Nutrition
Studies You Should Know About
Vitamin D deficiency is widespread and plays a crucial role in our health. Scientific research shows that adequate vitamin D levels are essential for pain perception, sleep, and mental well-being.
Nutrition
Vitamin D deficiency is widespread and plays a crucial role in our health. Scientific research shows that adequate vitamin D levels are essential for pain perception, sleep, and mental well-being.
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We believe: you should always stay up to date. That's why – in the field of health and performance – you should always know a few current study results.
Because the thing is: pioneers know many things before they even trickle into the mainstream, where they're then discussed at the lowest and most incompetent level.
Take vitamin D as an example. Anyone who can read studies has known for at least ten years that
When you read about vitamin D in the mainstream press against this background, it's astonishing. «Vitamin D could … perhaps … possibly … for a few select people … protect against XY … but only if … in the event … maybe …»
What you rarely read are studies [source no longer available] from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, which show:
«If all Swiss adults over 50 were supplemented with vitamin D, it might be possible to prevent approximately 3,200 cancer deaths per year and gain more than 33,000 life-years – while saving millions in healthcare costs annually.»
Such studies are no joke or made-up nonsense. Now a new study [source no longer available] – notably in animals – shows that vitamin D appears to regulate important processes in the brain related to pain perception and addictive behavior.
What many don't know: each of us has a natural pain dampener in the brain. If it disappears or doesn't work properly, life literally hurts. Chronic stress, compensatory behaviors (e.g., drug use), and depression can result.
It turns out that normal vitamin D levels are necessary for this dampener to work properly. Researchers verified this with the help of an experiment:
«We found that modulating vitamin D levels altered several addictive behaviors toward both UV and opioids,» says Kemény. When mice were conditioned with low doses of morphine, the mice with vitamin D deficiency continued seeking the drug, a behavior that occurred less frequently in normal mice. When the morphine was withdrawn, mice with low vitamin D levels were much more likely to develop withdrawal symptoms.
Translation: Without vitamin D, life hurts a bit more. That's why some people in winter – when D levels are low – need more TV, more chocolate, more coffee, more food, sleep worse (stress depletes tryptophan and serotonin, and thus melatonin), are more prone to depression, and show more addictive behavior overall.
These are real biochemical relationships that could have enormous effects on societal phenomena and processes. That's why you should know about them early on, not just when it's too late anyway.
