VITAMIN D-YESTERDAY'S HERO TO DAY'S VILLAIN?

Vitamin D deficiency in human beings was cited since long as the causative factor for the widely prevalent disease Rickets in early days of human nutrition studies and ever since then vitamin D therapy was a standard norm for one and all. As this vitamin is closely associated with bone development along with Calcium and Phosphorus every pregnant woman was put on Vitamin D administration believing that the new born babies will have strong bones. After all Rickets is a bone related disease with the affected population having weak and soft bones, often malformed resulting in a sub-quality life during adulthood. Now comes the news that it is better to be low in Vitamin D during pregnancy rather than gorging the "wonder pill" at least during pregnancy if the babies are to be spared the much dreaded food allergies during their early childhood. According to new studies too much Vitamin D during pregnancy can lead to such allergies later and more care is needed to avoid such a situation by every responsible mother wanting to avoid food allergy among their children in future. Here is a take on this new development.

The result was clear: in cases where expectant mothers were found to have a low vitamin D level in the blood, the occurrence of food allergies among their two-year old children was rarer than in cases where expectant mothers had a high vitamin D blood level. In reverse, this means that a high vitamin D level in pregnant women is associated with a higher risk of their children to develop a food allergy during infancy. Furthermore, those children were found to have a high level of the specific immunoglobulin E to food allergens such as egg white, milk protein, wheat flour, peanuts or soya beans. The UFZ scientists also got evidence fot the mechanism that could link vitamin D and food allergies. Dr. Gunda Herberth -- also from the Department of Environmental Immunology at the UFZ -- took a closer look at the immune response of the affected children and analysed regulatory T-cells in cord blood in particular. The cells are capable of preventing the immune system from overreacting to allergens, with the result that they protect against allergies. The UFZ researchers know from earlier analyses that the allergy risk increases in cases where too few regulatory T-cells are present in cord blood. The interesting result of the current research project: the higher the level of vitamin D found in the blood of mothers and children, the fewer regulatory T-cells could be detected. The correlation could mean that vitamin D suppresses the development of regulatory T-cells and thus increases the risk of allergy.

A cautionary note is called for while considering the findings of the above group because the conclusions are essentially based on monitoring of Vitamin D levels in pregnant women where those with high levels of this vitamin were found to have children with allergies more frequently. Vitamin D poses a severe challenge to nutritionists and physicians because it is formed in the human body only when there is adequate exposure to Sun and as the life style of people differ very significantly from region to region it is a difficult task to assess the adequacy or otherwise of Vitamin D in different people with different exposure profile. Probably the findings from the above studies would make Gynecologists  and nutritionists more cautious in dealing with pregnant women when it comes to Vitamin D content in their blood. A low level Vitamin D in pregnant women is preferable because children can always be administered this vitamin after birth to bring up to the desired level for strong bone development and other metabolic functions.    

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

EVOLUTION OF SKIN COLOR-A HISTORICAL INSIGHT

The old apartheid practices based on skin color have practically disappeared in most parts of the world while the American slavery system that used imported African people with dark colored skin remains only in memory. Probably if to day's knowledge about the role skin color plays in maintaining good health was known 300 years ago, people would have given more respect to a dark skinned person than what the latter received from their fair skinned cousins! For quiet some time knowledge about the critical role played by Vitamin D in bone formation and development was in the public domain and that this particular micro nutrient cannot be synthesized by the human body was also known. It is underneath the human skin that Vitamin D is formed from its precursors through the action of Ultra Violet Rays (UVR), so abundantly available to those living near the equator and the extent of synthesis is a function of time of exposure. The advantage of darker skin is that it not only allows synthesis of Vitamin D but also protects the skin from DNA damage eventually leading to skin cancer. It is not an accident that light skinned population generally live farther from the Equator where sun light is comparatively less and environmental temperature is low for people to be outside their homes for long time. Under such conditions protection from UV rays is not a major problem and that is how the pigmentation started declining progressively. This evolutionary development is purely a response to the environment and cannot be associated with any brain function. Thus color of the skin does not influence the IQ or any function associated with intelligence or skills. Here is a commentary on this interesting interpretation of the evolutionary development over the years.    

