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Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency 
If you live north of Georgia on the East Coast or Santa Barbara on the West Coast, you need to take Vitamin D supplements from October to April each year. In the summer many people get enough vitamin D from sun exposure.
Up to half of the U.S. population is chronically deficient in vitamin D. Adequate levels of vitamin D significantly reduce the risk of all cancers, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, depression, diabetes, chronic pain, gum disease and auto immune diseases such as MS and RA rheumatoid arthritis.
Vitamin D is a potent immune system modulator. The reason we get colds, flu and bronchitis more often in the winter time is due to a vitamin D deficiency.
In the mid-20th century, 1935 – 1965, mothers and grandmothers used to force foul tasting cod liver oil on their children because “it was good for them.” Fish liver oil is high in vitamins A & D. Milk was fortified with vitamin D in the 1930s because it was discovered that vitamin D prevented rickets in children.
Last year, in Massachusetts, a number of children were identified as having rickets, resulting in aching bones and muscles. Low vitamin D levels mean that the bones become softer due to less mineralization. A deficiency interferes with proper bone growth and density, and can cause muscle weakness.
Black children in northern cities, because of the sun-filtering effect of dark pigments in their skin, are far more likely than whites to be vitamin D deficient and are more susceptible to rickets and TB.
A Scottish study found that volunteers who took a dose of vitamin D during the winter had better blood vessel function. Researcher Allan Struthers of the Dundee University medical school told the British Cardiovascular Society, June 2007, that vitamin D deficiency during the winter may cause serious health problems. He said said a dose of the "sunshine vitamin" - vitamin D - may be the answer to reducing heart attacks. The study suggests, for the first time, that vitamin D has a beneficial effect on the blood vessel.
Research shows that women who cover most of their body for religious reasons, such as Muslims and Orthodox Jews, risk vitamin D deficiencies. Turkish researchers reported that veiled Muslim women have lower levels of vitamin D compared with nonveiled women.
Children used to rush home after school so they could play outside until it got dark. Now they rush home to IM their friends, play video games and work on their My Space blog. They’re also using more sunscreen and drinking less milk. A recent study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood has found that more than 70 percent of British teenage girls are deficient in vitamin D.
Increasingly, researchers are learning that Vitamin D is essential in maintaining health and preventing disease, not just during the crucial growing years of childhood, but throughout life. Recent studies show that Vitamin D insufficiency may even be, in one researcher's words, "an unrecognized epidemic" among both women and men who are middle aged and older.
Underlying Vitamin D deficiency in post menopausal women is associated with increased risk of hip fracture. In a group of women with osteoporosis hospitalized for hip fracture, 50% were found to have a previously undetected Vitamin D deficiency.
At least 1.5 million “fragility fractures” occur annually in the United States. These are breaks that result when someone falls, trips or lifts something too heavy. A history of a fragility fracture is far more predictive of future fractures than a bone density test. A major cause is a vitamin D deficiency.
A new study published in the May 2007 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer was 35 to 40 per cent lower in women with the highest intake of calcium and vitamin D compared to women with diets poor in these nutrients.
Just as important, the impact was greatest on staving off the most aggressive breast cancer tumors. The findings lend credence to cancer prevention studies done in the test tube and in mice. Research has shown that calcium and vitamin D can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, particularly those that express high levels of insulin-like growth factors.
Blood levels of IGFs decline with age, which would help explain why the nutrients appear effective in reducing breast cancer only in younger women. Calcium and vitamin D may also have an impact in preventing breast cancer in post-menopausal women, but only if taken at much higher doses than is currently consumed by most women.
Many North Americans - particularly older people - are chronically deficient in vitamin D and consume far less calcium than is necessary for good health.
Vitamin D is found principally in oily fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines and herring. Supplements are also a popular source. Foods rich in calcium include milk, yogurt, dark green vegetables such as broccoli and okra, along with tofu and almonds.
Researchers said that those who had high intake of vitamin D and calcium also appeared healthier over all: they were leaner, more physically active and consumed less fat. While most cases of breast cancer develop after menopause, pre-menopausal breast cancer is often more aggressive and deadly.
