Vitamin D for Autoimmune Conditions and Thyroid Health

Do you really know the importance of vitamin D? It’s good for your bones, it helps your mood in the winter, it keeps the flu away, and it even helps you to lose weight! There’s always a new report singing its health benefits.

It does so many things for the body that it’s really more like a hormone than a vitamin.

But vitamin D has another, less sexy benefit that’s just as important. Believe it or not, it can help prevent and even treat autoimmune conditions!

We’ve known for a while now that low vitamin D levels in the blood are associated with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is an autoimmune condition that causes the nerves to malfunction. This can cause unsteadiness, vision loss, and urinary problems, among others.

It’s more common in northern parts of the world, where we don’t get to enjoy the Sun as much (more on this later). But we now suspect that other autoimmune conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type I diabetes, scleroderma, and others, are associated with low Vitamin D.

Your immune system has certain cells, called T-lymphocytes. They usually help fight off unwanted bacteria and viruses, but when you don’t have enough vitamin D, your T-lymphocytes don’t work the way they should.

More importantly, your T-lymphocytes keep your immune system focused on what to fight. And without enough Vitamin D, your T-lymphocytes end up letting your immune system attack your body itself! This is where autoimmune conditions can occur.

Vitamin D’s Effect on Thyroiditis

Thyroiditis is when your thyroid becomes inflamed, and it’s often caused by autoimmune diseases. There are different types of thyroiditis, but the two most common types are Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

And research shows that people with Hashimoto’s have lower than average levels of vitamin D!

Supplementing with Vitamin D may help prevent thyroiditis, and it has many other health benefits as well. But where can you get enough Vitamin D?

How to Get Enough Vitamin D

Vitamin D comes from a few different places.

When we spend time in the sunlight, it reacts with the cholesterol in our skin to produce vitamin D (this is why cholesterol is actually good for us!)

But if you live in Toronto, Canada like I do, or any other northern region, you’ll only have a chance to make your own vitamin D in the summer months. And even then, we need to have our arms and legs exposed to the Sun, without sunscreen, between 10am and 2pm, for about 20 minutes per day, in order for your body to make enough Vitamin D.

That’s difficult for many of us, who spend our days inside at work during the summer. But there are other ways you can get vitamin D as well!

Using supplements is a popular way to make sure you’re getting enough Vitamin D. These can come in pills, liquid, softgels, and more.

Some foods also contain Vitamin D, including eggs, meat, and oily fish like sardines, mackerel, and anchovies. But they don’t generally have enough for most people to keep their Vitamin D at a healthy level.

Most people can benefit from taking Vitamin D in supplement form. It commonly comes in 1000 IU (25 mcg) doses. How much you need depends on your current levels, which you can have tested through your naturopath or medical doctor. The most common supplemental doses needed are between 2000and 5000 IU per day. Very high doses can potentially cause toxicity.

Make sure to check with your practitioner, if you are considering taking more than 1000 IU a day.

In short, Vitamin D is incredibly important. Don’t neglect it!

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Until next time, this is Dr. Pat Nardini, ND, putting “Your Wellness First!”

If you have questions about naturopathic medicine, or you’d like to take your first step into the world of naturopathy, contact us at Nardini Naturopathic, and let’s book an appointment.