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06-13-2008, 10:56 AM | #1 (permalink) |
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Rep Power: 35 | Vitamin D(azzle): Miracle Pill for the Millennium June 12, 2008 - Todd H. Goldberg, M.D. I recently attended the annual national meeting of the American Medical Directors Association in Salt Lake City, Utah -- a very interesting and scenic place to visit. The hottest topic of discussion was vitamin D, the subject of several lectures and research posters, including one by myself and my former colleagues from the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. This old-fashioned, well-known, modest and inexpensive over-the-counter vitamin appears to have an amazing number of benefits -- it is surely the "Miracle Vitamin of the 21st Century." No other expensive prescription drug has all the wide-ranging benefits of vitamin D. Classically, a lack of vitamin D was found to be the cause of rickets, a childhood-deficiency disease causing soft bones and skeletal deformities; and osteomalacia, a comparable disease causing weak bones and muscles in the elderly. Vitamin D was isolated from cod liver oil, which became the cure for rickets, and synthetic vitamin D is now added to milk and commercial vitamins; thus, rickets and osteomalacia are now rare. The only good food sources of the vitamin are fatty fish, fish oils, vitamin D-fortified milk, juice and cereals. There is only a little bit of vitamin D in eggs, liver and cheese. The body (skin, liver, kidneys) also naturally manufactures vitamin D with exposure to sunshine -- at least five to 15 minutes a day of exposure is needed. A person who gets a lot of sunshine and has a normal diet and digestion might not need any supplements, but most people do. One tablespoon of cod liver oil contains well more than the daily requirement of vitamin D, but not too many people take cod liver oil these days. One glass of milk contains at most 25 percent of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin D, so a person would have to drink at least four glasses of milk a day to get enough -- not many people do that either. Multivitamins and some calcium supplements contain 200 to 400 IU (international units) of vitamin D, about one-fourth to one-half of the published daily requirements for adults. But our studies and many others show that a large majority of elderly people have deficient levels of vitamin D in their bloodstreams, even when they take multivitamins and calcium supplements. Extra-vitamin D supplements are therefore required. The published recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 600 units per day for seniors, but we have found that an additional 800 to 2,000 IU per day was required in most older people to achieve normal blood levels. Over-the-counter vitamin D tablets mostly contain 400 IU, so you may need to take two to five of these per day. You may find other sizes in some stores: There is also a prescription vitamin D capsule containing 50,000 IU, which may be taken just one to four times per month as prescribed by a doctor. Centrum Silver, a popular multivitamin, contains 500 IU of vitamin D, and Oscal, a popular calcium supplement, contains 200 to 400 IU of vitamin D per tablet. Caltrate is another popular supplement that contains 600 mg calcium and 400 IU vitamin D per tablet. So for some people, it may be enough to take a Centrum Silver and two to three Oscal Plus Ds or Caltrate Pus Ds, especially if the person gets some sunshine and has otherwise normal health, diet and digestion. To definitely tell how much vitamin D you need, a blood test may be required, but generally the amounts listed above for a supplement are safe. But do not take more than 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day without consulting your physician as too much can actually cause side effects such as excess calcium levels in the blood, which can be harmful. If you do decide to take vitamin D, there are many reported potential benefits including: · Reduced falls and fractures; · Improved bone and muscle strength; · Decreased heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, even total mortality. A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine last year showed that people who took vitamin D supplements (averaging more than 500 IU) were 7 percent to 8 percent less likely to die of any cause compared to people who didn't take the vitamin. · Decreased immune and autoimmune diseases; · Reduced pain (vitamin D deficiency has occasionally been reported to cause severe muscle, bone and bodily pains, which are quickly relieved with supplementation). In addition to multivitamins, and calcium and vitamin D supplements, the prescription osteoporosis tablet Fosamax also now comes in a version including 800 IU vitamin D per week, which may be enough for some people (in addition to their daily vitamins), so again ask your doctor what if anything you should take in addition to whatever you are already taking now. Many doctors don't believe in patients taking a lot of vitamins and supplements, but even the most skeptical and orthodox physician should be impressed by all the recent findings on the importance of vitamin D. Todd H. Goldberg, M.D., CMD, FACP, is associate professor/director of geriatrics in the department of internal medicine at West Virginia University Health Sciences Center, Charleston Division. SOURCE LINK: http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/16353/
__________________ "under exposure to UV rays is as dangerous as overexposure....this is D life" eileen |
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