Hidden infections and gluten intolerances

As a doctor who has written a book on the subject of gluten, I am writing about this very important, although often overlooked consequence of celiac and gluten intolerance - hidden infections.

The mechanism revolves around the inflammation that is created in the small intestine with the ingestion of gluten for many years. This inflammatory response weakens the immune system of the intestine thereby allowing pathogenic (disease causing) organisms to gain a foothold. Every 10 minutes our small intestines are exposed to pathogenic organisms. A healthy immune system destroys them but a compromised immune system can't defend itself adequately.

These organism can cause a myriad of health problems including gastrointestinal symptoms, arthritis and joint inflammation, obesity, hormone imbalance - just to name a few.

Anyone with celiac or gluten intolerance is at risk for these infections which can be bacterial, parasitic, amoeba or yeast. I find a stool test to be the most accurate way to detect them but there are some labs I prefer over others due to their sensitivity and accuracy.

To find out more information and to schedule a free consultation, call 408-733-0400.

Hope this helps anyone curious.

Best,
Dr Vikki Petersen
www.rootcausemedicalclinic.com
www.glutendoctors.blogspot.com

Also, if an infection is found it is critical to retest to ensure that it's been eradicated. And lastly, since the immune system of a celiac or gluten intolerant individual can take a few years to reestablish once gluten and any offending organisms have been removed, annual testing is probably a good idea for a couple of years.

Sometimes a Gluten-free Diet Isn't Enough...

A lot of patients find themselves in the position of having removed gluten from their diet, but they are still suffering health problems. These patients have made the Herculean effort to remove gluten entirely from their diet and while they improved - their health is still not where they would have hoped.

So what’s the problem?

In my clinical experience, I find that patients who are either Celiac or gluten intolerant are highly susceptible to intestinal infections. The damage which gluten causes to the lining of the small intestine also damages the integrity of the immune system within the intestines. Considering that it is estimated that every 10 minutes our intestines are exposed to a pathogenic (able to cause infection) organism, it is critical to good health that our immune systems are strong enough to destroy these organisms. Gluten intolerant individuals don’t have a strong immune system and thereby tend to contract infections.

You may think that if you had an intestinal infection you would have a fever, severe diarrhea or abdominal pain. While this can occur, more often than not, these infections are less extreme in their presentation. But they are not silent. A patient with an intestinal infection will not enjoy optimal health and, unfortunately, will not get the entire benefit of removing the offending gluten from their diet. When an infection is not present, the removal of gluten results in the healing of the intestines and the improved health and well being of the patient. In the presence of infection, the healing does not take place because the infectious organism continues to irritate the lining of the intestine and the patient does not improve markedly.

Most doctors who diagnose celiac disease or gluten intolerance only focus on the change of diet that is necessary. They don’t go the next step and rule out any hidden infection. Many times patients have been diagnosed with an infection and stated that they felt they had had an infection but were told that because they didn’t have a fever or acute diarrhea it was not possible.

If you have been avoiding gluten but haven’t seen all the benefits to your health which you had hoped, consider getting evaluated for hidden infection. We see this problem all the time in our patients and are happy to help you. Don't give up on your gluten-free diet! If you aren't seeing all the results you want, come see us to get evaluated.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Gluten Free Diet Successfully Handles IBS Symptoms

The Truth About IBS 

Have you been diagnosed with or know anyone with IBS? 

Then you know miserable it is to have much of your life dictated by looking for restrooms. We live in a society which is very disease oriented. Our body gets to a point where it is malfunctioning to such a degree that we are given the diagnosis of a disease, which is accompanied by a recommendation for some kind of medication. Does that medication get to the underlying root cause of why the malfunction occurred initially? No. And suggesting that that should be the approach is usually met with a disapproving look from our doctor.

I disagree with that approach. And having over 30 years of treating patients has only supported my belief that getting to the underlying root cause of why the body is malfunctioning is the only true route to optimal health. Masking a symptom with a medication does nothing to isolate and treat the real reason the problem occurred in the first place.

