The other day I made a post that discussed the importance of Vitamin D, and how most people are Vitamin D deficient and need to get tested. I also spoke about how a big reason for this deficiency is due to people avoiding the sun, as well as wearing sunscreen all of the time.
Recently I read a book called “Diabetes Rising”, by Dan Hurley. In this book there is a chapter that focuses on some of the benefits of Vitamin D. Although it mainly focuses on how sufficient Vitamin D intake can prevent diabetes, the information it provides also leads me to believe that Vitamin D can also help to prevent an autoimmune thyroid disorder, and quite possibly help to restore the health of people with Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Here is one of the quotes from this chapter regarding Vitamin D:
“It’s a peacemaker in the immune system. It goes to where there’s an autoimmune attack, and will modulate or stop the attack.”
This statement alone is telling us that Vitamin D does more than just help prevent Diabetes. So for people with an autoimmune thyroid disorder, wouldn’t you agree that having a deficiency in a vitamin/steroid hormone that can help modulate or stop the body from attacking its own tissues can be a pretty big factor? In addition to helping prevent and/or cure people with these conditions, Vitamin D has been shown to help with other conditions as well, as here is another quote from the book:
“Cedric and Frank Garland “have since linked increased sun exposure, vitamin D levels, or both to dramatic reductions in the risk of cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia.”
So as you can see, increasing the amount of Vitamin D intake through sun exposure and/or supplementation can not only help with your current condition, but very well might prevent other serious conditions from developing in the future. And this isn’t just speculation, as if you visit the website I suggested in my previous post (www.vitamindcouncil.org [1]), and read the book Diabetes Rising, you’ll see some of the research regarding Vitamin D.
In fact, one of the research studies from the book “Diabetic Rising” was from Finland, where 12,055 women who gave birth were surveyed as to how often they gave a Vitamin D supplement to their children. Thirty years later, a follow-up with the children was done with these people (by Danish researcher Elina Hypponen), and the goal was to compare their Vitamin D intake to their risk of getting type 1 diabetes. Here is what they found:
“Compared to their non-diabetic peers, those with diabetes were over eight times more likely to have never received Vitamin D. Even among those who were given the supplement regularly, the ones who received the recommended dose of 2,000 IU had about one-fifth the risk of developing type 1 as those who received less”. In other words, supplementing with Vitamin D had reduced children’s risk of diabetes by about 80%.”
I realize this is only one study, but there is another one in the same book that focuses on type 2 diabetes, as well as a few other studies. And of course these are just a small sample of the research studies done with regards to Vitamin D.
Now as far as I know, there has been no research study that has been conducted on people with an autoimmune thyroid disorder. And I’m not suggesting that Vitamin D deficiency by itself is THE cause of Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. And I’m definitely not saying that just correcting this deficiency alone will cure your disorder.
However, I think that the fact that more people are becoming Vitamin D deficient, and that the increasing rates of Graves’ and Hashimoto’s isn’t coincidental. In summary, one shouldn’t neglect a vitamin/steroid hormone that has been proven to play an important role in stopping the autoimmune response.
After all, while the book “Diabetes Rising” of course focuses on diabetes, let’s not forget that type 1 diabetes, like Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, is an autoimmune condition. So disregarding these research studies just because they focus on a different condition would be unwise.
While receiving ample sun exposure and/or adequate supplementation alone probably won’t completely restore your health back to normal, in most individuals with an autoimmune thyroid disorder, it is an important piece of the puzzle. As I’ve discussed previously, there are numerous factors that are important when it comes to restoring one’s health, and addressing a Vitamin D deficiency can without question be an extremely important part of the recovery process.