The Benefits of Vitamin D - Why Doctors are Calling Vitamin D the Miracle Supplement

A blood calcidiol (25-hydroxy-vitamin D) level is the accepted way to determine vitamin D nutritional status. The optimal level of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is 35-55 ng/mL; with some debate among medical scientists for the slightly higher value.

Vitamin D is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight. Season, geographic latitude, time of day, cloud cover, smog, and sunscreen affect UV ray exposure and vitamin D synthesis in the skin, and it is important for individuals with limited sun exposure to include good sources of vitamin D in their diet. Extra vitamin D is also recommended for older adults and people with dark skin. Individuals with a high-risk of deficiency should consume 25 %u03BCg (1000 IU) of vitamin D daily to maintain adequate blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

As civilization and the Industrial Revolution enabled humans to work indoors and wear more clothes when in the sun, these cultural changes reduced natural production of vitamin D and caused deficiency diseases. In many countries, foods such as milk, yogurt, margarine, oil spreads, breakfast cereal, pastries, and bread are fortified with vitamin D2 and/or vitamin D3, to minimize the risk of vitamin D deficiency. In the United States and Canada, for example, fortified milk typically provides 100 IU per glass, or one quarter of the estimated adequate intake for adults over the age of 50. Supplementation of 100 IU (2.5 microgram) vitamin D3 raises blood calcidiol levels by 2.5 nmol/litre (1 ng/ml). Fatty fish, such as salmon, are natural sources of vitamin D.

Natural Sources of Vitamin D:

• Fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil
  
• Herring
  
• Catfish
  
• Salmon
  
• Mackerel
  
• Sardines
  
• Tuna
  
• Eel
  
• One whole egg
  
• Beef liver
  
• Sun-dried shiitake mushrooms

Deficiency of vitamin D can result from a number of factors including: inadequate intake coupled with inadequate sunlight (UVB) exposure, disorders that limit its absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, conditions that impair conversion of vitamin D into active metabolites, such as liver or kidney disorders and body characteristics such as skin color and body fat. Rarely deficiency can result from a number of hereditary disorders. Deficiency results in impaired bone mineralization, and leads to bone softening diseases including:

Rickets
Rickets is a childhood disease characterized by impeded growth, and deformity, of the long bones. The role of diet in the development of rickets was determined by Edward Mellanby between 1918-1920. In 1921 Elmer McCollum identified a substance found in certain fats that could prevent rickets. Prior to the fortification of milk products with vitamin D, rickets was a major public health problem. In the United States the fortification of milk with 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D per quart in the 1930s led to a dramatic decline in the number of rickets cases.

Osteomalacia
Osteomalacia is a bone-thinning disorder that occurs exclusively in adults and is characterized by proximal muscle weakness and bone fragility. The effects of osteomalacia are thought to contribute to chronic musculoskeletal pain. A number of reports thus indicate that vitamin D deficiency may be related to various types of pain, but of the five small double-blind randomized controlled trials, only one found a reduction in pain after supplementation, and there is no persuasive evidence of lower vitamin D status in chronic pain sufferers compared to controls.

Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by reduced bone mineral density and increased bone fragility.

Vitamin D malnutrition may also be linked to an increased susceptibility to several chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, tuberculosis, cancer, periodontal disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, seasonal affective disorder, peripheral artery disease, cognitive impairment which includes memory loss and foggy brain, and several autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes.

There is an association between low vitamin D levels and Parkinson's disease, but whether Parkinson's causes low vitamin D levels, or whether low vitamin D levels play a role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease has not yet been established.

According to some experts, nearly 50 percent of Americans have less than optimal blood levels of vitamin D. Is your family getting enough of this very important vitamin?

"Most Americans know vitamin D helps strengthen bones and teeth, but there is a wealth of new evidence showing it helps promote colon health and also helps support the immune system function. That's important, because a healthy immune system is critical for overall health and wellness," said Marie Spano, MS, RD, a vitamin expert and consultant for Wellesse supplements. "What's troubling is the number of people who are unknowingly vitamin D deficient," she added.

Spano says many experts believe the current Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D is too low. "It's double jeopardy. Many Americans don't meet the RDA of 400 International Units [IUs] of vitamin D and many experts recommend consuming an even greater amount, up to 1,000 IUs of vitamin D daily."

