New Vitamin D Research

I think most people, especially my dermatologist, would agree that excessive amounts of ultraviolet light are bad, but a paper published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition identifies vitamin D's potential for contributions to good health, specifically immune systems, the pancreas, the heart and blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity. In addition, vitamin D is believed to be beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer. The paper also lists 36 organ tissues in the body whose cells respond biologically to vitamin D. The list includes bone marrow, breast, colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and the uterus. Deficiency of vitamin D can impact all 36 organs. Already, vitamin D deficiency is associated with decreased muscle strength, high risk for falls, and increased risk for colorectal, prostate and breast and other major cancers. The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old, 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old and 600 IU for people over 70 years old. Because it is found in very few foods naturally, milk and other foods, like orange juice, are fortified with vitamin D and almost all multivitamins contain vitamin D. A tendency for people to live in cities where tall buildings block adequate sunlight from reaching the ground, to spend most of their time indoors or have poor nutrition creates the need for Vitamin D supplementation. The nutritional guidelines for vitamin D intake are being reevaluated to determine the adequate intake, balancing sunlight exposure with dietary intake, to achieve good health- which I think my dermatologist would agree with. -Community Assistant