The following is from Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council.
Vitamin D Council
3/29/2010
As I said in our last newsletter, the Vitamin D Council is attempting to compare vitamin D blood test results of Quest and LabCorp. We are willing to pay your costs, up to $100.00, once we get copies of both tests results, drawn on the same day, and your receipts.
To participate, you need to find a doctor or clinic in your area that uses Quest and call your doctor and arrange for a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D blood test done by Quest. This will cost anywhere from $50 to $150 dollars.
In the meantime, you will need to arrange to have your blood tested by LabCorp the same day. Thus, you will be having your blood drawn twice on the same day, one sample sent to Quest and the other sample sent to LabCorp.
The easiest and cheapest way to arrange for the LabCorp test is through Life Extension Foundation, who emailed me to help the Council out with this study. Just call 1-800-544-4440 and let the operator know you are ordering this test in conjunction with the Vitamin D Council study. The price will be $35.25 for the LabCorp 25(OH)D test through Life Extension; this price is only for those participating in this study.
John Cannell, MD
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Painting: China’s Lost Architecture
Those of you who have come to my office have seen the magnificent artwork hanging on the walls. The artist is Judy Sherman, a long time friend and patient. Her life’s arc has been magnificent too as she has touched on in the written piece about her travels and accomplishments. She has begun a new course in her career, doing a series of physically smaller works on the same themes. So much power, intense beauty concentrated in a small frame.
The small works have not yet graced our walls. She is selling at such a rate in galleries that they don’t have time to come to us. Her son, the IBM employee, can give you visual delights of all her works should you wish to see the change.
She’s so fun.
Dr. Joe
Dear Dr. Prendergast,
At long last I am hooked up to a computer and can send you the article we discussed. This is one of my series of paintings depicting China's Lost Architecture. If you added this to your newsletter, others in the series could be included in future newsletters.
Thank you,
Judy Sherman
China’s Lost Architecture
As an artist on a trip through China in September of 2005 I was intrigued with some of the antiquated architecture that was to be demolished with the approaching Olympics celebration. On a bus ride to Suzhau to tour a silk factory I was especially awed by some of the passing scenes. The highway was flanked by causeway housing some of the most unbelievable structures one could imagine.
At one time the Chinese could not own land but if they lived on the land they could stay indefinitely. So generations lived on the land and as the houses deteriorated they just kept attaching new structures. This subject matter turned into a six month painting project which, I began upon returning home. I think the occupants were still living in this particular building because of the boat in the foreground. I am sure that this no longer exists as there were condominiums and high-rise buildings flanking the scene in the background. This is the first of the paintings in this series and it is an original oil measuring 41” x 34” including the frame.
Information About the Artist
Judy Sherman graduated from the University of Washington before becoming a
stewardess for Pan American World Airways. She honed her love of painting as she traveled through Japan, Manila, Alaska, and Australia. Later she designed and led tours taking artists all over the world to paint. Her tours were called “Paint your Vacation with Judy Sherman.
She has exhibited at the De Young Museum, The DeSaisset Museum on the University Of Santa Clara Campus, The Rosicrucian Museum, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Triton Museum of Art.
Thank you so much for allowing me to share this with you.
Judy Sherman
The small works have not yet graced our walls. She is selling at such a rate in galleries that they don’t have time to come to us. Her son, the IBM employee, can give you visual delights of all her works should you wish to see the change.
She’s so fun.
Dr. Joe
Dear Dr. Prendergast,
At long last I am hooked up to a computer and can send you the article we discussed. This is one of my series of paintings depicting China's Lost Architecture. If you added this to your newsletter, others in the series could be included in future newsletters.
Thank you,
Judy Sherman
China’s Lost Architecture
As an artist on a trip through China in September of 2005 I was intrigued with some of the antiquated architecture that was to be demolished with the approaching Olympics celebration. On a bus ride to Suzhau to tour a silk factory I was especially awed by some of the passing scenes. The highway was flanked by causeway housing some of the most unbelievable structures one could imagine.
At one time the Chinese could not own land but if they lived on the land they could stay indefinitely. So generations lived on the land and as the houses deteriorated they just kept attaching new structures. This subject matter turned into a six month painting project which, I began upon returning home. I think the occupants were still living in this particular building because of the boat in the foreground. I am sure that this no longer exists as there were condominiums and high-rise buildings flanking the scene in the background. This is the first of the paintings in this series and it is an original oil measuring 41” x 34” including the frame.
Information About the Artist
Judy Sherman graduated from the University of Washington before becoming a
stewardess for Pan American World Airways. She honed her love of painting as she traveled through Japan, Manila, Alaska, and Australia. Later she designed and led tours taking artists all over the world to paint. Her tours were called “Paint your Vacation with Judy Sherman.
She has exhibited at the De Young Museum, The DeSaisset Museum on the University Of Santa Clara Campus, The Rosicrucian Museum, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Triton Museum of Art.
Thank you so much for allowing me to share this with you.
Judy Sherman
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
New Study Findings: Vitamin D Prevents Influenza
From John Cannell, M.D.
Press Release:
This morning (03/12/2010), the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial of school children showing vitamin D prevents influenza. A secondary finding was that asthmatic children on placebo had six times more asthma attacks than did children on vitamin D.
For information, contact the lead author, Dr. Mitsuyoshi Urashima at urashima@jikei.ac.jp
Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar 10. [Epub ahead of print]
Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren.
Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, Kurihara M, Wada Y, Ida H.
Division of Molecular Epidemiology Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku Tokyo Japan.
BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, no rigorously designed clinical trials have evaluated the relation between vitamin D and physician-diagnosed seasonal influenza. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of vitamin D supplements on the incidence of seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. DESIGN: From December 2008 through March 2009, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing vitamin D(3) supplements (1200 IU/d) with placebo in schoolchildren. The primary outcome was the incidence of influenza A, diagnosed with influenza antigen testing with a nasopharyngeal swab specimen. RESULTS: Influenza A occurred in 18 of 167 (10.8%) children in the vitamin D(3) group compared with 31 of 167 (18.6%) children in the placebo group [relative risk (RR), 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.99; P = 0.04]. The reduction in influenza A was more prominent in children who had not been taking other vitamin D supplements (RR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.17, 0.79; P = 0.006) and who started nursery school after age 3 y (RR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.17, 0.78; P = 0.005). In children with a previous diagnosis of asthma, asthma attacks as a secondary outcome occurred in 2 children receiving vitamin D(3) compared with 12 children receiving placebo (RR: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.73; P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that vitamin D(3) supplementation during the winter may reduce the incidence of influenza A, especially in specific subgroups of schoolchildren. This trial was registered at https://center.umin.ac.jp as UMIN000001373.
PMID: 20219962 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Press Release:
This morning (03/12/2010), the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial of school children showing vitamin D prevents influenza. A secondary finding was that asthmatic children on placebo had six times more asthma attacks than did children on vitamin D.
For information, contact the lead author, Dr. Mitsuyoshi Urashima at urashima@jikei.ac.jp
Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar 10. [Epub ahead of print]
Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren.
Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, Kurihara M, Wada Y, Ida H.
Division of Molecular Epidemiology Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku Tokyo Japan.
BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, no rigorously designed clinical trials have evaluated the relation between vitamin D and physician-diagnosed seasonal influenza. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of vitamin D supplements on the incidence of seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. DESIGN: From December 2008 through March 2009, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing vitamin D(3) supplements (1200 IU/d) with placebo in schoolchildren. The primary outcome was the incidence of influenza A, diagnosed with influenza antigen testing with a nasopharyngeal swab specimen. RESULTS: Influenza A occurred in 18 of 167 (10.8%) children in the vitamin D(3) group compared with 31 of 167 (18.6%) children in the placebo group [relative risk (RR), 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.99; P = 0.04]. The reduction in influenza A was more prominent in children who had not been taking other vitamin D supplements (RR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.17, 0.79; P = 0.006) and who started nursery school after age 3 y (RR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.17, 0.78; P = 0.005). In children with a previous diagnosis of asthma, asthma attacks as a secondary outcome occurred in 2 children receiving vitamin D(3) compared with 12 children receiving placebo (RR: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.73; P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that vitamin D(3) supplementation during the winter may reduce the incidence of influenza A, especially in specific subgroups of schoolchildren. This trial was registered at https://center.umin.ac.jp as UMIN000001373.
PMID: 20219962 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Monday, March 22, 2010
Byetta Specialist on the Phone
Those of you who have had a successful or unsuccessful experience with Byetta should be aware of a service where you can call and discuss Byetta with a Company specialist.
A different perspective is always worthwhile so you should give this 1-800 a try.
1-800-868-1190
You were placed on Byetta because you have the Metabolic Syndrome. Some of you have clinical diabetes one or two but all the testing was aimed at the reversal of the Metabolic Syndrome.
If you don’t know what the Metabolic Syndrome is don’t be disturbed. None of the doctors in the world know what it is either. What we do know is that this Syndrome is responsible for all the complications that may occur even prior to getting diabetes.
And don’t forget that abdominal fat, the Brown Fat that will be forever growing without using something to stop it. With control of the insulin resistance it may not diminish but it will stop growing.
And the nausea, that has been the black beast for many who just can’t take it in the twice a day form. We can reverse the autonomic neuropathy that seems to cause the nausea within about three months. Most importantly, we seem to be on the cusp of the release of Byetta LA, the one shot a week preparation. It’s time to prepare for the future. You will not be improving by doing nothing.
Dr. Joe
A different perspective is always worthwhile so you should give this 1-800 a try.
1-800-868-1190
You were placed on Byetta because you have the Metabolic Syndrome. Some of you have clinical diabetes one or two but all the testing was aimed at the reversal of the Metabolic Syndrome.
If you don’t know what the Metabolic Syndrome is don’t be disturbed. None of the doctors in the world know what it is either. What we do know is that this Syndrome is responsible for all the complications that may occur even prior to getting diabetes.
And don’t forget that abdominal fat, the Brown Fat that will be forever growing without using something to stop it. With control of the insulin resistance it may not diminish but it will stop growing.
And the nausea, that has been the black beast for many who just can’t take it in the twice a day form. We can reverse the autonomic neuropathy that seems to cause the nausea within about three months. Most importantly, we seem to be on the cusp of the release of Byetta LA, the one shot a week preparation. It’s time to prepare for the future. You will not be improving by doing nothing.
Dr. Joe
Thursday, March 18, 2010
4/09 Seminar: Diagnosis/Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency
Meeting for all on Vitamin D!
Meeting for physicians and non-physicians will be held on April 9th, 2010. This is really a good meeting if you have any interest in Vitamin D at all. I may not make it due to a prior commitment but I assure you it is well worth your while.
Click here to learn more and sign up to attend.
Dr. Joe
Meeting for physicians and non-physicians will be held on April 9th, 2010. This is really a good meeting if you have any interest in Vitamin D at all. I may not make it due to a prior commitment but I assure you it is well worth your while.
