Thread by @Helios_Movement

Ensuring proper levels of vitamin D is now proven to be one of the surest ways to:

-Improve thyroid function and metabolic health
-Prevent autoimmune diseases
-Prevent muscle waste
-Improve hair loss
-Treat fatigue
-Improve insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
-Improve low testosterone
-Improve calcium absorption
-Support the immune system
-Improve skin conditions
and more.

Here's what you need to know.
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*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice.

It's George.

Vitamin D is a hormone-like vitamin that controls about 3% of your entire genome (roughly 1,000 genes), is a cellular multitasker that affects everything from detoxing xenobiotics, insulin, leptin, testosterone, progesterone, skin health and gut health all the way to bone health, muscle building, heart health, brain health, our blood pressure, fertility and immunity.

It does this by greatly affecting calcium absorption (without enough vitamin D, you’d only absorb 10-15% of dietary calcium), the renin-angiotensin system, beta cells in the pancreas, the parathyroid hormone (PTH), dopaminergic neurogenesis and differentiation, osteoblasts and steoclasts, aids in the production of antimicrobial peptides like cathelicidin and defensins, the CYP2R1, CYP27B1 and CYP24A1 enzymes, affects claudin 2, 5 , 12 and 15, it lowers pro-inflammatory signals (like IL-6 and TNF-alpha) and boosting anti-inflammatory ones (like IL-10).

So let’s say that you don’t get enough vitamin D and this negatively affects claudin 2, then this alone can negatively impact all types of IBD for example.

In order to put in perspective how bad a vitamin D deficiency is since it is quite likely that you’ve experienced a vitamin or mineral deficiency, whether it was magnesium or vitamin B12, i’d like you to remember the consequences that this had on you and i’d like you to 2-3-5-or even-10X them in the case of a vitamin D deficiency.

A vitamin D deficiency is that dangerous.

Now we can get vitamin D through UVB light or dietary means (food and supplements).
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Here’s how vitamin D is created when the sun hits our skin.

Our skin in the epidermis (the upper layer of the skin and specifically the stratum spinosum and stratum basale) has a cholesterol derivative that is called 7-dehydrocholesterol.

When wavelengths between 290 and 315 nanometers hit our skin, they break a chemical bond in it (the B ring), turning it into previtamin D3. This is called photolysis.

But previtamin D3 is thermally unstable and has to undergo a rearrangement where a double bond shifts to a trans configuration and forms cholecalciferol.

This conversion takes 8-24 hours.

Then, two hydroxylations happen:

-One in the liver on carbon 25 in order to get 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), or calcidiol (this is the circulating form measured in blood tests).

*The enzyme 25-hydroxylase (primarily CYP2R1) adds a hydroxyl group (-OH) to carbon 25 of cholecalciferol, forming 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), or calcidiol.

-One in the kidneys on carbon 1 in order to get 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), or calcitriol, the active hormonal form that binds to the vitamin D receptor (VDR).

*1-alpha-hydroxylase (CYP27B1) adds another hydroxyl group to carbon 1 of 25(OH)D, producing 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D).

Note 1: There’s a limit to how much vitamin D we can produce.

Once we make 10-20KIUs, extra UVB breaks down the excess previtamin D3 into inactive stuff like lumisterol and tachysterol.

Note 2: Now, if you are wondering how vitamin D goes from the skin to the blood, this is done through vitamin D-binding protein (DBP).

A protein that is produced mainly in the liver and does exactly this (takes cholecalciferol and carries it through your blood).

Genetics variants in it like rs2282679 and rs7041 can dial down your 25(OH)D.

Note 3: The vast majority of vitamin D's effects are mediated through the vitamin D receptor (VDR) (once calcitriol is ready, it binds to VDR to do its job).

The Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) is a nuclear receptor (a type of protein inside the cell (mostly in the nucleus)) that binds 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D3), or calcitriol (the active form of vitamin D) and found in almost every cell type from osteoblasts, the kidneys, neurons, skeletal muscle cells, glial cells, keranocitees, blood vessels, epithelial cells and immune cells.

Now as one more side note, one reason why we must create the perfect balance between vitamin D and A is that once activated, the VDR pairs with the retinoid X receptor (RXR) and together, they go to vitamin D response elements (VDREs) and turn on genes like CALB1 that affect calcium transport for example (one reason why too much vitamin A and not enough vitamin D can create bone issues), or cathelicidin and defensins in macrophages in order to kill germs.

Now there are certain genetic variations in the VDR that make it less efficient that you should be aware of:
-rs1544410
-rs2228570
-rs731236

Note 4: Variants in CYP2R1 or CYP27B1 like rs2060793 or rs28934607 can also slow the conversion steps.

Note 5: When measuring 25(OH)D you want a 45+ ng/mL ideally.

Below 20 ng/mL is a serious deficiency. Between 20-30 ng/mL is nsufficient. Between 30-45S ng/mL is decent, and between 45-70/ng/mL is great and anything past that is just excessive (and wrong) supplementation or signals that you live in a place were you are not designed to (a Swedish person living in Brazil for example).

Note 6: The idea that increasing vitamin D levels through supplements is the same as increasing them through sunlight is profoundly false.

Here are two studies as an example:
1. (Left) Increasing vitamin D levels through sunlight led to a decrease in LDL-C, HDL-C, TC but supplements did NOT lower LDL-C.

2. (Right) 48.8% of acne patients had vitamin D deficiency (control had 22.5%), tet supplementing vitamin D didn’t do almost anything.

Also, our body tightly regulates vitamin D synthesis from UVB exposure.

This is not the case with pills.

Now, here’s how you can increase your vitamin D levels.

Number 1: First and foremost, get bloodwork done (serum 25D).

Number 2: If your levels are low tackle the most common causes of a vitamin D deficiency, such as:

-Overconsuming caffeine
-Not spending time outside
-Not getting enough magnesium
-Low fat and low cholesterol diets
-Very high fiber diets
-No resistant starch or things that feed parabacteroides.
-Wearing sunscreens with high SPF (>30)
-Things that harm the VDR such as sodium fluoride, BPA, heavy metals and being overweight (boron and curcumin help with this)

Number 3: If your levels are still low after implementing these for 2 months, get a vitamin D lamp.

Number 4: If you want to supplement for whatever reason :
-Make sure that your kidneys work fine
-Get one in oil form
-Consume it at noon(-ish) (vitamin D opposes melatonin)
-Test again after just 1 month of supplementing
-Consume it with a retinol-rich meal for breakfast (eggs for example)
-Supplement with vitamin K2 and magnesium as well (for every 1000IUs of vitamin D, i’d like you to have 150mcg of MK7 but do not exceed using more than 3000IUs of vitamin D a day)

That was it.
I hope that you found something useful in this thread.

If you did, make sure to leave a like/RT.