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Demographic differences and trends of vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, 1988-2004. Ginde AA, Liu MC, Camargo CA Jr. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):626-32. PMID: 19307527 Conclusions National data demonstrate a marked decrease in serum 25(OH)D levels from the 1988-1994 to the 2001-2004 NHANES data collections. Racial/ethnic differences have persisted and may have important implications for known health disparities. Current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation are inadequate to address the growing epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency.

Demographic differences and trends of vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, 1988-2004. Ginde AA, Liu MC, Camargo CA Jr. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):626-32. PMID: 19307527 Conclusions National data demonstrate a marked decrease in serum 25(OH)D levels from the 1988-1994 to the 2001-2004 NHANES data collections. Racial/ethnic differences have persisted and may have important implications for known health disparities. Current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation are inadequate to address the growing epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency.

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 prospective nested case-control study of vitamin D status and pancreatic cancer risk in male smokers. Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Vieth R, Azad A, Pietinen P, Taylor PR, Virtamo J, Albanes D. Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 15;66(20):10213-9. PMID: 17047087 doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-1876 Contrary to expectations, subjects with higher prediagnostic vitamin D status had an increased pancreatic cancer risk compared with those with lower status. Our findings need to be replicated in other populations and caution is warranted in their interpretation and implication. Our results are intriguing and may provide clues that further the understanding of the etiology of this highly fatal cancer.

According to peer-reviewed clinical research, inadequacies of vitamin D have been linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain of various types, muscle weakness or fatigue, fibromyalgia syndrome, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis, hyperesthesia, migraine headaches, and other somatic complaints. It also has been implicated in the mood disturbances of chronic fatigue syndrome and seasonal affective disorder. Current best evidence demonstrates that supplemental vitamin D can help to resolve or alleviate chronic pain and fatigue syndromes in many patients who have been unresponsive to other therapies. Vitamin D therapy is easy for patients to self-administer, is well tolerated, and is very economical. The documents on this page provide detailed background information and practice recommendations.

"Quality of HDL differs in diabetics but improves with niacin therapy December 22, 2009 | Michael O'Riordan Hannover, Germany - A small study published this week hints that the effects of HDL cholesterol differ in healthy patients from those with diabetes mellitus [1]. HDL cholesterol in individuals with diabetes has impaired endothelial protective functions compared with the HDL from healthy subjects, although treatment with extended-release niacin can improve these endothelial protective effects, according to researchers. Publishing their findings online December 21, 2009 in Circulation, lead investigator Dr Sajoscha Sorrentino (Hannover Medical School, Germany) and colleagues write that because recent HDL-raising intervention studies have yielded mixed results, "circulating HDL-cholesterol levels alone likely do not represent an adequate measure of therapeutic efficacy, and indexes of HDL functionality are urgently needed for assessment of the potential of HDL-targeted therapies to exert vasoprotective effects." Speaking with heartwire, senior investigator Dr Ulf Landmesser (University of Zürich, Switzerland), said the results have implications for clinical research. "We have to understand that we can't look only at the HDL levels in the plasma, but we need to look at the quality," he said. "The quality of the HDL is not the same in different patients. This is very important for targeting HDL as a treatment. Second, niacin therapy is a promising way not only to raise HDL but also to improve the quality; it is a good treatment option, especially if the larger outcomes data are positive.""

