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A few researchers are turning their attention to the sunshine vitamin as a culprit, prompted by the experience of immigrants that have moved from their equatorial country to two northern latitude locations As evidence of widespread vitamin D deficiency grows, some scientists are wondering whether the sunshine vitamin-once only considered important in bone health-may actually play a role in one of neurology's most vexing conditions: autism. The idea, although not yet tested or widely held, comes out of preliminary studies in Sweden and Minnesota. Last summer, Swedish researchers published a study in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology that found the prevalence of autism and related disorders was three to four times higher among Somali immigrants than non-Somalis in Stockholm. The study reviewed the records of 2,437 children, born between 1988 and 1998 in Stockholm, in response to parents and teachers who had raised concerns about whether children with a Somali background were overrepresented in the total group of children with autism

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 26, 2009 - There are several risk factors for the development of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Based on an increasing number of studies linking these risk factors with Vitamin D deficiency, an article in the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (May 2009) by William B. Grant, PhD of the Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center (SUNARC) suggests that further investigation of possible direct or indirect linkages between Vitamin D and these dementias is needed. Low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] have been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, depression, dental caries, osteoporosis, and periodontal disease, all of which are either considered risk factors for dementia or have preceded incidence of dementia. In 2008, a number of studies reported that those with higher serum 25(OH)D levels had greatly reduced risk of incidence or death from cardiovascular diseases

Evidence continues to pile up that the sunshine vitamin protects against much more than bone-softening rickets. Vitamin D, also found in milk and oily fish, is becoming king, from fighting colds to preventing cancer. \n\nInvestigators at the Medical University of South Carolina shut down part of a National Institutes of Health study that left nursing mothers and infants deficient, even though the mothers received the maximum safe amount of vitamin D allowed by the Institute of Medicine.\n\nBut here's the kicker. New research suggests we're not getting nearly enough, and recommended levels may be woefully inadequate.

Myalgias or non-specific muscle pain in Arab or Indo-Pakistani patients may indicate vitamin D deficiency. Badsha H, Daher M, Ooi Kong K. Clin Rheumatol. 2009 Mar 10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19277814 DOI: 10.1007/s10067-009-1146-7

In the July 2005 FASEB Journal, Adrian F. Gombart of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his colleagues reported that vitamin D boosts production in white blood cells of one of the antimicrobial compounds that defends the body against germs.\n\nImmediately, Cannell says, the proverbial lightbulb went on in his head: Maybe the high doses of vitamin D that he had been prescribing to virtually all the men on his ward had boosted their natural arsenal of the antimicrobial, called cathelicidin, and protected them from flu. Cannell had been administering the vitamin D because his patients, like many other people in the industrial world, had shown a deficiency:

Heaney RP. Functional indices of vitamin D status and ramifications of vitamin D deficiency.Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6 Suppl):1706S-9S. Review.PMID: 15585791 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Maghbooli Z, Hossein-Nezhad A, Karimi F, Shafaei AR, Larijani B. Correlation between vitamin D(3) deficiency and insulin resistance in pregnancy. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2007 Jul 2; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 17607661 [PubMed - as supplied by publish

Gonzalez G, Alvarado JN, Rojas A, Navarrete C, Velasquez CG, Arteaga E. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Chilean healthy postmenopausal women with normal sun exposure: additional evidence for a worldwide concern. Menopause. 2007 May-Jun;14(3

Harinarayan CV, Ramalakshmi T, Prasad UV, Sudhakar D, Srinivasarao PV, Sarma KV, Kumar EG. High prevalence of low dietary calcium, high phytate consumption, and vitamin D deficiency in healthy south Indians. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Apr;85(4):1062-7. PMID

Faiz S, Panunti B, Andrews S. The epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. J La State Med Soc. 2007 Jan-Feb;159(1):17-20; quiz 20, 55. PMID: 17396471 [PubMed - in process]

Heaney RP. Long-latency deficiency disease: insights from calcium and vitamin D. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Nov;78(5):912-9. Review. PMID: 14594776 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Primary vitamin D deficiency in adults.\nDrug Ther Bull. 2006 Apr;44(4):25-9. Review.\nPMID: 16617932 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Chatfield SM, Brand C, Ebeling PR, Russell DM. Vitamin D deficiency in general medical inpatients in summer and winter. Intern Med J. 2007 Jun;37(6):377-82. PMID: 17535381 [PubMed - in process]

Guarding Against the Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency By Tiesha D. Johnson, BSN, RN LE Magazine May 2007 Print Friendly

Guarding Against the Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency By Tiesha D. Johnson, BSN, RN LE Magazine May 2007

Vitamin D deficiency an important, common, and easily treatable cardiovascular risk factor?\nLee JH, O'Keefe JH, Bell D, Hensrud DD, Holick MF.\nJ Am Coll Cardiol. 2008 Dec 9;52(24):1949-56. Review.\nPMID: 19055985

Low levels of vitamin D may raise a person's risk of premature death, a study by Johns Hopkins researchers shows. The research followed other recent studies showing low levels of vitamin D are linked to certain cancers, diabetes, and bone and immune system problems, but this is the first research to connect vitamin D deficiency to a higher risk of death

Vitamin D Deficiency in Older Men.\nOrwoll E, Nielson CM, Marshall LM, Lambert L, Holton KF, Hoffman AR, Barrett-Connor E, Shikany JM, Dam T, Cauley JA; for the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study Group.\nJ Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Jan 27. [Epub ahead of print]\nPMID: 19174492

Vitamin D Deficiency in the Morbidly Obese. Buffington C, Walker B, Cowan GS Jr, Scruggs D. Obes Surg. 1993 Nov;3(4):421-424. PMID: 10757956 These data suggest that low vitamin D may be associated with obesity per se. Hypovitaminosis D, when it is found in post-bariatric surgery patients, may not be caused by the surgery since it may have been present to some degree pre-operatively.

Vitamin D, nutritional deficiency, and the medical paradigm. Heaney RP. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Nov;88(11):5107-8. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 14602734