February 2010
New Clinical Updates Newsletter Now Available from ANA. Click on Newsletter at the top of the homepage, or click on the link at the bottom of the homepage.
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Andrew Weil, MD, Founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine Changes His Guidance on Vitamin D Supplementation - February 8, 2010
New Recommendation: Why You Need More Vitamin D
I am raising my recommendation of 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day to 2,000 IU per day. Since 2005, when I raised it from 400 to 1,000 IU, clinical evidence has been accumulating to suggest that a higher dose is more appropriate to help maintain optimum health.
We have known for many years that we need vitamin D to facilitate calcium absorption and promote bone mineralization. But newer research has shown that we also need it for protection against a number of serious diseases. In recent years, scientists have discovered that it may help to prevent several cancers, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, psoriasis, diabetes, psychosis, and respiratory infections including colds and flu.
To focus particularly on cancer prevention, two recent meta-analyses (in which data from multiple studies is combined) conducted by the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California at San Diego and colleagues suggested that raising blood levels of vitamin D could prevent one-half of the cases of breast cancer and two-thirds of the cases of colorectal cancer in the U.S. Discussing the breast cancer analysis, study author Cedric Garland, Dr.P.H., stated that "The serum level associated with a 50 percent reduction in risk could be maintained by taking 2,000 international units of vitamin D3 daily plus, when the weather permits, spending 10 to 15 minutes a day in the sun."
A 50 percent reduction in breast cancer deaths would have saved the lives of more than 20,000 American women in 2009.
As these meta-analyses suggest, vitamin D deficiency is widespread. Aside from breast cancer, it is quite likely that hundreds of thousands of cancers of various kinds worldwide might be prevented each year if we all were getting enough.
We can get vitamin D through foods such as fortified milk and cereals as well as eggs, salmon, tuna and mackerel, but the amounts are not nearly sufficient to lift blood concentrations to optimal levels. Sun exposure is the best way to get it; ultraviolet rays trigger vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Factors that decrease the body's ability to make vitamin D include dark skin, heredity, obesity and certain medications, including some anti-seizure drugs (check with your pharmacist). Most significantly, sunscreen blocks vitamin D synthesis in the skin, and in northern latitudes (above that of Atlanta, Georgia) the sun is at too low an angle for half the year to provide sufficient UV radiation. Low levels of vitamin D in the population as a whole suggest that most people need to take a vitamin D supplement. This may be especially true for seniors, as the ability to synthesize vitamin D in the skin declines with age. Always take your vitamin D with a fat-containing meal to ensure absorption.
Don't be concerned that 2,000 IU will give you too much. With exposure to sunlight in the summer, the body can generate between 10,000 IU and 20,000 IU of vitamin D per hour with no ill effects. In addition, no adverse effects have been seen with supplemental vitamin D intakes up to 10,000 IU daily.
If you decide to have your vitamin D levels tested, look for results in the normal range, from 30.0 to 74.0 nanograms of 25-hydroxy vitamin D per milliliter (ng/mL) of blood. If you are found to be deficient, your physician can advise you on the best way to raise your blood concentration into the normal range.
Andrew Weil, M.D., is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the editorial director of www.DrWeil.com.
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The American Nutraceutical's Spring 2010 Continuing Medical Education Conference - April 24, 2010, Phoenix Arizona, Downtown Sheraton Hotel
" The Role of Diet, Nutrition and Nutraceuticals in the Prevention and Management of Disease"
Speakers and Topics:
Helmut Sies, MD, PhD, Professor, Heinrich-Heine University Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Topic of his talk: Polyphenols and Health:An Update.
A leading expert in cancer prevention research, Dr. Sies has published more than 500 original research articles and book chapters in a variety of topics in nutrition and cancer prevention-many of which stem from plant products. Dr. Sies past research breakthroughs on micronutrients include the discovery that the carotenoid, lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes, helps prevent oxidation or the damage to cells by free-radicals-which is the largest environmental cause of cancer.
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Jay Udani, MD, CPI.
Topic of his talk: Integrative Medical Treatments for IBS.
Dr. Udani is the Medical Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at Northridge Hospital and Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCLA/Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Udani is a board certified Internist and was the Chief Resident of Internal Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as well as the first Fellow in Integrative Medicine at Cedars Sinai. He has published over 30 book chapters and articles on Integrative Medicine in many prestigious medical journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Dr. Udani is also the recipient of the AMA National Achievement Award, the Harvard Medical School Research Fellowship Award, and was voted Best Physician Specialist and Best Medical Speaker in Los Angeles by the Daily News.
-------------------------------------------------- Prof. Iain L.C. Chapple, NDS, PhD., CCST. Prof. Chapple is Professor and Head of Periodontology at Birmingham England Dental School and Hospital.
Topic of his talk: The Role of Good Periodotol Health in Health Aging: Results of a research project on fruit and vegetable extracts and concentrates and their role in periodontal health.
Dr. Chapple is the Periodontal Editor of a series of 7 textbooks and author of 6 of these texts. He was President of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Periodontal Research Group (2006-2007), former Chairman of the British Society for Dental Research (BSDR) Periodontal Research Group, Chair of the BSDR’s strategic review committee for Oral and Dental Research and member of the Department of Health’s working group on Dentists with Special Interests in Periodontology in the UK.
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Integrative Approaches to Breast Cancer: Guidelines for the Clinical Practice Victoria Maizes, MD - Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and an associate professor of medicine, family and community medicine and public health. Dr. Maizeslectures internationally to academic and community audiences. She is a sought out speaker on topics including integrative medical education, and women’s health. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on integrative medicine and is currently editing a textbook on Integrative Approaches to Women’s Health.
-------------------------------------------------- GOALS - OBJECTIVES The goal of this program is to offer healthcare providers (physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, registered dieticians, chiropractic and naturopathic physicians, and others) the opportunity to develop skills in using nutrition and nutraceuticals in their practices. The program is designed to provide dynamic interaction among participants and speakers using a case study approach in order to maximize the knowledge, understanding and best practices in the use of nutrition, nutraceuticals and botanicals into clinical practice to optimize their patients’ health and quality of life.
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Upon completion of this CME/CE conference the healthcare provider will be able to: • Explain the nature of periodontal disease, its prevalence and impact upon general health and mortality in an aging population. • Recognize the evidence for nutrition as a risk factor for periodontitis and the role of nutrition in the modulation of innate periodontal immunity at a cellular and molecular level. • Discuss interim data from a nutritional intervention study in periodontal therapy, employing adjunctive whole dried fruit, vegetable and berry extracts. • Describe the state of the art for the diagnosis and pathophysiology of IBS. • Recognize the diagnostic criterion for IBS • Outline the evidence for integrative treatment modalities for IBS. • Learn the functions of polyphenol compounds beyond their simple antioxidant role. • Discuss the merits of measuring total antioxidant capacity analysis to human plasma samples versus the measurement of ascorbate, urate and tocopherol. • Describe and identify the specific function of various flavonoids such as the inhibition of prooxidant enzymes such as NADPH oxidase, lipoxygenase, myeloperoxidase. • Discuss one example of a mind-body strategy that could be used to promote relaxation or reduce stress during cancer treatment. • Recognize two potential benefits and one potential risk of including CAM in the treatment of cancer. • Identify three supplements commonly used in managing women with breast cancer.
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CONFERENCE PRICE AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION Conference fee : ANA Member–$225• Non-Member–$250.
To register for the spring 2010 CME Conference in Phoenix, AZ., phone the ANA customer service department at 800-566-3622 M-F, 8 AM to 4 PM, central time, or click on ANA conferences on www.ana-jana.org.
