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Recipe of the Month
Remember our recipes are courtesy of Chef Kelly (kellychez@gmail.com). If you have recipes you would like to share or convert to follow the rules of The Vitamin D Cure send them to contact@thevitamindcure.com .
This month’s recipe is not exactly Paleolithic. It has peas which were not routinely consumed by primitive cultures. However, it is loaded with chlorophyll and is a great compliment to a lean piece of meat either on the side or chopped up and put directly into the soup. And, it tastes fantastic!
Green Pea Soup with Tarragon & Pea Sprouts.
Ingredients
2 16-oz. packages frozen sweet green peas, divided
2 Tbsp. canola oil
3 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 qt. vegetable stock
3 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, chopped and divided
Pea Sprouts
1 Avocado
Preparation:
1. Place 1 cup of peas in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat and sauté shallots until golden and tender. Add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute.
3. Add remaining peas, vegetable stock, and 2 Tbsp. of chopped tarragon; bring to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat and continue simmering until the peas are tender and the flavors have developed, about 10 minutes.
5. Either with an immersion blender or in small batches in a blender, purée the soup until completely smooth.
6. Return the soup to the saucepan and bring back to a simmer, adjusting consistency with more stock if desired.
7. Stir in remaining tarragon and season with salt and pepper.
8. Mash avocado and mix with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
9. To serve, top with whole peas (heated in microwave for 1 minute), pea sprouts and a dollop of guacamole, if desired.
Vitamin D in the News
Do Melanoidins Induced by Topical 3% Dihydroxyacetone Sunless Tanning Spray Inhibit Vitamin D Production? A Pilot Study. Photochem Photobiol. 2009 May 28.
Osteoporosis Research Center, Creighton University, Omaha, NE.
They report preliminary study data of the effect of sunless tanning spray with 3% dihydroxyacetone (DHA) on 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] serum levels in volunteers exposed to controlled amounts of UV-B radiation during April/May in Omaha, NE, 41 degrees N latitude. They found that DHA-induced melanoidins in skin act as a topical sunscreen reducing the formation of vitamin D (25(OH)D).
Vitamin D nutritional status of exclusively breast fed infants and their mothers. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Mar;22(3):241-6. Department of Pediatrics, Kalawati Saran Hospital, New Delhi, India.
As I said in the Vitamin D Cure, vitamin D has a profound effect on the development of an infant. It follows then that the vitamin D status of mothers and their infants are tied together. Studies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have shown wide spread deficiency in mother-infant pairs at 42 degrees north latitude. This study shows us that even in equatorial regions of the globe deficiency is wide spread. Study Design: 180 healthy lactating mothers and exclusively breast fed infants, 2-24 weeks old had clinical, biochemical and hormonal evaluation for calcium-vitamin D-PTH axis. Results: The average serum vitamin d 25(OH)D values in lactating mothers was 27.2 +/- 14.6 nmol/l (10.9 +/-5.8 ng/ml), while that of their infants was 28.9 +/- 20.8 nmol/l (11.6 +/- 8.3 ng/ml). Remember 80 nmol/L or 32 ng/mL is the bottom end of the normal range for vitamin D levels. Serum 25(OH)D levels 54 pg/ml) were seen in 59.3% of the mothers and 69.6% of the infants. A highly significant negative correlation was found between serum 25(OH)D and PTH in mothers (r = -0.480, p = 0.01) and their infants (r = -0.431, p = 0.01). A strong positive correlation was seen of vitamin D 25(OH)D levels in mother-infant pairs (r = 0.324, p = 0.001). Conclusions: A high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was found in lactating mothers and their exclusively breast fed infants. Infants born to mothers with low vitamin D had 3.8 times higher risk of developing low vitamin D as compared to those born to mothers with normal vitamin D levels.
Dietary vitamin D and cancers of the oral cavity and esophagus. Ann Oncol. 2009 Jun 1. International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, MD.
We discussed the relationship between diet and vitamin D and colon cancer in The Vitamin D Cure. This study looks at that relationship with esophageal and oral cancer Methods: The researchers examined the relation between dietary vitamin D intake and squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (SCCE; 304 cases) and oral/pharyngeal cancer (804 cases) in two case-control studies in Italy. Odds ratios(ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by multiple logistic regression. Results: Adjusted ORs for SCCE and oral/pharyngeal cancer were 0.58 (95% CI 0.39-0.86) and 0.76 (95% CI 0.60-0.94), respectively, for the highest tertile of vitamin D intake. Compared to the highest tertile of vitamin D who were never/former smokers, ORs were 8.7 (95% CI 4.1-18.7) for SCCE and 10.4 (95% CI 6.9-15.5) for oral/pharyngeal cancer among heavy smokers in the lowest vitamin D tertile; similarly, compared with those in the highest tertile of vitamin D who drank
Does vitamin d reduce the risk of dementia? J Alzheimers Dis. 2009 May;17(1):151-9.
Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center (SUNARC), P.O. Box 641603, San Francisco, CA 94164-1603, USA.
In the Vitamin D Cure we talk about how vitamin D is important for brain development, how it facilitates learning and protects the brain from injury. This article develops the hypothesis that vitamin D can reduce the risk of developing dementia, presenting the evidence from observational and laboratory studies. The observational evidence demonstrates that low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] has been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, depression, dental caries, osteoporosis, and periodontal disease, all of which are risk factors for dementia or precede the development of dementia. The laboratory evidence includes several findings on the role of vitamin D in neuroprotection and reducing inflammation. This is a great review of the current data linking vitamin D and risk for dementia.
Vitamin D Success Story
Please share your successes at success@thevitamindcure.com or online at Amazon. Your success story has a powerful impact on motivating others to change their lifestyle.
This month’s success story comes from Tom with seasonal allergies.
Hello,
I have a question about allergies.
I have suffered from seasonal allergies in May and June all my life. Until I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and had to wear a mask when I slept I just put up with them. However, constant sneezing and a runny nose were intolerable while wearing a CPAP mask. I finally went to an allergist and had scratch tests done and I had the strongest ranked reactions to all three types of grasses tested. However, due to glaucoma in one eye the allergist could not treat me. I then just used prescription antihistamine during my allergy season.
Now that I am taking vitamin D and eating a modified paleo/chimpanzee diet my allergies are gone this season for the first time. (I modify the Paleolithic diet by eliminating red meat from my diet for male chimpanzees suffer from interstitial myocardial fibrosis and the only difference between male and female chimps is that males hunt red meat, eat red meat, and as a rule do not share it with female chimps.) Is this grass allergy elimination possible or simply a coincidence? In short it is a miracle. Part of me thinks, “Wheat is a grass and you are allergic to grass so cutting out wheat only made sense in retrospect.”
Do other people with grass allergies find good results by going paleo and taking the vitamin D cure? I am shocked it could work so fast.
Thank you,
Tom
The simple answer is yes. The explanation is unclear and involves many variables. Allergies are determined likely in the first 24 months of life based on vitamin D levels, passive immunity from breast feeding, and exposure to other plant and animal proteins in our diet. Higher vitamin D intakes during pregnancy appear to lower the risk for asthma later in childhood. Heliotherapy in adults with eczema seems to have a clearing effect on this skin disease. However, some studies of vitamin D intake in childhood seem to point to higher likelihood of developing allergies. The science is still up in the air. I suggest following Mother Nature’s lead. We should be in the sun more than we are now, we should all be breast fed as infants, and we should not consume grain or dairy as adults.
Get your copy of The Vitamin D Cure, lay out in the sun and have a good read!