Click here to learn more and sign up to attend.
Dr. Joe
Monday, March 08, 2010
The Vitamin D Newsletter - Another Shattered Family
The Vitamin D Newsletter
March 5, 2010
Another Shattered Family
This is a periodic newsletter from the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. If you want to unsubscribe, go to the end of this newsletter. If you are not subscribed, you can do so on the Vitamin D Council’s website.
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute its source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends.
Dear Dr. Cannell:
I am writing to you today to see if there is any information or help you can give to me. On October 25th of 2009, I gave birth to our wonderful son & we were overjoyed. Four days later we noticed that our son had a swollen right thigh so we took him back to the hospital & there an x-ray was done & he had a fractured femur!
Then on the 2nd of Nov. the hospital carried out further scans & we were told that he had fractures to the fibula, tibia & 3 fractures of the ribs. You can now only imagine the situation we are now in but we remain strong & are fighting this all the way knowing that we have not shaken our baby or abused our son or caused these fractures. It was only after our repeated requests that the hospital carried out blood tests on our son for calcium, Vitamin D etc. this was after him been in the hospital & after we had been accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome.” These tests came back as normal.
However I have been tested & have low levels of vitamin D and I have been for a bone density scan which is below average for a woman of my age.
Do you think that there is the possibility that my vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy caused the fractures during the birth of my son?
I would really appreciate any information you could give me with this matter.....I am not concerned about my deficiency; I just want this nightmare to be over.
Jane, Chicago
Dear Jane:
I am so sorry for your nightmare; perhaps it is consoling to you to know you are not alone. Please read my newsletter of June 2009:
Child Abuse Or Vitamin D Deficiency Rickets?
Since I wrote that article last June, two additional papers have come out, including a frightening paper fromEngland
The diagnosis of “shaken baby syndrome” rests on three findings, multiple broken bones, retinal hemorrhages, and intracranial bleeding. Pretty clear diagnosis, right? Proof of abuse, right?
If cases like yours were due to parental child abuse, then fractures would not occur while the infant was still in the hospital, only after the infant was taken home. What happens when fractures are found before the infant leaves the hospital? Child abuse by the doctors and nurses? Not a chance, the fractures are said to be due to “temporary brittle bone disease,” not “shaken baby syndrome.”
Below is a case series of five infants where the fractures occurred while the children were still in the hospital, and thus the authors could not diagnose shaken baby syndrome because doctors and nurses know that doctors and nurses do not beat infants, parents do that. So the doctors diagnosed “temporary brittle bone disease,” which just means the infant’s bones break for no apparent reason in the first few months of life. Vitamin D levels were not obtained on any of these five infants. In each case, the parents were lucky not to have spent time with their infant at home, or the diagnosis of temporary brittle bone disease would have been shaken baby syndrome, and tragedies like yours may have ensued.
Paterson CR. Temporary brittle bone disease: fractures in medical care. Acta Paediatr. 2009 Dec;98(12):1935-8.
Here is a description of one of the infants. “On the day of delivery, a male infant was admitted to a neonatal unit for 4 hours before being returned home with the mother. Mother noticed a ’crackle or pop noise every now and then and he would flinch.’ When he was held, she could feel a ‘popping sensation’ in his back . . . after she had again drawn it to the attention of the staff an x-ray was taken which demonstrated a recent posterior fracture of the sixth right rib with slight displacement. There was also a probable undisplaced fracture of the right seventh rib posteriorly. It was asserted that such posterior rib fractures do not occur at birth and were characteristic of a non-accidental injury. The police and social services were summoned, but because it was clear that the fractures had occurred in hospital, it was accepted that a non-accidental cause was very improbable.”
What would have happened to the mother if she had said nothing and taken the infant home? Even more interesting is a paper by Dr. Pamela Mahon and her colleagues at theUniversity of Southampton
Mahon P, et al. Low Maternal Vitamin D Status and Fetal Bone Development: Cohort Study. J Bone Miner Res. 2009 Jul 6.
Hewison M, Adams JS. Vitamin D insufficiency and skeletal development in utero. J Bone Miner Res. 2010 Jan 15;25(1):11-13.
About one-third of the fetuses inEngland USA
The implications of Dr. Mahon’s above paper are hard to overstate. It implies that if a biopsy of the end of the femur was taken at birth, one-third of all newborns, perhaps more, would show pathological evidence of rickets. If x-rays of these same infants were taken at birth, some would certainly be found to have multiple asymptomatic fractures caused from the battle to traverse the birth canal. Again, if these fractures are diagnosed before the infant leaves the hospital the diagnosis is temporary brittle bone disease; if the infant is taken home and then readmitted the diagnosis is “shaken baby syndrome” and the parents charged with felony child abuse.
Also, one-third of newborn infants in theUSA
Hughes LA, May K, Talbot JF, Parsons MA. Incidence, distribution, and duration of birth-related retinal hemorrhages: a prospective study. J AAPOS. 2006 Apr;10(2):102-6.
Of course, you may say, broken bones and bleeding eyes could happen during a vaginal delivery, but what about brain hemorrhage, certainly that is proof of abuse? Well, it has been proof – proof positive of parental child abuse – for decades, sending thousands of parents to prison for “Shaken Baby Syndrome.” Guess what, it turns out that 26% of newborn infants have brain hemorrhages after a normal, natural, vaginal delivery.
