Weekly Health Care

Posts Tagged ‘Vitamin D’

Vitamin D and curcumin, a polyphenol found in turmeric (a spice used in India especially the curry spice blend or curry), may help the immune system to eliminate amyloid plaques in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

These two ingredients help to stimulate the macrophages (1) that remove these plaques, says Milan Fiala of the University of California at Los Angeles, co-author. “Hopefully,” he said, that vitamin D and curcumin may offer new opportunities for prevention and treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. ”

Macrophages, which typically eliminate amyloid plaques in healthy people, fail to do so in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers took blood samples from nine people with the disease, a person with mild cognitive impairment (an intermediate state between normal cognitive decline due to aging and Alzheimer’s disease) and 3 healthy individuals to to isolate the cells that develop into monocyte macrophages. These were incubated with amyloid-beta protein, vitamin D and curcumin natural or synthetic.

Vitamin D has important immunostimulatory effects favoring phagocytosis (the capture and ingestion) of beta-amyloid protein by macrophages in people with Alzheimer’s disease and those suffering from mild cognitive impairment.

Curcumin in combination with vitamin D, increased the action of the latter.

Natural curcumin, which was not easily absorbed and decomposed, was less effective than synthetic curcumin.
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Two new studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, confirms previous studies indicating that vitamin D deficiency in older people is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline.

Vitamin D appears to have anti-inflammatory effects that may help keep blood vessels healthy. And the presence of vitamin D receptors in the brain suggests that it can directly affect brain tissue.

Amie Peterson of the Oregon Health & Science University and colleagues conducted the study with 150 people aged 70 and over (85 years on average) living independently.

The levels of vitamin D ranged from 9-90 nanograms per milliliter of blood. Levels of 30 or more are considered normal.

The more cognitive test scores were low, the levels of vitamin D were low. Lower levels of vitamin D were also associated with greater risk of falling.

A second study, led by Cedric Annweiler University Hospital of Angers and his colleagues, involved 752 women aged 75 and over in France. A total of 129 women had levels below 10 nanograms per milliliter. Compared to women with higher levels, they were twice as likely to have cognitive impairment.

Further studies are needed to determine the causal relationship between vitamin D and cognitive decline. It is possible that the cognitive decline limit the level of sun exposure by limiting activities.

Vitamin D is effective in killing cancer cells, breast cancer, colon and prostate cancer in lab tests on mice and achieved by the team of researcher Joellen Welch, the State University New York at Albany, who was interviewed by Good Morning America.

Part of her work involves subjecting cells of breast cancer and treated with a potent form of vitamin D.

Within days, half of cancer cells shrink and die. Vitamin D enters the cell and triggers a process of death of the latter. “It’s similar to what we see when we treat cells with tamoxifen, a drug used to treat breast cancer,” said Welch.

The research team also tested the effectiveness of vitamin D to destroy cancer tumors in mice. Within weeks, the tumors decreased by 50% on average. Some disappeared. Similar results have been achieved for tumors of the colon cancer and prostate cancer.