Vitamin D is ‘nature''s antibiotic’

Washington, Nov 24 : Vitamin D is being appreciated as "nature''s antibiotic” as a string of recent discoveries about the multiple health benefits of this nutrient have come to the fore.

Right from the health of your immune system to prevention of heart disease and even vulnerability to influenza, vitamin D is now seen as one of the most critical nutrients for overall health.

But it is also one of those most likely to be deficient – especially during winter when production of the "sunshine vitamin" almost grinds to a halt for people.

Analogs of the vitamin are even being considered for use as new therapies against tuberculosis, AIDS, and other concerns.

And federal experts are considering an increase in the recommended daily intake of the vitamin as more evidence of its value emerges, especially for the elderly.

"About 70 percent of the population of the United States has insufficient levels of vitamin D. This is a critical issue as we learn more about the many roles it may play in fighting infection, balancing your immune response, helping to address autoimmune problems, and even preventing heart disease," said Adrian Gombart, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

Among other findings about benefits of Vitamin D is the ones made by OSU scientists that it induces the "expression" of cathelicidin, an antimicrobial peptide gene.

This explains in part how it helps serve as the first line of defense in your immune response against minor wounds, cuts, and both bacterial and viral infections.

Experts believe advances in the use of cathelicidin may form the basis for new therapies.

"Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency is a world-wide, public health problem in both developed and developing nations. Nearly one billion people world-wide are deficient," the new report concluded.

The new report found that low levels of circulating vitamin D are associated with increased risk and mortality from cancer.

Vitamin D plays an important role in activating the immune system, fostering the "innate" immune response and controlling over-reaction of adaptive immunity, and as such may help control autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The regulation of cathelicidin by vitamin D, a unique biological pathway for the function of vitamin D that could help explain its multiple roles in proper immune function, is so important that it''s only known to exist in two groups of animals - humans and non-human primates - and has been conserved in them through millions of years of evolution.

Epidemiological studies show a link between vitamin D deficiency and increased rates of respiratory infection and influenza, and it has been hypothesized that flu epidemics may be the result of vitamin D deficiency.

Higher levels of a protein linked to vitamin D have been associated with reduced infections and longer survival of dialysis patients.

Vitamin D has important roles in reducing inflammation, blood pressure and helping to protect against heart disease.

The study has been published in Future Microbiology, a professional journal. (ANI)

Health

Health has been defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being". It thus transcends the absence of death, disease and disability, and incorporates concepts of well-being and quality of life; measures of health must likewise transcend mortality and morbidity. However, health does not exist in isolation, but rather it is the product of the interaction of our natural and built physical environments, socio-economic status, psycho-social conditions and cultural norms and beliefs with our physiological and psychological selves and our genetic inheritance.

To reflect this complexity, the Calvert-Henderson Health Indicator focuses on three basic questions: "Who gets a chance at life?", "How long will that life last?" and "How healthy will that life be?" Infant Mortality Rate is a measure of the first question, Life Expectancy is a measure of the second question and Self-Reported Health is one way of measuring the third question. All of these help to reveal inequalities in health both within the US and between the US and other countries.

These issues are important because, while the United States provides more health care services at higher costs per capita than any other country in the world, we rank below most of the wealthy nations and even some of the poorer nations in basic health statistics like infant mortality and life expectancy. In addition, the benefits of health care are spread unevenly across the population in the United States with large disparities depending on race, income and education levels. The graphs below show infant mortality rates according to the mothers' race, ethnicity and education level.

As the first graph shows, although there was progress in all the groups in reducing infant mortality rates between 1983 to 2004, the infant mortality rate for infants of Black or African American women in 2004 was more than double the rate among infants of white women and still well above the average of all women in 1983. The largest relative decline in Infant Mortality rates has been among the American Indian and Alaskan Native group, followed closely by the Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander groups (2004 rates declined 42% to 45% relative to their 1983 rates, see Table 1 for details) while the smallest decline was among infants of Black mothers (31% decline from 1983 rates). Thus, the comparative disadvantage of infant mortality for Black groups has actually worsened, from a ratio of 1.76 times the average rate in 1983 to nearly double the average rate in 2004 - inequality has actually worsened!

