Neon Beach

12/07/2006



Until recently, vitamins A, C, and E were considered the superstars of the vitamin category due to large part to their antioxidant health benefits. Vitamin D was best known to benefit bones; however, recent studies have found this nutrient may benefit many diseases.
It's also estimated that vitamin D deficiency now affects more than 1 billion people. According to Medical News TODAY, Roger Bouillon, a professor and prominent clinician at the University of Leuven in Belgium suggests international action is required to address this deficiency which can increase incidence of osteoporosis, cancer and other diseases.
"We already know that insufficient vitamin D increases the risk for osteoporosis, falls and fractures," Bouillon says. "This is preventable by additional calcium and vitamin D intake (400-800 IU/d) for the elderly people. There is now however new and growing evidence that mild vitamin D deficiency is also associated with more tuberculosis, and some epidemiological studies suggest an increased risk for colon, breast and prostate cancer, and also auto-immune diseases such as Type I diabetes. Animal data clearly support an essential role of vitamin D metabolites in the regulation of cell proliferation (cancer) and the immune system (auto-immune diseases and infection such as tuberculosis).”
According to a recent online story in NEWSWEEK, Vitamin D was discovered a century ago and was used to solve a major public-health problem--rickets, a disease caused by vitamin D deficiency in which bone development is delayed and deformed. When a synthetic version of the nutrient was added to milk, rickets virtually disappeared, and RDA (recommended daily allowance) for vitamin D was set at the amount needed to protect against rickets.
However, new research suggests the RDA may not be sufficient to protect against several other diseases, and low blood levels of vitamin D has been linked to Type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, colon cancer and flu. Additionally, the vitamin's role in bone health extends beyond preventing rickets and may protect against fractures by strengthening muscles as well as bones.
Vitamin D supplementation in infants has virtually eradicated severe deficiency and rickets. The elderly and those with darker skin pigmentation are most seriously and frequently deficient. Moreover, insufficient vitamin D may have broader health consequences than previously thought.
Vitamin D can be obtained from food, exposure to sunlight and vitamin supplementation.
Many Americans and northern Europeans have low levels of vitamin D and many aspects of modern life seem designed to lower our ability to produce vitamin D including increased urbanization and air pollution in cities that can cause less sunlight to reach the skin. Compared with our ancestors, we spend a lot more time indoors, wear more clothes and use sunscreen, which can lowers the skin's ability to form vitamin D. Additionally, age and obesity can reduce the amount of vitamin D produced.

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Neon Beach

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