"The human lineage originated, and first flourished biologically and culturally, in Africa. Evolutionarily, each of us is African; the first people had darkly pigmented skin and were thus well-adapted to handle the high levels of UVR (ultraviolet radiation) in equatorial regions. As Jablonski explains in her talk, UVR has both benefits and costs for the human body. On the plus side, when it strikes the skin it catalyzes Vitamin D, which is essential for bone and immune health; on the minus side, it can cause DNA damage and skin cancers. In ancient Africa, melanin acted as a natural sun screen to protect people from the dangers while still allowing the benefits of Vitamin D synthesis from the sun. When people from some ancestral populations migrated north out of Africa, they encountered much less intense UVR. The previously adaptive sun screen of melanin was now a disadvantage, and thus lightly pigmented skin evolved. People with light skin in these northern regions spent enough time in the sun that, typically, their skin still synthesized adequate vitamin D, a process helped along in some areas by diets heavy in fish. What we have nowadays is also a balance of pluses and minuses: A lovely rainbow diversity of skin colors that reflects the map of our ancestors' relatively recent geography, and an unfortunate risk of vitamin D deficiency that comes with spending the bulk of our hours indoors in artificial light".

Vitamin D deficiency is manifested among people of all skin colors because of the new living style where exposure to sun light is progressively being reduced due to artificially lighted houses, heavy dependence on automobiles, less and less walking in the open and other undesirable practices. Of course there is a billion dollar industry riding on skin care products including sun screens which will help to some extent in lessening the dangers of incidence of cancer but choosing a right time for walking under the sun cannot  be of any risk as long as the exposure is not for long time. According to health experts even a daily 15 minutes exposure should be adequate for generating the required quantum of Vitamin D and maintain a blood level of 30 micro gram uniformly.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

  

CURRY FOR BETTER HEALTH?-THE SCIENTIFIC ANGLE!

Curry dishes of India have often been ridiculed and reviled because of their strong smell and pungency not tolerated by people in the West. Traditionally Curry preparation is a blend of different spices, the major one being Turmeric which imparts its characteristic yellow color and mild aroma. Turmeric shot into prominence some years ago as a source of natural color after synthetic colors were weeded out by the food industry due to their toxicity to humans. The Curcumin fraction in Turmeric is responsible for the yellow color and it can be extracted in relatively concentrated form through oleoresin route. India is the major country which supplies Curcumin to the world market for use by the food and pharmaceutical industries. It was known that Turmeric has health protecting properties which were exploited by the traditional Ayurvedic medicinal system in India. Now comes the news that Curcumin from Turmeric plays an important role in boosting human immune system and reducing systemic inflammation in the body when taken regularly and can protect the regular consumers from many infections. Here are more details about these findings. 

"Any natural compound that can influence or raise CAMP levels is of significance to human health, as it helps boost immunity and provides a barrier against a host of chronic conditions and pathogenic invaders. In recent years, vitamin D has been studied extensively and has been found to be a potent stimulator of CAMP activity. New research has found that curcumin and vitamin D work synergistically to fight infection and systemic inflammation as they both exhibit disease-fighting anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The lead study author from the Linus Pauling Institute, Dr. Adrian Gombart commented about the study,"This research points to a new avenue for regulating CAMP gene expression... it's possible that sustained consumption over time may be healthy and help protect against infection, especially in the stomach and intestinal tract."Researchers compared the CAMP-stimulating activity of curcumin to omega-3 fatty acids and found that curcumin caused levels of CAMP to almost triple. Vitamin D and curcumin have both been the subject of intense research over the past decade, because of the many potential therapeutic benefits in treating infection, cancer, psoriasis, and other diseases. New studies will be designed to fully examine the ability of these natural nutrients to enhance the genetic expression of the CAMP peptide to protect against a broad range of bacteria, including those that cause tuberculosis and protect against the development of sepsis. Experts suggest 2000 to 5000 IU of vitamin D and 500 mg of a standardized curcumin supplement daily to yield optimal protection from bacterial and viral pathogens and chronic diseases".

The synergy between Curcumin and Vitamin D is another discovery with far reaching implications. Those living in Tropical countries like India are exposed to Sun more than others in other parts of the world which helps them to generate plenty of Vitamin D in the process and interestingly the same people also consume lot of curry preparations containing Turmeric. Probably this may explain the relatively high immunity enjoyed by Indians against many pathogens that are prevalent here under conditions which are conducive to their proliferation while food poisoning episodes in highly "sanitized" countries like the US are frequent and serious. More studies planned to elucidate the full impact of Curcumin+Vitamin D combination preparations may herald a new era of food based palliative products that can fight a plethora of diseases that bother the world to day.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com