Edited by Jonathan D. Kantrowitz
Published by Tsadek Press
Copyright, Jonathan Kantrowitz 2014
Pale
people may need vitamin D supplements
The role
of vitamin D in critical illness of children
8.5 x 11, 136 pages
$12.95
2 Tsadek Press books $19.95
3 Tsadek Press books $24.95
Call 1-800-232--2224 to order a pdf of this title
2 Tsadek Press books $19.95
3 Tsadek Press books $24.95
Call 1-800-232--2224 to order a pdf of this title
Sunlight is amazingly good for you, but most people don't get enough, by being too far north, disinclined or unable to spend much time outside, over-protected with sunblock, etc.
For these people, supplementation through diet, and, especially Vitamin D3 in pill form, is vitally important. The reports in this essential book describe just how important Vitamin D and sunlight are to our overall health.
Table of Contents
Introduction
General Health
Mortality
Quality of Life
Metabolic Syndrome
(Heart Disease, Diabetes)
Heart Disease
Cancer
Diabetes
Cognitive Problems
Mood and Depression
Asthma
Arthritis
Digestive Conditions
Infection
Dental Problems
Osteoporosis, Bone Fractures
Allergies, Skin Conditions
Pregnancy and Nursing Mothers
Strength and Energy
Lung Function
MS and Parkinson’s Miscellaneous Health Benefits
Sample Reports
Pale
people may need vitamin D supplements
Researchers at the University of Leeds,
funded by Cancer Research UK, suggest that people with very pale skin may be
unable to spend enough time in the sun to make the amount of vitamin D the body
needs - while also avoiding sunburn.
The study, published in Cancer Causes and
Control*, suggested that melanoma patients may need vitamin D supplements as
well.
But researchers also noted that sunlight
and supplements are not the only factors that can determine the level of
vitamin D in a person's body.
Some inherited differences in the way
people's bodies process vitamin D into the active form also have a strong
effect on people's vitamin D levels.
The study defined the optimal amount of
vitamin D required by the body as at least 60nmol/L. However at present there
is no universally agreed standard definition of an optimal level of vitamin D.
Professor Julia Newton-Bishop, lead
author of the study based in the Cancer Research UK Centre at the University of
Leeds, said: "Fair-skinned individuals who burn easily are not able to
make enough vitamin D from sunlight and so may need to take vitamin D
supplements.
"This should be considered for
fair-skinned people living in a mild climate like the UK and melanoma patients
in particular."
Researchers took the vitamin D levels of
around 1,200 people and found that around 730 people had a sub-optimal level.
Those with fair-skin had significantly lower levels. Researchers chose 60nmol/L
as the optimal vitamin D level in part because there is evidence that levels
lower than this may be linked to greater risk of heart disease and poorer
survival from breast cancer.
A consensus between health charities
including Cancer Research UK says that levels below 25nmol/L are vitamin D
deficient which means that these levels are associated with poor bone health.
But some researchers consider that higher levels, around 60nmol/l, may be
desirable for optimal health effects.
Sara Hiom, director of health information
at Cancer Research UK, said: "We must be careful about raising the
definition of deficiency or sufficiency to higher levels until we have more
results from trials showing that maintaining such levels has clear health
benefits and no health risks.
Low vitamin D levels associated with several risk
factors in teenagers
Study highlights:
• Low levels of vitamin D were associated with increased risk of
high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome in teenagers.
• The highest levels of vitamin D were found in whites, the lowest
levels in blacks and intermediate levels in Mexican-Americans.
Low levels of vitamin D were associated with an increased risk of
high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome in teenagers,
researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s 49th Annual Conference
on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
In the study, researchers analyzed 3,577 adolescents, 12 to 19
years old (51 percent boys), who participated in the nationally representative
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted from
2001–2004.
After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index,
socioeconomic status and physical activity, researchers found the adolescents
with the lowest levels of vitamin D were:
• 2.36 times more likely to have high blood pressure;
• 2.54 times more likely to have high blood sugar; and
• 3.99 times more likely to have metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of cardiovascular disease and
diabetes risk factors including elevated waist circumference, high blood
pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL
or “good”) cholesterol and high fasting glucose levels. The presence of three
or more of the factors increases a person’s risk of developing diabetes and
cardiovascular disease.
