
Vitamin D deficiency increasingly common - cwan
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/09/MN8T1BEG4V.DTL&type=printable
======
jodrellblank
There's so much fun stuff to read about it for a medically untrained layperson
like me. Let's see, things I remember reading from off the top of my head, but
don't know how true or accurate or likely they are:

\- Cholesterol is converted into Vitamin D by the sunlight, so our dietary
cholesterol shunning, cholesterol lowering drug culture lowers the amount of
Vit D which can be created by the sun.

\- UVB is needed to make Vit D from sunlight, so our sunscreen culture makes
that less likely.

\- UVA counters the making of Vit D in the skin, so our office culture where
people sit inside behind windows which block UVB and allow through UVA is bad
for Vit D levels.

\- Our margarine and other odd fats promoting culture leads to trans fat and
other i-don't-remember-what abnormal fats being used in body part construction
and repair, and they are more likely to oxidise and distort and weaken cells
and lead to an increased risk of skin cancer from sunlight.

\- Our recommended blood/cell/something levels of Vit D are less than that
seen naturally in people who live in Equatorial regions.

\- Not all Vit D supplements are equal, eating in a powdered tablet form will
cause some to be absorbed, eating in a gel tablet form will lead to more
getting through the stomach to the gut and cause more to be absorbed, eating
with fatty/oily food will cause more to be absorbed and used than eating it
dry, using a spray under the tongue will cause absorbtion directly into the
blood stream so you can more accurately predict how much will become available
for bodily use, but when created by sunlight it's self regulating. So if you
don't get it via sunlight, have levels checked regularly so you don't
overdose. And since you can't accurately predict how much of a tablet will be
absorbed, you might need to take more than you otherwise thought to get the
change in level you were planning for.

So if there is truth to these, it's not just a case of sunlight causes skin
cancer, but sunlight on odd-fat-weakened skin increases chances of skin cancer
which office working sunscreen wearing sun avoiders have less ability to fight
off.

Sounds so simple and believable it can't be true, but also so simple and
believable that even if it isn't true in the slightest I'll still remember it
easily. Hrm.

~~~
wallflower
Also: the lightening of skin in Europe/North America may primarily a result of
moving from non-equatorial regions where UVB is stronger (e.g. less melanin
due to body's need to absorb more UVB).

The incidence of skin cancer has actually gone up dramatically since sunscreen
has been introduced.

Vitamin D helps your body to make your own antibiotics (cathelicidin, etc).

~~~
holygoat
I'm not saying you're incorrect, but how do you know that _incidence_ of skin
cancer has gone up, rather than more skin cancers being detected instead of
going unnoticed?

~~~
yread
Also with thinner ozone layer it is not much of a surprise we see more skin
cancer

------
wallflower
My mom, a retired scientist, has been going off the importance of Vitamin D
for three years now. To the point, that I have been taking 2000 mg/d for over
a year now. It's easy to take and it gets my mom off my back (well, at least,
for Vitamin D :) ). She's pushing me to do 4,000 mg/d. Costco sells gel
tablets the cheapest. Seriously, she believes it shouldn't even be called a
vitamin. She was a well-respected researcher and she regularly emails me the
latest research. Think about it, how important is your health? I believe your
number one asset is your ability to produce income. Health is a vital part of
your ability to work and enjoy life.

read more at: <http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/>
[http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/important-
information/vit...](http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/important-
information/vitamin-d-and-influenza/)

~~~
nandemo
I hope you mean UI instead of mg. According to wikipedia even 2000
_micrograms_ a day would be too high.

~~~
wallflower
IU. Amazing how I don't look at the bottle.

------
lmkg
Follow-up from sfgate's resident physician-blogger at [1], more focused on
what individuals can/should do and perceptions rather than research.
Takeaways: skin tone affects vitD uptake, milk is insufficient, and lab tests
report results against the average rather than against the recomended so a
result of "normal" isn't enough. Also, fun fact: vitamin D has a huge impact
on broken bones in the elderly... because it makes you not fall over in the
first place!

[1] [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/blogs/gurley/detail?entry_id=5...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/blogs/gurley/detail?entry_id=54957)

------
tshtf
Some have also suggested that Vitamin D may be the link in the seasonal nature
of the flu:

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16959053>

~~~
ikitat
And yet, this RCT shows that it has no effect.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19296870>

------
MikeCapone
I take 4,000 UI of vitamin D3 each day (live in Canada and almost never go
outside).

Gelcap format (as opposed to dry tablets - the ones that would turn to powder
if you crushed them) is apparently important because vitamin D is fat-soluble
and is better absorbed that way.

