Bioloy

Chris Williams

Bio 123

Dr. Lochner

11/18/2009

The effort to halt skin cancer may have come with repercussions. It may have caused the brain to function improperly due to a vitamin d shortage. The vitamin d is produced in the skin when humans are exposed to direct sunlight. The problem is that the sun block impairs this process. Vitamin d is linked to good bone health and keeping well regulated tabs on the body’s calcium levels, the fact of the matter is that it does more than that. Scientists have now discovered that vitamin d’s hormone like activity drives a number of important functions throughout our body, plus the functioning of the brain.

Robert J. Przybelski, a doctor and research scientist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, found that there are receptors for vitamin D throughout the central nervous system. This means that vitamin D has a lot to do with human’s sense of touch and feeling. Przybelski also found that vitamin D activates and deactivates enzymes in the brain and the spinal fluid that are involved in nerve development. Vitamin D is a manager and developer of nerve cells throughout the body. Animal and laboratory studies find that vitamin D protects neurons and reduces inflammation. This means that vitamin D also acts as a protector of brain cells.

Studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D are directly related to cognitive impairment. What researchers don’t know is if keeping a high level will fix the cognitive impairment issues. Another unclear topic is if giving proper amounts of vitamin D to those people who lack the right amount will transpose to help those people be able to some of these necessary functions. Seeing as which cognitive impairment is often the beginning steps for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, vitamin D has been looked at as a possible cure for these diseases. Przybelski began a study of vitamin D supplements in healthy older adults who are living in an assisted-living community...