Storming Normandy on D Day
By
Ladd R. McNamara, M.D.
“D Day,” a military term used to designate the day a combat operation will commence, the most famous, of course, occurring on June 6, 1944; the date of the largest amphibious assault in which the allied British and American forces stormed the beaches of Normandy into Nazi-occupied France, becoming one of the most significant battles in winning World War II. The comparison of this article by Dr. Ladd McNamara on increasing our intake of vitamin D may be a bit dramatic, but it is not too far off from what I suggest should be our “D – DAY” for going all out on supplementing with vitamin D against chronic disease, particularly when 4 out of 5 people are significantly deficient in vitamin D.
Vitamin D and the Reduced Risk of Many Diseases
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with osteoporosis, bone fracture, muscle weakness, cancers (particularly breast and colon), autoimmune diseases, obesity, diabetes, schizophrenia, depression, asthma, lung dysfunction, influenza, kidney disease, and high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. During pregnancy and infancy vitamin D insufficiency is also associated with preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension), low birth weight, neonatal hypocalcemia (low blood calcium), poor postnatal growth, bone fragility, and increased incidence of autoimmune diseases and childhood asthma. This is particular importance to Dr. Ladd McNamara, since his area of expertise was focused on women’s health and pregnancy.
There is no debate in the medical community that there is a vitamin D deficiency epidemic that is causing a myriad of problems, and that people need to be supplementing with much higher doses than the traditionally-recommended dose of 400 IU per day. It’s clear that optimal supplementation should be at least 2000 IU/day, if not 4000. As you will discover in this post, that Dr. Ladd McNamara suggests that some people require even even higher doses, …on the magnitude of 10,000 IU per day or more.
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