Posted on 02/23/2011 9:03:31 AM PST by decimon
With most people unable to get enough vitamin D from sunlight or foods, scientists are suggesting that a new vitamin D-fortified food — bread made with high-vitamin D yeast — could fill that gap. Their study, confirming that the approach works in laboratory tests, appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Connie Weaver and colleagues cite studies suggesting that up to 7 in 10 people in the United States may not get enough vitamin D, which enables the body to absorb calcium. Far from just contributing to healthy bones, however, vitamin D seems to have body-wide beneficial effects. Vitamin D insufficiency has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, allergy in children, and other conditions. With few good natural sources of vitamin D, milk producers long have added it to milk. Weaver explains, however, that dairy products do not provide enough. The body makes its own vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight. But people are not exposed to sun in winter and are avoiding the sun and using sun blocks in summer. Scientists thus have been looking for new ways to add vitamin D to the diet.
Weaver's group did experiments with laboratory rats, a stand-in for humans in such research, that ease doubts over whether bread baked with high vitamin D yeast could be a solution. The doubts originated because yeast produces one form of the vitamin, termed vitamin D2, which has been thought to be not as biologically active as the form produced by sun, vitamin D3. They showed bread made with vitamin D2-rich yeast, fed to the laboratory rats, had effects that seemed just as beneficial as vitamin D3. "Our results suggest that bread made with high vitamin D yeast could be a valuable new source of vitamin D in the diet," they concluded.
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The authors acknowledge support from Lallemand/American Yeast.
ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Bioavailability and Efficacy of Vitamin D2 from UV-Irradiated Yeast in Growing, Vitamin D-Deficient Rats"
DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/jf104679c
CONTACT: Connie Weaver, Ph.D. Department of Foods & Nutrition Purdue University West Lafayette, Ind. 47907 Phone: (765) 494-8237 Fax: (765) 494-0674 Email: weavercm@purdue.edu
D2 is the Devil’s D, the occult form. D3 is like the Holy Trinity — good stuff. ~~
“what is D3 and where can I get it?”
I’m no brain surgeon but I think its just the next evolution of D-2. We buy it at CVS Pharmacy. Get the bottle that has the little round gel caps not the pills.
No, not those mushrooms. ;-)
You can get too much Vitamin D through supplements, if you are taking mega doses you should get tested periodically.
It’s when your body makes it from exposure to the sun that it will stop production when you have enough Vit D.
Sure let’s add Ritalin and Prozac to the water supply too.
Get it here....http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SW1210/ItemDetail
I'm okay with adding vitamin D to bread as long as there's a choice. I think they routinely add some of the B complex to bread right now.
I take 30,000 unites of D3 a day, more if I know I’ve been exposed to colds or flu.
30,000 IU is a lot. From what I've read, too much. Are you sure about what you're doing?
“Are you sure about what you’re doing?”
It hasn’t bothered me at all. It compares to what you get from spending an hour and a half in the sun with no shirt, it’s not that much. Mind you, this isn’t a recommendation for anyone else. I think many thousands more units would be necessary to reach toxic levels. I’ve even heard figures like a million units, but I won’t be testing that. Thanks!
What about good old D-1? Is there a D-4 on the horizon?
D3 chewies? From WalMart? In their vitamin section?
I just read you can buy Vitamin D140 online! Must be potent stuff?
They also fortify bread with iron, which can be dangerous for people with iron overload.
Yes!
My 13-year-old can’t swallow pills no matter how hard she tries. We love the chewies!
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