Vitamin D
Are you getting enough Vitamin D ?
What exactly is "enough Vitamin D ?"
My favorite Nutrition textbook Nutrition Now by Judith Brown (University of Minnesota) - 4th edition from as far back as 2005 - gives the recommended daily dose of Vitamin D as 200 IU's (5 mcg) with 2,000 IU's as the Upper Level.
By way of contrast the April 2008 issue of Tufts University Health & Nutrition Health Letter talks about taking 1,000 IU's of Vitamin D daily.
Our skin makes Vitamin D3 at a great rate when exposed to the sun but do we get enough sun on our bodies ? Last month the Arizona Cancer Center published their study of Vitamin D status amongst residents of Arizona. Due to the states large number of sunshine days there was not expected to be a problem. But there is ! Most adults in the survey were Vitamin D deficient.
The big new piece of information concerning Vitamin D in the April 2008 Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter is that it helps strengthen muscles just as much as strengthening bones. These benefits only seem to come with the new higher levels of Vitamin D - at least 700 IU's and better still 800 IU's.
Vitamin D precursors come in 3 forms - D1, D2 and D3. It is the D3 form which is most effective. If you read nutrition labels look for D3. D2 is 25 % less effective and D1 is not worth much at all.
How high can you go with Vitamin D ? Dr Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina maintains that much higher dosages are safe. He has provided nursing mothers with up to 6,000 IU's a day with no reported adverse affects.
However most doctors worry about possible side-affects with very high dosages e.g. calcium deposits in heart, kidney, liver; abnormal bone growth; young children mental retardation. The side-affects are definitely not trivial.
You can obtain Vitamin D from all kinds of dairy foods, eggs, fish, mushrooms. Milk and margarine are generally Vitamin D fortified. The easiest and best source is to allow your skin to make Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.
The problem is that most people do not get enough sun-light on enough of their skin for long enough. If you are fairly light skinned and less than 55 years then 5 to 15 minutes exposure to the skin 3 times a week is enough to keep Vitamin D supplies high. Darker skin or older then you'll need to expose more skin and for longer.
What exactly is "enough Vitamin D ?"
My favorite Nutrition textbook Nutrition Now by Judith Brown (University of Minnesota) - 4th edition from as far back as 2005 - gives the recommended daily dose of Vitamin D as 200 IU's (5 mcg) with 2,000 IU's as the Upper Level.
By way of contrast the April 2008 issue of Tufts University Health & Nutrition Health Letter talks about taking 1,000 IU's of Vitamin D daily.
Our skin makes Vitamin D3 at a great rate when exposed to the sun but do we get enough sun on our bodies ? Last month the Arizona Cancer Center published their study of Vitamin D status amongst residents of Arizona. Due to the states large number of sunshine days there was not expected to be a problem. But there is ! Most adults in the survey were Vitamin D deficient.
The big new piece of information concerning Vitamin D in the April 2008 Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter is that it helps strengthen muscles just as much as strengthening bones. These benefits only seem to come with the new higher levels of Vitamin D - at least 700 IU's and better still 800 IU's.
Vitamin D precursors come in 3 forms - D1, D2 and D3. It is the D3 form which is most effective. If you read nutrition labels look for D3. D2 is 25 % less effective and D1 is not worth much at all.
How high can you go with Vitamin D ? Dr Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina maintains that much higher dosages are safe. He has provided nursing mothers with up to 6,000 IU's a day with no reported adverse affects.
However most doctors worry about possible side-affects with very high dosages e.g. calcium deposits in heart, kidney, liver; abnormal bone growth; young children mental retardation. The side-affects are definitely not trivial.
You can obtain Vitamin D from all kinds of dairy foods, eggs, fish, mushrooms. Milk and margarine are generally Vitamin D fortified. The easiest and best source is to allow your skin to make Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.
The problem is that most people do not get enough sun-light on enough of their skin for long enough. If you are fairly light skinned and less than 55 years then 5 to 15 minutes exposure to the skin 3 times a week is enough to keep Vitamin D supplies high. Darker skin or older then you'll need to expose more skin and for longer.
Labels: bone health, Nutrition, osteopenia, sunshine, vitamin d
posted by GarethPhillips at
6:27 PM
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