Do you know your Vitamin D levels?
Vitamin D is gaining increasing attention for its role in maintaining good health and preventing disease. But despite its benefits, many adults and children still do not receive adequate vitamin D.
New research has shed increasing light on the many benefits of Vitamin D and also revealed widespread deficiencies in both adults and children across the country. This has prompted a surge in the number of general practitioners and pediatricians who are now routinely screening for adequate blood levels of Vitamin D and recommending Vitamin D supplementation.
Vitamin D has many important roles in promoting good health in that it helps calcium build strong bones, helps regulate the immune system and the neuromuscular system, and also plays a major role in the life cycle of human cells. Many recent studies have found that low Vitamin D levels are linked with many serious, chronic diseases, such as diabetes, gum disease, multiple sclerosis, peripheral neuropathy, osteoporosis, and possibly cancer, stroke, and heart disease.
The new National Osteoporosis Foundation guidelines for adults 50 years and older is 800–1,000 IU of vitamin D3/day (along with 1,200 mg of calcium/day). Currently, the recommended daily intake of Vitamin D in adults ages 51-70 is only 400 IUs (with 200 IUs or less for younger ages)*, which, according to the researchers, leaves circulating blood levels of the the vitamin too low to have a positive effect on certain disease prevention. *The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) has set the Upper Limits (UL) for vitamin D at 1,000 IU for infants up to 12 months of age and 2,000 IU for children, adults, pregnant, and lactating women.
Talk to your health care provider about about checking a blood test for Vitamin D levels.
via Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, June 2008
via Vitamin D Deficiency Common in Infants and Toddlers from MedPage Today,
Vitamin D, from Bay Area Medical Information, www.bami.us
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