Vitamin D and Cholesterol - The Importance of Sunshine - David Grimes

Vitamin D and Cholesterol:

The importance of the sun

Contents

Understanding illness and disease

The nature of disease
Disease patterns in the 18th and 19th centuries
The changing pattern of disease in the 20th century
The causation of disease and individual susceptibility
Possible causes of disease
Resistance to infection

Infections and the environment

The seasonality of illness
Hepatitis, tuberculosis and syphilis
Peptic ulcer – a microbial disease
Tuberculosis and South Asian ethnicity
Lessons from tuberculosis: a multifactorial disease
Glasgow: a microcosm of the industrial society
Belfast and Toulouse
Association as a clue to causation

Vitamin D

Rickets and the discovery of vitamin D
The biology of vitamin D
Tuberculosis and the sun

Part 4 – Coronary heart disease 117

18. The emergence of coronary heart disease and its decline 119
19. The biology of coronary heart disease 131
20. The causation of coronary heart disease 138
21. Psychological factors and coronary heart disease 141
22. Diet and coronary heart disease 149
23. The Leningrad paradox 164

Part 5 – Cholesterol 169

24. Cholesterol and coronary heart disease 171
25. The metabolism of cholesterol 186
26. Seasonal variation of vitamin D and cholesterol 192
27. Cholesterol-lowering therapies 204
28. The Scottish paradox and the actions of statins 216
29. The elderly paradox 224
30. The geography of cholesterol 237

Part 6 – Geography of disease 251

31. Burnley, Colne & Nelson 253
32. The geography of coronary heart disease in the UK 257
33. The geography of coronary heart disease in Europe 270
34. The geography of coronary heart disease in the USA 280
35. The Northern Ireland paradox 284
36. The French paradox and the effect of alcohol 289
37. The geography of agriculture in Europe 298

Part 7 – Sociology of disease 311

38. Socio-economic deprivation and disease 313
39. Two Albanian paradoxes 338
40. The Greek paradox - smoking and coronary heart disease 342
41. Respiratory disease and coronary heart disease 350
42. Infl ammation and coronary heart disease 357
43. Cholesterol and infl ammation 368

Part 8 – Microbes and the heart 377

44. Could coronary heart disease be caused by micro-organisms? 379
45. Chlamydia pneumoniae 385
46. Helicobacter pylori 393
47. Dental health and coronary heart disease 400
48. Infections of the heart 405
49. Koch´s postulates and the concept of proof 408
50. Science works by paradigms 415

Part 9 – Aspects of immunity 421

51. South Asian ethnicity and coronary heart disease 423
52. The spleen and coronary heart disease 431
53. Sex and coronary heart disease 435
54. Immune suppression and coronary heart disease 439
55. Chronic renal failure, vitamin D and coronary heart disease 443

Part 10 – Diabetes, environmental factors, and climate 451

56. Diabetes and vitamin D 453
57. The metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance 462
58. The maternal factor and non-genetic inheritance 476
59. Hepatitis C virus, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome 487
60. Atmospheric pollution and the emergence of coronary heart disease in newly industrialising countries 491
61. The climate of the British Isles 502
62. Model of disease and environment 508

Part 11 – Protection by the sun from cancers and other diseases 513

63. Protection against cancer by vitamin D and sunlight 515
64. Crohn´s disease 539
65. The sun, vitamin D and diseases of the central nervous system 550
66. Rheumatic and auto-immune disorders 561
67. Is the sun dangerous? 567

Part 12 – Epilogue 581

68. Vitamin D and statins 583
References 593