Canadian researchers randomly assigned acute hospital to give supplements of vitamin C or vitamin D for seven to 10 days.

As a result of the study found in those who were given vitamin C, a rapid and clinically significant improvement on their mood.

But there was no change over those who were given vitamin D, so the lack of any effect of vitamin D on the state of mind, is good evidence that there is a placebo response.

The trial was double-blind and was conducted at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada, publishing the results in the journal Nutrition.

An article in Science News cites a study by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, indicating that macrophages, immune cells that normally fight heart disease by absorbing LDL cholesterol, can do its job too well in cases of deficiency of vitamin D.

Instead of helping to prevent heart disease in these patients, macrophages may actually contribute to their occurrence.

The endocrinologist Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi and colleagues analyzed blood samples from 76 obese people, with an average age of 55 years who had type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and low levels of vitamin D.

From these samples, the researchers cultured macrophages and immune cells exposed to LDL cholesterol (the bad guy). The researchers found that macrophages from type 2 diabetes patients showed a greater tendency to absorb excessive amounts of LDL cholesterol when the body had vitamin D deficiency compared to the amount of cholesterol absorbed by the macrophages in an organism with an amount vitamin D normal.

This makes the transformed macrophage cholesterol cholesterol-filled cells are the building blocks of arterial plaque.

Previous research has suggested that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to the risk of heart disease, but this is the first test of the cellular mechanisms that actually increase the risk.

The cells in cholesterol are part of the trash that builds up inside blood vessels, forming a fibrous cap of plaque. When the plaque ruptures, it can form a blood clot and cause a stroke or heart attack.

The study found that nondiabetics showed much less of this effect than non-diabetics.

Further research by the same group of scientists has shed light on the reason for these results. In people with diabetes, vitamin D helps to reduce stress on the endoplasmic reticulum that controls many cellular functions.

Reduce stress causes macrophages absorb LDL cholesterol to a lesser extent. In cases of vitamin D deficiency, the reduction of tension does not occur and macrophages absorb LDL cholesterol by as much as they should. Stress also contributes to inflammation, which releases proteins that degrade the plate and can cause problems.

Although results are preliminary and more research is conducted on this issue in the future, it seems that people with diabetes should pay attention to their levels of vitamin D.

The Sunshine Vitamin

Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin because exposure to it is one of the most common forms of procurement. We may also be found in certain foods such as salmon, tuna, sardines, milk and cod liver oil. The consumption of supplements is also a way to integrate it into our bodies. Here we present the main reasons for using vitamin D.

First, an adequate level of vitamin carries less likely to suffer heart problems. Each time we present more evidence that low vitamin D levels can lead to heart failure and stroke.

Lower risk of diabetes: vitamin D deficiency alters immune function and hormone levels. This can increase the chances of developing this disease.

Reduced risk of premature death: According to a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine, people taking vitamin D had a 7% less likely to die prematurely.

Lower risk of infectious and autoimmune diseases: multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, diabetes type-1 and even the flu seem to be more common in people who suffer from a deficiency of vitamin D.

Reduce chronic pain. There seems to be a relationship between vitamin D and decreased chronic pain. To learn more about you can go here. Prevent skin infections. The use of vitamin D supplements may help prevent these infections. Also, you can help our body produce collagen, which help our skin stay soft and healthy.

I certainly do not. Reviewing some of the latest published studies on vitamin D one caught my attention appeared in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in October 2009. The study was conducted in Tanzania, a country particularly affected by the HIV epidemic, with 884 infected pregnant women.

And the results were quite significant:

- 61% higher mortality during follow-up in children born to mothers with low vitamin D.

- 50% more cases of HIV measured in the sixth week of birth in children born to mothers with low vitamin D.

- 49% fetal mortality or HIV infection detected at birth in mothers with low vitamin D.

The literature of vitamin D in relation to HIV has become very small. It is hoped that in future further this issue as has happened in recent years with many other problems and diseases in connection with this vitamin. Fortunately, these studies seem to start to arrive, to point to the direction probably assumed. A study published in January 2010 in the Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases reported figures of vitamin D in 115 HIV-positive men aged 19 to 63 years: 36% had insufficient securities, 20% poor and 4% severely deficient. “This study concluded that the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency is high in HIV-infected patients.

- “Perinatal outcomes, including mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and child mortality and their association with maternal vitamin D status in Tanzania”, Journal of Infectious Diseases, October 2009

- “Deficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in male HIV-positive patients: A descriptive cross-sectional study”, Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, January 2010