Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that is the main cause of accumulation cells on the surface of our skin, therefore creating scaly, red, thick and itchy and sometimes even painful patches. According to studies around 7.5 million American citizens are affected from this disease, and back in 2013 this disease caused a healthcare cost of around $112 billion.
A part of reaction of this health issue happens when a white blood cell called a T cell, is attacking a healthy skin cell by mistake. These so called T cells are overactive, they are the one that trigger the immune responses which are accelerating the growth cycle of our skin cells, that are moving to the outermost skin layer. These types of dead skins are not so easily eliminated, they actually stack up in a patch form, that can sometimes crack and cause a bleeding.
People who are suffering from psoriasis have an increased percentage of risk to suffer from chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, eye conditions, high blood pressure, and heart disease, and as well as some psychological repercussions such as social isolation, low self-esteem, and depression.
And for these people it is best to maintain their levels of vitamin D, because this vitamin is the one that prevents from autoimmune diseases, because it is one of the strongest immune modulators.
It is affecting the psoriasis in different levels, it is regulating the keratinocyte (skin cell) growth, it has an impact on the immune functions of the T lymphocytes, controls the skin cell growth and inhibits cytotoxic T cells.
Usually the psoriasis drug treatments are very expensive and have a huge percentage of risk. That is why it is best to treat this disease naturally, by optimizing the vitamin D levels in your body, and exposing yourself to the sunlight properly.
The UV rays from the sunlight and some other types of artificial light are able to kill the activated T cells in our skin, therefore slow down the cell turnover and decrease the inflammation and scaling.
According to another study — people who suffer from psoriasis have an increased risk of Parkinson’s Disease.
Also a study has shown that elevated levels of vitamin D in our body are connected to markedly improved survival in ones that are suffering from colorectal cancer.
Back in 2007 Robert Heaney and Joan Lappe were leading a study in which it was shown that menopausal women with increased levels of vitamin D, had 77% less risk to suffer from all types of cancer.
According to Healthline:
“The primary benefits according to research about vitamin D, it can also play an important role in:
- reducing the risk of multiple sclerosis
- reducing the chances of developing a heart disease
- reducing the chance of suffering from a flu
Also a research has shown that this vitamin is able to regulate your mood and fight against depression. And people who were suffering from obesity and were taking vitamin D supplements every day, had decreased the risk of developing a heart disease.”
Finally it was proven that vitamin D is highly important, and it is the critical vitamin for good health and disease prevention. Through the vitamin D receptors it impacts our DNA, which actually allows it to bind to certain locations of our human genome.
Dr. Mercola claims:
“Vitamin D plays a very important role in a growing body, and it is crucial for maintaining good health and prevent from diseases. In the human body there are about 30,000 genes, and this vitamin is affecting around 3,000, and the vitamin D receptors that are everywhere in our body.
According to many studies the optimal levels of vitamin D can decrease the risk of cancer by 60%. While keeping those levels can help you to prevent from more than 16 types of cancer, including prostate, ovarian, lung, skin and pancreatic cancers. Also this vitamin has the ability to help you protect yourself from cancers by:
- Slowing down the spreading and production of cancer cells
- Enhancing the self-destruction mutated cells
- Helping in the differentiation of the cells
- Preventing from the formation of new blood vessels from the ones that existed before
The vitamin D is also able to prevent and reduce the risk of certain conditions such as chronic inflammation, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and age-related macular degeneration (the main cause for blindness).
This vitamin is able to improve the seizure control in people suffering from epilepsy, and it has the ability to help in the treatment of flu, colds, pneumonia and even tuberculosis.”
If you want to support your overall health by maintaining optimal levels of vitamin D, than the range is between 50 and 70 ng/ml, but if you want to treat some chronic diseases through the vitamin D levels, such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, heart diseases, or neurological diseases, then the levels are somewhere from 70 to 100 ng/ml.
Many people around the world are suffering from vitamin D deficiency, mostly men who are between 31 and 60 years old, and the ladies from 16 to 30 years old, they are also at an increased risk of deficiency in this vitamin.
The exposure to sensible UVB is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels in your body, but you can also maintain these levels through vitamin D3 supplements.
And if you take this option to take vitamin D supplements, make sure you take D3 supplements, not the synthetic D2 type. Make sure you combine it with magnesium and vitamin K2 too. Since this vitamin is fat-soluble, to make sure your body absorbs more of it, combine it with some healthy fats as well.
Also the vitamin K2 is highly needed to move the calcium in the areas of our body where it is needed the most, which will prevent from hardening of our arteries and calcification.
The author of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life, Dr. Kate Rheaumae-Bleue reported:
“When you are supplying your body with more vitamin D, your body produces more vitamin K2-dependent proteins, which are helping the calcium in our body to moce around. Many health benefits can be provided, but you cannot provide those health benefits until the K2 vitamin doesn’t come in to activate these proteins. And when these vitamins K2 and D are working together, they are strengthening the bones and are improving the health of the heart.
For a long time we were told to take calcium for osteoporosis, as well as vitamin D which can help. But according to the latest studies, the elevated intake of calcium is the main reasons for the increased numbers of strokes and heart attacks. Many started to question whether the calcium is safe to take, but that is a very wrong question, because taking it along with vitamin K2 is what will make it beneficial and what will keep it in its right place, where it is effective and beneficial.”
The magnesium is the one that will convert the vitamin D in the active form, by triggering the enzyme’s activity that help our body to use the vitamin D. Make sure you consume more nori, dulse, kelp and other sea vegetables. And if you want to take some supplements, the best choices are magnesium threonate and citrate.
The vitamin D is interracting with boron, zinc and vitamin A, so make sure to choose a diet that is rich in these vitamins and minerals.
