Vitamin D and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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Jay: I noticed your diet. I am very interested in changing my diet. I recently gave up caffeine and candy. But that is just a start. I have an Aunt that is going Gluten free. I went to a Nutritionist recently and she gave me recommendations and goals plus some healthy breakfast smoothie recipes ( which I have been drinking every morning instead of the coffee ). I was taking iron pills, but my new PCP said that I don't need to take them anymore because my iron levels were fine. I am taking B12 over the counter now, but a few years ago I was getting the shots every month. I am taking D3 because I have osteoporosis. My Nutritionist mentioned a probiotic. I am going to see a new Gastroenterologist on July 30th. I hope he has some help for me because I have been
severely constipated for three months ( and before that I was having diarrhea for 17 years! Thanks for listening.
 
Jay: I noticed your diet. I am very interested in changing my diet. I recently gave up caffeine and candy. But that is just a start. I have an Aunt that is going Gluten free. I went to a Nutritionist recently and she gave me recommendations and goals plus some healthy breakfast smoothie recipes ( which I have been drinking every morning instead of the coffee ). I was taking iron pills, but my new PCP said that I don't need to take them anymore because my iron levels were fine. I am taking B12 over the counter now, but a few years ago I was getting the shots every month. I am taking D3 because I have osteoporosis. My Nutritionist mentioned a probiotic. I am going to see a new Gastroenterologist on July 30th. I hope he has some help for me because I have been
severely constipated for three months ( and before that I was having diarrhea for 17 years! Thanks for listening.
I also gave up coffee! And am now a Green Tea devotee : ) It still contains caffeine but I just thought the coffee may be more difficult on my digestive system. I am also receiving B12 shots monthly. It seems that as soon as I stop the monthly B12 shots my fatigue becomes severely exaggerated. I added the probiotic because I am currently being treated for latent TB before starting a Biologic. Gluten free is my most consistent & significant change! I wish you luck with your efforts to change your diet. I hope it brings you some measure of relief : )
 
In the past I have taken B12 shots. But at this time only the over the counter B12 vitamins have been recommended by one of my doctors. Why can't I get the shots again ? Wouldn't the shots be more powerful and effective than an over the counter vitamin pill that tastes like candy ? In the past I have given the shots to myself at home. And then one other time I went to a doctors office to get one B12 shot a month for a year...........they made it sound like a one year round of shots would be all that I would need for a while and it would last a while, but I do not think that is true.
 
Here perhaps is what is actually going on.
Peroxides irreversibly inhibit the VDR. So if the VDR is inhibited
you can take all the Vitamin D you want, and have high serum vitamin D level
but, its action will be inhibited due to lack of VDR.

http://www.jbc.org/content/277/15/13294.full.pdf

From this paper below we see what is going on in UC and Crohns where the VDR is low in gut tissue, regardless of vitamin D serum status.

So knocking down peroxides with R Lipoic acid,Butyrate and anything else that
can knock down peroxides, will allow for VDR upregulation,then also take
Vitamin D.
Old Mike

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65842



Important statement from the paper:



Epidemiological studies have shown that low vitamin D status is common in IBD. Since the major source of vitamin D comes from UV light–driven photosynthesis and dietary components, vitamin D is thought to be an environmental factor that might affect the development of IBD. Studies have suggested that high vitamin D intake is associated with a reduced risk of CD (35), and there are also reports that vitamin D can inhibit colitis in some animal models (40–42); however, whether vitamin D status plays a causative role in the pathogenesis of human IBD is unclear. In this study, we observed very low vitamin D status in one cohort of IBD patients (Shenyang) that did not use vitamin D supplementation and observed relatively normal serum vitamin D levels in another cohort (Chicago) that was routinely supplemented with vitamin D. These results neither include nor exclude low vitamin D status as a causative factor in human IBD. In fact, high serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D status has been reported in a subset of CD patients (56). Future prospective studies are needed to address this issue more conclusively. Despite different serum vitamin D levels, one common feature of these two cohorts is a marked reduction of mucosal epithelial VDR expression. Thus, reduced VDR status in the lesion appears to be an intrinsic characteristic of IBD that is independent of serum vitamin D status. What drives down VDR expression remains to be resolved, but our ongoing preliminary studies suggest that local inflammation is a critical factor in VDR downregulation. In fact, few studies have examined VDR status in the IBD population, but the colonic VDR appears to directly linked to colonic inflammatory status.




Looks like butyrate can also be important.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25080448




also we can have a genetic risk, which might mean difficult to correct

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ibd.22966/abstract
 
Here perhaps is what is actually going on.
Peroxides irreversibly inhibit the VDR.

Very interesting information, but I do not see any evidence that this VDR inhibition is irreversible. There is high turnover in gut epithelial cells, and I find it just as likely that as IBD is treated/cured, VDR function is restored.
 
The point I believe is that as long as you are making excess peroxides the VDR is inhibited. New cells would also exhibit the inhibition in the presence of excess peroxides.
So yes,after reduction of peroxides and or remission the VDR would be restored.
Old Mike
 
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