Vitamin D and Crohn's Disease

Crohn’s Disease is an IBD or Inflammatory Bowel Disease that generally affects the small intestine. The symptoms of Chrohn's includes chronic pain and diarrhea. This condition is often confused with ulcerative colitis, which causes ulcers in the intestinal lining.

Men and women and older children are often victims of Crohn’s Disease. What causes Crohn's? The jury is still out on that, medical science does not yet have the answer.

Of great concern to anyone suffering from Crohn's Disease (and other Inflammatory Bowel Diseases) is that a major symptom of the condition is a vitamin D deficiency.

What is happening is that Vitamin D coming from food is not absorbed regularly into the body, due to the active inflammation in the intestines caused by Crohn's. And that is a problem, for Vitamin D is important.

Vitamin D helps regulate the amount and the use of calcium and phosphorus (maintaining your bones) in your body. It may also help prevent high blood pressure, some cancers and has other health benefits.

There are two ways you get vitamin D into your body. By eating foods that contain the fat-soluble vitamin and through exposure to the sun. Your skin is able to manufacture Vitamin D using sunlight.

If you don’t get enough vitamin D in your system, one result is osteomalacia which means your bones are weaker than they should be. In children, this is called rickets and in all age groups, osteomalacia means that you can very easily fracture your bones. One of the reason older people more easily experience broken bones and fractures is that they are not able to produce or absorb Vitamin D as they did when they were younger. Anyone over the age of 50 may want to consider taking Vitamin D supplements. And, of course, those with Crohn's at any age should look into Vitamin D supplements.

If you add vitamin D supplements to your diet and spend more time in the sun, you drastically improve the levels of vitamin D your body needs to prevent osteomalacia.

Vitamin D supplements are usually not classified as drugs and can therefore be purchased over the counter at a pharmacy or health food or whole food store. However, just because they are not technically drugs doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use precaution when taking these supplements.

First, ask a doctor if it is safe for you to take vitamin D supplements. Because of your Crohn’s Disease, you are probably taking other daily medications. Sometimes, a supplement can interact with or decrease the potency of other things your taking.

You should also ask your doctor how much you should be taking every day. Too much vitamin D can be serious and lead to vitamin poisoning. This can cause problems with your kidneys and liver. At some point, you may want to have the Vitamin D levels in your body tested as feedback to how much you need to take.

Crohn’s Disease is not a fun medical condition with which to live. Making sure you have enough vitamin D in your system can make life easier. Talk to your doctor about making vitamin D supplements, a part of your battle against Crohn’s Disease and for improving your overall health.

If you are ready to Discover How You Can Join The Others Who Have Learned Techniques To Be Free from The Agony of Crohn's... Eat Without Discomfort... And Live Without the Constant Pain, then get the: Breakthrough Crohns Disease Guide.

Antioxidants Help You Live Longer

Do you want to be younger and live longer? There are many antioxidant containing supplements that show strong evidence that they slow down the aging process.

Vitamins that have been particularly noted for their antioxidant properties include Vitamins A, C, and E. These antioxidant help to protect body cells from the damage done by free radicals. And it is free radicals that scientists clearly believe accelerate the aging process, and cause other disease.

Free radicals are highly reactive molecules first identified by Moses Gomberg in 1900. In chemical terms they are referred to as "reactive oxygen species", or ROS.

Where do free radicals come from?

As the cells produce energy (for function and survival), they also create oxygen molecules that are unstable because its electrons are unpaired. These unpaired electrons are highly labile, leading to readily or continuous chemical, physical, or biological changes or breakdowns. In other words, the oxygen molecules, or free radicals, attach themselves to other molecules in the cells where they don't belong and cause problems.

Along with the free radicals produced naturally by many cellular processes, their output can be greatly increased by exposure to environmental factors such as pollution, tobacco smoke and radiation. These environmental toxins along with stress are all known to cause aging!

Stress, too, is a problem. Persistent stress, not relieved by exercise or other methods, causes the formation of free radicals. And if we do not have a good night's sleep, at least seven hours, even more free radicals are produced.

A lot of negative changes in our body come as a result of the activities of free radicals. They damage the DNA and impair other vital functions of cells, eventually causing the premature death of these cells. All these damages accumulate and show up in our bodies as accelerated aging.

Antioxidants help to solve the problems listed above by mopping up the free radicals in our systems. Antioxidants have extra electrons that they can give up to the loose oxygen, neutralizing their ability to cause damage.

Antioxidants are a class of nutrients that protect the body from damage caused by different factors, most importantly oxidative damage caused by free radicals. And by preventing oxidation, they increase immune responses, and possibly decrease the risk of infection and cancer.

These substances also prevent glaucoma and the age-related degeneration of our macula, the part of the eye that is dedicated for superior acuity vision. Antioxidants also slow down the passing of the aging clock, making your skin and other organs more flexible and vibrant

Supplements like Vitamin A, E, C and selenium, are known to be powerful antioxidants, but there are many other exotic antioxidants that are found abundantly in fruits and vegetables. Dark blue, purple and red fruits and vegetables are good sources of antioxidants. Even red wine, in moderation, is a good source of a particular antioxidant.

So start eating more of those colorful vegetables and fruits, they can help you live longer and look younger.

A source for some information in this article has been Haiyan Lai-Heskin.