IBS is a classic example of the failure of the traditional approach of addressing the symptom only. Patients that have IBS are told that there is no cure for their condition. They are frequently given drugs which offer temporary relief only and dietary advice which, in my opinion and experience, is extremely off the mark.

Since this is a gluten blog, you probably know where I’m headed. But that makes it no less exciting to share with you that I can not recall a single patient with IBS whose condition wasn’t eradicated when he or she followed our program. That’s not bad for a supposedly incurable condition!

IBS Program

The program entails these few key steps:

1. Isolate and eliminate any foods the patient is reacting to.
2. Diagnose and treat any infections which may exist in the digestive tract.
3. Heal the damage to the intestine which has resulted from 1 and 2.

That is the overview of the program. Yes, it does require you to change your lifestyle and yes, it does frequently entail patients removing gluten from their diets. But the response from my patients is that it is more than worth it when the results are no more IBS and feeling great.

Below is a success story written by one of my patients. You’ll notice that he mentions getting off an anti-anxiety medication. Patients with IBS are frequently diagnosed with depression and anxiety and given dangerous drugs to “treat” these symptoms. Getting to the root cause of the problem as mentioned above is usually all that’s needed to eliminate such symptoms of anxiety or depression. 

Enjoy and please let me know if I can help you to achieve your health care goals! We will get to the root cause of your IBS. 

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Patient Testimonial

IBS ruled my life. I could not go anywhere where I was not absolutely sure that there was a close bathroom. I tried to take over the counter and prescription diarrhea medicine, but it would only last a few hours. Because of my symptoms, I was also on depression medication on a daily basis to "help" me deal with the anxiety that was caused by my IBS. I also suffered from extreme claustrophobia, and could not travel in my car without stopping to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so. On a good day I had 6-7 bowel movements and on a bad day 8-9 - every day. I have had IBS for the last 20 years, but this bad, only for the last 2-3 years.

I could not go skiing, running or walking outdoors. Traveling was a nightmare for my family and I. I was stressed about when I would have to next go to the restroom.

I remember at our first meeting Dr. Petersen told me that she could help me, not with arrogance, but with confidence. She showed me pictures of what my insides probably looked like, but explained it in an easy to understand, matter of fact way. Dr Petersen told me I would have to give up eating like I was (eating myself to death, or a certain heart attack), but I could do it gradually.

I was given a diet that included none of the things I had been eating or drinking. It included giving up caffeine and gluten and sugar and aspartame. I had come to the clinic willing to try anything and I knew it would be hard but nothing could have prepared me for the withdrawal from caffeine and sugar. I thought that during the first week I was getting sicker, but I made it through. No real progress on my IBS, but I felt different. We went through blood tests and saliva tests and stool samples. It turned out I had 2 infections in my intestines that were affecting my ability to digest food. 

The antibiotics at first made me feel even worse, but I was in this for the long haul. I knew I was on the right track because soon I started to feel better. Maybe the IBS was not cured yet, but I had more good days than bad, and I felt better emotionally and physically than I had in a long time. About one week after I finished the antibiotics, I began to lead a normal life. I was only going to the bathroom 3-4 times a day, and the experience was much better. Two weeks later, I had a few days in a row with only 2-3 bowel movements per day. In three days, I had what would have been one of my bad days, but with no anxiety or discomfort.

The side benefit of my gluten free diet is that I am off of my "maintenance anxiety drug". This did not happen because my new doctors told me not to take it, I just forgot to about two weeks ago, and have not had the need for it. Today I got in a car w/ 4 other men and I wasn’t doing the driving. It suddenly dawned on me that I would never have done that before. The anxiety would have prevented me.

I have additionally lost 18 pounds, which was not why I came here, but it's definitely a benefit.

