Vitamin D: Sunshine and So Much More
(Page 2 of 6)
February/March 2008
By Linda B. White, M.D.
Of course, we can take supplements, but current government recommendations are cautious — 200 IU a day for young adults, 400 for people 51 to 70, and 600 for those over 70. Vitamin D expert Bruce W. Hollis, M.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina, says such doses might be enough to prevent rickets, but aren’t sufficient to fulfill other important functions.
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Most of us don’t even meet these inadequate guidelines. A German study found that 80 percent of sampled adults didn’t get recommended amounts, and nearly 60 percent had low blood levels of vitamin D, a statistic that rose to 75 percent in women over 65 years old. Furthermore, those women with low blood levels of vitamin D were more likely to have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Results of D-ficiency
So what are the dangers of too little vitamin D in your system? A whole host of chronic conditions.
Weak bones and muscles. Rickets was the first disease tied to vitamin D depletion. This severe deficiency during childhood can prevent kids from reaching their potential for full height and peak bone mass. (Bone mass peaks in early adulthood; after that it slowly declines.)
In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis (thin, brittle bones) and osteomalacia (rubbery, demineralized bones). The latter causes bone pain, and both elevate the risk of broken bones.
Additionally, vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and discomfort. One study found that patients with aches and weakness were often severely vitamin D deficient. Hollis says he’s hearing from doctors that vitamin D supplementation often resolves these aches and pains, adding, “A lot of ‘fibromyalgia’ is probably D deficiency.”
Weakened muscles increase the risk of falls and fractures — a dangerous combination for the elderly. The research shows that, although the recommended dose of 600 IU a day doesn’t prevent falls and fractures in older adults, doses over 800 IU do. In fact, consuming 700 to 800 IU of vitamin D a day (plus or minus calcium) could prevent a quarter of hip fractures in older people, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Cancer. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to several types of cancer, including breast, prostate, colon and melanoma. In fact, for more than 60 years, research has found that people living at higher latitudes with less exposure to sunlight showed an increased risk of cancer mortality. Adequate vitamin D levels seem to protect against some cancers. In a recent study, researchers followed healthy postmenopausal women whom they assigned to take either 1,400 to 1,500 milligrams a day of supplemental calcium plus 1,100 IU a day of vitamin D3, or a placebo for four years. After the first year, vitamin D supplementation led to a 57 percent reduction in cancer.
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