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March 27, 2009 - A significant decrease in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels has led to an increase in vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, especially in racial and ethnic groups, according to results of a population-based study reported in the March 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with increases in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and infection," write Adit A. Ginde, MD, from the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, and colleagues. "Vitamin D supplementation appears to mitigate the incidence and adverse outcomes of these diseases and may reduce all-cause mortality." [...] "These findings have important implications for health disparities and public health," the study authors conclude. "Our data provide additional evidence that current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation (200-600 IU/d) are inadequate to achieve optimal serum 25(OH)D levels in most of the US population." They add that large, randomized controlled trials of higher doses of vitamin D supplementation are needed to evaluate their effect on general health and mortality.

A Lecture by Reinhold Vieth, Professor, Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Mount Sinai Hospital. Presentation Date: Friday, October 21, 2005 (works in Internet Explorer, but not properly in Firefox (slides don't change in Firefox)).

Your cells use vitamin D to directly regulate your genes, making it one of the most powerful compounds in human health.

According to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 75 percent of Americans do not get enough Vitamin D. Researchers have found that the deficiency may negatively impact immune function and cardiovascular health and increase cancer risk. Now, a University of Missouri nutritional sciences researcher has found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation, a negative response of the immune system, in healthy women.

Very good summary on blueberry health benefits! I love blueberries. It's so nice to get health from tasty treats and not from yukky tasting doses of medicine.

Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) is an alpha-glucan rich nutritional supplement produced from the mycelia of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) of the basidiomycete family of mushrooms, and should not be confused or used as a drug or medicine.[1][2] AHCC was originally designed to lower high-blood pressure. However, researchers at Tokyo University found AHCC's influence upon the innate immune system highly beneficial and published the results in 1992, though not in the commonly indexed scientific literature. In this study, researchers found that AHCC significantly increased natural killer (NK) cell activity in cancer patients, and also enhanced the effects of killer T-cells, and cytokines (interferon, IL-12, TNF-alpha

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2009) - According to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 75 percent of Americans do not get enough Vitamin D. Researchers have found that the deficiency may negatively impact immune function and cardiovascular health and increase cancer risk. Now, a University of Missouri nutritional sciences researcher has found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation, a negative response of the immune system, in healthy women.

Vitamin D in preventive medicine: are we ignoring the evidence? Zittermann A. Br J Nutr. 2003 May;89(5):552-72. Review. PMID: 12720576

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) - Taking folic acid supplements for at least a year before conception is associated with reduction in the risk of premature birth, according to a study by Radek Bukowski (from the University of Texas Medical Branch, United States of America) and colleagues. Although most pregnancies last about 40 weeks, many babies (for example around 12% in the United States) are born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Babies born prematurely are less likely to survive than full-term babies and are more likely to have breathing difficulties and learning or developmental disabilities. Currently, there are no effective methods of prevention or treatment of premature (preterm) birth, but previous studies have suggested that lower concentrations of folate (folic acid) are associated with shorter duration of pregnancy. Bukowski and colleagues therefore tested this idea, by analyzing data collected from a cohort of nearly 35,000 pregnant women. The results of this study showed that taking folate supplements for at least one year before conception was associated with a 70% reduction in spontaneous premature birth between 20 and 28 weeks (a reduction from 0.27% to 0.04%), and a 50% reduction between 28 and 32 weeks (reduction from 0.38% to 0.18%), as compared to the rate of preterm birth when mothers did not take additional folate supplementation. Folate supplementation for less than a year before conception was not linked to a reduction in the risk of premature birth in this study, and folate supplementation was not associated with any other complications of pregnancy. In a related commentary also published in this week's PLoS Medicine, Nicholas Fisk from the University of Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues (who were not involved in the original study) say "Methodologically, the study has several strengths... It is based on a huge dataset, with prospective recording of dietary supplements and potential confounders, and gestational age determined accu

More and more people are moving towards alternative medicine. This article will enumerate various combination of fruits and vegetables juices that are known to help cure and/or prevent modern day diseases.

Green Beans for Cancer Prevention and Treatment.

Martineau AR, Wilkinson RJ, Wilkinson KA, Newton SM, Kampmann B, Hall BM, Packe GE, Davidson RN, Eldridge SM, Maunsell ZJ, Rainbow SJ, Berry JL, Griffiths CJ. A single dose of vitamin D enhances immunity to mycobacteria. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) - Osteoporosis affects many women and can cause painful, disabling and even life-threatening fractures. Researchers from the UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine are seeking a simple, inexpensive way to prevent the disease. Strontium citrate is a widely available, over-the-counter dietary supplement promoted to "improve bone health." Strontium is a natural element found in bone in all people. Strontium citrate is another form of strontium ranelate, a proven medication prescribed across Europe and Australia to treat and prevent osteoporosis and related fractures. Unlike pharmaceuticals, strontium citrate is not a prescribed medication and is inexpensive.

(NaturalNews) 30 years ago the famous Nobel laureate Linus Pauling said that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, a highly controversial statement at the time. Now a team of Johns Hopkins scientists have shown that vitamin C stops the growth of some tumors in mice. The Study The study was lead by Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and oncology and Johns Hopkins Family Professor in Oncology Research. Their work is detailed in Cancer Cell, Volume 12, Issue 3, 230-238, 11 September, 2007. They found that the antioxidants' actual role may be to destabilize a tumor's ability to grow under conditions where there isn't enough oxygen to feed it. The conventional belief is that vitamin C helps prevent cancer growth by grabbing up volatile oxygen free radical molecules and preventing the damage they do to our DNA. "The potential anticancer benefits of antioxidants have been the driving force for many clinical and preclinical studies," Says Dang. "By uncovering the mechanism behind antioxidants, we are now better suited to maximize their therapeutic use."

In healthy people who have been exposed to tuberculosis, a single oral dose of vitamin D enhances their immunity against this bacterial infection.

Hathcock JN, Shao A, Vieth R, Heaney R. \nRisk assessment for vitamin D.\nAm J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jan;85(1):6-18. Review.\nPMID: 17209171 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The "sunshine vitamin," vitamin D, is increasingly seen as vital to health, yet more Americans are not getting enough, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Analyzing data from government health surveys, researchers from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine found three out of four Americans had "insufficient" levels of vitamin D, up from about one out two 20 years ago-