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http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/4949337/detail.html
Are You Getting Right Kind Of Vitamin D?
Not All Vitamin D Is The Same

POSTED: 1:34 pm EDT September 8, 2005
UPDATED: 1:13 pm EDT September 9, 2005

BOSTON -- Most people know that vitamin D is important for strong bones, but here is something you probably don't know -- all vitamin D is not the same.

NewsCenter 5's Natalie Jacobson reported Thursday that experts now are saying it's critical to get enough of the right kind in your diet.

Two glasses of milk may look the same. Both have the same amount of calcium and vitamin D. But only one has what researchers now believe is the right kind of vitamin D -- vitamin D 3.

"For years, we thought Vitamin D 2, and Vitamin D 3 had equal effectiveness for humans. It turns out that vitamin D 2 doesn't have as long a benefit as the vitamin D 3," USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts' Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes said.

Vitamin D- 2, also known as Ergocalciferol, comes from plants. Vitamin D-3, known as Cholecaciferol, comes from animals. Expert say it's vitamin D 3 that helps metabolize the calcium we take in, keeping bones strong, which is particularly important as our population ages.

"Inadequate vitamin D status is associated with muscle weakness. That's measured with difficulty getting out of a chair, or walking more slowly," Dawson-Hughes said.

Dawson-Hughes is one of the nation's leading researchers on vitamin D. New Englanders, she says, are at particular risk of not getting enough D 3. That's because the best source comes from the sun -- something we miss out on for about half the year because of our distance from the equator.

"If you were to expose your hands, arms and face to a summer sun around midday for 10 minutes, you would make your daily quota of vitamin D. But you see, many people are using sunscreens, which block the very rays which help to synthesize or produce the vitamin D in the skin," she said.

Eating foods rich in vitamin D -- like the fatty fishes mackerel, salmon and sardines -- will help. Drinking four to five glasses of milk or orange juice fortified with vitamin D 3 each day will also give you enough.

Dietitians said to check the label for either the subscript 3 next to the D or the word Cholecaciferol.

"You want to consume something that's better absorbed, so if you have a choice, just look for it. It's not more expensive and it should be readily available," Friedman School at Tufts dietician Kathleen Cappellano said.

Dawson-Hughes said that the National Academy of Sciences, the agency that sets the standards for vitamin D consumption, is likely to increase its vitamin D requirements in the near future. They also may specify that D 3 is optimum.

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