Amazing Vitamin D Can Keep You Healthy
Researchers Are Singing the Praises of the Sunshine Vitamin
Oct 7, 2008
Thirty-year vitamin D researcher Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine says there is a vitamin D deficiency in the USA. His views are noted in the November 2005, Journal of Nutrition article, “The Vitamin D Epidemic and Its Health Consequences.”
Researcher Cedric F. Garland, a cancer prevention specialist at the University of California, San Diego, is trying to get the word out that vitamin D can prevent cancer. Specifically, Garland says in the February 2006 issue of The American Journal of Public Health that the risk for colon, breast and ovarian cancer could be cut 50% by taking 1000 IU of vitamin D per day.
Vitamin D
This wonder vitamin is really a hormone that the skin makes when the sun shines on it. Vitamin D is available in fortified products like low-fat milk and soy milk, and also as an inexpensive supplement. Scientists have noticed that people in northern climates have more chronic diseases then those living in southern sunny states.
Vitamin D has been recognized for aiding calcium absorption, seasonal affective disorder and oral health, and now researchers are finding that vitamin D cuts the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Wonder Vitamin
How can vitamin D lower the risk of all those chronic diseases? Scientists think it is persistent inflammation that is held in check. They believe genes are influenced to rev up the immune system and stop diseases from starting. Plus, reflect how humans evolved on this planet and naturally grew in sync with the life-giving sun providing the vitamin D, and its health benefits, through the skin.
Vitamin D and Heart Health
A 2008 study by a team of researchers from the Harvard Medical School found that participants with the lowest levels of vitamin D had a 62% higher risk of heart problems, including a heart attack, than those with the top levels of vitamin D. The 1700 people in the study did not have previous heart problems and were followed for 5.5 years.
Good News for Fewer Falls and Hip Fractures
Older adults who rely on the typical vitamin D amount in a multivitamin (400 IU) do not see a benefit of fewer fractures. A 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that senior citizens given 800 IU per day of vitamin D had a 35% lower risk of falls and more muscle strength. A bonus effect was better balance.
Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis
Experts believe that vitamin D tempers the overactive immune system that causes the body to turn on itself. In a December 20, 2006 study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that white, young soldiers in the top fifth of their study group who had the highest concentration of vitamin D in their blood serum had a 62% lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis than those in the bottom fifth.
The Bottom Line
Even though the U.S. Institute of Medicine still recommends (as of 2008) low vitamin D amounts, many experts promote up to 2000 IU a day as safe. Expert Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina states that amounts even up to 4000 IU are not dangerous. Even though vitamin D is available in food, it is not very potent; a cup of milk on average has just 100 IU.
Our ancestors literally soaked up the sun and their skin made the vitamin D. But now with concern over skin cancer, many individuals prefer not to spend time in the sun. So, to balance risk of skin cancer with the sunshine vitamin take vitamin D3, called cholecalciferol, in supplemental form with food.
This article is for educational purposes only; your nutritionist or physician can guide you further.
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