It is very difficult to explain the pain and suffering that I went through and that I put my family through with my panic attacks and IBS. I am lucky that they supported me and did not leave me. I feel that I can start to be the person that I am meant to be. My life gets better every day. Maybe everyone is not as sensitive to gluten as I am, but for me it is poison. It is easy to pass up gluten with the great results I am seeing. I asked Dr. Petersen if it was just the caffeine that made me so irritable. She explained that for some people gluten is neurotoxic. This was definitely the case for me and understanding that makes it easy to stay on a gluten free diet. I came to realize that all of the food that made me sick has gluten in it....bagels, bread, pizza, pasta, sandwiches......I was killing myself while trying to eat healthy. When I had a salad with bread and croutons, it defeated the purpose.

That is my story so far. I feel better everyday. I can not thank Dr. Petersen enough for helping me change my life.

- E.B. 

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

The Gluten Doctors

Hello! 

The Gluten Doctors are a group of several doctors consisting of M.D.s and Certified Clinical Nutritionists. We have been in practice for over 30 years and specialize in the area of digestive problems and specifically gluten intolerance and celiac disease.

For more information on our clinic, Root Cause Medical Clinic, please see our website at: www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com.

Gluten - The Basics 

Subclinical gluten intolerance is possibly the most undiagnosed condition that close to 50% of the population suffers from. Current research shows that only about 3% of gluten intolerant individuals ever find out that they have it. 

Do you know if you are gluten intolerant? If not, your odds are close to a flip of a coin. Gluten intolerance is frequently found to be the cause of many undesirable health conditions. The extent (and intensity) of conditions an individual may experience is vast. Some of these are listed below. In addition to acute conditions, the long term effects of gluten intolerance on general health can lead to more serious and avoidable degenerative conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and arthritis.

Why are there so many different types of symptoms?

After you eat, food is broken down into small particles that the body can use as fuel. This is what should happen to gluten, but this does not occur for those who are intolerant to it. Those people are missing a digestive enzyme which breaks down gluten proteins. While these proteins are not broken down, they are still small enough to be absorbed by the small intestine. The immune system of a gluten intolerant individual sees these gluten proteins as something it needs to attack and destroy, in very much the same way it would attack a virus or bacteria. Just like civilian casualties or the innocent bystander, this attack also damages and destroys nearby healthy cells.

The result is that the lining of the small intestines gets damaged and erodes. Like a fly screen that gets torn and allows bugs to pass, over time the damage opens paths for the gluten proteins to enter the blood stream where they can travel to any cell in the body. The type of symptoms you experience depends on which tissues react most negatively to it. That is why some people get constant skin lesions, while others just get headaches. Strange but true. 

Even though it is common for gluten intolerance to be thought of as an allergy, the effects are quite different. An allergen is usually met with a histamine reaction, where the body tries to flush the foreign matter away. The effects of gluten intolerance are closer to an autoimmune disease, where the body’s immune system attacks itself. This explains why symptoms can be quite severe, and why gluten intolerance is such a serious problem. One common example of gluten intolerance is called celiac disease, where the small intestine is so severely damaged that it cannot absorb food properly, and can lead to malnutrition and even death.

How can gluten intolerance be treated?

Since the symptoms of gluten intolerance vary so much from individual to individual, so does the treatment. The most critical treatment that all sufferers need, though, is life-long avoidance of gluten. Gluten intolerant people possess certain genes that recognize gluten as foreign matter, and this cannot be changed with today’s medicine. 

Many people find that while eliminating gluten from their diet makes them feel better, they still continue to experience problems. Damage to the small intestines and the intestinal immune system is universal in gluten intolerant individuals. This results in being susceptible to intestinal infections and parasites, which can cause ulcers and digestive problems in addition to many other diseases. The symptoms of these infections are often cyclical, which means you can feel bad and then feel good before cycling into feeling bad again. This cyclical nature also makes diagnosis of problems difficult. 

Therefore, while ceasing to eat gluten can relieve some of the problems, diagnosing and treating infections is critical to resolving all the problems. Just like recovery from the flu, recovering from the effects of years of consuming gluten requires time and care. Another important aspect of a good treatment program should address restoration. Lastly, since this is a genetic condition, it is highly recommended that relatives also seek diagnosis. Simply put, the condition does ‘run in the family’, and is always shared by at least one parent of a sufferer.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theglutendoctors/
https://www.facebook.com/rootcausemedicalclinic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rootcausemed

Reversing Your Autoimmune Disease, From The Inside Out

What’s Wrong with How Autoimmune Disease is Treated?

