fatVitamin D Deficiency Epidemic!
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Recently, vitamin D emerged as a big topic in the news...again.
It seems that not only is there an epidemic of deficiency of this vitamin, but 50% of British people are deficient and in a few instances babies have died as a result of their deficiency symptoms!!
Here's something I wrote a while back...and this is a topic I've written about before and since...
Low Vitamin D May Make You Fat!
I know I’ve talked about vitamin “epidemics” before but I don’t use the word lightly - The Oxford Dictionary defines epidemic as, “[a disease] prevalent among a community at a particular time”. As far as this definition goes, the only health problems that come close in Western populations are diabetes and overweight/obesity. Well, it now looks like in addition to heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, muscle weakness a variety of other diseases and premature death, low vitamin D levels are also associated with being fat.
At the American Heart Association’s Joint 49th Conference, scientists presented test results of over 650 teenagers and they found two major things:
1) most of them didn’t get the recommended amount of vitamin D in their diet
2) the subgroups who had the lowest vitamin D status, had the highest levels of body fat.
This is especially staggering due to the fact that a large and growing body of scientist are lobbying to have the recommended intakes of vitamin D increased “10-fold” – and these young people don’t even get enough to satisfy the present recommendation (400 International Units)!
[by the way, the European Union want to set maximum limits on minerals and vitamins like vitamin D, which would make the dosage required to address these deficiencies unavailable - you can thank mostly Germany, who rule the EU with an iron fist]
There are only two ways to rectify this situation and that is to eat foods or supplements that contain high levels of vitamin D and / or to ensure we get outside in the sunlight more. You see, your body can make the most active form of this vitamin itself when the skin is exposed to the sun. Of course these days we don’t go out in the sun as much and when we do, we slather on so much sunscreen that we may as well be wearing a parka.
Also, if you live in a cloudy or Northern country, you’ll be at further risk. Of course we have to get the balance right because too much sun increases our risk of skin cancer. So my advice is (depending upon your skin type, etc) to wait about 15 minutes before applying the sunscreen and take at least 400IU of vitamin D per day [I would now recommend up to 1,000 IU (25mcg) for those who don't get outside much]. Fish oil (especially cod liver oil), liver, eggs and milk are good dietary sources.
http://www.jabfm.org/cgi/content/full/18/5/445-b
http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=691
By Mark Gilbert, BSc (Nutrition)
It seems that not only is there an epidemic of deficiency of this vitamin, but 50% of British people are deficient and in a few instances babies have died as a result of their deficiency symptoms!!
Here's something I wrote a while back...and this is a topic I've written about before and since...
Low Vitamin D May Make You Fat!
I know I’ve talked about vitamin “epidemics” before but I don’t use the word lightly - The Oxford Dictionary defines epidemic as, “[a disease] prevalent among a community at a particular time”. As far as this definition goes, the only health problems that come close in Western populations are diabetes and overweight/obesity. Well, it now looks like in addition to heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, muscle weakness a variety of other diseases and premature death, low vitamin D levels are also associated with being fat.
At the American Heart Association’s Joint 49th Conference, scientists presented test results of over 650 teenagers and they found two major things:
1) most of them didn’t get the recommended amount of vitamin D in their diet
2) the subgroups who had the lowest vitamin D status, had the highest levels of body fat.
This is especially staggering due to the fact that a large and growing body of scientist are lobbying to have the recommended intakes of vitamin D increased “10-fold” – and these young people don’t even get enough to satisfy the present recommendation (400 International Units)!
[by the way, the European Union want to set maximum limits on minerals and vitamins like vitamin D, which would make the dosage required to address these deficiencies unavailable - you can thank mostly Germany, who rule the EU with an iron fist]
There are only two ways to rectify this situation and that is to eat foods or supplements that contain high levels of vitamin D and / or to ensure we get outside in the sunlight more. You see, your body can make the most active form of this vitamin itself when the skin is exposed to the sun. Of course these days we don’t go out in the sun as much and when we do, we slather on so much sunscreen that we may as well be wearing a parka.
Also, if you live in a cloudy or Northern country, you’ll be at further risk. Of course we have to get the balance right because too much sun increases our risk of skin cancer. So my advice is (depending upon your skin type, etc) to wait about 15 minutes before applying the sunscreen and take at least 400IU of vitamin D per day [I would now recommend up to 1,000 IU (25mcg) for those who don't get outside much]. Fish oil (especially cod liver oil), liver, eggs and milk are good dietary sources.
http://www.jabfm.org/cgi/content/full/18/5/445-b
http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=691
By Mark Gilbert, BSc (Nutrition)
By Mark Gilbert
Nutritionist and Supplement Specialist
Nutritionist and Supplement Specialist
over 1 year ago
Health and Fitness Doctor