Vitamin D deficiency increasingly common

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Jan 9, 2010 | Erin Allday

[decimon]

As recently as a decade ago, vitamin D was mostly thought of as a helper-nutrient - it allowed the body to absorb and use calcium for strong bones. With a diet of fortified foods and a little bit of sunshine every day, most people got plenty of it.

But that was years ago. Today, research suggests that vitamin D does much more than help build strong bones, and the findings come at a time when a high number of people are no longer getting enough of the nutrient, doctors say.

"We've become a culture that shuns the sunshine and doesn't drink milk," said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of hematology-oncology at San Francisco General Hospital.

As a result, doctors are seeing a small resurgence of rickets and are concerned about osteoporosis in adults over age 50, especially as Baby Boomers get older.

Known for causing bowed legs, fractured bones and poor growth primarily in children, rickets all but disappeared in the United States decades ago as diets improved and vitamin D was added to certain dairy products like milk.

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National guidelines recommend between 200 and 600 international units of vitamin D a day. Doctors say it's unclear exactly how much vitamin D people should be getting, but 1,000 international units a day is a good place to start. It is possible, but unlikely, to get too much vitamin D - some studies say people can safely take 10,000 units a day and suffer no ill effects.

"I recommend to my patients who are older that they take between 800 and 1,200 units a day, unless they have certain diseases that cause poor absorption, and then they may need more," said Dr. Jerry Minkoff, an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa.

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[decimon]

D ping.

[FrankR]

""We've become a culture that shuns the sunshine and doesn't drink milk,"

Yep, because you "doctors" have been railing for years about how sunshine causes skin cancer, and the fat in milk clogs our arteries...now make up your minds.

The happiest people I know eat what they want, and do what they want without listening to all of these gloom and doom TV doctors and/or the government.

[Mercat]

Thanks. I just finished a course of prescription strength D and need to go back in to get it checked.

[ohiogrammy]

I live in sunless Ohio, at least it is eight months of the year. My doctor put me on vitamin D last year after blood test showed I had zero! Unfortunately to have calcium make a difference in our systems, we need vitamin D.

[SoftballMominVA]

I recently had my annual blood test completed. All my figures were fine, cholesteral, LDL/HDL, etc - except for my Vitamin D. Normally I run in the high 40’s to low 50’s. It is currently **9**.

My diet has not changed - but the doctor looked at me and said “Say, is your daughter still playing softball?” Lightbulb moment. Yep - since I’m not outside watching her, my Vit D is in the basement.

Looks like I’ll be on supplements for a very long time to build it back up in my system

[poodle]

Dr. Mercola does a great job covering the new research on Vitamin D. If the government were sincere about preventing flu and cancer there would be an educational campaign concerning Vitamin D.

There is a video worth bookmarking at this Mercola link= http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/10/Vitamin-D-Experts-Reveal-the-Truth.aspx

This is another example of Mercola’s excellent coverage= http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/01/Important-New-Vitamin-D-Research-Papers.aspx

[goseminoles]

I’ve upped my D and C. I’m probably just pissing money away.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Check this out:

http://www.biblelife.org/boneloss.htm

[Diana in Wisconsin]

And don’t forget, Ladies!

You need to take Vitamin D to break down and absorb the calcium in your food or supplements that you take to keep your bones healthy. That’s why they put Vitamin D in milk! And since it’s a fat-soluable vitamin, you can store the extra on your hips and thighs, LOL!

My best friend is a 6-foot Amazon Princess with no bone loss at all...and she’s going on 60. She drinks her milk every day! :)

[Viking2002]

My wife just got diagnosed w/vitamin D deficiency. The doc started her off with some big vitamin horse pill once a week. She doesn't get a lot of sun, but she does usually have a bowl of healthy cereal with milk every morning. As for me, I can chug down two cups of milk in a split second. I love milk, always have and will. It's good for ya.

OK, how many other guys out there like cold pizza and milk for breakfast?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Viking2002 in his younger days... :)

[Huntress]

My doctor just told me my D level is low and that I should start taking supplements. I thought my intake from food was adequate, but I’m evidently not absorbing it.

[PrincessB]

We also aren’t that much of a fish culture. I went to the local “international” grocery store recently and the amount of mackrel was astounding. Canned, frozen, fresh, cold smoked, hot smoked you name it. There was a ton of it. When I get down that way again, I might pick some up.

[decimon]

I recently had my annual blood test completed. All my figures were fine, cholesteral, LDL/HDL, etc - except for my Vitamin D. Normally I run in the high 40’s to low 50’s. It is currently **9**.

My diet has not changed - but the doctor looked at me and said “Say, is your daughter still playing softball?” Lightbulb moment. Yep - since I’m not outside watching her, my Vit D is in the basement.

In Virginia you probably can't make any vitamin D from sunlight in the dead of winter and little for much of the rest of the year.

Maybe you can surprise your doctor with the following from the NIH:

"Sun exposure Most people meet their vitamin D needs through exposure to sunlight [5,31]. Ultraviolet (UV) B radiation with a wavelength of 290-315 nanometers penetrates uncovered skin and converts cutaneous 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3, which in turn becomes vitamin D3 [9,32,33]. Season, geographic latitude, time of day, cloud cover, smog, skin melanin content, and sunscreen are among the factors that affect UV radiation exposure and vitamin D synthesis [33]. The UV energy above 42 degrees north latitude (a line approximately between the northern border of California and Boston) is insufficient for cutaneous vitamin D synthesis from November through February [5]; in far northern latitudes, this reduced intensity lasts for up to 6 months. In the United States, latitudes below 34 degrees north (a line between Los Angeles and Columbia, South Carolina) allow for cutaneous production of vitamin D throughout the year [27]."

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

[Viking2002]

I don't think my hair was even that short when I was in the army. LOL

[TigersEye]

It’s Vit D again.

[decimon]

The doc started her off with some big vitamin horse pill once a week.

I've been using small gelcaps from Nature's Bounty. They come in strengths of 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 IU. There are lots of two-fer sales where I live so they don't cost much.

[autumnraine]

“”We’ve become a culture that shuns the sunshine and doesn’t drink milk,” said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of hematology-oncology at San Francisco General Hospital.”

Maybe because everytime we turn around we hear about how we are all going to get skin cancer and heart attacks from milk fat.

[caveat emptor]

Here's another excellent article on the subject. BUMP

Sunshine, Vitamin D, and Death by Scientific Consensus