supporting antimicrobial peptides and immune cells in the oral cavity.

Vitamin D and viral illness (colds, flu’s & covid)

Now I am getting to what I was originally planning to write about!

During the “pandemic”, I wrote a newsletter in which I referenced a YouTube video with the brilliant Vlogger Ivor Cummins which got banned, because it contained “misinformation”. This was a shady term meaning “true information which conflicts with vested pharmaceutical interests”. Those of you who have read George Orwell’s 1984 and the concept of “doublespeak”, will know what I am talking about – the deliberate distortion, or reversal of the meaning of things in order to pursue a specific agenda. 

He discussed the study, not shown of course on the BBC News of course, showing that those who’s Vitamin D level was below 10ng/ml were 10.1 x more likely to die from “the virus” than those who’s blood level was about 30ng/ml. (Note: ng/ml – nanograms per millimeter of blood).

For the pharmaceutical industry who were desperate to impregnate our bloodstreams with worthless ineffective money making chemicals falsely called “immunisations” even though they failed to “immunise” anyone against anything, this was profoundly annoying. If a cheap pesky nutrient could obviate the joyous experience of having experimental toxic chemicals plunged into people’s arms at great profit to themselves, this was going to be extremely inconvenient. The rest is history. 

What’s interesting is that even the study referenced above missed an important point. The optimal level is not 30ng/ml. I regard that as the minimum acceptable level. The optimal level is about 60ng/ml. How do we know this? It’s pretty easy really. Basically when we manage to get around 1/3rd of our skin in the sun regularly (without burning), when the sun is at an angle of above a minimum of 30 degrees to the earth (in the UK we have this for 8 months of the year, but only for a very brief period of the day during the transition months of October and March) and above 40 degrees for dark skinned people (possible in the UK for less than 6 months of the year), we get up to 60-80ng within a couple of weeks. It never goes above that no matter how much time we spend in the sun. And that’s the optimal level. Had the study been based on the optimal amount, not the minimum amount, one can only assume it would not have been a 10.1 x higher risk for death. The difference would have been far more impressive! You can see the risk of death from Coronavirus in visual terms in the image above (this is a screen shot from the highly recommended but censored, aforementioned YouTube video) plotting the risk of death against vitamin D status. You don’t need to be a Professor of statistics to understand it.

Very Important Point If You Get A Cold Or Flu

In terms of Vitamin D it’s basically too late by then! It takes several weeks of persistent usage to build Vitamin D levels in the body. If you haven’t already been taking it BEFORE getting a cold or flu, I am sure that taking it when it’s already there is better than not taking it. But once you’ve got a cold or flu (or covid), something like Oxylift (on 3 x the label dosage) and a HIGH dosage (at least 60mg per day day) of Zinc will work far better as a fast ‘on the spot’ anti-viral. Or herbal anti-viral remedies like Olive Leaf Extract and Galangal Formula – again on 2-3 x label dosage to get rid of the illness quickly. 

Vitamin D Supplements

If you can’t get in the sun as per the suggestions above, then you should supplement with Vitamin D, every day that you don’t get in the sun (without sploshing on sunscreens that block the UBV neeed for the creation of Vitamin D). 

Of the different Vitamin D products we provide, my favourite one, and indeed the one I take, is this one. High strength 4000iu, not the PATHETIC dosage recommended by the mainstream, which is almost useless.  And it comes with the added advantage of containing 90mcg Vitamin K2, which ideally should always be combined with Vitamin D. That’s the subject of another newsletter as the K2 has a lot of benefits of its own. The quality of the K2 is also important as cheap K2 supplements found on Amazon etc are often completely useless, as K2 is notoriously unstable. Suffice it to say, we’ve been very exacting in terms of insisting on a quality and proven K2 manufacturer (again the subject of another newsletter). 

Recommended general (label) usage: One capsule per day (ideally taken in the morning)
My recommendation for OPTIMAL usage: Two per day from October to the end of April. One per day from April to September. (Ideally taken in the morning). This is what I personally take, and it’s one of the reasons I don’t get colds and flu’s any more. 

For those who want a liquid, or a lower strength Vitamin D (for example for children) we provide several other choices. 

    Who is at the highest risk of all for Vitamin D deficiency?

The truth is that most people have below optimal levels of vitamin D. But some people are even more likely than average to need a vitamin D supplement. The following list is not exhaustive, but covers the most common group of people who are especially likely to need a vitamin D supplement. 

• Breastfed infants, because human milk is a poor source of vitamin D, largely because the mothers themselves have poor vitamin D levels
• The elderly, as their skin doesn’t make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight as efficiently as young people, and their kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active form. (Is this one of the reasons why the elderly are at higher risk of dying from coronavirus?)
• Dark skinned people as it takes them much longer to produce vitamin D from action of of ultraviolet light on the skin. (Was this one of the reasons why black  people living in the UK but NOT in Africa were at higher risk of dying from coronavirus?).
• People with disorders such as Crohn’s disease or celiac disease who don’t handle fat properly, because vitamin D needs fat to be absorbed.
• Obesity, because the body fat binds to some vitamin D and prevents it from getting into the blood. (Is this one of the reasons why obese people at higher risk of dying from coronavirus?)
• People who have had gastric bypass surgery
• People with osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism (too much of a hormone that controls the body’s calcium level), sarcoidosis, tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, or other granulomatous disease (disease with granulomas, collections of cells caused by chronic inflammation), 
• People with cancer 
• People who take medicines that affect vitamin D metabolism.

Wishing You All An Abundant Viral Free Life
Mark G. Lester
Director – Big Boss – Overall Smarty Pants
The Finchley Clinic Ltd
www.thefinchleyclinic.com