According to research, low vitamin D levels may cause greater knee pain and difficulty walking in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Knee osteoarthritis is caused by cartilage breakdown in the knee joint. Factors that increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis include being overweight, age, injury or stress to the joints, and family history can increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis.
Recent studies have shown that vitamin D influences both musculoskeletal and neuromuscular function. Taking a closer look at this, in a two-year trial of vitamin D supplements on knee osteoarthritis progression, researchers tested whether vitamin D deficiency at study entry is associated with pain and physical function in OA patients. Researchers studied 65 women and 35 men in their sixties who showed signs of having knee OA by measuring blood levels of vitamin D, their baseline knee pain, the time needed for arising several times from a chair, and the time needed to walk 20 meters.
Of the 100 participants, 47 percent were vitamin D deficient, with vitamin D levels below 30 ng/ml. This deficiency contributed to increased pain and difficulty walking among the participants. Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus needed for bone mineralization, growth and repair. Sun exposure helps vitamin D to become active.
Absorption of vitamin D from food and conversion of it to the active form is less efficient in older people. For this reason, vitamin D supplements of 400-800 and calcium doses of 1,200 to 1,500 mg a day are recommended to prevent osteoporosis. The results of this study suggest that Vitamin D supplements may also help in arthritis treatment.
Preliminary results at Tufts University suggest that, among people with knee osteoarthritis, having a low vitamin D level is associated with more knee pain and greater functional limitation.
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Low vitamin D levels linked to poor physical performance
Older people with low levels of vitamin D may be at increased risk for poor physical performance and disability, according to a study released in April 2007.
With a growing older population, we need to identify better ways to reduce the risk of disability. The study showed a significant relationship between low vitamin D levels in older adults and poorer physical performance.
Calls for raising the recommended daily allowance of the vitamin have been growing after reports that higher intakes could protect against osteoporosis and certain cancers.
The study analyzed data from the InCHIANTI study, involving 976 people (average age 74.8) from two towns in the Chianti area of Italy.
Participants completed a short physical performance test of their walking speed, ability to stand from a chair and ability to maintain their balance in progressively more challenging positions. Additionally, their handgrip strength was also measured.
The researchers report that low levels of vitamin D were associated with five to 10 percent lower scores of physical performance and grip strength.
Vitamin D plays an important role in muscle function, so it is plausible that low levels of the vitamin could result in lower muscle strength and physical performance. It's also possible that those with poor physical performance had less exposure to sunlight resulting in low vitamin D levels.
Current recommendations call for people from age 50 to 69 to get 400 international units (IUs) of vitamin D per day and for those over age 70 to get 600 IUs. Many researchers, however, suggest that higher amounts may be needed.
Higher amounts of vitamin D may be needed for the preservation of muscle strength and physical function as well as other conditions such as cancer prevention. The current recommendations are based primarily on vitamin D's effects on bone health.
Calls to increase vitamin D intake have been growing. Indeed, only recently fifteen experts from universities, research institutes, and university hospitals around the world called for international agencies to "reassess as a matter of high priority" dietary recommendations for vitamin D because current advice is outdated and puts the public at risk of deficiency (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85, pp. 860-868).
A recent review of the science reported that the tolerable upper intake level for oral vitamin D3 should be increased five-fold, from the current tolerable upper intake level (UL) in Europe and the US of 2000 International Units (IU), equivalent to 50 micrograms per day, to 10,000 IU (250 micrograms per day).
Recent findings showing the importance of vitamin D status on multiple health outcomes underscore the need for more research on the effects of low vitamin D levels in elderly populations.
Vitamin D refers to two biologically inactive precursors - D3, also known as cholecalciferol, and D2, also known as ergocalciferol. The former, produced in the skin on exposure to UVB radiation (290 to 320 nm), is said to be more bioactive. The latter is derived from plants and only enters the body via the diet.
Both D3 and D2 precursors are hydroxylated in the liver and kidneys to form 25- hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), the non-active 'storage' form, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), the biologically active form that is tightly controlled by the body.
Source: Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences
April 2007
Authors: D. Houston, G. Schwartz, S. Kritchevsky, M. Cesari, L. Ferrucci, D. Maggio, A. Cherubini, M.A. Johnson, B. Bartali
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