AUDIO: Dr. Theodore Friedman - What Women Need To Know About Vitamin D And How To Check Your Levels

We are trying to do the causative study where we take patients with low vitamin D levels, and we are actually looking at pre-diabetes because patients with diabetes already are on a lot of medicines, it’s hard to test them, but we are taking the patient with pre-diabetes and giving them vitamin D and seeing if it will either improve or prevent the progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes.

Todd:
Well, that’s really fascinating.

Dr. Theodore Friedman:

And similarly, thank you, that in the areas of cancer, cancer is not exactly my expertise, but there’s been a lot of studies showing that there’s a correlation, for example, how far you are closer to the North Pole, you get more likely to get certain types of cancer. And people think that this is because you get more sunlight if you are in the more southern latitudes and you are closer to the equator. And there’s the suggestions that this, the vitamin D provided from more the sun protects you from cancers if you are more towards the equator, and the low levels of vitamin D you get partially because there’s less sun and partially because the sun has to go through the atmosphere more, and the vitamin D is absorbed in it, you’ll get less vitamin D formed. The ultraviolet light is absorbed in the atmosphere. You’ll get less vitamin D in the northern latitudes.

Todd:
Well, if there’s anyone out there that would like more information on vitamin D and sun exposure, I did a great interview with Dr. Michael Hollick. We’ve done two of them, University of Boston I believe, off the top of my head, and he covers a lot of really good information on this. Dr. Friedman…

Dr. Theodore Friedman:
And so Dr. Hollick is one of the world’s experts in this area and he sort of pioneered some of the awareness of the importance of vitamin D deficiency.

Todd:
And, really great, great content, a wonderful way of presenting it to people. Let’s talk about the diabetes connection. I mean, do you have a hypothesis, or how far along are you guys? What should we know?

Dr. Theodore Friedman:

Tags

• Bones & Joints
• Obesity
• Rickets
• Diet & Nutrition
• Healthy Eating