An open letter to a vitamin D researcher

I have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours looking at the recent research on vitamin D and the one thing I can say with certainty is I now know that general science, doesn’t know what they think they know. Normalized serum vitamin D is going to stand science on its head.

For example, I believe normalized serum vitamin D (40-60 ng/ml) underscores the fact that humans were designed for a low fat, no grain diet, just like the other primates.

I keep going back to the study that shows compositional changes in the bile limiting fat absorption when serum vitamin D is normalized and it finally dawned on me.

Regulation of bile acid synthesis by fat-soluble vitamins A and D.
Schmidt DR, Holmstrom SR, Fon Tacer K, Bookout AL, Kliewer SA, Mangelsdorf DJ.

Department of Pharmacology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9050, USA.

Abstract
Bile acids are required for proper absorption of dietary lipids, including fat-soluble vitamins. Here, we show that the dietary vitamins A and D inhibit bile acid synthesis by repressing hepatic expression of the rate-limiting enzyme CYP7A1. Receptors for vitamin A and D induced expression of Fgf15, an intestine-derived hormone that acts on liver to inhibit Cyp7a1. These effects were mediated through distinct cis-acting response elements in the promoter and intron of Fgf15. Interestingly, transactivation of both response elements appears to be required to maintain basal Fgf15 expression levels in vivo. Furthermore, whereas induction of Fgf15 by vitamin D is mediated through its receptor, the induction of Fgf15 by vitamin A is mediated through the retinoid X receptor/farnesoid X receptor heterodimer and is independent of bile acids, suggesting that this heterodimer functions as a distinct dietary vitamin A sensor. Notably, vitamin A treatment reversed the effects of the bile acid sequestrant cholestyramine on Fgf15, Shp, and Cyp7a1 expression, suggesting a potential therapeutic benefit of vitamin A under conditions of bile acid malabsorption. These results reveal an unexpected link between the intake of fat-soluble vitamins A and D and bile acid metabolism, which may have evolved as a means for these dietary vitamins to regulate their own absorption.

PMID: 20233723 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]PMCID: PMC2863217Free PMC Article

Rather than this being an “abnormal” condition this is the perfectly NORMAL state for bile. A free range naked human with normalized serum vitamin D is intended to eat a low fat diet. The bile changes scream this fact.

With reduced capacity to deal with fat in the gut (fewer bile acids to break down fat), due to gut changes when serum D is normalized, too much fat in the diet could lead to health or digestive problems.

In addition to bile changes there is also this digestive change to contend with;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1192932/

The effect of vitamin D deficiency on secretion of saliva by rat parotid gland in vivo.

B Glijer, C Peterfy, and A Tenenhouse

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract

The role of vitamin D in parotid gland function was investigated by measuring the composition and rate of production of parotid saliva in response to pilocarpine injection in vitamin-D-deficient and replete rats in vivo. Rats fed a vitamin-D-free diet from weaning (G1) were studied after 8 weeks of diet at which time they had a decreased rate of growth, were hyperparathyroid and hypocalcaemic but still had detectable serum 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2D3). Rats which were the offspring of vitamin-D-deficient mothers and which were maintained on a vitamin-D-free diet from weaning (G2) had a decreased rate of growth from birth, were hypocalcaemic and hyperparathyroid and at no time had any detectable serum 1,25(OH)2D3. In response to pilocarpine, the volume of parotid saliva produced by G1 animals was no different from the controls (G1 animals receiving supplemental vitamin D) whereas that produced by G2 animals was reduced more than 65%. The total amount of amylase secreted was unchanged in either group of experimental animals so that the concentration of amylase in the parotid saliva from G2 animals was increased. The concentration of calcium in parotid saliva changed in parallel with the changes in serum calcium in G1 and G2 animals. It is concluded that the primary source of parotid saliva calcium is the extracellular fluid and not zymogen granules and the transepithelial transport of this calcium is independent of vitamin D; the secretion of electrolytes and water, which in the parotid gland require extracellular calcium, is dependent on vitamin D. It is proposed that the vitamin is necessary for the synthesis of a protein(s) which is essential for the utilization of extracellular calcium in this secretion process.

Amylase is critical for breaking down carbohydrates into simple sugars. Increased concentrations of amylase enzyme due to D deficiency creates a calorie cracking enhancement in the gut for carbohydrates. A second generation D deficient offspring is geared to crack more calories out of the carbohydrate based food consumed.

Amylase enzyme concentration enhancements in D deficiency cracking more calories from carbs and cholic bile enzyme concentration enhancements in D deficiency allowing for more energy to be cracked from fat are not the normal state.

These conditions are not normal, these are the altered states that science has come to define as normal by doing all their previous research on D deficient subjects.

The entire food pyramid is WRONG when you naturalize serum vitamin D.

I would contend humans are not primarily designed for a high carb, high fat diet when in a vitamin D replete state, but rather a low fat, low carb diet. Alterations in amylase enzyme concentrations and changes in bile composition in a vitamin D replete biology underscore this.

A Paleolithic diet would only work if you are eating wild animals which are naturally low in fat.

Something like this; (the diet of the other primates)

It took me a while to figure this out. But as we say in Massachusetts “Light dawns on Marblehead”. This type diet faces many problems for the foods we find in the supermarket vary in composition from those found in the equatorial jungle. Supermarket, higher latitude crops and selections are geared to D deficient people. Even the accepted food pyramid is based on D deficient people and the changes D deficiency produces in the human digestive process.

I believe I finally figured out my mild, intermittent gas and bloating now that I am vitamin D replete. It only occurs when I eat a high fat meal (ie: fried chicken). A high fat meal is the exact opposite type of meal than what normalized serum vitamin D calls for.

Now that I have normalized my serum vitamin D to that of the other free range primates, I need to normalize my diet as well.

With vigor I will now research other dietary changes induced by digestive adaptation that we have ALL WRONG in the face of normalized vitamin D.

You cannot correct one side of the primitive inputs balance with normalized vitamin D without correcting the other side of the balance with an altered diet. Our biology screams this to us.

Your thoughts?

I have seen your presentations and with the above dietary realization I isolated this video clip which defines exactly how I feel about vitamin D, and what “accepted science” has taught us about it. Feel free to use the clip if you would like to. And as science stands on its head many of its members will run screaming. Please keep up the great work.

Somebody needs to rebuild the food pyramid in the face of normalized serum vitamin D.