Vitamin D, Protective Against Autoimmune
Recent research has confirmed that vitamin D modulates immunity. This property is very interesting for Highly Sensitive People.
According to Dr. Michael Hollick, one of the most prestigious experts in the study of vitamin D, the most common medical condition in the world is its deficiency. In this context, the so-called “Highly Sensitive People”, who represent 20% of the general population, constitute a particularly affected group as they present a greater risk for the development of autoimmune disorders and psychosomatic syndromes.
They also have a low perception threshold for pain, both physical and emotional, which could be a key factor in explaining their status as a high-risk group.
The denomination of Highly Sensitive People “(PAS) was proposed by the psychologist Elaine Aron to designate people with a high sensorineural sensitivity, who move, above all, in the inner world of emotions.
The term “sensitivity” here refers to the fact of greater receptivity to stimuli from the nervous system. PAS trait, possibly an inherited trait, is present in approximately 20% of the population and can be recognized by simple screening tests.
The protective effect of vitamin D
Vitamin D is a very important nutritional factor in optimizing health, and this importance is maximized in PAS.
Vitamin D 3 (cholecalciferol) is obtained mainly by exposing the skin to sunlight. There is also a contribution of vitamin D 3 with foods of animal origin and vitamin D 2 with other foods such as some mushrooms.
Vitamin D 3 is formed at the skin level from 7-dehydro-cholesterol by direct action of ultraviolet sunlight and, together with the vitamin D provided with food, is transported to the liver; There it is metabolized to 25 hydroxy-vitamin D (calcidiol), which is subsequently transformed in the kidneys into 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D (calcitriol), which has the character of a true prohormone.
The latter is the active form for the regulation of calcium metabolism, which plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of the skeletal system.
However, recent research has revealed the existence of really unimaginable extra-skeletal functions a few years ago.
Almost all mammalian cells have receptors for vitamin D, with effects on the expression of more than 2,000 genes (10% of the genome) without modification of the DNA sequence (epigenetic).
This gives you a greater or lesser degree of control over approximately 30,000 cellular functions related to the cellular metabolism itself, with the appearance of cancer cells and also with immunity.
Vitamin D has a protective effect against a wide spectrum of disorders: musculoskeletal (pain, weakness, stiffness, paresthesia), infectious, autoimmune, cardiovascular, metabolic syndrome, asthma, diabetes 1 and 2, various types of cancer (especially breast and colorectal), neurocognitive dysfunction, mental illness, anxiety, depression, affective disorders, pre-eclampsia, premenstrual syndrome, and other conditions.
The vitamin D deficiency has also been associated with increased mortality from any cause.
Regulate your immunity by sunbathing
It has long been known that exposure to the sun, and therefore obtaining vitamin D, is a way to prevent and treat some immune disorders.
Different studies have shown the important role of vitamin D in activating specialized immune cells in defense against viruses and bacteria.
Its ability to support the immune system makes it one of the most reliable nutritional contributions to improve comprehensive immunity and many scientists point to it as essential to reduce the risk of degenerative diseases.
Epigenetic modifications can be responsible for the initiation and perpetuation of autoimmune diseases, and vitamin D could exert its protective effects at this level.
Multiple sclerosis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, vitiligo, arthritis, myasthenia gravis, and also fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, are some of the diseases that have been linked to vitamin D deficiency .
Recently it has been shown that vitamin D can moderate the overstimulation of the immune system and thus favor the reduction of both allergic and autoimmune responses.
This moderating effect could be produced by inhibiting the activation of nuclear factor kappa beta (Nf-kB), which controls the inflammatory cascade in the body.
Vitamin D “erases” false immune information
According to Dr. Cicero Coimbra, professor of neurology at the Federal University of Sâo Paulo, in autoimmune diseases, vitamin D would act as a true immunomodulator that would “erase” from the immune memory the false information due to which a tissue or organ of the body does not it is recognized as its own and is attacked as if it were an invader agent.
The so-called “Coimbra Protocol” assumes that, once the autoimmune disease is established, very high daily doses of vitamin D are required (approximately 1,000 IU / kg), to compensate for partial resistance to vitamin D and to “erase” false immune memory. .
Although not unanimously accepted, the “Coimbra Protocol” is followed by a growing number of physicians in America and Europe, and is enthusiastically defended by patient associations (especially multiple sclerosis), as many who follow it are allegedly asymptomatic or at least present a notable clinical improvement.
Stress, a possible trigger for autoimmune diseases
In autoimmune diseases, an abnormal response of the immune system occurs , which identifies and attacks different tissues or organs of the body as foreign and potentially dangerous.
Although its causes are complex and multifactorial, in approximately 80% of patients a high level of stress could have acted as a trigger. Once the autoimmune disorder is established, more stress and anxiety are produced that aggravate the symptoms, establishing a vicious cycle.
The chronic stress causes the nervous system flooded with hormones stress, primarily adrenaline and cortisol, which causes anxiety, anxiety, depression, fear, anger, rage, aggression, fatigue, physical pain, poor concentration and memory, insomnia, ringing in the ears and, in the longer term, a weakening of the immune system.
Anxiety and negative emotions are triggers and aggravators of psychosomatic pain syndromes. Anxiety and chronic pain are processed in the same part of the brain, they are essentially the same thing.
While acute pain activates the pain center, chronic pain activates only the emotional center.
PAS are more vulnerable
PAS may perceive life events or situations as serious emotional problems that non-PAS would more easily handle.
This makes PAS prone to developing high levels of stress and anxiety that could act as triggers and aggravators of autoimmune disorders and psychosomatic syndromes.
This explanation was in some way suggested by Carla Sodi when in a group of people with autoimmune diseases she found that 97% were highly sensitive and, in turn, that in a group with PAS 51% had presented symptoms or disorders at some point psychosomatic or with a possible autoimmune component.
In a group of randomly selected people, Dr. E. Aron found that 20% of the cases were highly or fairly sensitive, and 22% were moderately sensitive, while 42% were not sensitive at all.
The fact of finding more or less close associations between PAS trait and autoimmune disorders could be conditioned by the different degree of sensitivity of the people included in the trial.
Highly sensitive people may be more prone to developing autoimmune diseases, while fairly or moderately sensitive people are more prone to developing more benign syndromes.
In PAS, the evaluation of vitamin D status and the correction of its possible deficiency is obviously of special clinical importance, either as a preventive measure or as an adjunct to established medical treatments.
