Milk can lead to anemia

In the event that a child under school age drink more than two glasses of milk a day, his body decreases the amount of iron, which can lead to anemia.

According to the study, which was attended by 1,300 children of preschool age, children should not drink more than two glasses of milk a day. Milk contains calcium and vitamin D, needed for bone growth. However, excessive intake of milk in the body is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of iron, and iron deficiency leads to movement disorders.

Children who drank three or more glasses of milk per day had reduced levels of serum ferritin, which reflects the state of body iron stores. The more milk the children drank, the lower ferritin levels fell.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting consumption of cow's milk for preschoolers to two glasses a day. However, the Committee on Nutrition believe that children who drink at least four glasses of milk a day, should be given supplements of vitamin D. Supplementation with vitamin D is required blacks children and children who spend little time in the sun, because vitamin D is produced in the skin by sunlight.

Reduce Risk Of Skin Cancer By 50 Percent

Taking supplements can do a lot of great things for your health; from improve the way you feel to improve the way your body functions. But, did you know that taking vitamin D and calcium can also reduce your risk of skin cancer? Recent studies done have shown that these two supplements can make a big difference with your health and can even mean avoiding skin cancer, which any person can appreciate.

What Study Was Done?

Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine recently went through data of a large clinical trial that involved women who had a history of non-melanoma skin cancer. Through their research of the results of this study, they found that a combination of vitamin D and calcium had a huge impact on women who had melanomas in their body. In fact, 57% fewer melanomas were found in women who were taking these supplements. More research does need to be done, but the examples they have are promising.

How much Calcium and Vitamin D to take?

The amount of calcium you should take is 1,000 mg per day. The amount of vitamin D you should be taking is 400 IU. These doses are the best when it comes to reducing the risk in women most effectively. Of course these amounts are not guaranteed to prevent skin cancer in anyone. Some people will benefit from these and their abilities to fight skin cancer while others will not. The good news is that both supplements are good for you anyways, so there is no harm in taking them.

Why do These Supplements Work?

Vitamin D is essential when it comes to bone growth. In addition to this, it helps control the rate at which cells replicate. Because cell replication is something that goes wrong with cancer, an increased level of this vitamin can help prevent the problems from happening. This vitamin also supports colon and prostate health, which means it's great to take for many different reasons.

Calcium also helps support bone health and is something that most women don't get enough of. When combined with vitamin D the benefits of it are actually increased. Both of these can help support better health in a number of different ways.

Should You Take These Supplements?

More studies are being done by researchers to determine just how much of an effect these two supplements have on decreasing cancer risk. While a lot of women did benefit from the combination of them, they are not going to work 100% of the time. Once the results of studies come out it will be better known how much of a dosage should be taken and the frequency of the dosage necessary.

Taking both of these supplements can help support your health, so taking them is not dangerous. If you are taking medications or have certain health conditions, make sure to talk to your doctor about taking these. They will be able to provide you with advice based on your individual medical and health history. The best part about taking supplements is increasing your health through natural aids that are good for you!

This post was writen by David Taylor, journalist and health expert who has more than 7 years experience in this niche. He writes for BeHealthy24 and many other websites.

Skin cancer vs vitamin D

REMEMBER when we used to lie out in the sun for hours covered in coconut oil?

If you can, you're pre-skin cancer warnings now appear regularly on our TV and billboards.

Slip, slop, slap is the message we've being given.

But, with vitamin D deficiency more common, many people are also wondering if the sun protection message is affecting their health in other ways.

The sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation is both the major cause of skin cancer and the best source of vitamin D, according to the Cancer Council Australia.

"We need to balance the risk of skin cancer from too much sun exposure with maintaining adequate vitamin D levels," it says.

"Sensible sun protection does not put people at risk of vitamin D deficiency."

Why we need vitamin D and how we get it

Vitamin D keeps bones and muscles strong, as well as keep our immune system robust.

Low blood levels of the vitamin have been associated increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in older adults, severe asthma in children and cancer.

Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of different conditions, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis.

Vitamin D forms in the skin when it is exposed to UV from sunlight.

It can also be obtained from some foods such as fish, egg yolks and fortified dairy and grain products.

