Vitamin D

Vitamin D in pregnancy and lactation: maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes from human and animal studies. Kovacs CS. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Aug;88(2):520S-528S. Review. PMID: 18689394 Dosing recommendations for women during pregnancy and lactation might be best directed toward ensuring that the neonate is vitamin D-sufficient and that this sufficiency is maintained during infancy and beyond. A dose of vitamin D that provides 25(OH)D sufficiency in the mother during pregnancy should provide normal cord blood concentrations of 25(OH)D. Research has shown that during lactation, supplements administered directly to the infant can easily achieve vitamin D sufficiency; the mother needs much higher doses (100 µg or 4000 IU per day) to achieve adult-normal 25(OH)D concentrations in her exclusively breastfed infant. In addition, the relation (if any) of vitamin D insufficiency in the fetus or neonate to long-term nonskeletal outcomes such as type 1 diabetes and other chronic diseases needs to be investigated.

"Friday Oct 16, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Results of a new trial presented at an international research conference in Bruges suggest that vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk of premature births and boost the health of newborn babies, the Times reported Oct 10. Vitamin D deficiency, which is common everywhere, has been linked in many previous studies to a variety of illnesses from heart disease, cancers, multiple sclerosis and many others. In the trial, Dr. Bruce Hollis and Dr. Carol Wagner of the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, gave one group of pregnant women 4,000 IUs per day of vitamin D at about three months of pregnancy. They gave a second group 400 IUs per day, amounts recommended by U.S. and UK"

"The major factor which stimulates weight gain in winter months is vitamin D. Human bodies get vitamin D from sunlight; as the hours of sunlight become less with the onset of fall, so our levels of vitamin D decrease. Low levels of vitamin D affect the brain's production of the hormone leptin. Leptin plays a vital role in controlling appetite and metabolism; so as the amount of vitamin D in our bodies decreases so does the leptin, and this causes an increase in our appetite and a change in our metabolism. Researchers at Aberdeen University found that obese people had 10% less vitamin D than people of average weight. The study also found that excess body fat absorbed vitamin D so the body couldn't use it. Scientists now believe that there is a direct correlation between obesity and low levels of vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency is the cause of common obesity. Foss YJ. Med Hypotheses. 2009 Mar;72(3):314-21. Epub 2008 Dec 2. PMID: 19054627 doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2008.10.005 Common obesity and the metabolic syndrome may therefore result from an anomalous adaptive winter response. The stimulus for the winter response is proposed to be a fall in vitamin D. The synthesis of vitamin D is dependent upon the absorption of radiation in the ultraviolet-B range of sunlight. At ground level at mid-latitudes, UV-B radiation falls in the autumn and becomes negligible in winter. It has previously been proposed that vitamin D evolved in primitive organisms as a UV-B sensitive photoreceptor with the function of signaling changes in sunlight intensity. It is here proposed that a fall in vitamin D in the form of circulating calcidiol is the stimulus for the winter response, which consists of an accumulation of fat mass (obesity) and the induction of a winter metabolism (the metabolic syndrome). Vitamin D deficiency can account for the secular trends in the prevalence of obesity and for individual differences in its onset and severity. It may be possible to reverse the increasing prevalence of obesity by improving vitamin D status.

Obesity and Vitamin D One third of Americans are obese. While much of that epidemic is surely due to playing Nintendo instead of baseball, or the consumption of soft drinks instead of water, does that explain it all? Is it a coincidence that the twin epidemics of obesity and vitamin D deficiency are occurring together?

Evidence for alteration of the vitamin D-endocrine system in obese subjects. Bell NH, Epstein S, Greene A, Shary J, Oexmann MJ, Shaw S. J Clin Invest. 1985 Jul;76(1):370-3. PMID: 2991340 The results provide evidence that alteration of the vitamin D-endocrine system in obese subjects is characterized by secondary hyperparathyroidism which is associated with enhanced renal tubular reabsorption of calcium and increased circulating 1,25(OH)2D. The reduction of serum 25-OHD in them is attributed to feedback inhibition of hepatic synthesis of the precursor by the increased serum 1,25(OH)2D.

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.

Decreased bioavailability of vitamin D in obesity. Wortsman J, Matsuoka LY, Chen TC, Lu Z, Holick MF. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Sep;72(3):690-3. Erratum in: Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 May;77(5):1342. PMID: 10966885 Conclusions: Obesity-associated vitamin D insufficiency is likely due to the decreased bioavailability of vitamin D3 from cutaneous and dietary sources because of its deposition in body fat compartments.

Hypovitaminosis D in an Italian population of healthy subjects and hospitalized patients. Romagnoli E, Caravella P, Scarnecchia L, Martinez P, Minisola S. Br J Nutr. 1999 Feb;81(2):133-7. PMID: 10450331 The results of the present study emphasize the importance of 25-hydroxyvitamin D measurement, and the need to increase vitamin D intake in Italy; foodstuff fortification and supplement use must be considered in order to prevent negative effects of vitamin D deficiency on skeletal integrity. All hospitalized patients, both in summer and in winter, are characterized by the highest prevalence of hypovitaminosis D, especially the older patients. Medical inpatients may be at risk for vitamin D deficiency,

Vitamin D effective ultraviolet wavelengths due to scattering in shade. Turnbull DJ, Parisi AV, Kimlin MG. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Sep;96(5):431-6. Epub 2005 Jul 6. PMID: 16005208

