Vitamin D Rocks!

Last week a friend of mine, who is a student at the BU School of Public Health invited to me to hear a lecture on the benefits of Vitamin D. I was intrigued right away by the tittle slide of the presentation, that if my memory serves correctly, read something along the lines of Vitamin D: A D-lightful Story! I was in awe of the speaker, Dr. Michael Holick, MD, PhD, who is nationally, and perhaps even internationally known for his expertise on Vitamin D. While I didn't pick up on every single detail, I got the gist pretty quickly.

First, Vitamin D is a hormone that is released from the skin that is essential for good bone health. (Check out this website for more information on how Vitamin D is metabolized)Moreso, Vitamin D deficiency is not only connected just to bone health problems such as rickets (soft weak bones in children), osteoperosis, osteomalacia but also to diabetes, multiple sclerosis and even some cancers. Second, most Americans don't get sufficient levels of Vitamin D (doctors recommend 30 nanograms per ml). Scientific American recently cited a new study that found 75% of US teens and adults and 97% of African Americans are Vitamin D deficient. Third, although people can get some Vitamin D from foods such as milk, salmon, tuna and mackerel, the only way to produce enough is to take 1,000 IU supplements a day and get some sunlight directly. For example, according to one study, a fair skinned person sunbathing for 20 minutes in strong sunlight would produce 20,000IU within <30 minutes. i.e. the equivalent of approximately 200 glasses of milk.

So consider this a public service announcement-- go out and get a Vitamin D supplement and be sure to get out and enjoy some sunshine for at least 15 minutes every day! Your body will thank you.