Amy is currently giving a speech in China, so I’m answering your question.

A complete list of all of Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s scholarly publications and presentations is available here. We keep this list pretty up to date.

Best,
Paul

In my opinion, you are giving your wife correct advice. The vitamin D derived from diet and supplements, 25-hydroxyvitamin-D does not activate the Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor. Rather it antagonizes the receptor and subsequently the expression of key antimicrobial peptides that the body requires to keep chronic pathogens under control.

Dr. Marshall has written about the immunosuppressive effects of 25-D in BioEssays:

http://mpkb.org/doku.php/home:publications:marshall_bioessays_2008

Various scientists/authors at Autoimmunity Research Foundation headed by Dr. Marshall have just turned in six papers (three for the New York Academy of Sciences, three for Autoimmunity Reviews) that further discuss how 25-D works essentially like a corticosteroid – it offers short term palliation by slowing inflammation but allows pathogens to spread with greater ease in the long run. The papers should be published in the coming months so keep an eye out for them….

Also, if one examines the latest molecular research on vitamin D, it becomes clear that low levels of 25-D in patients with chronic disease are a RESULT rather than a CAUSE of the disease process. Even so, your wife’s level of 27 ng/ml wasn’t low to begin with! Patients on the Marshall Protocol avoid vitamin D until their level of 25-D is around 8-12 ng/ml. That is where we have noted that the innate immune system functions most optimally.

Also, studies in populations where vitamin D has not been added to the food chain and people do not supplement with vitamin D generally show that their 25-D levels are under 20 ng/ml. This section of one of my articles on vitamin D describes several of those studies:

http://bacteriality.com/2007/09/15/vitamind/#4

So I think your doctor is diagnosing a problem that doesn’t exist. Your wife’s 25-D level is fine. I wouldn’t definitely stop the supplements and perhaps look for a doctor that is not so quick to advocate supplementation of a secosteroid whose “benefits” are far from proven.

By the way, Dr. Marshall chaired the Vitamin D Session at this year’s International Congress on Autoimmunity. In case you haven’t seen his speech, here’s the link:

http://vimeo.com/1787405
Transcript: http://autoimmunityResearch.org/transcripts/ICA2008_Transcript_TrevorMarshall.pdf

Best,

Amy