Generally when something is the most important and exceptional thing of its kind, it is also the most expensive. Plus, when that thing is also the most scarce, we would once again expect it to be even more expensive given its scarcity. How often do we find something that is the most important member of its class while also the least expensive? I actually can’t think of anything that is exceptionally important and extremely rare yet at the same time incredibly inexpensive. That is, anything except Vitamin D. Of course, it is important to do our best to consume on a daily basis all essential vitamins; however, Vitamin D is a stand out, it is essential to countless processes in our body, but it is also the one vitamin that is glaringly deficient from the American diet (even the best diets). As a result, over the last couple of decades, Vitamin D has been recognized for its epidemic insufficiency in America. The deficiency of Vitamin D3 has been referred to as a “pandemic” (a worldwide epidemic) by experts. It has even been proposed that the ever-declining health of Americans may be linked to our declining levels of Vitamin D. It is even more troubling when you consider Vitamin D’s scarcity alongside its importance to our most important systems and how low levels are associated with health risks. Vitamin D supplementation is not only easy, it is also the most affordable. It is both our easiest to swallow capsule and our least expensive capsule. For the cost of a cup of coffee, you’re talking about a few weeks of Vitamin D and for the cost of a movie ticket, you’re probably looking at almost 6 months. Simply stated, although our Vitamin D3 is the highest quality you can find, its cost is just pennies per day. In fact, when it comes to Vitamin D, the only real price we pay is if we choose to ignore and not address our unhealthy levels of this vital nutrient.
When it comes to our health, so much of our focus is on avoiding disease and illness. As I repeatedly emphasize during my shows, whether we are seeking to avoid cancer or heart disease or Alzheimer’s or senile dementia, the basic advice really does not change. You significantly reduce your risk of all of these diseases if you “move” through your life as close to your ideal weight as possible (and when I say move, I mean move). Our society and its most powerful economic influences conspire to see us overweight and obese. In just a few short decades, we have gone from a society where obesity and overweight were rare to a country where it is the norm and affecting three-quarters of us! Unbeknownst to most folks, overweight and obesity have drastically increased our risk of not just heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes, but also cancer, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Overweight and obesity does not benefit anyone except those powerful economic influences who profit by it…those who overfeed us horribly unhealthy foods and then those who thrive by our illness (drug companies and medical providers). Above, I said we should “move” through life at our ideal weight, since a long healthy life requires we not merely live, but move. That does not mean you need to be running marathons, but that we must spend more time up and about, moving around, and less time just sitting around.
By the way, just moving more and being more active will make us much healthier regardless of whether we lose a single pound. Just being more active pays huge health dividends regardless of weight loss. The concept of moving, and moving forward, reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from one of baseball’s all-time best players who even pitched in the major leagues when he was close to 60 years old! His name was Satchel Paige and he advised that in life, “you should not look back, since someone might be gaining on you.” Whether we realize it or not, our lives are an all too brief journey and I think Satchel was right that we should not focus on the past (look back) since effectively, there is always “someone” gaining on us. We should always do our best to move forward optimistically and positively, but above all, keep moving as best we can, since life is about moving forward and what comes next is gaining on us more rapidly if we sit around and wait for it. Satchel Paige’s athletic longevity was legendary, but I have always loved the wisdom of some of his other quotes, such as, “Age is just mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” and also, “How old would you be if you did not know how old you are?” As we are all aging, these are pearls of wisdom I remind myself of frequently. Hopefully, I did not mangle Satchel’s quotes, since he was a remarkable man that I have always admired.
You might be wondering why and how this discussion could possibly be relevant to Vitamin D and it is actually pretty simple. By being American we are moving through life with less than healthy Vitamin D levels and, by being overweight or obese, those levels tend to be far worse. This becomes more alarming when you also consider the myriad of population studies that associate lower levels of Vitamin D with an increased risk of the degenerative diseases I discussed above and that are now epidemic in our society. Sadly, a low Vitamin D level is just the latest factor associated with our society’s ever-deteriorating health. The only silver-lining to that cloud is that correcting a low Vitamin D level is cheap and easy to do. First of all, just like cholesterol or blood pressure, everyone should know their Vitamin D level. I recommend above 50 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) and ideally between 60 ng/ml and 80 ng/ml. This can be accomplished for just pennies per day. If I were to take a page from Satchel Paige’s book, “someone” or something is always gaining on us, but with unhealthy Vitamin D levels they will be gaining on us much more quickly. In one long sentence, I can summarize some basic requirements for a long healthy life with a reduced risk of the above diseases: We should actively move through our lives as close to possible to our ideal weight while eating a diet rich in fresh vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, while also avoiding unhealthy processed and fast food and added sugar. Additionally, a simple and inexpensive thing to do would be to also add a quality Vitamin D supplement, so that while you are doing the above, you are doing so with healthy a Vitamin D level. It does not have to be my Vitamin D formula, but we should all know our Vitamin D level and make the tiny investment required to keep it in the healthy normal range. I will discuss this in far greater depth today and tomorrow.