Looney CB, et al. Intracranial hemorrhage in asymptomatic neonates: prevalence on MR images and relationship to obstetric and neonatal risk factors. Radiology. 2007 Feb;242(2):535-41.
I suspect, but cannot prove, that the same infants who have the bleeding eyes and the hemorrhagic brains are more likely to have broken bones and I suspect the etiology is of all three conditions is somehow associated with maternal vitamin D deficiency. While I understand that Vitamin K deficiency is involved in bleeding of the newborn, that does not explain why hemorrhagic disease of the newborn is seasonal, peaking in January and February and the lowest in July and August.
Douglas AS. Seasonality of hip fracture and haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Scott Med J. 1993 Apr;38(2):37-40.
Furthermore, two studies found that various blood clotting factors are associated with vitamin D levels, although the associations are confusing.
Jorde R, et al. Serum levels of vitamin D and haemostatic factors in healthy subjects: the Tromsø study. Acta Haematol. 2007;117(2):91-7.
Jorde R, et al Parameters of the thrombogram are associated with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at baseline, but not affected during supplementation with vitamin D. Thromb Res. 2010 Jan 11.
However, no one has tried to connect the dots and ask if fragile bones, bleeding eyes, and hemorrhagic brains are associated with maternal vitamin D deficiency. If a scientist would just conduct a study of newborns, looking for splaying of the femur, retinal hemorrhages and intracranial bleeding at birth, seeing if those findings are associated with maternal and infantile vitamin D levels, the mystery may be solved and countless families spared the nightmare you are going through.
Jane, families unlucky enough to have x-rays taken of their infants after they return to the hospital, like your family, are in a world of trouble. Without knowing you and your family, I am as certain as I can be that all your son’s fractures may have been caused from vitamin D deficiency during your pregnancy leading to brittle bones that broke during the trauma of his birth.
I have no magic words to salve your tragedy. Show the above studies to your attorney. I also know a kind and honest attorney who is knowledgeable about these things, his name is Zachary Bravos. Zack has recently published a critical article on Shaken Baby Syndrome in the Journal of the Illinois Bar Association.
Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
1241 Johnson Ave., #134 San Luis Obispo , CA 93401 
March 5, 2010
Another Shattered Family
This is a periodic newsletter from the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. If you want to unsubscribe, go to the end of this newsletter. If you are not subscribed, you can do so on the Vitamin D Council’s website.
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute its source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends.
Dear Dr. Cannell:
I am writing to you today to see if there is any information or help you can give to me. On October 25th of 2009, I gave birth to our wonderful son & we were overjoyed. Four days later we noticed that our son had a swollen right thigh so we took him back to the hospital & there an x-ray was done & he had a fractured femur!
Then on the 2nd of Nov. the hospital carried out further scans & we were told that he had fractures to the fibula, tibia & 3 fractures of the ribs. You can now only imagine the situation we are now in but we remain strong & are fighting this all the way knowing that we have not shaken our baby or abused our son or caused these fractures. It was only after our repeated requests that the hospital carried out blood tests on our son for calcium, Vitamin D etc. this was after him been in the hospital & after we had been accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome.” These tests came back as normal.
However I have been tested & have low levels of vitamin D and I have been for a bone density scan which is below average for a woman of my age.
Do you think that there is the possibility that my vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy caused the fractures during the birth of my son?
I would really appreciate any information you could give me with this matter.....I am not concerned about my deficiency; I just want this nightmare to be over.
Jane, Chicago
Dear Jane:
I am so sorry for your nightmare; perhaps it is consoling to you to know you are not alone. Please read my newsletter of June 2009:
Child Abuse Or Vitamin D Deficiency Rickets?
Since I wrote that article last June, two additional papers have come out, including a frightening paper from
The diagnosis of “shaken baby syndrome” rests on three findings, multiple broken bones, retinal hemorrhages, and intracranial bleeding. Pretty clear diagnosis, right? Proof of abuse, right?
If cases like yours were due to parental child abuse, then fractures would not occur while the infant was still in the hospital, only after the infant was taken home. What happens when fractures are found before the infant leaves the hospital? Child abuse by the doctors and nurses? Not a chance, the fractures are said to be due to “temporary brittle bone disease,” not “shaken baby syndrome.”
Below is a case series of five infants where the fractures occurred while the children were still in the hospital, and thus the authors could not diagnose shaken baby syndrome because doctors and nurses know that doctors and nurses do not beat infants, parents do that. So the doctors diagnosed “temporary brittle bone disease,” which just means the infant’s bones break for no apparent reason in the first few months of life. Vitamin D levels were not obtained on any of these five infants. In each case, the parents were lucky not to have spent time with their infant at home, or the diagnosis of temporary brittle bone disease would have been shaken baby syndrome, and tragedies like yours may have ensued.
Paterson CR. Temporary brittle bone disease: fractures in medical care. Acta Paediatr. 2009 Dec;98(12):1935-8.
Here is a description of one of the infants. “On the day of delivery, a male infant was admitted to a neonatal unit for 4 hours before being returned home with the mother. Mother noticed a ’crackle or pop noise every now and then and he would flinch.’ When he was held, she could feel a ‘popping sensation’ in his back . . . after she had again drawn it to the attention of the staff an x-ray was taken which demonstrated a recent posterior fracture of the sixth right rib with slight displacement. There was also a probable undisplaced fracture of the right seventh rib posteriorly. It was asserted that such posterior rib fractures do not occur at birth and were characteristic of a non-accidental injury. The police and social services were summoned, but because it was clear that the fractures had occurred in hospital, it was accepted that a non-accidental cause was very improbable.”