To determine if your family is at risk, Spano says to consider the following:

Where Do You Live? Vitamin D is sometimes called the sunshine vitamin since our bodies create vitamin D3-the preferable form of vitamin D-from sunlight exposure. However, living in Northern states where sun exposure is reduced, especially during the winter, or living in smog-filled urban areas, may make it difficult to attains sufficient vitamin D from the sun alone. Plus, many dermatologists don't recommend getting vitamin D from the sun, due to skin cancer risk.

Do You Spend A Lot Of Time Indoors And/Or Wear Sunscreen? If you're indoors a great deal or wear sunscreen when outside, you may also be vitamin D deficient.

Are You Young Or Old? One study of more than 380 children and teens found that more than one-half had low blood levels of vitamin D. The elderly, too, are often vitamin D deficient.

What's Your Ethnicity? African Americans and those with a darker skin pigment make far less vitamin D than other populations.

Do You Have a Healthy Diet? Fortified milk is a good source of vitamin D. To meet the RDA from milk alone, adults need to drink four cups of milk daily. Nonfortified dietary sources of vitamin D include sardines, mackerel, herring and beef liver. For most Americans, these are not daily food choices, so alternate vitamin D sources are needed.

To learn your vitamin D levels, ask your doctor about a rapid vitamin D test that measures your blood levels of the vitamin. To increase vitamin D intake, Spano suggests families add a liquid vitamin D supplement, such as new Wellesse Vitamin D3, to their daily regimen. "Liquid supplements are an easy way for the whole family to get enough vitamin D. They are especially helpful with young children and teens who don't like swallowing pills."

Wellesse Vitamin D is available at Walgreens and Stop & Shop. For more information on Wellesse Vitamin D, visit http://www.wellesse.com.

Although the tablet is the most popular form of vitamin supplement, there are also other forms that are available in the market. Most, if not all, of these other forms claim to be more effective than others in delivering the vitamins to the body.

Let us take a closer look at each of them and find out how effective they really are.

Tablet: as mentioned earlier, this is the most ubiquitous form of vitamin supplements. And because it is readily available, a lot of people prefer to buy their supplements in this form. Others however, do not like this option because the body tends to have difficulty in absorbing this.

Capsule: is very similar to the tablet. The only difference between them is their size since capsules are much smaller than tablets. Because of this, some people prefer to take their supplements in capsule form.

Softgel: this is much like the tablet although it comes in a softer shell. People prefer it to the tablet because the body easily absorbs it.

Liquid: compared to the three mentioned above, this is considered as the form that is best absorbed by the body. While only around 40-50% of the tablets and capsules are actually absorbed, liquids claim 90% absorption.

It is a well-known fact that vitamin supplements have numerous benefits to our body especially when we take them regularly. Not only do they keep the body functioning properly, they also keep us healthy so that we don't get sick easily.

However, they can have adverse effects too if we take them incorrectly. Below are some tips to keep us safe when taking supplements.

Only Take as Indicated
Before taking vitamin supplements, we have to look at the instructions on the box first. It is where information on things like dosage are indicated. If we do otherwise, we may not be able to maximize the supplement's effect, or worse, get overdosed.

Seek Your Doctor's Advice
Before taking a supplement, it would be good to seek your doctor's advice. This is especially the case if you are taking other forms of medication. Your doctor can warn you if there is a risk of adverse effects if you take them with the supplement. The same goes if you have special needs for a particular vitamin. The doctor may advise higher doses of it depending on your diagnosis.

Make Sure it's Genuine
Although there are a good number of reliable supplements, there are still some that are fake, ineffective or both. Be wary of them because they may cause you more harm than good.

Vitamin supplements can be harmful to you if you take them incorrectly. So be informed and make sure that the one you are taking is safe.

There's good news for many of the millions of Americans whose eye health is thought to be at risk. Ninety-seven percent of diabetic patients taking insulin will eventually develop the eye disease diabetic retinopathy, while age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in America.

Now, Jeffrey P. Gilbard, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, has invented a dietary supplement that he says offers new hope for these patients.

Research over the past several years has shown that vision loss from diabetes and AMD are both driven by oxidation, inflammation and abnormal new blood vessel growth, and that fish-oil omega-3s, vitamin D and green tea ingredients, at the right doses, inhibited these processes.

The supplement, called MacuTrition is from Advanced Vision Research, and provides fish-oil omega-3s, vitamin D and green tea ingredients at these doses, along with clinically proven antioxidants currently recognized as effective for macular degeneration.

Many doctors have started taking the supplement themselves because the fish-oil omega-3s, vitamin D and green tea in it have been shown in studies to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. For more information on the over-the-counter supplement, visit http://www.macutrition.com.