As I write this we are just concluding the week-long Gluten eSummit, a first of its kind free event that involves researchers from all over the world, all experts in the field of gluten. The Summit’s creator and host is a dear friend, Dr Tom O’Bryan. If you’ve ever attended one of my Gluten Sensitivity & Celiac Forums, or watched a DVD from one, you’ve had the pleasure of watching Dr O’Bryan lecture.

In this post I wanted to share with you my ‘take’ on one of the interviews at the Summit because it addresses a set of diseases that I feel very, very strongly about – Autoimmune Diseases. I blog about autoimmune often and have several YouTube videos on the topic as well. Yet, we need to continue to discuss this condition that manifests itself in over 100 different diseases, including celiac disease, because it is on the rise. Currently, after heart disease and cancer, autoimmune diseases are the third leading cause of death in this country.

Autoimmune incidence is not only increasing rapidly, but the rationale and protocols utilized in our medical community really miss the mark in my opinion – and my opinion, I am happy to share, is echoed not only by Dr O’Bryan, but his guest Dr Aristo Vodjani, a world renown immunologist. Obviously if anyone should understand the inner workings of the immune system and why it would attack the human body (the definition of autoimmune disease), it would be Dr Vodjani.

If You Want the Right Answer, You Have to Ask the Right Question

It’s important to understand that there are several aspects to the immune system. Dr O’Bryan likens them to the various arms of our military – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. In his analogy he points out that if the country needs to handle a problem in the sea, calling the Army is likely not the best strategy. Similarly, when looking for why the immune system is out of control, one needs to understand that there is more than one ‘branch’, just like in our military.

In other words, a practical example here, if you feel that you are having a reaction to gluten and you visit your doctor and he performs an ‘allergy’ test, when the result is negative for ‘wheat’ does that tell you anything? Well, if it was a Scratch Test it tells you absolutely nothing (more on that in a moment), and if it’s a blood test all it means is that you don’t have an allergy to wheat. It DOESN”T tell you if you have celiac disease and it doesn’t tell you if you are gluten sensitive, which is what you wanted to know.

Sadly this happens every day, to who knows how many suffering individuals. A patient is told that they don’t have an allergy when they wanted to know if they were reacting negatively to something they ate. It is two different questions! You contacted the Army when it was a Air Force problem – see how that analogy works?

To be precise, immunologically speaking, an allergy creates an IgE response (an immediate, fast and sometimes life-threatening response – think peanut allergies), while a sensitivity creates an IgA, IgG or IgM response (a delayed response that can take anywhere from days to weeks to develop).

You need to ask the body the right question to get the right answer. And sometimes you may need to ask that question in a few different ways to truly get the correct answer.

Scratch Tests are NOT Accurate for Food Reactions

Let’s get back to the scratch test (skin test) remark I made earlier: The scratch test has been around for 120 years. It is mostly accurate, but not for food reactions. Use it only for inhalant type allergies – mold, plants, etc. For true allergy food results, use blood. Please spread the word on this one; too many allergists, who are set in their ways, convince their patients that these tests are accurate for food reactions when they are not.

It’s not normal to react negatively to a food. But when it does happen, the immune response occurs in the gut and the specific piece of the immune system reacting is called IgA (think Army). What should occur is that IgA destroys the offending food and ensures that it is excreted without ever entering the bloodstream from the gut. Unfortunately, when an offending food(s) continues to be ingested, the site of the battle with IgA is on the lining of the small intestine. The inflammation that occurs as a result of that battle causes the tight junctions between the cells to open up, creating a leaky gut.

Now we have trouble, because the offending food is no longer contained within the confines of the gut. The leaky gut allows it to escape out into the bloodstream where it can come in contact with other parts of the immune system – think Navy and Marines. More correctly named IgG and IgM. When the immune system of the bloodstream gets involved we now can enter the arena of autoimmune disease.