What would have happened to the mother if she had said nothing and taken the infant home? Even more interesting is a paper by Dr. Pamela Mahon and her colleagues at the
Mahon P, et al. Low Maternal Vitamin D Status and Fetal Bone Development: Cohort Study. J Bone Miner Res. 2009 Jul 6.
Hewison M, Adams JS. Vitamin D insufficiency and skeletal development in utero. J Bone Miner Res. 2010 Jan 15;25(1):11-13.
About one-third of the fetuses in
The implications of Dr. Mahon’s above paper are hard to overstate. It implies that if a biopsy of the end of the femur was taken at birth, one-third of all newborns, perhaps more, would show pathological evidence of rickets. If x-rays of these same infants were taken at birth, some would certainly be found to have multiple asymptomatic fractures caused from the battle to traverse the birth canal. Again, if these fractures are diagnosed before the infant leaves the hospital the diagnosis is temporary brittle bone disease; if the infant is taken home and then readmitted the diagnosis is “shaken baby syndrome” and the parents charged with felony child abuse.
Also, one-third of newborn infants in the
Hughes LA, May K, Talbot JF, Parsons MA. Incidence, distribution, and duration of birth-related retinal hemorrhages: a prospective study. J AAPOS. 2006 Apr;10(2):102-6.
Of course, you may say, broken bones and bleeding eyes could happen during a vaginal delivery, but what about brain hemorrhage, certainly that is proof of abuse? Well, it has been proof – proof positive of parental child abuse – for decades, sending thousands of parents to prison for “Shaken Baby Syndrome.” Guess what, it turns out that 26% of newborn infants have brain hemorrhages after a normal, natural, vaginal delivery.
Looney CB, et al. Intracranial hemorrhage in asymptomatic neonates: prevalence on MR images and relationship to obstetric and neonatal risk factors. Radiology. 2007 Feb;242(2):535-41.
I suspect, but cannot prove, that the same infants who have the bleeding eyes and the hemorrhagic brains are more likely to have broken bones and I suspect the etiology is of all three conditions is somehow associated with maternal vitamin D deficiency. While I understand that Vitamin K deficiency is involved in bleeding of the newborn, that does not explain why hemorrhagic disease of the newborn is seasonal, peaking in January and February and the lowest in July and August.
Douglas AS. Seasonality of hip fracture and haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Scott Med J. 1993 Apr;38(2):37-40.
Furthermore, two studies found that various blood clotting factors are associated with vitamin D levels, although the associations are confusing.
Jorde R, et al. Serum levels of vitamin D and haemostatic factors in healthy subjects: the Tromsø study. Acta Haematol. 2007;117(2):91-7.
Jorde R, et al Parameters of the thrombogram are associated with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at baseline, but not affected during supplementation with vitamin D. Thromb Res. 2010 Jan 11.
However, no one has tried to connect the dots and ask if fragile bones, bleeding eyes, and hemorrhagic brains are associated with maternal vitamin D deficiency. If a scientist would just conduct a study of newborns, looking for splaying of the femur, retinal hemorrhages and intracranial bleeding at birth, seeing if those findings are associated with maternal and infantile vitamin D levels, the mystery may be solved and countless families spared the nightmare you are going through.
Jane, families unlucky enough to have x-rays taken of their infants after they return to the hospital, like your family, are in a world of trouble. Without knowing you and your family, I am as certain as I can be that all your son’s fractures may have been caused from vitamin D deficiency during your pregnancy leading to brittle bones that broke during the trauma of his birth.
I have no magic words to salve your tragedy. Show the above studies to your attorney. I also know a kind and honest attorney who is knowledgeable about these things, his name is Zachary Bravos. Zack has recently published a critical article on Shaken Baby Syndrome in the Journal of the Illinois Bar Association.
John Cannell, MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends. Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Sharp spike in diabetes during pregnancy
With the rise of obesity in our country this increase is not a surprise. I found this article interesting. I hope you do as well.
http://futurity.org/health-medicine/sharp-spike-in-diabetes-during-pregnancy/
Dr. Joe
http://futurity.org/health-medicine/sharp-spike-in-diabetes-during-pregnancy/
Dr. Joe
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Rx for Prediabetes (Metabolic Syndrome)
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists issued new recommended treatments for prediabetes in 2009.
The most exciting part of all this is the reversal of the complications. To see the look on the faces of those who have just been told they can now be off their prescription drug for high blood pressure and just stay on the ProArgi9 plus is magic. Knowing how to do it and teaching patient how to keep it that way is delicious (that’s a scientific word).
It’s your time!
- Metformin
- Acarbose
- Glucagon-like 1 agonists like Byetta and Victoza
- Thiazolidinediones (Actos, Avandia)
- Life style changes
- Weight reduction
- 30 – 60 minutes daily of moderate to intense exercise 5 days a week.
- Calorie restricted diet
- Carbohydrate-restrictive diet
- Increased fiber.
- Byetta – once a week to come out in March.
- Or Victoza once daily
- Diet to be restricted in the fashion dictated by the Byetta.
- Metformin for the glucose that does not fall fast enough.
- Look for and reverse all the complications of diabetes that are already present (50% are).
- Then find the exercise, diet etc. that now you can adhere to.
The most exciting part of all this is the reversal of the complications. To see the look on the faces of those who have just been told they can now be off their prescription drug for high blood pressure and just stay on the ProArgi9 plus is magic. Knowing how to do it and teaching patient how to keep it that way is delicious (that’s a scientific word).
