vitamin d level

 

The Arizona RepublicFebruary 26, 2010

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Suggested vitamin D level needs to be increased

Jun. 27, 2006 12:00 AM

Question: I've heard that you're changing your vitamin D
recommendation. Why? And how much do you now recommend?

Answer: Yes, I am raising my recommendation for vitamin D from 400 IU
to 1,000 IU per day. That may sound like quite a leap, but evidence
has been accumulating to suggest that the 400 IU now recommended for
adults isn't enough for optimum health. We need vitamin D to
facilitate calcium absorption and to promote bone mineralization as
well as for protection from a number of serious diseases. I recently
reviewed a series of studies on vitamin D and bone health with Walter
Willett, M.D., professor of epidemiology and medicine at Harvard
Medical School. Dr. Willett has assembled a compelling review of
clinical evidence suggesting that current vitamin D recommendations,
including my own, are too low.

To sum up, most adults are simply not getting enough vitamin D for
good bone health. We get vitamin D from such foods as fortified milk
and cereals as well as from eggs, salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines,
and our bodies make vitamin D with exposure to sunlight.
Unfortunately, many people don't spend enough time in the sun to get
optimal exposure, particularly in northern latitudes during the gray
winter months. In addition, dermatologists have made people so
paranoid about sun exposure that many people in lower latitudes and in
summer don't get enough, either.

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And, clearly, many people are falling short of their vitamin D needs.
A study published in the February 2001 issue of the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition showed that even while taking a 1,000 IU
supplement, fewer than half of the participants in a Canadian study
were getting enough to achieve optimal blood levels of vitamin D. And
research published in the January 2003 issue of the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition showed that 1,700 IU was needed to bring blood
levels of vitamin D to optimal levels during winter months in
Nebraska. Dr. Willett told me that other studies have shown that an
intake of 400 IU of vitamin D per day has no impact on the risk of
fractures, but that 700 to 800 IU per day, with or without calcium
supplements, does seem to reduce fracture incidence. He noted that
some evidence further suggests that a higher intake of vitamin D may
reduce the risk of prostate cancer, colon cancer, other malignancies,
and multiple sclerosis.

Don't be concerned that 1,000 IU will give you too much vitamin D -
exposure to sunlight in the summer can generate between 10,000 and
20,000 IU of vitamin D per day with no ill effects. What's more, no
adverse effects have been seen with supplemental vitamin D intakes up
to 10,000 IU daily.

Increasing my vitamin D recommendation to 1,000 IU daily may not be
the last word on this subject. Depending on the amount of sunshine
available where you live, you may need to take even more. Stay tuned.

Weil is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine. He is a
professor of medicine and heads the program in integrative medicine at
the University of Arizona in Tucson. Weil also is a monthly columnist
for Prevention magazine and editor of Self Healing Newsletter. Visit
www.DrWeil.com for more information.

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