“We showed strong associations between low levels of vitamin D and
higher risk of high blood pressure, hyperglycemia and metabolic syndrome among
adolescents, confirming the results of studies among adults,” said Jared P.
Reis, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and post-doctoral research fellow at Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
Researchers used a biomarker of vitamin D to measure levels in
blood. The biomarker measures vitamin D obtained from food, vitamin
supplementation and exposure to sunlight.
The ethnic breakdown was similar to the general U.S. population:
64.7 percent non-Hispanic whites; 13.5 percent non-Hispanic blacks; and 11
percent Mexican Americans.
The study highlights the association between high levels of
vitamin D and lower risk of heart disease. The highest levels of vitamin D were
found in whites, the lowest levels in blacks and intermediate levels in Mexican
Americans. Whites had almost twice as high levels as blacks.
In whites, the average level of vitamin D was 28.0 nanograms per
milliliter (ng/mL); in blacks, 15.5 ng/mL; and in Mexican Americans, 21.5
ng/mL.
“Although our study is important, we believe clinical trials
designed to determine the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the risk of
heart disease risk factors in adolescents should be conducted before
recommendations can be made for vitamin D in the prevention of cardiovascular
disease,” Reis said.
The Institute of Medicine recommends a daily intake of vitamin D
of 200 International Units (IU) for those less than 50 years, which includes
children and adolescents. More recent recommendations, however, from the
American Academy of Pediatrics suggests a daily intake of 400 IU daily. While
these intakes have been shown to be important in the prevention of skeletal
conditions such as rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults, some
specialists have suggested intakes of at least 1,000 IU daily may be needed for
overall health.
Low levels of vitamin D are strongly associated with overweight
and abdominal obesity. Since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, it may be
sequestered within adipose tissue. This may explain why those who are obese are
more likely to be vitamin D deficient, Reis said.
Vitamin D plays a useful role in general human health,
particularly in bone health. Other roles are emerging, Reis said. “This is an
exciting time; since we are just now beginning to understand the role that
vitamin D may play in cardiovascular health.”
“These data on serum vitamin D levels in young people raise some
concern about their food choices and even the amount of time they spend in the
sunshine,” said Robert H. Eckel, M.D., American Heart Association past
president. “The American Heart Association recommends an overall healthy diet
and lifestyle, and that people get their nutrients primarily from food sources
rather than supplements.”
Vitamin
D deficiency associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer,
infections and neurodegenerative disease
From the European Menopause and
Andropause Society January 2012:
Osteoporosis is a common condition in
postmenopausal women leading to bone fractures. However, there is now evidence
that vitamin D deficiency is also associated with other medical conditions
important in older women. These include cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
cancer, infections and neurodegenerative disease.
The major natural source of vitamin D is
cutaneous synthesis through exposure to sunlight with a small amounts also
coming from the diet in animal-based foods such as fatty fish, eggs and milk.
Levels of vitamin D are lower in those with poor sun exposure and in the
winter. Obesity, malabsorption syndromes and certain medications (e.g.
anticonvulsants, antiretrovirals) can also lower vitamin D levels. Regular
sunlight exposure (without sunscreens) for 15 minutes, 3-4 times a week, in the
middle of the day in summer can generate healthy levels.
Supplements of vitamin D are recommended for
those women who cannot obtain the required quantity through sun exposure and
diet. The recommended daily allowance is 600 IU/day increasing to 800IU/day for
those aged 71 years and older.
Not enough
vitamin D in the diet could mean too much visceral fat, which has been associated with
health risks such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and hypertension.
Too little vitamin D could be bad for more than your bones; it may
also lead to fatter adolescents, researchers say.
A Medical College of Georgia study of more than 650 teens age
14-19 has found that those who reported higher vitamin D intakes had lower
overall body fat and lower amounts of
the fat in the abdomen, a type of fat known as visceral fat, which has been
associated with health risks such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and
hypertension.
The group with the lowest vitamin D intake, black females, had
higher percentages of both body fat and visceral fat, while black males had the
lowest percentages of body and visceral fat, even though their vitamin D intake
was below the recommended levels. Only one group – white males – was getting
the recommended minimum intake of vitamin D.