"Women from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with insulin resistance showed marked improvement after taking vitamin D supplements, says a study. Von Hurst, nutrition lecturer at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Albany, conducted the study for her doctoral thesis. Insulin resistance is largely symptom-free and sufferers are unaware of their condition. 'Once it has fully developed into type-2 diabetes, it can be treated, but not cured,' says Von Hurst. Von Hurst says that while diet and exercise play a major part in the onset of type-2 diabetes, her findings reinforce the importance of vitamin D from the sun and supplements to prevent type-2 diabetes. She also found evidence of vitamin D increasing bone strength in older women. "

"Ravintolisänä nautittu D-vitamiini lisää eliniän odotetta peräti kahdeksalla vuodella, osoittaa WHO:n syöväntutkimuslaitoksen meta-analyysi. Terveysviranomaiset ovat tehneet valtavan karhunpalveluksen väestölle vähättelemällä vitamiinien hyötyjä ja liioittelemalla niiden vaaroja. Maailman Terveysjärjestön (WHO:n) syöväntutkimuslaitos IARC Lyonissa analysoi 18 suurta D-vitamiinitutkimusta, joihin oli osallistunut 57 311 ihmistä. Heidän terveydentilaansa oli seurattu lähes kuusi vuotta. Sinä aikana 4 777 heistä kuoli. "

"D-vitamiini ja verenpainetauti liittyvät toisiinsa, osoitti suuri amerikkalainen sairaanhoitajien terveysseuranta. Nyt Connecticutin yliopiston professorit William White ja Pooja Luthra aloittavat uuden kolmivuotisen tutkimuksen selvittääkseen D-vitamiinin puutteen merkitystä verenpainetaudin synnyssä ja hoidossa. Myös Kuopiossa alkaa vuonna 2011 tutkimus D-vitamiinin ja sydän- ja verisuonitautien yhteyksien selvittämiseksi. D-vitamiinin puutteen yhdeksi syyksi on paljastunut geenivirhe."

"D-vitamiinin puute on yleistä ikääntyvillä ihmisillä ja se heikentää aivotoimintaa, osoittaa uusi tutkimus. Suosittelen ikääntyville D-vitamiinia päivittäin niin paljon, että seerumin D-vitamiinin pitoisuus (25-OHD) ylittää 75 nmol/l. Yleensä siihen tarvitaan vähintään 50- 75 mikrogrammaa D-vitamiinia päivässä. Bostonissa vuosina 2003-2007 tehtyyn tutkimukseen osallistui 318 kotipalvelun piirissä olevaa henkilöä, iältään 65-99 vuotta (keski-ikä 73 vuotta). Heistä 231 (72,6 %) oli naisia. Kaikista mitattiin seerumin D-vitamiinin pitoisuus (25-OHD). Hyvin matalia pitoisuuksia (alle 25 nmol/l) oli 14,5 prosentill"

"D-vitamiini näyttää ehkäisevän B-solulymfooman (imukudossyöpä) etenemistä ja potilaiden kuolemaa, ilmenee uudesta Mayo-klinikan ja Iowan yliopiston tutkimuksesta. Se esitettiin tällä viikolla New Orleansissa pidetyssä veritauteihin erikoistuneiden lääkäreiden vuosikokouksessa (American Society of Hematology). Taudin suomalaisissa hoitosuosituksissa D-vitamiinia ei mainita sanallakaan. "Nämä havainnot ovat toistaiseksi vahvimmat näytöt D-vitamiinin merkityksestä syövän ennusteessa", tulkitsee tutkimusta johtanut endokrinologi Matthew Drake (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA). Hän kaipaa lisää tutkimusta tästä aiheesta, sillä D-vitamiinin anto ruoan lisänä saattaa auttaa taudin hoidossa. "

Vitamin D production in human skin occurs only when UV radiation exceeds a threshold. From simulations of UV irradiances, the VitD-ez www page ( http://zardoz.nilu.no/~olaeng/fastrt/VitD-ez.html) computes the daily duration of dermal vitamin D production at midday when UV radiation exceeds the required threshold. The VitD-ez www page is a simplified version of the more complex VitD web page ( http://zardoz.nilu.no/~olaeng/fastrt/VitD.html). The simplified VitD-ez www page is convenient for users unfamiliar to radiative transfer modelling, because the model input is limited and more intuitive.

"Daily duration of vitamin D synthesis in human skin with relation to latitude, total ozone, altitude, ground cover, aerosols and cloud thickness."

Duration of vitamin D synthesis from weather model data for use in prospective epidemiological studies. Edvardsen K, Engelsen O, Brustad M. Int J Biometeorol. 2009 Sep;53(5):451-9. Epub 2009 May 15. PMID: 19444487

Ultraviolet exposure scenarios: risks of erythema from recommendations on cutaneous vitamin D synthesis. Webb AR, Engelsen O. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;624:72-85. PMID: 18348448 DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-77574-6_6

The solar UV radiation level needed for cutaneous production of vitamin D3 in the face. A study conducted among subjects living at a high latitude (68 degrees N). Edvardsen K, Brustad M, Engelsen O, Aksnes L. Photochem Photobiol Sci. 2007 Jan;6(1):57-62. Epub 2006 Nov 10. PMID: 17200737