Taken from Dr. Jack Kruse's website (jackkruse.com). I think this guy is on to something. In fact, I think this guy is on to a lot of somethings. He's not waiting for air-tight, double-blind clinical trials, and at my age, neither am I. I believe that the keys to autoimmune disorders lie in the realm of nutrition and lifestyle. As some of you may know, I have posted on the Paleo Diet before, and I know a lot of other APS folks are trying to be as healthy as they can be as well. Dr. Kruse blogs PROLIFCALLY! I have found a lot of benefit in his writings and especially in his answers to blog comments. Hope this helps. Without further adieu, Dr. Jack Kruse on Vitamin D & Autoimmunity:
jackkruse.com/the-sunshine-...
"In autoimmune diseases we need to advocate for much higher levels of Vitamin D. Why? In order for circulating vitamin D to perform its functions, it must first activate the vitamin D receptor (VDR). The problem is that many people with autoimmune disease have a genetic polymorphism that affects the expression and activation of the VDR and thus reduces the biologic activity of vitamin D. Studies have shown that a significant number of patients with autoimmune diseases have several VDR polymorphisms. There are over 25 variants of VDR polymorphisms now known and the list grows monthly. If you have a VDR problem you require much higher circulating levels of vitamin D to bind to these defective receptors. As we have mentioned in multiple previous blogs, a leaky gut predisposes to the development of autoimmunity. Moreover, optimal Vitamin D levels are also linked to “tighter junctions” between the enterocytes of our intestinal lining making our guts “less leaky”. If the gut is less leaky our immune system is stronger, because it does not have to be activated constantly to protect the rest of the body. We have also seen above, that vitamin D levels play a huge role in our immune surveillance in our GI tracts. It appears to be critical to push your levels to much higher plasma levels in these cases. I strongly recommend talking this over with your doctor. The fears of toxicity are very overblown in my estimation and the risk of too low a level for disease propagation is far too common and risky for your health.
There is now very recent evidence out from Dr. Hector DeLuca about MS and autoimmune encephalitis. Dr. DeLuca believes that the degradation products of vitamin D3 and/or some byproducts of solar radiation confer health to us in some fashion. He says vitamin D3 degradation and sunlight is some how active against a range of autoimmune illnesses. In his latest work, that “something” he is studying, is active against an experimental model of multiple sclerosis. I have always felt that MS, ALS and Guillian Barre are tied in some fashion to vitamin D metabolism. It appears Dr. DeLuca believes this as well now."