It’s your time!
Monday, March 01, 2010
Vitamin D and Colon Cancer
This is a new piece from the Vitamin D Council. If you can give a donation to continue this kind of work it would be very helpful. John Cannell, MD has done superior work in ferreting out important studies on Vitamin D that enable all of us to enlarge our knowledge. You can’t know too much about D.
Dr. Joe
From John Cannell, MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends. Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
This is a remarkable paper in British Medical Journal
February 28, 2010
A few weeks ago, the British Medical Journal published a remarkable paper, remarkable that it studied more than 500,000 subjects, remarkable that it had 56 (fifty-six) authors, remarkable that it confirmed low vitamin D levels obtained in the past are a risk factor for developing colon cancer in the future. However, the most remarkable part of the paper is that the 46 scientists minimized the true significance of their own research. They found that vitamin A, even in relatively low amounts, appears to thwart vitamin D's association with reduced rates of colon cancer.
Jenab M et al. Association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of colorectal cancer in European populations: a nested case-control study. BMJ 2010;340:b5500
This is a prospective nested case-controlled study, which means it uses subject's vitamin D blood samples obtained and frozen in the past and then reviews their medical records into the future to see who gets colon cancer, comparing the study subjects to similar members of the group that did not get the illness. Dr. Mazda Jenab and his 45 colleagues from the International Agency for Research on Cancer confirmed that low vitamin D levels are a risk for colon cancer in a dose response manner; those with the highest levels were about twice as less likely to develop colon cancer compared to those with the highest levels.
However, hidden on page eight is one sentence and a small table, which shows that the benefits of vitamin D are almost entirely negated in those with the highest vitamin A intake. And the retinol intake did not have to be that high in these older adults to begin to negate vitamin D's effects, about 3,000 IU/day. Remember, young autistic children often take 3,500 IU of retinol a day in their powdered multivitamins, which doesn't count any additional vitamin A given in high single doses.
This is the largest study to date showing vitamin A blocks vitamin D's effect and explains some of the anomalies in other papers on vitamin D and cancer. For example, Dr. Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon of the NIH conducted two similar studies on pancreatic cancer, with startling different results. Her first paper showed high vitamin D levels tripled the subsequent risk of pancreatic cancer, her second paper showed no effect. The difference, the first was conducted in a cod liver oil country, Finland, the second in the USA.
Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ et al. A prospective nested case-control study of vitamin D status and pancreatic cancer risk in male smokers. Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 15;66(20):10213-9.
Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, et al. Serum vitamin D and risk of pancreatic cancer in the prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian screening trial. Cancer Res. 2009 Feb 15;69(4):1439-47.
Prostate cancer is another good example; ten similar studies have been conducted on vitamin D blood levels and the risk of subsequent prostate cancer. Dr. Lu Yin of the German Cancer Research Center reviewed them in detail. Eight of the studies found no relationship but two studies found a U shaped curve, that is, an increased risk of prostate cancer at both lower and higher vitamin D levels. You guessed it; both of these studies were from Nordic countries where cod liver oil consumption is rampant.
Yin L et al. Meta-analysis of longitudinal studies: Serum vitamin D and prostate cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol. 2009 Dec;33(6):435-45.
So why is there no relationship between vitamin D levels and the future risk of prostate cancer? All the subjects had their vitamin D levels checked in the late 1980s or 1990s, well into the sun-scare but before the vitamin D revolution. So how did these older people get high levels of vitamin D back then? Multivitamins? No, they only contained a meaningless 400 IU. Vitamin D supplements? No, they were not widely available back then and only contained a meaningless 200 to 400 IU of vitamin D if available. Sunshine? Maybe, but I doubt it. Studies have shown that the elderly were the first to abide by sun-avoidance advice; anyway, the elderly lose the ability to make vitamin D from sunshine; it takes the elderly up to ten times more time in the sun that the young to make an equivalent amount of vitamin D.
However, the elderly of many countries, not just Nordic countries, were raised on cod liver oil and I suspect that a sizable number of Americans continue to take cod liver oil as they age. While cod liver oil from the 1980s and 90s had higher amounts of vitamin D than does modern cod liver oil, it still had toxic amounts of A. I suspect if authors of the above ten studies had controlled for cod liver oil intake, they would have found that high retinol intake was blocking the cancer-preventing effects of vitamin D.
I say this because one author has controlled for retinol intake and the pre-cancerous condition, colon adenomas. Dr. Kyungwon Oh, of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, working with Harvard epidemiologists, found that high retinol intake completely thwarted the beneficial effects of vitamin D, stating, "a higher retinol intake, approximately > 4,800 IU/day, appears to counter the beneficial effect of vitamin D . . ." In other words, exactly what the British Medical Journal paper found with colon cancer.
Oh K et al. Calcium and vitamin D intakes in relation to risk of distal colorectal adenoma in women. Am J Epidemiol. 2007 May 15;165(10):1178-86.
Let"s look at Dr. Pamela Goodwin"s study from the University of Toronto that studied breast cancer survival. This a very different study as it looked at vitamin D levels obtained after the diagnosis of breast cancer and subsequent survival in 535 Toronto women between 1989 and 1996. Vitamin D levels ranged from 3 ng/ml to 70 ng/ml. The women with the lowest levels were about twice as likely to die and to suffer distant cancer recurrence compared those with the highest levels. Ten year survival was 85% for those in the upper one-third of vitamin D levels compared to 74% in the lower one-third. However, the data suggested a U shaped curve for the women with levels above 40 ng/ml, that is, a higher risk of dying, but it was not statistically significant.