“This study was a cross-section so, while it cannot prove that
higher intake of vitamin D caused the lower body fat, we know there is a
relationship that needs to be explored further," says Dr. Yanbin Dong, a
molecular geneticist and cardiologist at the MCG Gerogia Prevention Institute.
Dr. Dong, who also co-directs the MCG Diabetes & Obesity
Discovery Institute, and Inger Stallman-Jorgensen, a research dietician at the
GPI, present their findings this week at the American Heart Association’s Joint
49th Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and
Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism in Palm Harbor, Fla.
The pair will next study whether it is feasible for teens to take
a daily vitamin D supplement in pill form. Those results will help them design
a larger study to explore the relationship between vitamin D intake and body fat
levels in teens.
“We already know that encouraging teens to get an adequate amount
of vitamin D in their diets will help promote a healthy body as they grow and
develop,” Ms. Stallman-Jorgensen says. “Now we need to do intervention studies
where we give teens vitamin D supplements to determine if there is a cause and
effect relationship between vitamin D intake and fat.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends adolescents get at
least 400 units of vitamin D per day – either from milk or sun exposure. There
are typically 100 units in one 8-ounce glass of whole milk. The recommended
daily dose from the sun would require at least 30 minutes of adequate exposure
to direct sunlight two or three times a week at peak hours, between noon and 3
p.m.
Ms. Stallman-Jorgensen said there are many reasons teens don't get
enough vitamin D, which has been linked to the prevention of diabetes,
cancer and cardiovascular disease.
“As humans, our largest source of vitamin D should be the sun. But
we don’t spend enough time outdoors to get enough sun exposure and when we do,
we’re often covered up and wearing sunscreen," she said. "We can get
vitamin D from certain foods, like fatty fish and liver, but it’s not in a lot
of foods that we commonly consume. In this country, our milk is fortified with
vitamin D. Unfortunately, teens just don’t drink enough milk to get their daily
requirements.”
She points out that low sunlight during the winter months reduces
the amount of vitamin D the skin produces, and that darker-skinned people
obtain less vitamin D from the sun because the extra melanin in their skin
filters out more sunlight.
Some people can't tolerate milk because they lack the enzyme that
processes lactose, the natural sugar in milk, though "most people can
handle it in small amounts,” Ms. Stallman says.
Cultural issues may also be at play, Ms. Stallman-Jorgensen says.
“Most teens want to drink sodas and sugary drinks. It’s not cool
to drink milk – they think of it as more of a food for babies,” she said.
Potential study participants had their weekday and weekend diets
tracked by researchers seven times during a three-month period. Those who
provided at least four diet reports were included in the final group of 659.
Body fat percentages were measured by dual energy
X-ray absorptiometry scans, which can measure total body composition. Visceral
fat was measured in a subset of 432 teens.
The role
of vitamin D in critical illness of children
Vitamin D is increasingly being
recognized as important for good health. Vitamin D is a hormone made in the
skin following sun exposure or acquired from diet and supplement intake.
Previous medical research has shown that low body levels of vitamin D make
people more susceptible to problems such as bone fractures, poor mental health
and infections like the common cold. Until recently, there had been little
consideration given to the role of vitamin D in more severe diseases, which is
why Dr. Dayre McNally's recent publication in the esteemed scientific journal Pediatrics is so compelling.
"This is the first study to report
on vitamin D levels in a large group of critically ill children," said Dr.
McNally, a clinical researcher and intensivist at the Children's Hospital of
Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics
at the University of Ottawa.
The study, led by Dr. McNally at the CHEO
Research Institute, included over 300 children and teenagers at six hospitals
in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Vancouver. These children
were admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with severe infections,
significant trauma or conditions requiring major surgery, such as congenital
heart defects.
Their study found that in three of every
four critically ill children, blood vitamin D levels were below the target
considered safe by many experts and medical societies. Further, those with
lower vitamin D levels were noted to be sicker, requiring more life-sustaining
therapies (breathing tubes, medications to support heart function) and staying in
the ICU for longer periods of time.
"Although these findings are of
concern, we are very encouraged because we've discovered something that is
modifiable," explained Dr. McNally. "There are simple ways to prevent
this problem, and it may be possible to rapidly restore vitamin D levels at the
time of severe illness."
