Low blood levels of vitamin D have long been associated with disease, and the assumption has been made that vitamin D supplements may protect against disease. In the light of new knowledge that hundreds of genes are dependent on vitamin D, this assumption needs to be reconsidered.
In a report published in the current issue of the journal BioEssays(1), Trevor Marshall, Ph.D., professor at Australia's Murdoch University School of Biological Medicine and Biotechnology, explains how increased vitamin D intake affects much more than just nutrition or bone health. The paper explains how the Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor (VDR) acts in the repression or transcription of hundreds of genes, including genes associated with diseases ranging from cancers to multiple sclerosis.
"The VDR is at the heart of innate immunity, being responsible for expression of most of the antimicrobial peptides, which are the body's ultimate response to infection," Marshall said. "Molecular biology is now forcing us to re-think the idea that a low measured value of vitamin D means we simply must add more to our diet. Supplemental vitamin D has been used for decades, and yet the epidemics of chronic disease, such as heart disease and obesity, are just getting worse."
"Our disease model has shown us why low levels of vitamin D are observed in association with major and chronic illness," Marshall added. "Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone, and the body regulates the production of all it needs. In fact, the use of supplements can be harmful, because they suppress the immune system so that the body cannot fight disease and infection effectively."
Marshall's research has demonstrated how ingested vitamin D can actually block VDR activation, the opposite effect to that of Sunshine. Instead of a positive effect on gene expression, Marshall reported that his own work, as well as the work of others, shows that quite nominal doses of ingested vitamin D can suppress the proper operation of the immune system. It is a different metabolite, a secosteroid hormone called 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, which activates the VDR to regulate the expression of the genes. Under conditions that exist in infection or inflammation, the body automatically regulates its production of all the vitamin D metabolites, including 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the metabolite which is usually measured to indicate vitamin D status.
Vitamin D deficiency, long interpreted as a cause of disease, is more likely the result of the disease process, and increasing intake of vitamin D often makes the disease worse. "Dysregulation of vitamin D has been observed in many chronic diseases, including many thought to be autoimmune," said J.C. Waterhouse, Ph.D., lead author of a book chapter on vitamin D and chronic disease (2). "We have found that vitamin D supplementation, even at levels many consider desirable, interferes with recovery in these patients."
"We need to discard the notion that vitamin D affects a disease state in a simple way," Marshall said. "Vitamin D affects the expression of over 1,000 genes, so we should not expect a simplistic cause and effect between vitamin D supplementation and disease. The comprehensive studies are just not showing that supplementary vitamin D makes people healthier."
Trevor Marshall is currently executive director of Autoimmunity Research, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization chartered in California. Its mission is to conduct scientific research into the cause and cure of disease, and to educate physicians and the public on science related to disease. More information can be obtained from http://AutoimmunityResearch.org.
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THIS IS NOT NEW RESEARCH. Papers appearing in BioEssays are REVIEW/DISCUSSION papers NOT NEW RESEARCH.
Posts: 689 | From western MA (we say buttER and pizzA) | Registered: Nov 2004
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JRWagner
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3229
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This is simply Marshall, who graduated from the University with a degree in ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, tooting his own horn again!
He is the one that has the Marshall Protocol, where he acts like a MD, sites a HOME address for a his Research Institute, and also sites a "Hospital Affiliation" with only a Pharmocologist wife who works at said hospital.
PLUS...as a peer a DVM (animal doctor) is sited...Sham Peer Review at its best.
Professor? When did this happen? He lives in California now, not Australia.
quote:Originally posted by JRWagner: This is simply Marshall, who graduated from the University with a degree in ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, tooting his own horn again!
Sounds good to me. I think most here would agree conventional medical doctoring has failed us. It would not surprise me if the most succesful lyme treatment is discovered by someone whose thinking can go beyond the limitations imposed by conventional medicine.
Posts: 727 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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The point dguy makes is spot on. In my experience, and having sat through the Connecticut medical board panel hearing in the Dr Jones case where a dozen "MD's" asserted chronic lyme does not exist and all agreed that attempts to treat it are outside the "standard of care" they learned in medical school, our hopes for a cure will have to lie outside the current conventional wisdom.
Posts: 12 | From Weston CT | Registered: Jan 2006
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If you read what Marshall wrote carefully he infers that sunshine is good and supplemental vitamin D is bad. Why then does the Marshall protocol want you to avoid the sun? I am confused. Hiker53
-------------------- Hiker53
"God is light. In Him there is no darkness." 1John 1:5 Posts: 10174 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2004
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While most foods are supplemented with Ergocalciferol, a vitamin D like molecule derived from a fungus, with dubious effectiveness in humans, the recommendation of avoiding all forms of vitamin D based on these assertions is reckless and ludicrous. The vitamin D endocrine system in humans is a powerful and delicate metabolic regulator, and any health problem should be interpreted in relation to it. This balance has been disrupted over the past century by industrialized societies that expose their youth to more and more toxins and less and less natural sunshine, and the result is a population that is disconnected from and oblivious to the natural environment. The industrial-medical complex is flourishing as it develops "treatment protocols" that address the symptomatology of just such a disconnected "consumer" population. Modern science has developed medicines whose effects are well studied, but their use is just as disconnected from natural process as the patients they are applied to.
Posts: 442 | From Biddeford, ME | Registered: Nov 2007
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JRWagner
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3229
posted
Doctor...I agree 100%.
JCB and DGUY...
You both have not been here for the Marshall controversy a few years ago. One of the people "working" for him flat out said his protocol was NOT successful as stated.
ANYONE...MD or PHD, who LIES about having a "Research Institute", or who lies about being AFFOLIATED with a hospital (his wife works there) is not to be trusted.
That said, if you think this is the kind of "OUTSIDE THE BOX" thinking that will save the world, I have some Colloidal Silver to sell you.
Marshall has ABSOLUTELY no proof his "Protocol" works...he is an ego maniac who loves to give "Advice"...dangerously close to Prescribing without a license.
Don't forget the PLACBO EFFECT...some people will feel better without anything more than positive thinking (which in itself is good...).
Vit D is an integral part of many, many processes in our bodies. Don't mess with it.
Peace, Love, and Wellness, JRW
Posts: 1414 | From Ny, Ny | Registered: Oct 2002
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Or maybe that "balance" has been disrupted by tenacious evolving pathogens.
Posts: 246 | From Grass Valley, CA | Registered: Jun 2007
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