Vitamin D

Here is another thing for you to check out on your next blood work test which I know all of you are keeping up with... New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and other causes bolsters mounting evidence about the "sunshine" vitamin's role in good health.

Patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about two times more likely to die from any cause during the next eight years than those with the highest levels, the study found. The link with heart-related deaths was particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels. Experts say the results shouldn't be seen as a reason to start popping vitamin D pills or to spend hours in the sun, which is the main source for vitamin D. 

For one thing, megadoses of vitamin D pills can be dangerous and skin cancer risks from too much sunshine are well-known. But also, it can't be determined from this type of study whether lack of vitamin D caused the deaths, or whether increasing vitamin D intake would make any difference.

Low vitamin D levels could reflect age, lack of physical activity and other lifestyle factors that also affect health, said American Heart Association spokeswoman Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University.

It has been estimated that at least 50 percent of older adults worldwide have low vitamin D levels, and the problem is also thought to affect substantial numbers of younger people. Possible reasons include decreased outdoor activities, air pollution and, as people age, a decline in the skin's ability to produce vitamin D from ultraviolet rays, the study authors said.

Rob, Very interesting article. Everyone should be taking Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D for vitamin D is needed for our bodies to obsurb the calcium.. I do know we use to have to do 24 hour urine screens to check our calcium. Now it is checked with the vitamin D.. Everyone should be keeping lab slips and watching to see if anything is going down or up. The Dr. will only catch it if it is to low or high. You can catch it early yourself just by watching your labs and informing the Dr. See you lighter. Joanne

so glad i wandered over here to the DE board!  when i had my blood work done (i'm still pre-op!), my vitamin D was in to the toilet.  should be in the 25+ range.. it was 3!  however, i realized that because of going to school full time and working full time, combined with my daughters not playing any sports in the winter and spring, i can't think of 2 straight hours that i spent outdoors between october of last year and when i had the test done! my nut gave me a prescription vitamin D which is a high dosage once a week.  well, i researched it and decided that i was not going to take the supplement.  i wanted to give myself a change to fix it through diet and sunlight, especially since the weather is now nice, i'm finished school and i am spending more time in the sun. on a not so good note, i didn't tell my nut. i am getting new blood work done soon by my primary care physician.  if it's still way low, i may take the prescription.  we shall see.