Goodwin PJ et al. Prognostic effects of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in early breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2009 Aug 10;27(23):3757-63.
Again, let's ask where women would get levels above 40 ng/ml in Toronto between 1989 and 1996? Sunshine? We know the answer is no as the authors found no seasonal variation in 25(OH)D levels in the 535 women, even in the women with the highest levels. So where did blood levels of 40-70 ng/ml come from in the early 1990s? Vitamin D supplements were not widely available in the early 1990s, and only contained meaningless doses when available. As sunshine was ruled out, they could only have gotten it from cod liver oil. I have emailed Dr. Pamela Goodwin, lead author, asking how hard it would be to see if cod liver oil use was asked about in the dietary questionnaire and if she could control for cod liver oil intake. She did find retinol intake was associated with higher vitamin D levels but I am particularly interested in cod liver oil intake in women with vitamin D levels above 40 ng/ml.
It's not just in breast cancer that vitamin D levels appear to have a treatment effect; it's in lung, prostate and colon cancer as well. Again, these are studies of people diagnosed with cancer to see if high vitamin D levels at the time of diagnosis are associated with improved survival.; that is, do high vitamin D levels have a treatment effect? On average, those with the highest vitamin D levels at time of diagnosis lived 2 or 3 times longer. One has to ask how high vitamin D levels are associated with greatly improved survival once you get cancer but a higher risk of getting cancer in the first place. That requires some gymnastic thinking and acrobatic basic science.
Zhou W et al. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels predict survival in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer patients. J Clin Oncol. 2007 Feb 10;25(5):479-85.
Ng K et al. Clin Oncol. 2008 Jun 20;26(18):2984-91. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and survival in patients with colorectal cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jun 20;26(18):2984-91.
Tretli S et al. Association between serum 25(OH)D and death from prostate cancer. Br J Cancer. 2009 Feb 10;100(3):450-4.
Remember, studies of vitamin D levels and subsequent risk of cancer are only one type of epidemiological study. Studies of latitude and cancer are quite clear, the less sunshine the higher the cancer risk. Studies of dietary vitamin D intake and cancer are also mostly supportive but such studies are limited by the tiny doses people get in their diets.
So it is not just autistic children that are being harmed by vitamin A. Avoid cod liver oil like the poison it is and check your multivitamins. Life Extension Foundation just reformulated their multivitamin to contain only 500 IU of preformed retinol. And, I am happy to report that Purity Products, which markets my vitamin D, has no preformed retinol at all in any of their multivitamins, only beta carotene. Purity has also stopped selling cod liver oil. Now, if only Carlson, Solgar, Nature's Way, and other companies would stop selling cod liver oil and stop selling their concentrated vitamin A supplements to a country whose problem is widespread sub-clinical vitamin A toxicity, I'd be a happier agitator.
John Cannell, MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends.
Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Dr. Joe
From John Cannell, MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends. Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
This is a remarkable paper in British Medical Journal
February 28, 2010
A few weeks ago, the British Medical Journal published a remarkable paper, remarkable that it studied more than 500,000 subjects, remarkable that it had 56 (fifty-six) authors, remarkable that it confirmed low vitamin D levels obtained in the past are a risk factor for developing colon cancer in the future. However, the most remarkable part of the paper is that the 46 scientists minimized the true significance of their own research. They found that vitamin A, even in relatively low amounts, appears to thwart vitamin D's association with reduced rates of colon cancer.
Jenab M et al. Association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of colorectal cancer in European populations: a nested case-control study. BMJ 2010;340:b5500
This is a prospective nested case-controlled study, which means it uses subject's vitamin D blood samples obtained and frozen in the past and then reviews their medical records into the future to see who gets colon cancer, comparing the study subjects to similar members of the group that did not get the illness. Dr. Mazda Jenab and his 45 colleagues from the International Agency for Research on Cancer confirmed that low vitamin D levels are a risk for colon cancer in a dose response manner; those with the highest levels were about twice as less likely to develop colon cancer compared to those with the highest levels.
However, hidden on page eight is one sentence and a small table, which shows that the benefits of vitamin D are almost entirely negated in those with the highest vitamin A intake. And the retinol intake did not have to be that high in these older adults to begin to negate vitamin D's effects, about 3,000 IU/day. Remember, young autistic children often take 3,500 IU of retinol a day in their powdered multivitamins, which doesn't count any additional vitamin A given in high single doses.
This is the largest study to date showing vitamin A blocks vitamin D's effect and explains some of the anomalies in other papers on vitamin D and cancer. For example, Dr. Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon of the NIH conducted two similar studies on pancreatic cancer, with startling different results. Her first paper showed high vitamin D levels tripled the subsequent risk of pancreatic cancer, her second paper showed no effect. The difference, the first was conducted in a cod liver oil country, Finland, the second in the USA.
Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ et al. A prospective nested case-control study of vitamin D status and pancreatic cancer risk in male smokers. Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 15;66(20):10213-9.
Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, et al. Serum vitamin D and risk of pancreatic cancer in the prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian screening trial. Cancer Res. 2009 Feb 15;69(4):1439-47.
Prostate cancer is another good example; ten similar studies have been conducted on vitamin D blood levels and the risk of subsequent prostate cancer. Dr. Lu Yin of the German Cancer Research Center reviewed them in detail. Eight of the studies found no relationship but two studies found a U shaped curve, that is, an increased risk of prostate cancer at both lower and higher vitamin D levels. You guessed it; both of these studies were from Nordic countries where cod liver oil consumption is rampant.
