Vitamin D deficiency during winter isnt a sunny prospect
Experts say vitamin D deficiency is much more common than previously believed — especially in Northern climes, where solar radiation from October to March is too puny to maintain healthy levels. “You’re in a dark, gloomy place,” said Bruce Hollis, a leading vitamin D researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina. “In the winter, you could stand outside naked for five hours and nothing is going to happen.” Increased use of sunscreen has turned a seasonal shortfall into a year-round condition for many people. A recent survey in Britain found 87 percent of adults tested during winter, and more than 60 percent in summer, had subpar vitamin D levels. Doctors in many parts of the world — including California — report a resurgence of childhood rickets, soft bones caused by lack of vitamin D. Recommendation may be too low While supplements offer a cheap and easy solution, Hollis and other researchers argue that the recommended intake is too low to provide many health benefits. A Canadian medical organization advises that pregnant and nursing women take 10 times the amount suggested in the U.S. “You’re more likely to live longer, and you’re less likely to die of serious chronic disease if you have adequate vitamin D onboard,” said Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine, one of the world’s top experts. “It may well be the most important nutrient of the decade.” When Lisa Hill, 54, went to her doctor complaining of joint pain, she was surprised to get a diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency. “I had never heard of it,” she said. Since leaving her native Southern California, her sun exposure has dropped dramatically. “You’re like a little mole in a hole,” she said. Many doctors once scoffed at the notion of vitamin D deficiency, but testing has become more routine and is covered by most insurance. University of Washington heart surgeon Dr. Donald Miller Jr. tested 78 of his patients and found three-quarters had “insufficient” levels of vitamin D. “It was really pretty shocking,” Miller said. In a study of 1,739 Boston-area residents reported last month, rates of heart attack, stroke and heart failure were about 50 percent higher in those with low levels of vitamin D. In addition to strengthening bones, muscles and joints, high vitamin D levels have been linked with lower rates of colon, prostate, breast, esophageal and pancreatic cancer. Harvard scientists found that high levels of vitamin D reduced children’s odds of developing asthma, while researchers in Pittsburgh reported that pregnant women with low vitamin D had greater risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous form of high blood pressure. Vitamin D also appears to be one of the reasons multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases are twice as common in Northern versus Southern states. Washington’s rate of MS, which causes nerve damage, is one of the highest in the nation. Blood samples from more than 7 million military personnel showed people with the highest levels of vitamin D were 62 percent less likely to develop MS than those with the lowest concentrations. A study in Finland found similar results.
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