vitamin d

[richard p]

Ive just been reading a fascinating book, the vitamin d revolution, written by an american doctor. its a recent publication so the info is reasonably upto date.
Its been known for years that vitamin d deficiency in kids can cause bad bones, rickets, someone has at last used their little grey cells and looked at osteoporosis in older people, guess what a lot of them have low levels of vitamin d in their blood.
Further research is showing that vitamin d has a regulating effect on cell growth, cancer is basically unregulated cell growth, a lot of cancer patients have low vitamin d levels.
There is evidence appearing that vitamin d has a role in the immune system.
Most of the desieses of modern man get more common the further you get from the equator, that includes cancers, heart disease, diabetes, astma, .etc an inverse correlation between incidcence of the disease and strength of sunlight.
The primary source of vitamin d for most people is the action of sunlight on the skin. Vitamin d is produced when UVB radiation of sufficient strength hits the skin, this is the same radiation that causes sunburn, it is blocked by clothing, glass and sun cream.
Some foods such as oily fish contain low levels of vitamin d , but are so low as to be dismissed as a viable useful source, having said that some foods eg milk are available in some countries fortified with extra vitamin d, but as with all such schemes the fortification levels are quite low.
The recommendation in this book is that we all need somewhere in excess off 2000 iu of vitamin d3 per day, this is easily obtainable from sunlight on bare skin if the sunlight is strong enough, in the uk it isnt during the winter months though the body can build up stores during the summer. supplementation is recommended from november to feb.
Regarding sunlight the advise is to get as much exposure as possible to strong sunlight without actually getting pink.

At one point the book quotes an “expert” as saying “for every one woman that dies of skin cancer 50 die of breast cancer which could be reduced by adequate vitamin d levels” its similar figures for prostrate cancer in men.

No surprise there is a website
http://www.vitamindrevolution.com/

happy reading , it looks like getting out in the garden might even be good for you

[Primrose]

Call me an ignoramus, but I'm not sure if I'd recognise a vitamin D if it jumped out and hit me in the face.
Are there any vegetables which are high in vitamin D? Or are vegetables and fruit mainly in the vitamin C category? :

[Nature's Babe]

Richard thank you for sharing this, a useful reminder,

It's the sunshine vit Primrose, so get your itsy bitsy bikini out while gardening One source is cod liver oil. More uv early morning and late,
so either side of noon is best to catch the sun. We had a lot of overcast days thiis summer, some weeks it just wasn't possible to sunbathe - raindance perhaps

[richard p]

ive passed the book on but as f ar as can remember oily fish, like salmon and sardines is about 300 units per serving, eggs 20 odd, veg virtually nil. with a target daily dose of 2 to 5 thousand diet isnt the way to go. half an hour of good sun will give several thousand units.... apparently the body can deal with all it makes itself, but is is possible to get toxic effects with vit d supplements if you take bottlefulls daily..

[Nature's Babe]

Well said Richard, you are right too much in the diet can cause liver damage.
the body stores what it gets from sunshine, so make hay while the sunshines - but don't get burnt.