“Like sharp knives moving through my intestines.”

“Intense burning.”

“The worst cramping I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”

This is how people have described the pain of their Crohn’s disease.

A diagnosis of Crohn’s normally means endless medications, multiple surgeries, and a lifetime of painful flare-ups. But the resolution may be much more simple…and affordable…than you ever imagined.

Earlier this year a Canadian research team published a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that revealed a surprising link between Vitamin D deficiency and Crohn’s.

The fact that Crohn’s disease affects more people from northern countries has long puzzled scientists. But now researchers believe that those from the north may be more susceptible to the disease because they receive less sunlight than is needed to create an adequate amount of Vitamin D.

To understand how Vitamin D is related to Crohn’s you first need to understand a little bit more about the disease.

Your immune system acts as a first defense against microbial invaders. But with Crohn’s disease that system breaks down. Your body becomes unable to handle normal intestinal bacteria. And this leads to the inflammation and painful flare-ups of Crohn’s.

Two genes in particular have been tied to Crohn’s disease. Both play an important role in the immune system. NOD2 warns cells when there is an invading microbe. And Beta Defensin 2 creates antimicrobial peptides to fight the invaders.

Researchers have found that Vitamin D acts directly on these two immunity-related genes countering the effects of Crohn’s.

So go ahead and give a daily Vitamin D or cod liver oil supplement a try. It’s very affordable…costing no more than 4 cents a day…and it could be the key to bringing your Crohn’s pain to an end.

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