What Happens to Your Body When You Eat LATE AT NIGHT

Dr. Stengler: Did you know that vitamin D is essential for good gut health? We've always known that vitamin D is important for bone health, immune function, controlling inflammation, reducing the risk of autoimmune diseases, and reducing cancer risk by supporting normal cell division. But recent research has shown that vitamin D is also critically important for gut health specifically.

Studies show that low vitamin D levels are associated with a higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis, colon cancer, and liver disease. So if you have a personal or family history of any of these conditions, it's even more important to check your vitamin D levels and make sure they're in a good range on a blood test.

How does vitamin D help gut health? First, researchers have found that vitamin D greatly influences your microbiome — the community of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in your gut that need to be in the right balance and contain the right species. Vitamin D plays a significant role in maintaining that balance.

Second, vitamin D is important for gut barrier health — the lining of the small intestine where leaky gut can occur. Vitamin D plays a role in the repair process that should be happening in the gut lining. When that lining is compromised, you have malabsorption and what's called translocation, where bacterial byproducts enter the bloodstream and travel to different parts of the body, creating an inflammatory response.

Third, as I mentioned, vitamin D plays a role in cell proliferation, which is important for colon cancer prevention. Out-of-control cell division in the colon can in part be related to low vitamin D levels. Vitamin D also helps reduce inflammation by influencing how your genes are regulated and by playing a role in cell signaling — keeping communication between digestive cells functioning properly and inflammation under control.

A large portion of the American population has low or deficient vitamin D levels. I'm always surprised here in the San Diego area how many patients show low or deficient levels on blood tests — due to genetics, heavy sunscreen and clothing use, or gut problems like malabsorption from irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease. Whatever the reason, it's so common that everyone should get their levels tested. If you have gut health concerns, make sure you're checking your vitamin D and aiming for mid-range levels on a blood test.

We'll have many more videos on digestive conditions, gut health, and leaky gut on this channel, so feel free to check those out.

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