Mortality rates for infants go down as the level of education of the mother rises although even here there is a wide disparity between races as seen in this next graph.

The focus of national health efforts needs to be both on the improvement of overall health and well-being and the reduction - indeed the elimination - of disparities in health; disparities that are rooted both in the broader determinants of health and the differential access that people have to those determinants, and in biological differences. For this reason, the Calvert-Henderson Health Indicator also includes a measure of the quality of life people experience (such as self-reported health) as well as more conventional measures of mortality and or morbidity and allows an analysis and understanding of socio-economic, geographic, gender-based, ethno-cultural and other disparities, and the access - or lack of access - that people have to the fundamental determinants of he

As the graph above shows, people living below the poverty line are more than three times as likely to report their health as fair or poor compared to people with incomes at least double the poverty line. The range in the survey is a five point scale including excellent, very good, good, fair and poor, so fair and poor are below the midpoint of the scale. Poor was defined as below the poverty line, near poor had incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty line and nonpoor had incomes more than twice the poverty line. In addition, there is a disparity in self-reported health in terms of race or ethnicity, as shown in the graph below.

The indicator offers a model of the current U.S. healthcare system to help clarify a systemic set of issues. Health is being redefined beyond the medical intervention model. Today, Americans are focusing on prevention, stress-reduction, and lifestyle choices. Tobacco and alcohol use, and even the availability of guns, are issues entering the public health debate. More Americans now consult "complementary" and "alternative" health providers than visit conventional medical doctors and facilities. This is a paradigm shift, which is restructuring the entire medical-industrial complex and its technocratic, bureaucratic approach that represents some 14 percent of GDP. New statistics are needed as the U.S. integrates these two very different approaches to health. The Calvert-Henderson Health Indicator is a first step towards an expanded concept of health to include acute intervention, remediation, disease prevention (and root cause diagnosis), education, and ultimately, behavior patterns to promote long-term health.

Does America Have the Best Health Care in the World?

Americans don't think so:

According to Americans, the United States does not have the best health care in the world. Most see our health care as average (32%) or below average (27%) when compared with health care in other industrialized countries. Only 15% support the often-used political talking point that America has the best health care in the world; 23% say it is above average.

If anything, they're being too generous. If you include the value we get for our dollar, and the grim landscape for the un- and underinsured, America's health care is far below average.

That paragraph, by the way, comes via Adam Serwer, who points out the "the survey also notes that the more money you make, the more likely you are to believe that America does have the best health care system in the world. That, I think, says a great deal about the inherent class bias present in our national debate on health care."

Health Insurance

Without health insurance, citizens often are unable to pay for the medical care they need, and frequently forego preventive measures that would make that care unnecessary. Approximately 13 percent of Hampton Roads residents under 65 years of age are uninsured.

Why is This Important?

Health insurance is defined as insurance against loss by illness or bodily injury. Health insurance generally provides coverage for medicine, visits to the doctor or emergency room, hospital stays, and other medical expenses. Policies differ in what they cover, the size of the deductible and/or co-payment, limits of coverage, and the options for treatment available to the policyholder. The uninsured population lacks coverage by any private or public health insurance. Research has shown individuals without health insurance have great difficulty accessing the health care system and frequently do not participate in preventive care programs.

How is Hampton Roads Doing?

Within Virginia in 2005, the Hampton Roads (13.3 percent) region had the lowest rate of uninsured residents under the age of 65 years. The Eastern region was highest at 19.1 percent and the state average was 14.5.

What Influences Health Insurance?

More than 200,000 people were estimated to be without health insurance in the Hampton Roads region in 2006 (Burris). Influences on health insurance in all regions include:

• Income Level: People with income at or below 200 percent of poverty (2008: $20,800 for an individual) are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured as people at higher income levels.

• Race and Ethnicity: Racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to be insured than White Virginians.

• Age: Young adults are at greater risk for being uninsured than children and older adults.

• Employment Status: Unemployed individuals, part-time workers, and homemakers are at greater risk of being uninsured.

• Firm Size: Employees of very small firms are typically at greater risk of being uninsured.