Why?

How Autoimmune Disease Develops

The ‘bad guy’ (let’s say gluten) gets out into the blood and the immune system reacts. The combination of the ‘bad guy’ and IgG or IgM in the bloodstream initiates something called the ‘complement cascade’ which binds itself to the aforementioned duo. This complex that is now formed is, according to Dr Vodjani, the MOST pathogenic (meaning disease causing) and inflammatory (also leading to disease) molecule in the human body. This is profound. Just read that prior sentence again – “the MOST pathogenic and inflammatory molecule in the human body”.

[And by the way, an ‘ah hah’ moment for me came when Dr Vodjani said that the ‘lag time’ between eating a food and having a reaction in the bloodstream could be as long as 1 to 2 weeks! I had always thought more in the range of 4 days. So that was a learning pearl for myself.]

This complement is the trigger for autoimmune disease. The immune system ‘sees’ the bad guy (e.g. gluten, dairy, etc) but sadly the bad guy ‘looks’ a lot like cells the thyroid, or joints or brain. This results is a confusion, and the immune system begins to attack the cells of the body because they ‘looked like’ the bad guy.

We Have More Control Over Autoimmune Than You’d Think

Fortunately, autoimmune disease takes many years to develop. I say fortunately because the best time to stop it is before it has developed into full-blown autoimmune disease. Dr Vodjani calls it autoimmune ‘reactivity’, this early stage. 

How do we stop it?

We simply remove the initiator or trigger from the environment – which in many cases is gluten. But regardless of what the trigger is, you must remove it and you must remove it permanently. Does this work? I say ‘yes’, but so does Dr Vodjani and Dr O’Bryan. Dr O’Bryan mentioned that not only does removing the trigger reverse autoimmune disease in its early ‘reactive’ stage, but it also has been seen to reverse it in its active full-blown stage. We too have seen that here in our medical and clinical nutrition departments at HealthNOW.

The 64 million dollar question is: How do we identify the trigger? It’s not hard actually. We have great tests at our disposal.

Follow These Steps

Here’s all we need to do to prevent and detect many autoimmune diseases:

1) Isolate triggers to the immune system. This involves testing. Remember ALL the armed forces… When we test here at HealthNOW we use comprehensive blood tests that look at immune system reactions across the board, not just IgE or IgA.

2) Realize that gluten isn’t the only potential food trigger, so look for others. There is an excellent cross-reactive foods blood test that looks at many food triggers.

3) Find out if you are already in the autoimmune reactivity zone—meaning early changes have already occurred that will lead to autoimmune disease. How? We have a blood test for this too. I’ll warn you that this is a newer test on the market and ‘new’ often means pricey and this one is, but that’s its only downside. Otherwise it’s brilliant – how wonderful to see early autoimmune tendencies before they become full-blown disease.

4) Prevent further triggers from assaulting the immune system by healing the leaky gut. Wondering if you have a leaky gut? Yes, we have a test for that. But we often ‘save’ that test for later on in care to determine if we have successfully healed the gut. Often times doing it early on in care can be a waste of funds when it’s pretty obvious someone is suffering from a leaky gut.

5) Get ready to be disciplined! One thing Dr Vodjani made perfectly clear that I completely agree with, and you’ve heard me say it before – Cheating is a no-no. Eliminating these triggers must be a zero tolerance policy.

A Little Message to Dietary Cheaters…

By the way, have you ever cheated and not ‘felt’ it and then thought maybe a little cheating was okay? Dr Vodjani explained why that occurs. If you used to get headaches let’s say when you ate gluten and these headaches went away when you embarked on a gluten-free diet, cheating, either intentionally or inadvertently, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll again experience headaches. Better for you if it did, or at least if some symptom occurred that caused you some pain and discomfort, because then you’d be less inclined to cheat. Sadly, for many people their ‘reaction’ is a silent one. Gluten can destroy your brain cells, as an example, and you can’t feel that happening. Gluten can cause a lot of destruction inside your better that you are unable to feel until it’s too late and you have a serious disease.

