Personal Injury Law

Are You Getting Your Vitamin D?

By Jane Akre

Most people are not getting enough vitamin D.

Researchers point out that the vitamin fights the common cold and powers muscles.  A deficiency is associated with bone loss, heart disease, cancer and a poorer immune system to fight disease.

Researchers from the University Of Colorado Denver School Of Medicine report their findings in The Archives of Internal Medicine.

They find that from 1994 to 2004, blood levels dropped to 24 nanograms. Blood levels of more than 18,000 in 1988 found average blood levels of vitamin D at 30 nanograms.

Particularly hard hit - African Americans whose blood levels of sufficient numbers dropped from 12 to 3 percent. 

Very few foods contain vitamin D.  It primarily comes from sun exposure and with more people working on computers and inside levels might be expected to drop. 

Other research finds teens are likely to have low vitamin D levels.

The same issue of the Archives finds that a high dose of vitamin D reduces fractures in individuals over the age of 65 by 20 percent. 

Getting The Sunshine Vitamin

Sunshine exposure allows the body to create its own vitamin D.

Expose about 40 percent of your body ten minutes between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.without sunscreen.  Darker skin people need slightly more exposure. Beyond 15 or 30 minutes, depending on your complection,.sunscreen should be added. #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).