Who's most at risk from vitamin D deficiency

Naturally dark skinned people, people who cover their skin for religious or cultural reasons, the elderly and people who are housebound or in institutional care, babies and infants of vitamin D deficient mothers, people with osteoporosis and those who suffer from milk allergies or adhere to a strict vegetarian diet may all be short on vitamin D.

Certain medical problems, including Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, and celiac disease, can also affect your ability to absorb vitamin D from the food you eat.

GET THE FACTS

Measuring Vitamin DThe most accurate way to measure how much vitamin D is in your body is the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test.  

How much sun is enough?

A study by St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney; the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and the University of NSW suggests that exposure of 5 to 15 minutes of sunlight four to six times a week, outside of the hours of 10am - 2pm, is the best way to boost vitamin D.

By Helen Hawkes

Vitamin D Deficiency Treatment at a Glance

Because of its important functions, vitamin D is considered to be one of the most valuable vitamins. Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus absorption, it has a positive effect on bone growth and development, and prevents bone-related diseases in children and adults, and many more. When the vitamin D levels are quite low, then there are chances for the patient to experience vitamin D deficiency symptoms.

All age groups can be affected by vitamin D deficiency and there are several situations when it can happen. The first situation is when the need for vitamin D is increased like in pregnant and lactating women or in children when their growth is the fastest. Another situation is when the body can't synthesize vitamin D because of some diseases like, kidney, liver or Crohn's disease. And finally, vitamin D deficiency can be caused when the intake of foods rich in vitamin D is inadequate or when people refuse to consume such food, vegetarians, for example.

The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are sometimes hard to be recognized, mainly because some people manifest general symptoms like aches or fatigue. This is the reason why it is important to be able to recognize the vitamin D deficiency symptoms and react as soon as possible. For example, the following symptoms may occur in babies and children:

• Growth problems
• Delayed growth of the teeth
• irritability
• frequent infections
• soft skull and leg bones
• breathing problems
• muscle aches

In adults, the most common symptoms are pain in different parts of the body and when they get tired quite easily even when they don't do any activity. As time passes, these symptoms will worsen.

Fortunately, vitamin D deficiency can be easily prevented. Besides increasing the consumption of vitamin D rich foods, it is also good to use vitamin D supplements. However, after you have done all the tests and were diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency you have to start treating your condition. Don't start the treatment yourself. Instead, let your doctor decide what would be the right dosage and treatment method. The best treatment at the moment is taking vitamin D shots. They can last for up to six months. There are also other types of vitamin D supplements like drops or tablets. However, keep in mind that you will have to continue with the treatment after you treat your condition. Now, when you already know that you can easily prevent vitamin D deficiency, it would be a good idea to take all the necessary steps to really prevent the occurrence of this condition.

This is a guest post by Alex who is writing for TheVitaminMag.com project, a health website that provides information about vitamins and supplements.

By Boris Washington

Vitamin D deficiency may cause weight gain

Older women who don't get enough vitamin D may be slightly heavier than those who do.

A Kaiser Permanente study, published online in the recent issue of the Journal of Women's Health, looked at more than 4,600 women aged 65 and older for a four and one-half year period. Researchers found women with low levels of vitamin D in their blood gained about two pounds more than those with adequate levels of the vitamin.

So what's the big deal, you ask?

"This is one of the first studies to show that women with low levels of vitamin D gain more weight, and although it was only two pounds, over time that can add up," said study author Dr. Erin LeBlanc, an endocrinologist and researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon.

Called the "sunshine vitamin" because most of us get it from the sun, vitamin D helps maintain our bones and muscles, and keeps our central nervous system in check. But if you take too much it could be toxic, causing nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite.

Although the sun's rays are the primary source, vitamin D can also be found in milk products, fatty fish and fortified items such as cereals and juices. But even with all these sources, prior research has found that women, especially older women, aren't getting enough.

In the Kaiser study, researchers found almost 80% of participants had insufficient levels of vitamin D. Because the vitamin's main source is sunlight, the investigators say those women lacking vitamin D may not spend enough time outdoors. They may also have a poor diet.

LeBlanc points out that this study was conducted among older women who, for the most part, were not trying to lose weight - though some of them did so as a natural result of aging. About 60% of the women in the study remained at a stable weight during the study period, 27% lost more than 5% of their body weight, and 12% gained more than 5% of their body weight.