As Dr O’Bryan put it, Alzheimer’s isn’t a disease of 50 and 60 year olds. It begins in the 20s and 30s; it just takes 30 years or so of brain cells being destroyed before you manifest overt symptoms of the disease and finally receive a diagnosis.

The key is that we don’t want to wait for the diagnosis, we want to be pro-active. As we talked about earlier, autoimmune disease is the third leading cause of death and its incidence is increasing dramatically every year. We know that the trigger is environmental and we now understand how to isolate these triggers.

Finding the Triggers Is the Real Key to Prevention and Treatment

That’s pretty exciting actually. It would be a truly wonderful thing to reverse this disease incidence. Are you thinking that it’s all genetic? Remember, having the genes for a disease doesn’t mean that you’ll manifest it… thankfully. Having the genes doesn’t require you to develop a specific disease, it simply means that you are predisposed.

Forty percent of the population has the genes for celiac disease. While the incidence of the disease is on the rise, it’s not forty percent. So don’t ‘fall for’ the idea that it’s all genetics, it isn’t. And that isn’t solely my opinion, again I have very good company amongst world renowned researchers, such as Dr Vodjani and Dr Fasano.

The takeaway from the interview and the one I’d like to impart is that we have at our disposal the ability to make great inroads in detecting, preventing and treating autoimmune disease, something our planet is in great need of – certainly something our country is in great need of.

I hope you found this informative. The human immune system is an amazing but complex system. I endeavored to simplify it better understanding of how autoimmune disease develops.

Let me know if you have any questions. If you are unhappy with the state of your health, we’d love to help you. Consider contacting us for a FREE Health Analysis. As a Destination Clinic we treat patients from across the country and internationally. You don’t need to live locally to us to receive assistance. We are here to help!

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,
Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Celiac or Gluten Sensitive? What You Need to Know About Vitamin D

Low Vitamin D Can Increase Your Risk for Disease

You’ve likely heard that vitamin D is important. Most often we hear of its association with osteoporosis or loss of bone density, when it’s deficient. But did you know that there are vitamin D receptors (VDR) on tissues such as the heart, skin, brain, kidney, immune cells, breast and prostate?

Vitamin D goes way beyond affecting bone health only. When deficient, it’s been linked to severe kidney disease, heart disease, cancer, inflammation and a leaky gut. It turns out that there are few areas of the body vitamin D doesn’t touch.

A little background information: Vitamin D, not really a vitamin but a hormone, is manufactured in the body from the combination of sunlight and cholesterol. It is then in its D3 state where it becomes activated in the liver and kidney to active D, known as calcitriol.

What Does Vitamin D Really Do?

1. Vitamin D, as mentioned does keep bones strong. Therefore, when deficient, osteoporosis or brittle bones can result.
2. Vitamin D activates the natural killer cells; the beautiful immune defense army that kills ‘bad’ guys from viruses to bacteria to cancer cells. A good hint for the flu prevention is to ensure your vitamin D level is optimal.
3. Vitamin D influences the function of the ‘gate keeper’ system in the gut. Deficiency of D has been associated with a leaky gut, a known link to autoimmune disease and other degenerative diseases. Anything that leads to a leaky gut should be addressed urgently.
4. Inflammation and vitamin D are very tied together. We understand that chronic inflammation is the initiator of most degenerative diseases we are trying to avoid including heart disease, cancer, autoimmune and diabetes, to name a few. Vitamin D is anti-inflammatory, which presents another incredibly strong reason to make sure levels are normal. The ‘fire’ of inflammation has to be quelled in order to prevent and/or heal these degenerative conditions. Vitamin D is such a substance and it is needed in sufficient quantities to perform this very important function.

Vitamin D Deficiency Raises Risk of Breast Cancer 6X

A very recent study, July 2013,  from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published findings that there is a greater risk of breast cancer among women with deficient levels of serum (blood) vitamin D. Low vitamin D is common in countries where little sun exposure occurs due to climate, clothing or increased skin pigmentation – all acting to reduce vitamin D production.

