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A study of Caucasian female twins prompts researchers to ask if public health advice to avoid the sun could be causing low vitamin D levels. Research produced by the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, has shown that vitamin D levels are lower in fair-skinned Caucasian women than in Caucasian women with darker skin type. ... "It will be very interesting to see the results of the genetic analysis that the authors propose - especially of polymorphisms [genetic variants] in D binding protein. Variants in this protein associate strongly with skin colour, and also with vitamin D status, so may end up being explanatory.

An isoenergetic very low carbohydrate diet improves serum HDL cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentrations, the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and postprandial pipemic responses compared with a low fat diet in normal weight, normolipidemic women. Volek JS, Sharman MJ, Gómez AL, Scheett TP, Kraemer WJ. J Nutr. 2003 Sep;133(9):2756-61. PMID: 12949361

ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2009) - Seven out of ten U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone and heart disease, according to a study of over 6,000 children by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The striking findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency could place millions of children at risk for high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.

ScienceDaily (Aug. 10, 2009) - Next time you're making a cuppa, new research shows it might be wise to opt for a white tea if you want to reduce your risk of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis or even just age-associated wrinkles. Researchers from Kingston University teamed up with Neal's Yard Remedies to test the health properties of 21 plant and herb extracts. They discovered all of the plants tested had some potential benefits, but were intrigued to find white tea considerably outperformed all of them.

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