Why is everybody deficient in vitamin D?

Do you ever wonder why everybody seems to be deficient in vitamin D?  I do, in fact, when I test individual blood levels I find that the only people not deficient are people who supplement.

The Norwegian Institute for Air research created this calculator to determine how much sunshine you need to create the equivalent of 1,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D in a day.

A Caucasian with fair skin living in Spanish Fork, UT on July 24th (Fiesta Days) at noon can produce 1000 IU of vitamin D in 27 minutes.  It is recommended we get between 2000 IU and 5000 IU of vitamin D daily of optimal health.  This would require 1 - 2.5 hours of mid summer sunlight each day.  In January it would require 5 hrs to create 1000 IU of vitamin D.

Unless you are able to be out in the sun for a few hours each day between 10 am and 2 pm you should get your vitamin D levels measured periodically and supplement with vitamin D.

Written by:
Dr. Steven Davis
Chiropractic Physician
Advanced Wellness Center

6 categories that indicate you might have Candida overgrowth

1. Adrenal and Thyroid gland dysfunction:

Symptoms include cold hands or feet, low blood sugar, low body temperature, light headedness if you stand too fast, fatigue, inability to loose weight.

2. Gastrointestinal problems:

Symptoms include bad breath, bloating, constipation or diarrhea, dry mouth, white coating on the tongue, gas, heartburn, indigestion, IBS, inflammation, obesity or excessive weight loss.  It has been shown that Candida overgrowth is a major player in inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and gastric ulcers.1

3. Emotional and Mental imbalance

Symptoms include ADD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, drowsiness, fatigue, foggy brain, frequent mood swings, inability to concentrate, hyperactivity, insomnia, joint pain, low energy, mental confusion, muscle pain, muscle weakness, nervousness, poor memory, feeling of tingling and numbness.

4. Allergies and immune system weakness

Symptoms include acne, blurred vision, recurrent bronchitis, chemical sensitivities, coughing, earaches, hay fever, headaches, hives, nasal congestion, shortness of breath, sinusitis and sore throats.

5. Skin problems

Symptoms include acne, anal itch, athletes foot, dandruff, dermatitis, dry skin, eczema, excessive perspiration, nail fungal infection, impetigo, jock itch and even psoriasis.

6. Genitourinary problems

Symptoms include recurrent bladder infections, recurrent urinary tract infections, burning sensation when urinating, cramps, cystitis (bladder inflammation), endometriosis (irregular or painful menstruation), impotency, infertility, irregular menstrual cycle, painful intercourse, prostatisis, recurrent vaginal yeast infections, vaginal burning, itching or discharge, fluid retention.

Not all listed symptoms will occur in all people, however, if you have many of theses symptoms you should be tested for Candida overgrowth.

What is Candida albicans?  Candida is a yeast that normally lives in our mouth, throat, intestines, and genitourinary tract. There is a healthy balance between beneficial bacteria and beneficial yeast in our body.  However, if given the opportunity Candida will grow out of control.

There are many things that allow Candida to grow out of control.  Common causes include recurrent antibiotic use, high carbohydrate/sugar diet, immune deficiency, toxic metals and chemicals, excessive stress, hormone imbalance, use of birth control pills, chronic constipation, chronic diarrhea, alcohol consumption, use of steroids, and genetic disorders.

How does it cause all of these symptoms?  Simply put, toxic overload.  Candida produces 80 known toxic substances including ethanol, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.  This in turn produces massive amounts of inflammation that leads to many clinical symptoms.

If you suspect you have a Candida overgrowth there are a few steps to correcting the problem.

1. Get tested to confirm this is the correct problem.  Simply following some internet protocol for Candida and reducing its levels could cause a bacterial overgrowth problem.

2.  Find the cause of the overgrowth and remove it.

3. Supplement with products that help restore balance to the yeast and bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

4. Eat a proper diet and exercise.

5.  Support proper digestion and absorption.  Candida will interfere with absorption of vitamins and minerals.

6. Strengthen your immune system.

7. Do a proper systemic and cellular detoxification program.  I am not talking about a liver cleanse, a bowel cleanse or a juice fast.  You must get the toxins out of you body.

If you suspect a Candida overgrowth problem and would like us to help you regain your health please give us a call at 801-798-2515.

Article written by Dr. Steven E. Davis, chiropractic physican

Reference

1. Kumamoto CA. Inflammation and gastrointestinal Candida colonization. Current opinion in microbiology. 2011;14(4):386-391. doi:10.1016/j.mib.2011.07.015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163673/#R26

Are Food Allergies Killing Your Thyroid?

Thyroid dysfunction is a very common problem I see frequently in the office.  Addressing a thyroid can be a simple fix or may take some serious investigative work.  I would like to address a few of the common causes of thyroid problems and how correct these issues.

Physiology

When our thyroid hormones get low our brain creates a hormone called thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) to signal to the thyroid to make more hormones.   The thyroid gland will respond to the TSH and make more of our thyroid hormones, T4, T3, and reverse T3 (rT3).  We can make T3 and rT3 from T4.  T3 is our most active thyroid hormone, it is 4x stronger than T4.   rT3 does not effect your metabolism but will block our T3 causing low thyroid symptoms.  Since the brain only senses hormone levels not hormone effectiveness, elevations of rT3 will not alter TSH, T4 or T3 blood levels.  To really understand thyroid function all of these hormones need to be checked.

Adrenals, Stress and Cortisol

Our adrenal hormones are often times overlooked as a cause of many conditions.  We will limit this article to how it effects our thyroid.  When we are stressed our adrenal glads make a few hormones to help us deal with the stress.  Cortisol is a hormone that is produced by our adrenal glands to help us mange stress.  If you are chronically stressed, you may have high cortisol levels.  This is a problem for your thyroid because cortisol will cause an elevation in reverse T3.  Cortisol is also a powerful anti-inflammatory.  If you have high levels of inflammation from food allergies, a poor diet, candida overgrowth, chronic disease, etc you will likely have elevated cortisol levels and a sluggish thyroid.  It is always a good idea to measure blood cortisol levels when evaluating a thyroid.

Iodine

Iodine deficiency is a common cause of sluggish thyroid.  We make thyroid hormones from iodine, tyrosine and other building blocks.  Some studies have shown that our daily need for iodine is as high as 12.5 mg, the RDA for iodine is 0.15 mg.  If you don't regularly eat seafood there is a good chance you are iodine deficient.  

Immune System Dysfunction

Hashimoto's disease is a common autoimmune disorder.  The immune system attacks the thyroid gland and damages it.  This damage makes the thyroid gland unable to efficiently do its job and make thyroid hormones. Immune system dysfunction is very complicated but can be helped by reducing offending factors like intestinal hyper permeability AKA leaky gut syndrome, adrenal fatigue, and food allergies.

If you suffer from symptoms of low thyroid function and would like a comprehensive evaluation to help correct the cause of the problem our number is 801-798-2515

Article written by Dr. Steven E. Davis, chiropractic physician.