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A Sunrise

A cloud shadow in the sky – transcending square.

Images of things not quite square was my simple initial concept for this site, which houses archives from several previous websites behind the scenery.

The virtual world transcends square enormously.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. 

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Maya, the power of Brahman

On the other side of the world from the Mayan people in South America, the word Maya in Sanskrit means the power of Brahman, the Absolute Reality. Brahman is Sat-Chit-Ananda or Absolute Existence, Absolute Consciousness and Absolute Bliss. Brahman is impersonal but not without attributes. This explanation of the Absolute was taught by Shankara and is a belief of Hinduism. Shankara was born in India around A.D. 700-788. His teachings were based on the Vedanta, a monistic philosophy. The world was not created by Brahman but by Brahman’s power, Maya. [1, 2, 4]

Maya is everything, every day. Everything in the world is connected. At the subatomic structure everything is made up of quarks. [5] All of the planets are connected by the relationship between their elements which were once stardust. [3]  Maya day is every day throughout the world.

  1. Harper M.H., Gurus, Swamis, and Avataras; Spiritual Masters and Their American Disciples, (Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1972) pp 10-15 [Amazon]
  2. “Maya Is a Power of Brahman,” Sri Aurobindo Studies (Aug. 14, 2010) [sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com]
  3. “Are we really all made of stardust?” physics.org [physics.org]
  4. “Shankara (Indian philosopher)” Britannica Online Encyclopedia [britannica.com]
  5. Nave R, “Quarks” hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu [hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu]
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Hormone D is made from vitamin D

Vitamin D and hormone D are metabolically linked by one enzyme. Testing only the vitamin does not prove a deficiency of the hormone. There would be more children with rickets if the food supply or sunlight supply was inadequate in vitamin D or cholesterol. Statin drugs stop the liver from producing cholesterol so people taking statin drugs long term could be more at risk for low levels of both vitamin and hormone D. However they would also need to be avoiding sunlight, dairy products, egg yolks, some types of fish and other vitamin D fortified foods like breads and cereals.

If an epidemic of rickets isn’t a problem [3] then probably a reasonable amount of vitamin D has been available over the years. There is certainly an association between chronic disease and low vitamin D levels but it has not been adequately proven that low vitamin D is causing the chronic disease or whether it is a side effect of some other condition. It has been proven that the enzyme that converts vitamin D to the active hormone D is made in some types of cancer and autoimmune disease. There are two tests necessary to prove a deficiency of both the vitamin and the actual hormone D. It has been proven that excess hormone D can cause chronic degeneration from excess calcium leaving the bone tissue and it causes pain.

Two tests are needed to show whether there is deficiency of vitamin D or whether there is actually excess hormone D. The test for vitamin D levels doesn’t measure the amount that was converted into hormone D which is the form that signals bones to release magnesium and calcium from long term storage. It also signals the intestines to preferentially absorb more calcium than magnesium. Magnesium is inexpensive but it isn’t absorbed well when there is also a lot of calcium in the food or supplement or when there is excessive hormone D levels.
Two tests for D can show who needs further testing vs who needs supplements or diet guidance.The good news suggested to me, by the limited number of cases of rickets in comparison to the large number of people with low vitamin D levels, is that having both the hormone and vitamin levels tested would show who needs a vitamin and who might benefit from more testing for underlying issues.

Testing for chronic infection or cancer can catch treatable problems in much earlier stages of disease before osteoporosis or soft tissue calcification are allowed to happen. If the hormone level is elevated and the vitamin is low there can be a treatable reason why the enzyme between the two forms is overactive. Or sometimes there is an issue with too little activity by the enzyme that breaks down the hormone and too little enzyme activity allows the hormone to build up to excess levels.

Making too much active hormone D or not breaking down the excess can lead to worsening chronic disease over time. Measuring both the vitamin and hormone levels of D can show who needs a vitamin and who might need antibiotics or other treatment and who might be harmed by the use of excess supplements of D over time. So, yes, vitamin D is important and many people have been found to have low levels but we haven’t been measuring the level of the active hormone in many research studies and it is more powerfully active within health and illness.

Agribusiness and processed food are an essential part of the food supply. Improving food labeling would help people with food sensitivities or allergies to avoid risk without requiring all processed foods to change ingredients. Standardizing fortification levels helps with menu planning for a healthy diet for individuals and residential facilities.

Corporate profit and national viability is affected by the cost of health care and that won’t get cheaper if the same wrong solutions are pursued. One vitamin or medicine can never grow a body or give the body the nutrient building blocks that are needed for healing.
Multiple nutrients are necessary for preventing chronic disease and repairing health.

Recognizing that there is a link between elevated hormone D and low vitamin D will be important for the long term effectiveness of any health care system for any business or country. Pursuing vitamin D supplements as an easy solution to chronic disease has not been working and any one nutrient solution will not work to build health. Magnesium or iodine are not single answer solutions either. Vitamin K, selenium, zinc, vitamin C and B’s and the essential fats and phospholipids are necessary as well as adequate calories and protein.