Yin L et al. Meta-analysis of longitudinal studies: Serum vitamin D and prostate cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol. 2009 Dec;33(6):435-45.
So why is there no relationship between vitamin D levels and the future risk of prostate cancer? All the subjects had their vitamin D levels checked in the late 1980s or 1990s, well into the sun-scare but before the vitamin D revolution. So how did these older people get high levels of vitamin D back then? Multivitamins? No, they only contained a meaningless 400 IU. Vitamin D supplements? No, they were not widely available back then and only contained a meaningless 200 to 400 IU of vitamin D if available. Sunshine? Maybe, but I doubt it. Studies have shown that the elderly were the first to abide by sun-avoidance advice; anyway, the elderly lose the ability to make vitamin D from sunshine; it takes the elderly up to ten times more time in the sun that the young to make an equivalent amount of vitamin D.
However, the elderly of many countries, not just Nordic countries, were raised on cod liver oil and I suspect that a sizable number of Americans continue to take cod liver oil as they age. While cod liver oil from the 1980s and 90s had higher amounts of vitamin D than does modern cod liver oil, it still had toxic amounts of A. I suspect if authors of the above ten studies had controlled for cod liver oil intake, they would have found that high retinol intake was blocking the cancer-preventing effects of vitamin D.
I say this because one author has controlled for retinol intake and the pre-cancerous condition, colon adenomas. Dr. Kyungwon Oh, of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, working with Harvard epidemiologists, found that high retinol intake completely thwarted the beneficial effects of vitamin D, stating, "a higher retinol intake, approximately > 4,800 IU/day, appears to counter the beneficial effect of vitamin D . . ." In other words, exactly what the British Medical Journal paper found with colon cancer.
Oh K et al. Calcium and vitamin D intakes in relation to risk of distal colorectal adenoma in women. Am J Epidemiol. 2007 May 15;165(10):1178-86.
Let"s look at Dr. Pamela Goodwin"s study from the University of Toronto that studied breast cancer survival. This a very different study as it looked at vitamin D levels obtained after the diagnosis of breast cancer and subsequent survival in 535 Toronto women between 1989 and 1996. Vitamin D levels ranged from 3 ng/ml to 70 ng/ml. The women with the lowest levels were about twice as likely to die and to suffer distant cancer recurrence compared those with the highest levels. Ten year survival was 85% for those in the upper one-third of vitamin D levels compared to 74% in the lower one-third. However, the data suggested a U shaped curve for the women with levels above 40 ng/ml, that is, a higher risk of dying, but it was not statistically significant.
Goodwin PJ et al. Prognostic effects of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in early breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2009 Aug 10;27(23):3757-63.
Again, let's ask where women would get levels above 40 ng/ml in Toronto between 1989 and 1996? Sunshine? We know the answer is no as the authors found no seasonal variation in 25(OH)D levels in the 535 women, even in the women with the highest levels. So where did blood levels of 40-70 ng/ml come from in the early 1990s? Vitamin D supplements were not widely available in the early 1990s, and only contained meaningless doses when available. As sunshine was ruled out, they could only have gotten it from cod liver oil. I have emailed Dr. Pamela Goodwin, lead author, asking how hard it would be to see if cod liver oil use was asked about in the dietary questionnaire and if she could control for cod liver oil intake. She did find retinol intake was associated with higher vitamin D levels but I am particularly interested in cod liver oil intake in women with vitamin D levels above 40 ng/ml.
It's not just in breast cancer that vitamin D levels appear to have a treatment effect; it's in lung, prostate and colon cancer as well. Again, these are studies of people diagnosed with cancer to see if high vitamin D levels at the time of diagnosis are associated with improved survival.; that is, do high vitamin D levels have a treatment effect? On average, those with the highest vitamin D levels at time of diagnosis lived 2 or 3 times longer. One has to ask how high vitamin D levels are associated with greatly improved survival once you get cancer but a higher risk of getting cancer in the first place. That requires some gymnastic thinking and acrobatic basic science.
Zhou W et al. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels predict survival in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer patients. J Clin Oncol. 2007 Feb 10;25(5):479-85.
Ng K et al. Clin Oncol. 2008 Jun 20;26(18):2984-91. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and survival in patients with colorectal cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jun 20;26(18):2984-91.
Tretli S et al. Association between serum 25(OH)D and death from prostate cancer. Br J Cancer. 2009 Feb 10;100(3):450-4.
Remember, studies of vitamin D levels and subsequent risk of cancer are only one type of epidemiological study. Studies of latitude and cancer are quite clear, the less sunshine the higher the cancer risk. Studies of dietary vitamin D intake and cancer are also mostly supportive but such studies are limited by the tiny doses people get in their diets.
So it is not just autistic children that are being harmed by vitamin A. Avoid cod liver oil like the poison it is and check your multivitamins. Life Extension Foundation just reformulated their multivitamin to contain only 500 IU of preformed retinol. And, I am happy to report that Purity Products, which markets my vitamin D, has no preformed retinol at all in any of their multivitamins, only beta carotene. Purity has also stopped selling cod liver oil. Now, if only Carlson, Solgar, Nature's Way, and other companies would stop selling cod liver oil and stop selling their concentrated vitamin A supplements to a country whose problem is widespread sub-clinical vitamin A toxicity, I'd be a happier agitator.
John Cannell, MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends.
Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
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