"Our study only shows an association between insufficient levels of vitamin D and weight gain, we would need to do more studies before recommending the supplements to keep people from gaining weight," LeBlanc said. "Since there are so many conflicting recommendations about taking vitamin D for any reason, it's best if patients get advice from their own health care provider."

Vitamin D Health Benefits

BY: Boris Washington

Vitamin D offers numerous health benefits, which make it the key factor for a healthy and balanced lifestyle. For that reason, we have to take care of the levels of vitamin D in our blood. We already know that vitamin D is essential for the regulation of the calcium in our body, it takes care of the bone density and prevents numerous diseases related to our bones thus preventing bone deformities.

We have to highlight its effects on our immunity. Vitamin D is there to minimize the risk of respiratory infections and regulate the blood pressure. Some recent studies have shown that vitamin D can play a key role in the prevention of up to 17 types of cancers, breast cancer being one of them.

Vitamin D can also increase the serotonin levels, which makes it a great way to deal with depression and other mental health issues. It also prevents diabetes type I because vitamin D can regulate the levels of insulin in our blood. And finally, this valuable vitamin has been recently tested, and the results show that it can help in the treatment and prevention of several heart diseases. As you can see there are more than enough reasons to take care of your vitamin D levels.

One of the best ways to get the recommended daily dose of vitamin D is from the sun, by spending some time exposed to direct sunlight. Sunlight exposure makes our skin and body start synthesizing vitamin D. However, there are many reasons why people don’t get enough vitamin D from the sun. The use of sun blocker creams is one of the reasons. Luckily, you can still get your daily dose of this vitamin from food and vitamin D supplements.

Some of the foods loaded with vitamin D are:

• fatty fish
• cod-liver oil
• eggs
• fortified cereal
• fortified milk

If you decide to take vitamin D supplements always talk to your doctor and strictly follow the doctor's advice. Of course, it is important to do everything it takes to avoid vitamin D deficiency but taking high doses of vitamin D for a longer period of time can be dangerous too. Vitamin D is part of the fat-soluble vitamins group which means that it gets stored in our body so vitamin D toxicity symptoms are quite possible, especially if you take more vitamin D than required.

So, it is recommended to check your vitamin D levels at least twice a year and react in time, no matter whether you are vitamin D deficient or about to experience vitamin D overdose symptoms.

Vitamin D Overdose How Much Is Too Much?

If there is a need for you to take high doses of vitamin D, make sure to take adequate doses of calcium and magnesium, too. And please always consult your doctor about that. One of the main benefits of vitamin D is its key function in the absorption of calcium, which is a great preventive measure against osteoporosis. And besides this valuable function, it can also strengthen your immune system and reduce the risk of some types of cancer by 50%.

One of the best ways to get the necessary doses of vitamin D is from the Sun. Our body is capable of determining when it has produced a good amount of vitamin D from the sun. When there is enough vitamin D produces the production stops and the ultraviolet light so you don't have to be afraid of vitamin D overdose from sunshine.

People who suffer from vitamin D deficiency can have increased doses of vitamin D as a treatment. As we already know we can get vitamin D from the sun, food and vitamin supplements. Vitamin D supplements are most frequently used in the treatment of vitamin D deficiency. For example, the patient may take up to 50,000 IU per week for two months. After that period, it is recommended to check the levels of vitamin D in blood. If the deficiency has ended it is recommended to prevent it by simply exposing to sun for up to 10 minutes every day.

The vitamin D overdose may cause several serious diseases and conditions, and we are going to name just 2 of the most frequent. They are: Hypercalciuria and hypercalcemia. Hypercalciuria actually excessive excretion of calcium in urine, and hypercalcemia is having too much calcium in blood.

The high doses of vitamin D may lead to calcium formations in the soft tissues in the body. These formations most frequently occur in the lungs, heart or liver and are responsible for liver failure or heart problems.

You should start using supplements only after you have a talk with your doctor and check your vitamin D levels. If the doctor approves the use of vitamin D supplements, you should start taking vitamin D supplements slowly and gradually to avoid some side effects. However, to keep your levels of vitamin D ideal try to take it from food and expose yourself to sunlight at least 10 minutes every day. In most cases, these two measures are enough to avoid vitamin D deficiency.