I get them from Carlson Laboratories. One bottle of 360 gelcaps, 2,000 UIs
each is something like $20. Extremely cheap.

~~~
dghughes
That's very cheap, I buy Jamieson brand chocolate chewable vitamin D tablets
and they cost around $30.

I too live in Canada, work inside in a windowless area even in the summer,
shift work, get up when it's dark, work in the dark and go home when it's
dark, when I am home I am in the dark.

Last year CBC news mentioned how vitamin D studies showed a massive benefit,
so much so I think it was one of those "stop the study now!" studies because
it was so good they had to get the news out.

I have noticed a massive difference in my health, I have not been sick since
increasing my intake of vitamin D, which is amazing. Anecdotal? Sure but I
know my body and any crazy vitamin or powder or even healthy diet I try to
maintain, nothing has had such a dramatic impact on me as vitamin D has.

I only take 1,000 IU per day since there doesn't seem to be any agreement on
what is right, it certainly would depend on body mass and other factors. I'm
not a believer that one is good so 20 is better, I like to know what the right
amount is.

~~~
MikeCapone
A lot of my info about Vit D comes from Dr. Davis at the Heart Scan blog:

<http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/>

Check the archives, you'll find a lot of interesting stuff.

He actually does blood tests on his patients and measures if the vitamin D is
actually absorbed (which is what made his recommend gelcaps to everybody
instead of dry tablets). I think he himself takes 6,000 or 8,000 UI / day.

I've also set a Google Alert for "Vitamin D".

------
ars
Maybe it's time to add a new food to the list requiring Vitamin D, not just
milk.

Potato chips maybe? (Semi joke.) Some food with oil anyway.

~~~
chaosmachine
Or UVB-producing laptop screens.

~~~
cema
!

However, there is a danger of overexposure.

------
rdtsc
After reading that, I promptly threw a package of Atlantic wild caught salmon
in the refrigerate to thaw for later.

Fish happens to be be one of my favorite foods. I think I am in the minority
in US. I also like beet soup (borscht), so hopefully I am getting my share of
Fe as well.

A lot of people here love steaks, chicken, spaghetti, pizza, but fish or beets
are secondary or fall in the "weird" foods category.

In general I think so many Americans have weight problems because the popular
foods happen to be bad for them. An extreme example of this is the Native
American food -- fry bread. They have been displaced from their lands, and US
govt. is feeding them with lard and flour. No wonder diabetes rates are so
high among that population segment.

<http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/americanindian/>

~~~
dgallagher
BTW, most "Atlantic" salmon is farmed, not wild. There is wild Atlantic stuff,
but you're probably not getting it unless the sign in the seafood department
specifically says so. I've never seen it for sale myself, personally. I've
heard on TV it's almost fished-out of the Atlantic too. Per Wikipedia, the
amount of farmed vs. wild Atlantic salmon produced was 1,433,708 tons vs.
2,989 tons in 2007, respectively.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_in_aquaculture#Wild_vers...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_in_aquaculture#Wild_versus_farmed)

"Alaskan" salmon tends to be wild-caught. It's also usually more expensive (on
the East Coast), and harder to find (Whole Foods is usually you're best bet).
Typically, "wild" is better for you than "farmed" salmon:

[http://www.paystolivegreen.com/2009/02/wild-salmon-vs-
farmed...](http://www.paystolivegreen.com/2009/02/wild-salmon-vs-farmed-
raised-which-is-better/)

It has better nutritional value, including better Omega 3 to Omega 6 fat
ratio, higher protein and lower fat quantity, and is usually lower in PCB's.
If it's not marked as "Alaskan" or "wild", it's probably farm raised.

~~~
rdtsc
Ah, sorry my bad. It was Alaskan not Atlantic.

------
antirez
I find ridiculous doctors don't suggesting a bit more sun exposure instead to
give pills: I bet there is business in action here.

I live in Sicily, here to take a lot of sun means to sit in the worst hours
for a lot of time, the whole summertime, and here the sun is _strong_. 30
minutes of sun in the right hours should kill you? I really don't think so.

Possibly all this warnings about the sun and skin cancer had the result of
killing a lot more people for lack of D vitamin.

~~~
quantumhobbit
Doctors typically have to consider how likely a patient will be to follow
through with their instructions. A recommendation of popping a fairly cheap
pill each morning is more likely to be followed than 30 minutes of sun. This
is the same reason doctors hand out pills for high blood pressure instead of
insisting that patients lose weight and cut down on Sodium. It's sad that they
have to rely on pills for everything, but human nature being what it is, the
pills tend to be more effective.

