Sun = more vitamin D = less heart disease, diabetes, cancer
By Bob Condor
For 15 years as a health columnist for two major newspapers I have talked to hundreds of scientists about their research on dietary supplements. I make it a point to always ask the same question during our conversation: Do you take this stuff yourself?
In a June 10 story about vitamin D deficiency in the Los Angeles Times, reporter Thomas H. Maugh II notes that “most researchers in the field now take 1,500 IUs [international units] per day” or nearly four time the federally recommended daily amount of vitamin D.
That is telling.
These researchers are gripping the central role of vitamin D before the rest of us—in their animal labs and from clinical trials and meta-analsyes with humans. They see ‘D’ stands for defend your body from heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other conditions.
Some examples: A study published this month shows a link between low body levels of vitamin D and increased risk for diabetes. Another June 2008 study, published in the Annals for Internal Medicine by Harvard School of Public Health researcher Dr. Edward Giovannucci, evaluated more than 18,000 men. The analysis indicated men with vitamin D deficiency are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as males with normal amounts of D.
Vitamin D researchers say the research isn’t conclusive enough to make a direct cause-and-effect between the vitamin and disease, but that keeping an adequate amount in the bloodstream doesn’t seem unhealthy—and might turn out to be a health ace in the hole. Scientists speculate that low vitamin D levels might lead to calcium buildup in plaque on artery walls or perhaps adversely affect blood pressure or heart muscle contractions.Vive Sin Ansiedad
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You probably know that 10 to 20 minutes of daily sunshine on the face and forearms can suffice for vitamin D intake as the body manufactures it through the sun exposure. In fact, 20 minutes of lunchtime exposure for a white adult on a sunny day can provide up to a natural 20,000 IU boost. Dark-skinned individuals have to stay in the sun longer for the same IU outcome. For the record, researchers say it is potentially toxic to take any more than 4,000 IU per day on a supplement basis.
So it might be wise to develop a plan that allows you some sun time without sun block, but not so much you burn or increase risk of skin aging or cancer. You can also naturally increase vitamin D by eating oily or cold-water fish (salmon, anchovies, sardines, herring) and drinking milk (check out an earlier DHB entry on the best milk coming from grass-fed cows). Then fill out your vitamin D intake with a supplement, keeping in mind the researchers in the know are not hesitant to reach 1,200 IU per day.
Sun exposure can be tough or tricky or both. The DHB is certainly not suggesting you ever step foot in a tanning booth, just that nature is here to heal us.
“Bob Condor is the Daily Health Blogger for Barton Publishing. He is also the Living Well columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He covers natural health and quality of life issues and writes regularly for national magazines, including Life, Esquire, Parade, Self, and Outside. He is a former syndicated health columnist for the Chicago Tribune and author of six books, including “The Good Mood Diet” and “Your Prostate Cancer Survivors' Guide.” He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and two 11-year-old kids.”
Vitamin D supports the immune system and strong bones, and its deficiency can cause several problems, including bone related diseases like rickets, osteomalacia and osteoporosis.