Download Official Recommended Intake for Vitamin D is

Vit. D recommendations too LOW
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Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 19, 2010
Official Recommended Intake for Vitamin D is Too Low
2,000 IU/Day or More Needed for Optimal Health
by William B. Grant, Ph.D.
(OMNS, Feb 19, 2010) Vitamin D has been a natural part of man's experience forever, and
90% of vitamin D is derived from solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance. The health effects of
vitamin D can be and have been determined from a variety of studies including ecological,
observational (case-control and cohort), and cross-sectional studies.
Vitamin D helps both to prevent and to treat chronic diseases including many types of cancer,
cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, stroke, etc.), congestive heart failure,
diabetes mellitus (types 1 and 2), osteoporosis, falls, and fractures. It is also effective against
infectious diseases including both bacteria and viral infections: bacterial vaginosis,
pneumonia, dental caries, periodontal disease, tuberculosis, sepsis/septicemia, Epstein-Barr
virus, and influenza type A such as A/H1N1 influenza. The autoimmune diseases include
asthma, type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and perhaps rheumatoid arthritis.
Pregnancy outcomes are also adversely affected by low serum D levels. 40% of primary
Cesarean-section deliveries in the United States are linked to low D levels (9% of births in the
United States involve primary C-section), and preeclampsia is also linked to low serum levels
of D. In regards to cancer, vitamin D helps cells fit into the organs properly or commit suicide
(apoptosis), and also reduces angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth) around tumors and
reduces metastasis. For metabolic diseases, the mechanisms include increased insulin
sensitivity and insulin production. For infectious diseases, vitamin D induces production of
cathelicidin and defensins, which have antimicrobial and antiendotoxin activities.
Due to current lifestyles in the United States, most people do not spend sufficient time in the
sun to produce the higher serum D levels associated with optimal health. Black-Americans are
particularly vulnerable to low levels due to their darker skin, which reduces the amount of
UVB that reaches the 7-dehydrocholesterol in the lower epidermis to produce previtamin D.
Black-Americans have a 25% higher mortality rate than White-Americans, and this difference
may be explained in terms of lower serum 25(OH)D levels. Solar UVB is an excellent source
of vitamin D during about half of the year. The way to take advantage of the sun as a source
of vitamin D is to expose as much of the body as possible without sunscreen near solar noon,
the time when one's shadow is shorter than one's height, for 10-30 minutes depending on
skin pigmentation, being careful not to turn pink or red or burn.
( http://www.doctoryourself.com/holick.html )
Supplements represent an efficient way to obtain sufficient vitamin D. African-Americans
should consider taking 3000 International Units (IU) per day while White-Americans should
consider taking 2000 IU/day. The current dietary guideline, approximately 400 IU/day, was
based on the amount of vitamin D in a spoonful of cod liver oil, which prevented rickets.
There are few adverse effects of vitamin D. With whole-body exposure to the sun, one can
make at least 10,000 IU/day in a short time. Adverse effects such as hypercalcemia have
been found in general only for 20,000-40,000 IU/day for very long periods. However, those
with certain diseases such as adenoma of the parathyroid gland, granulomatous diseases,
lymphoma, sarcoidosis, and tuberculosis, should limit their vitamin D intake or production due
to the fact that the body's innate immune system produces too much 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin
D in the serum, which can raise serum calcium levels too high.
Several studies have examined how much mortality rates and economic burdens of disease
could be lowered if the population had more vitamin D. These studies were for Western
Europe, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States. They generally found that mortality
rates could be reduced by about 15%.
During pregnancy and lactation, women should be taking about 6000 IU/day. The current US
"Adequate Intake" recommendation is a mere 200 IU/day. Bruce W. Hollis and Carol L.
Wagner, Medical University of South Carolina, recently completed a randomized controlled
trial vitamin D supplementation for pregnant and nursing women and found that even 2000
IU/day was inadequate, and that there were no adverse effects with 6000 IU/day.
For the text of a Vitamin D Scientists' Call to Action, please go
tohttp://www.grassrootshealth.net .
[William B. Grant earned his PhD in physics at UC Berkeley. For 15 years he was a physicist
at NASA Langley Research Center's Atmospheric Sciences Division. He has authored or
coauthored over 180 papers in peer reviewed journals. Since he began his work on
UVB/vitamin D and cancer in 2000, the list of vitamin D-sensitive cancers has grown from 5
to at least 16. His paper in Cancer in 2002 identified 10 additional vitamin D-sensitive
cancers. Dr. Grant directs the Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center
(SUNARC) http://www.sunarc.org.]
For Further Reading:
[No authors listed]. Vitamin D - monograph. Altern Med Rev. 2008 Jun;13(2):15364.http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/13/2/153.pdf
Bodnar LM, Catov JM, Simhan HN, Holick MF, Powers RW, Roberts JM. Maternal vitamin D
deficiency increases the risk of preeclampsia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Sep;92(9):351722.http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/reprint/92/9/3517
Cannell JJ, Hollis BW. Use of vitamin D in clinical practice. Altern Med Rev. 2008 Mar;13(1):620.http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/13/1/6.pdf
Dietrich T, Joshipura KJ, Dawson-Hughes B, Bischoff-Ferrari HA. Association between serum
concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and periodontal disease in the US population. Am J
Clin Nutr. 2004 Jul;80(1):108-13. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/80/1/108
Dunning JM. The influence of latitude and distance from seacoast on dental disease. J Dent
Res. 1953 Dec;32(6):811-29. http://jdr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/32/6/811
East BR. Mean annual hours of sunshine and the incidence of dental daries. Am J Public
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Garland CF, Garland FC, Gorham ED, Lipkin M, Newmark H, Mohr SB, Holick MF. The role of
vitamin D in cancer prevention. Am J Public Health. 2006 Feb;96(2):25261.http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/96/2/252
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infarction in men: a prospective study. Arch Intern Med. 2008 Jun 9;168(11):117480. http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/168/11/1174
Grant WB. How strong is the evidence that solar ultraviolet B and vitamin D reduce the risk of
cancer? An examination using Hill's criteria for causality. Dermato-Endocrinology.
2009;1(1):1724. http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/dermatoendocrinology/article/7388/
Grant WB. In defense of the sun: An estimate of changes in mortality rates in the United
States if mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were raised to 45 ng/mL by solar
ultraviolet-B irradiance. Dermato-Endocrinology, 2009;1(4):20714.http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/dermatoendocrinology/archive/volume/1/issue/
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Grant WB, Cross HS, Garland CF, Gorham ED, Moan J, Peterlik M, Porojnicu AC, Reichrath J,
Zittermann A. Estimated benefit of increased vitamin D status in reducing the economic
burden of disease in Western Europe. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2009
Feb-Apr;99(2-3):104-13. (posted at http://www.sunarc.org)
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Vitamin D Status during Childhood and Adolescence: An Updated Mini Review. Int J
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