"Here's just a smattering of the studies performed over the past 30 years on the psychological effects of wheat consumption. Oddly, this never makes the popular press. But wheat underlies schizophrenia, bipolar illness, behavioral outbursts in autism, Huntington's disease, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The relationship is especially compelling with schizophrenia: Opioid peptides derived from food proteins: The exorphins. Zioudrou C et al 1979 "Wheat gluten has been implicated by Dohan and his colleagues in the etiology of schizophrenia and supporting evidence has been provided by others. Our experiments provide a plausible biochemical mechanism for such a role, in the demonstration of the conversion of gluten into peptides with potential central nerovus system actions." "

Optimal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels for multiple health outcomes. Bischoff-Ferrari HA. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;624:55-71. Review. PMID: 18348447 DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-77574-6_5 Recent evidence suggests that higher vitamin D intakes beyond current recommendations may be associated with better health outcomes. In this chapter, evidence is summarized from different studies that evaluate threshold levels for serum 25(OH)D levels in relation to bone mineral density (BMD), lower extremity function, dental health, risk of falls, admission to nursing home, fractures, cancer prevention and incident hypertension. For all endpoints, the most advantageous serum levels for 25(OH)D appeared to be at least 75 nmol/l (30 ng/ml) and for cancer prevention, desirable 25(OH)D levels are between 90-120 nmol/l (36-48 ng/ml). An intake of no less than 1000IU (25 meg) of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) per day for all adults may bring at least 50% of the population up to 75 nmol/l. Thus, higher doses of vitamin D are needed to bring most individuals into the desired range. While estimates suggest that 2000 IU vitamin D3 per day may successfully and safely achieve this goal, the implications of 2000 IU or higher doses for the total adult population need to be addressed in future studies.

Israeli 'cancer shift' over heart disease mortality may be led by greater risk in women with high intake of n-6 fatty acids. Shapira N. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2007 Oct;16(5):486-94. PMID: 17923822 doi: 10.1097/CEJ.0b013e3280145b6d Population studies of Israeli Jews, Arabs, and women support the association of high n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake with increased cancer risk and higher female sensitivity. Research findings suggest that gender and sex hormones may influence n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism and carcinogenesis. This appears to be the first time gender has been proposed to modulate national cancer epidemiology, suggesting implications for differential nutritional prevention, warranting further research.

"Can fifty thousand years of human evolution be wrong? What are we really "designed" to eat? Are high carbohydrate "Food Pyramid" diet standards a health disaster? What do paleolithic fossil records and ethnographic studies of 180 hunter/gatherer groups around the world suggest as the ideal human diet? Find out in nationally acclaimed author and nutritionist Robert Crayhon's interview with paleolithic diet expert, Professor Loren Cordain, Ph.D. "

"July 10, 2008 | Shelley Wood New York, NY - Despite eating a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, Alaskan Eskimo are developing subclinical atherosclerosis at an early age, likely due in large part to heavy smoking, a new study shows [1]. According to investigators, in a paper published online July 10, 2008 in Stroke, rates of carotid atherosclerosis in the mostly young to middle-aged subjects participating in the Genetics of Coronary Artery Disease in Alaska Natives (GOCADAN) study were significantly higher than those reported in US population-based studies of other ethnic groups. But as Dr Alexis Cutchins (Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY) and colleagues report, rates of current smoking among the Eskimo population studied were also four to six times higher than that of other US populations in similar studies. "I don't think there's anything very surprising here, but I guess what is novel is that the findings relate to a population that has not been studied much, if at all, in this regard," study coauthor Dr Mary J Roman (Weill Cornell Medical College) told heartwire. "And I think that the message is one that has public-health implications for everybody else: this is basically a reiteration of the fact that smoking is a very potent cardiovascular risk factor, and I think the indoctrination that most of us have received about the ills of smoking have clearly not penetrated the Alaska Eskimo population.""

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels Among US Children Aged 1 to 11 Years: Do Children Need More Vitamin D? Mansbach JM, Ginde AA, Camargo CA Jr. Pediatrics. 2009 Nov;124(5):1404-1410. PMID: 19951983 CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of a nationally representative sample of US children aged 1 to 11 years, millions of children may have suboptimal levels of 25(OH)D, especially non-Hispanic black and Hispanic children. More data in children are needed not only to understand better the health implications of specific serum levels of 25(OH)D but also to determine the appropriate vitamin D supplement requirements for children.

Perez-Lopez FR.