Many nutrients working together help maintain quality of life and reduce pain and chronic degeneration. Basing health care on medical and surgical solutions alone can not solve or prevent all types of health issues. Those types of solutions are needed for acute repair but chronic degeneration needs prevention strategies and many nutrients working together within the body.
/Disclaimer: Information presented on this site is not intended as a substitute for medical care and should not be considered as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment by your physician./

Reference List

  1. Canadian Medical Association Journal (2012, November 5). Low vitamin D levels linked to longevity, surprising study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 11, 2012, from [sciencedaily.com­] *The study control group had higher levels of vitamin D and had more chronic concerns. Low vitamin D levels is only important if there is also low hormone D levels.
  2. van Heemst D., Leiden Longevity Study, Longevity Research Background, in Dutch, [langleven.net]
  3. Lazol JP, Cakan N, Kamat D. 10-year case review of nutritional rickets in Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2008 May;47(4):379-84. Epub 2008 Jan 11. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] *The charts of 58 children with rickets diagnoses were found for a ten year time period at one hospital, 96% of them were exclusively breast fed and ethnicity suggests many may have hard dark skin tones which blocks sunlight production of vitamin D. Ideally vitamin D supplements would be recommended for exclusively breast fed infants during preventative nutritional counseling. So roughly 6 children per year at a large hospital with rickets – that is a much smaller number than “35% of American Children.” [4]
  4. Bener A., et al.,Vitamin D Deficiency as a Strong Predictor of Asthma in Children. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2012;157:168–175 [content.karger.com] *The study participants were found to have lower vitamin D levels than the control group but they also were found to have lower magnesium levels and increased bone turnover levels which would suggest to me they actually had elevated hormone D but that wasn’t tested. Magnesium is cheap but it isn’t well absorbed if there is elevated hormone D due to some other unidentified issue. Vitamin D supplements and food were used by a significant number of the study participants.     Excerpt from this paper that is in reference to a different paper: “Litonjua and Weiss  [16] found that 35% of American children were vitamin D deficient and these children were at a greater risk of severe asthma attacks.“
  5. Hashimoto Y, Nishimura Y, Maeda H, Yokoyama M. Assessment of magnesium status in patients with bronchial asthma. J Asthma. 2000 Sep;37(6):489-96. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] *The magnesium levels were similar between asthmatic and control groups in the serum blood test but the magnesium level inside of red blood cells was lower in the asthmatic group.
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Low vitamin D linked to longer lifespan

A study focused on the families of people who had at least two siblings who were 89 years or older. Middle-aged children of the long-lived siblings and the life partners of the middle-aged children were included in the Leiden Longevity Study. The vitamin D levels were found to be lower in the middle-aged children than for life partners.  The life partners were used as the control group in comparison to the middle-aged children based on the idea that they would have shared similar diets and lifestyles. Vitamin D levels but not hormone D levels were mentioned. [1] The numerical lab values were not available.The middle-aged children of the families with at least two 89-91 or older siblings were found to have less cardiometabolic disease indicators such as myocardial infarction, diabetes and hypertension compared to their life partners. The group of middle-aged children of 90 year olds also had lower values for blood sugar, insulin, triglycerides and improved insulin sensitivity. [2]

Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with many diseases, however hormone D levels were not measured in most of the studies. The vitamin can be converted to the active hormone by an enzyme that is typically well controlled by the kidneys but is also made by some types of cancer cells, white blood cells and in some autoimmune conditions. Elevated hormone D levels can cause excessive loss of calcium from bone tissue and calcification of soft tissue.

Supplements of vitamin D frequently need to be taken in amounts far greater than the standard recommendation in order to raise vitamin D levels. An association with disease does not prove whether the depressed vitamin D levels are a cause or a side effect of chronic disease. Measuring both the vitamin 25(OH)D and the hormone 1, 25(2OH)D levels would be more likely to reveal whether excessive enzyme activity was causing a decrease in vitamin D levels and an increase in hormone D levels rather than there being an actual deficit of vitamin D. Chronically elevated hormone D is associated with osteoporosis and other health issues.

/Disclaimer: Information presented on this site is not intended as a substitute for medical care and should not be considered as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment by your physician./

  1. Canadian Medical Association Journal (2012, November 5). Low vitamin D levels linked to longevity, surprising study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 11, 2012, from [http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2012/11/121105130355.htm]
  2. van Heemst D., Leiden Longevity Study, Longevity Research Background, in Dutch, [http://www.langleven.net/index.cfm?p=1B8B2369-3048-9110-624DBCCA13F65FE9]
/Disclosure – the author of this post had two grandparents who lived beyond 90 years old; and has had low to normal values for vitamin D and normal to elevated lab values for hormone D for more than five years of testing.
*January 2021 addition: Too much vitamin D seems to be problem for me – genetic over activity of the vitamin D receptor may be part of it. Transport proteins are also needed for holding a supply of vitamin D in the inactive 25-D form. Without the protein transport the body can’t keep the 25 D from converting to the 1, 25-D form which is the hormone form that can activate the Vitamin D Receptor. /

Veterans Day 2012, honoring soldiers, past and present.