Author Bio: The above article is written by Boris Washington who writes about Vitamin D Deficiency and Vitamin B12 Deficiency Symptoms

How much vitamin D do you need? Distilling strong advice from weak evidence

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone and a component of a complex endocrine pathway sometimes called 'vitamin D endocrine system' (Medscape, 2012).

From Nature News:

Vitamin D has been lauded in the media for preventing or treating multiple disease but most evidence is circumstantial or weak.

Despite this, some physicians recommend supplementation of up to 6,000 international units (IU) to compensate for the time that people spend indoors. This is less than what a fair-skinned person make in 30 minutes of exposure to the summer sun (without sunscreen).

The amount spent on vitamin-D supplements in the United States had risen 10-fold in 10 years.

Poor data is one reason that the IOM panel did not recommend higher doses for vitamin D supplementation in 2010. The IOM 1,000-page report recommended that people should aim for blood levels of 50 nanomoles per litre (nmol/L).

However, according to the Endocrine Society's guidelines:

- people with levels under 50 nmol/L are "vitamin-D deficient"
- those with levels between 50 nmol/L and 72.5 nmol/L are "insufficient"

The society's guidelines also offer an 'ideal' level of 100–150 nmol/L which would require 1,500–2,000 IU daily. It advises physicians to monitor vitamin-D levels in healthy people.

Quest Lab already began to implement these deficiency and insufficiency standards over the IOM's. Many physicians are expected to follow suit.

A vitamin D3 dosage of 800 IU/d increased serum 25-(OH)D levels to greater than 50 nmol/L in 97.5% of women http://bit.ly/GzBCcA

References:

The vitamin D-lemma. 6 July 2011 | Nature 475, 23-25 (2011) | doi:10.1038/475023a

Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

Comments from Google+:

Neil Mehta - This sounds like deja vu' all over again. How many times have we been down this path? vitamin C, Vitamin E, Carotenes....

Common themes:

The myth of natural products: "it is a natural product so it can't cause harm can it?" Thus if a little bit of it is good, more must be better.
The research problem: "It is over the counter and present in foods so very difficult to determine how much someone is actually taking"
Huge confounder of observational studies: "People who take supplements, other "health products" are different from those who don't.

Correcting Vitamin D Deficiency May Decrease Risk of Heart Disease

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone and a component of a complex endocrine pathway sometimes called 'vitamin D endocrine system' (Medscape, 2012).  In a recent study, 9,400 patients had an average vitamin D level of 19.3 nanograms per milliliter - levels of 30 are generally considered "normal". At their next follow-up visit, 50% of patients had raised their vitamin D levels to above 30 nanograms per milliliter.

Compared with patients whose vitamin D levels were still low, patients who raised their vitamin D levels were 33% less likely to have a heart attack, 20% less likely to develop heart failure, and 30% less likely to die between the two visits (source: WebMD).

"While normal has generally been considered to be 30, some people have suggested 40 or 50 is better. People who increased their vitamin D blood level to 43 nanograms per milliliter had the lowest rates of heart disease and stroke. But increasing it beyond that, say to 60 or 70, offered no greater benefit."

One of the BMJ blogs calls vitamin D "the elixir of life", but it all starts to sound a bit too good to be absolutely true.

What is the best test to diagnose vitamin D deficiency?

Serum 25(OH)D.

The circulating half-life of 25(OH)D is 2 weeks. This is the best test to determine vitamin D status. A 25(OH)D level of less than 32 ng/mL is considered vitamin D insufficient because intestinal calcium absorption is optimized at levels above 32 ng/mL.

A 25(OH)D level of less than 15 or 20 ng/mL have been used to define vitamin D deficiency.

Parathyroid hormone levels start to rise at 25(OH)D levels below 31 ng/mL, which is another marker of vitamin D insufficiency. Although not always required for the diagnosis of vitamin D insufficiency, a serum PTH may be used to help establish the diagnosis of vitamin D insufficiency.

The word vitamin was originally derived from Funk's term "vital amine."

A vitamin D3 dosage of 800 IU/d increased serum 25-(OH)D levels to greater than 50 nmol/L in 97.5% of women http://bit.ly/GzBCcA 

References:
Vitamin D Supplements Lower Heart Disease Risk. WebMD.

Low vitamin D levels in children associated with higher plasma glucose and lower HDL

Vitamin D deficiency occurs frequently in COPD and correlates with severity

Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.