This was front page news in The Globe and Mail today--makes me wonder if we should be taking Vitamin D supplements, Canada being at such a northern latitude.
Vitamin D casts cancer prevention in new light
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
For decades, researchers have puzzled over why rich northern countries have cancer rates many times higher than those in developing countries — and many have laid the blame on dangerous pollutants spewed out by industry.
But research into vitamin D is suggesting both a plausible answer to this medical puzzle and a heretical notion: that cancers and other disorders in rich countries aren't caused mainly by pollutants but by a vitamin deficiency known to be less acute or even non-existent in poor nations.
Here's the full story:
Story from The Globe and Mail
Afraid God Wouldn't Be Nice
19 hours ago
8 comments:
Vitamin D is really lacking up here maybe from the lack of long days of sunlight here. Vitamin D is also great for those of us with osteoporsis so we absorb calcium better.
Hey Sue! Do you take Vit. D supplements?
Do you drink milk? A lot of milk is Vit D fortified so you may be getting enough that way. That is very interesting though!
Abigail
http://crayolaab.blogspot.com
Hi Abigail! The article was saying you'd have to drink 3 liters a day of milk to get enough. I really don't drink milk, however, I eat other dairy products, and lots of salmon.
3 liters? oy! That's a lot of milk!
Don't you need sunlight for VitD to do it's thing? I'm just wondering if even if you take a supplement, if you're not getting enough sunlight to make it work, it won't do any good.
I'll have to do some reading.
"Vitamin D is also known as the "sunshine vitamin" because the body manufactures the vitamin after being exposed to sunshine. Ten to 15 minutes of sunshine 3 times weekly is enough to produce the body's requirement of vitamin D"
from the NIH website
So I had it wrong. The body can produce it with sunlight. If you take too much it can cause problems too though so maybe if you're concerned have some blood work done to check your levels.
The problem is that up here in Canada, the sun isn't at the right angle to produce Vitamin D naturally for several months of the year. So supplementation makes sense--not sure how much though.
Hi Erin: Yes I do take supplements. I have a specific condition requiring 1000 units a day, but unless your doctor says otherwise that would be more than sufficient for most people. It would be safer to take the 400 unit pills. You could ask a doctor if it would be okay to take 2 of those per day in the winter. Sunlight is the best natural source but as you say, we need help with that here.
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