Neon Beach

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2006/09/c0470.html

Vitamin D Experts and Advocates Launch First-Ever Vitamin D Society
TORONTO, March 9 /CNW/ - Seizing the momentum created by the North
American Conference on UV, Vitamin D and Health, hosted March 8 in Toronto, a
coalition of leading authorities on Vitamin D today announced the formation of
Canada's first vitamin D foundation: The Vitamin D Society.
"Vitamin D research - a field that has a massive upside in terms of
potential life-saving impact on public health for Canadians - is conspicuously
under-funded and is still underappreciated," said Dr. Reinhold Vieth,
Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and Director of
the Bone and Mineral Laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital, who will serve as the
Society's first Scientific Advisor. "Vitamin D insufficiency is epidemic in
Canadians, largely due to Canada's northern latitudes and the fact that UVB
from sun exposure is the body's natural way to create vitamin D. In absence of
UVB one must seek other sources of fortifying vitamin D levels such as
supplementation. Increasing educational efforts on the importance of vitamin D
and funding research into this critical field will be the Society's primary
objectives."
Vitamin D has long been recognized for its role in bone health.
Sufficient levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream are critical to the body's
ability to process calcium, which is why vitamin D deficiency is a leading
cause of osteoporosis.
But research in the past decade, much of which has been published in the
past two years, has linked vitamin D insufficiency with an increased risk of
several forms of cancer, including breast, prostate, ovarian and colon
cancers, as well as heart disease, diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis. Dozens of
peer-reviewed studies on this topic have substantiated this connection, while
recent research has identified the cellular mechanism for vitamin D's role in
inhibiting these diseases.
"More work needs to be done, and because the main source of vitamin D is
free - simple sun exposure - there hasn't been a lot of funding for research
in this field. Current dietary guidelines for taking vitamin D3 supplements
are woefully inadequate and need to be increased. That's why The Vitamin D
Society's charge is so important. Finding and harnessing sources of funding
for vitamin D research and education could lead to profound tangible
improvements in public health over time," Vieth said.
In recent years a growing niche of vitamin D researchers worldwide have
recognized vitamin D insufficiency as a silent epidemic. And the message has
become mainstream, as more press has focused on vitamin D in the past 12
months than ever before and both Canada and the United States are considering
significantly increasing recommendations of what constitutes healthy vitamin D
levels.
Ashton Embry, a founding director of the Calgary-based Direct-MS - a
charity formed to increase awareness of Multiple Sclerosis - will also serve
as a founding director for the Vitamin D Society. "My extensive research into
the causes of MS and the vitamin D connection has led me to a larger interest
in vitamin D and its effects on all aspects of human health," Embry said. "My
main interest is getting the message out that Canadians need to maintain
healthy levels of vitamin D in their blood, and that most of us aren't doing
that right now."
Embry founded Direct-MS in 1995 when his son Mat was diagnosed with the
disease and has been involved in vitamin D research ever since.
The Society's creation comes at a time when public health experts are
struggling to process competing agendas about vitamin D - produced naturally
when human skin is exposed to ultraviolet-B rays present in summer sunlight.
Because vitamin D is scarce in diet, there is mounting evidence that total sun
avoidance - widely practiced as a skin cancer prevention tactic - may be
contributing to vitamin D deficiency.
"We are concerned that the message of total sun avoidance may be
contributing to vitamin D deficiency and that a fully objective analysis of
the balance between the sun protection message and the vitamin D message is
not taking place as it should in the academic community today," said Vitamin D
Society President Joseph Levy, who has been tapped by the Society's first
backers to serve as the group's organizational administrator and spokesperson.
Levy is not a doctor, but has spent the past 14 years analyzing ultraviolet
light and vitamin D research for different organizations. "This is an
important time in history in processing this information correctly. Given the
exciting potential upside, we want to play a part in making sure the vitamin D
story gets proper analysis in a non-political way and is not crowded out by
conflicting agendas."
Vitamin D researcher Dr. William Grant, founder of the Sunlight,
Nutrition and Health Research Center in San Francisco will join Ashton Embry
as a founding director of the Vitamin D Society.



For further information: or to arrange an interview with Vitamin D
Society President Joseph Levy, please contact: Marina Grassi, (416) 868-1370
ext. 245, mgrassi@macphee.to, www.vitamindsociety.org

SPORTARREDO

Welcome and Good Luck to Joe and the Board!

acatan

Could I print this information off and put it inconspicuously on my coffee table in my waiting room or would I catch **** for doing that?

__________________

Big Smiles
ACATAN

Dustin

go ahead and print it off

acatan

And I won't get in trouble from some governing body for the inconspicuously part?

__________________

Big Smiles
ACATAN

Dustin

No, don't worry about it

Dustin

just do it and see what follows

acatan

OK done deal I'll keep you posted on the feed back

__________________

Big Smiles
ACATAN

Neon Beach

It a news release, go nuts..........