BTW- the recommended daily dose of VitD is 2000 IU currently ( not sure what it is in mg's) or 1 hour of sunlight on a Caucasian face.
Now, Mexico is pretty sunny and where is Dr. Cannell, who practices in California, when they need him?
I am very skeptical of VitD as a treatment for a viral infection, based on this research, as published, rather than a science digest type format.
Your thoughts?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5532051&mesg_id=5536120JJ Cannel is a psychiatrist, not an infectious disease doctor.
Here is the article he had published in 2006, which your OP cites.
Now, it says Dr. Cannell practices in California, on the edge of the swine flu that seems to be coming north from Mexico. This would be a great time to tell the good people down in Mexico that they need more sunshine, VitD and same for the towns on the border and Texas.
Let's keep on eye out for him on the news, this kind of great research should not be hidden!
He could prevent a pandemic.
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Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Dec;134(6):1129-40. Epub 2006 Sep 7.
Comment in:
Epidemiol Infect. 2007 Oct;135(7):1091-2; author reply 1092-5.
Epidemiol Infect. 2007 Oct;135(7):1095-6; author reply 1097-8.
Epidemic influenza and vitamin D.Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Umhau JC, Holick MF, Grant WB, Madronich S, Garland CF, Giovannucci E.
Atascadero State Hospital, 10333 El Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93422, USA.
In 1981, R. Edgar Hope-Simpson proposed that a 'seasonal stimulus' intimately associated with solar radiation explained the remarkable seasonality of epidemic influenza.
....An interventional study showed that vitamin D reduces the incidence of respiratory infections in children. We conclude that vitamin D, or lack of it, may be Hope-Simpson's 'seasonal stimulus'
.
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Another article in 2006 on Vit.D
Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Umhau JC, Holick MF, Grant WB, Madronich S, Garland CF, and Giovanucci E. Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Sep 7;:1-12 (Epub ahead of print)
Altern Med Rev. 2008 Mar;13(1):6-20.
Use of vitamin D in clinical practice.Cannell JJ, Hollis BW.
The recent discovery--from a meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials--that supplemental cholecalciferol (vitamin D) significantly reduces all-cause mortality emphasizes the medical, ethical, and legal implications of promptly diagnosing and adequately treating vitamin D deficiency.
Theoretically, pharmacological doses of vitamin D (2,000 IU per kg per day for three days) may produce enough of the naturally occurring antibiotic cathelicidin to cure common viral respiratory infections, such as influenza and the common cold, but such a theory awaits further science.
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Let's see if the hypothesis is any further along by 2008
Virol J. 2008 Feb 25;5:29.
Comment in:
Virol J. 2008;5:149.
On the epidemiology of influenza.Cannell JJ, Zasloff M, Garland CF, Scragg R, Giovannucci E.
Department of Psychiatry, Atascadero State Hospital, 10333 El Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93423, USA.
We hypothesize that two factors explain the nine conundrums: vitamin D's seasonal and population effects on innate immunity, and the presence of a subpopulation of "good infectors." If true, our revision of Edgar Hope-Simpson's theory has profound implications for the prevention of influenza.
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And Vit D. is also implicated in autism for this author.
Med Hypotheses. 2008;70(4) 50-9. Epub 2007 Oct 24. Links
Autism and vitamin D.Cannell JJ.
Atascadero State Hospital, Psychiatry, 10333 El Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93423, United States.
Autism is more common in areas of impaired UVB penetration such as poleward latitudes, urban areas, areas with high air pollution, and areas of high precipitation. Autism is more common in dark-skinned persons and severe maternal vitamin D deficiency is exceptionally common the dark-skinned. Conclusion: simple Gaussian distributions of the enzyme that activates neural calcitriol combined with widespread gestational and/or early childhood vitamin D deficiency may explain both the genetics and epidemiology of autism.
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Some of the peer reviewed comments that I could acces were not supportive of this hypothesis, either.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5532051&mesg_id=5536394