When women whose vitamin D levels were less than 10 ng/mL were compared with those whose levels were greater than 20 ng/mL, the risk of breast cancer was more than six times higher. In a disease that is promoted has having little ‘rhyme nor reason’, this study gives women something they can truly DO to lessen their risk of this devastating disease.

Vitamin D Causes a Leaky Gut?

A leaky gut can be caused by drugs and chemicals and most often the presence of gluten in the diet. The degree and chronicity of a leaky gut can move the body towards autoimmune disease, inflammation and other chronic degenerative diseases. The intestine’s ‘intelligence’ that allows it to open its gates for good, digested food and close it against toxins, pathogens and other perceived ‘bad guys’ is truly stellar and one of the many amazing abilities of the human body.

But when that intelligence is thwarted, the result is disease. Another tool against leaky gut is vitamin D. It turns out that D is needed for the gatekeeper system of the small intestine and when D is deficient, a leaky gut is the result.

When we appreciate how closely vitamin D is tied into the body’s immune system and its correct functioning, it’s perhaps not a surprise that D would play a role in a healthy gut where 70-80% of the human immune system is housed.

And it’s also not a surprise that vitamin D is frequently deficient in patients with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity and other chronic digestive diseases.

It’s important for everyone to get their vitamin D levels tested, and its especially important for those who already know they have any sort of compromised immune or digestive system.

What You Need to Know

First of all you have to be tested to know what your vitamin D status is. The name of the test is vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy and it’s a blood test. There is no way to guess what your levels are, you need to get them tested to know.

Once you receive your result see how close it is to 50 ng/mL. About ‘50’ is the sweet spot for vitamin D according to most experts. The Vitamin D Council says it could be as high as 60 or 80 ng/mL and I don’t think there’s any problem with that. Vitamin D levels can be too high, but that’s not a problem we typically see.

Which Vitamin D Supplement is Best

If you find that you are deficient or just want to maintain a good vitamin D level you can do the following:

1. Get some rays – some sunlight is good for you. No, you don’t need to go out at high noon, but about 20 minutes per day with your arms and chest exposed and/or in shorts is enough to produce about 10,000 IUs (international units) according to the vitamin D council. Other factors to take into consideration is the latitude in which you live and the color of your skin. The farther you are away from the equator, the more difficult it is to get adequate sunshine year round. Additionally, darker skin tones cannot absorb enough UV to turn it into adequate vitamin D. Therefore, there’s point #2.
2. Supplement with vitamin D3 (not D2) in a fatty medium. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin so it’s best delivered with some fat for easier absorption. Here at the clinic we have a liquid in a base of olive oil that makes it very palatable. Each drop is equivalent to 2,000 IUs so most patients are just taking a few drops per day, making compliance a breeze. Here at HealthNOW in the clinical nutrition department, we tend to utilize 1 drop per 10 points we want to raise the D level. Maintenance is typically 2 drops per day, but it depends on the individual. Remember, you’ll need to retest to monitor your levels. You don’t want to fool around with low D, it causes too much damage. 
3. A severe deficiency may require a prescription for higher doses of vitamin D for a period of time until the level is normalized. Some patients require 50,000 IUs a one or more times per week. Such levels are high and should not be embarked upon without a doctor’s recommendation. 
4. A chronic deficiency that is not responding to treatment typically means that absorption is quite poor within the gut and especially fat absorption is compromised. This is where root cause medicine shines. In this scenario you wouldn’t just continue to give an individual more and more vitamin D when their levels aren’t improving; you need to find out why they’re not improving.
5.  

In patients with Celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or other disorders of the GI tract, healing must occur such that normal absorption happens. If you find yourself in this position, you’ll need to find a clinician who truly understands how to get to the root cause of a problem and resolve it.

Contact Me if You Need Assistance

Hopefully I have made the case for how important it is to have normal, healthy vitamin D levels. And hopefully you were impressed with how many ‘good things’ a healthy D level will do for you.

If you need assistance, let me know. That’s why I’m here.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,
Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”