Vitamin D and HIV
Despite everything we know about vitamin D, anyone can bet that nothing will surprise us about this vitamin?
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
D is for don’t.
most people in northern latitudes have a deficiency that needs to be corrected, true?.
RECOMMENDED Summer Sunlight Exposure Levels Can Produce Sufficient (20?ng?ml?1) but Not the Proposed Optimal (32?ng?ml?1) 25(OH)D Levels at UK Latitudes
Note that “only 2.9 % have proposed optimal levels of 32 ?ng/?ml”
Now why is it that 97% of people have lower concentrations of vitamin D in their blood than the putative ‘optimum’ ? Could it have something to do with this
IN the Framingham study the lowest cardiovascular disease risks were found in participants with with baseline 25(OD)D levels of 20 to 25 ng/ml, but increased with both higher and lower values suggesting that increased cardiovascular risk occurred at levels below 30 ng/ml.”
The heart attack risk is increased at lower levels than are now being considered optimum levels, that’s just one disease so maybe there is a trade off and on balance the attaining the higher levels and reducing risks of all the other diseases will lead to a longer heathier life?
IN NHANES III higher mortality was observed in participants with 25 OH)D above 49ng/ml”.
That English UVB exposure does not put vitamin D levels up to 32 nm/ml in 97 % of people is obviously because either :-
A – Natural selection hasn’t got round to it yet, 97% of the English are still adapted to running around with no clothes on.
or
B – It wouldn’t be good for them to have levels that high.
Mad dogs and ….
CONTRARY to what is expected, many studies have come to the conclusion that vitamin D concentrations are generally higher among people in northern Europe than among people in southern Europe [30], [31]. Our average serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are in line with the earlier Swedish values estimated in the MORE study [30]. These values were, independent of season, approximately 30% higher than the average among people from central and southern Europe. The results have been explained by a diet containing more vitamin D-fortified foods, lighter skin and wearing lighter clothing when being outdoors during the summer [30], [31]. Our results indicate that our genes, as well as environmental factors, contribute to our vitamin D status. Higher vitamin D concentrations in northern countries may have a genetic basis.”
Why are Europeans white?
For a given amount of sun whites will have higher levels of vitamin D than blacks for genetic reasons, in fact they have higher levels for the same exposure than even southern Europeans. There are dangers in humans of tropical ancestry trying to raise their vitamin d levels to Northern Europeans’ natural levels, let alone trying to attain the very high putative ‘optimums’ that are now close to being officially recommended for everbody and which only 3% of English people reach with normal sun exposure.
UNFORTUNATELY our norms for adequate vitamin intake are based on subjects or populations of European origin. We are thus diagnosing vitamin-D deficiency in non-European individuals who are, in fact, perfectly normal. This is particularly true for African Americans, nearly half of whom are classified as vitamin-D deficient, even though few show signs of calcium deficiency—which would be a logical outcome. Indeed, this population has less osteoporosis, fewer fractures, and a higher bone mineral density than do Euro-Americans, who generally produce and ingest more vitamin D .
[...]
By pathologizing non-Europeans as being vitamin-D deficient, modern medicine is paving the way for programs that are well intentioned but ultimately tragic in their consequences: mass vitamin-D supplementation to be dispensed through the school system and awareness campaigns. Such public health programs have already been proposed for African Americans and northern indigenous peoples.
What will be the outcome of raising vitamin-D levels in these populations? Keep in mind that we are really talking about a hormone, not a vitamin. This hormone interacts with the chromosomes and gradually shortens their telomeres if concentrations are either too low or too high. Tuohimaa (2009) argues that optimal levels may lie in the range of 40-60 nmol/L. In non-European populations the range is probably lower. It may also be narrower in those of tropical origin, since their bodies have not adapted to the wide seasonal variation of non-tropical humans.
If this optimal range is continually exceeded, the long-term effects may look like those of aging:”