We will also have Calcium Magnesium Intensive Care available as a second Today’s Special product, since it is so often consumed with Vitamin D3 for bone health. As discussed above, we now know Vitamin D’s benefits go far beyond Calcium absorption and bone health to also include the healthy function and aging of our most important systems, particularly our brain. Our Calcium Magnesium Intensive Care has a few things in common with our Vitamin D3, the first being its incredible affordability at only a few pennies per capsule and the second being how uniquely gentle it is on the stomach and digestive system. Unlike typical Calcium products, it does not come in a rock-like horse pill and instead, you will enjoy a small easy to swallow capsule that contains an easy to absorb ultra-fine powder that will cause no stomach upset at all…even to those with very sensitive digestive systems. It is the most sensible way to deliver the extra Calcium and Magnesium required for bone health. There has been some discussion lately that perhaps added Calcium might not be entirely beneficial to the cardiovascular system; however, there is no escaping the fact that Calcium is essential and a basic requirement for our skeletal health, so there is an intelligent need to address skeletal Calcium requirements while also respecting arterial and heart health. My approach has been to avoid some of those extreme recommended dosages of thousands of milligrams per day of Calcium and to provide more moderate levels of higher quality Calcium (between 500 mgs and 1,000 mgs daily) and to always do so with adequate levels of Vitamin D3 (without which the Calcium cannot be effectively absorbed) and to also be sure to deliver the Calcium with Magnesium together instead of mega-doses of Calcium on its own. Again, I suppose I do not sound like someone who makes vitamins when I tell you that intelligently using less Calcium can benefit you more. Additionally, in recent years, I have also recommended something that I have personally done for several years and it is an exceptional addition for those who want to maximize the benefits of Calcium and that is a vitamin referred to as Vitamin K2 MK-7. It is very different from Vitamin K1 and plays a critical role in the management of Calcium in the body. I refer to it as the “traffic cop” for Calcium movement in the body, since it insures that Calcium is effectively utilized and retained by the bones where it is required and not deposited in the arteries where it is not desired. Vitamin K2 MK-7 is by far and away the most important form of Vitamin K to supplement and its role goes far beyond the simply blood clotting role of Vitamin K1. Our Vitamin K2 MK-7 comes in a small easy to swallow liquid capsule. It will be available this weekend at Today’s Special Savings, but because it is relatively new and difficult to make, we will not have an abundant supply. Lastly, if you are taking any anti-clotting drugs (such as warfarin, coumadin, etc.), you should consult with your physician before consuming any form of Vitamin K. However, these drugs interfere with the normal, healthy role of Vitamin K2 in the body and therefore can interfere with arterial health, so I would recommend talking to an enlightened physician who will seek to manage a healthy Vitamin K2 status notwithstanding the use of anticoagulant meds. This is an important topic of discussion, since most folks taking these meds do not realize that they can be undermining their health indirectly and that there is a more intelligent and holistic way to go about their use, but of course, such actions should be only undertaken with your physician. Sadly, many physicians rely primarily on drug companies for their information, so this sort of information is not openly discussed. Like Statin drugs for cholesterol, where levels of CoQ10 are suppressed and therefore require supplementation, an enlightened approach to anticoagulant therapy should also consider the role of Vitamin K2 in arterial and bone health and the potential interference that these meds have on normal Vitamin K2 and Calcium metabolism. I am sure more doctors will embrace this in the years to come.
Sorry to have gotten a bit technical and off-topic there at the end, but I will try to make all of this easier to understand during my shows throughout the weekend. I will also discuss Vitamin K2 MK-7 in greater depth during our next online event. See you this evening at 11 PM and midnight Eastern Time and then tomorrow at 11 AM and 8 PM Eastern. Have a wonderful weekend!
Best of health.
Andrew
