| The Vitamin D Craze |
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Popular health literature touts the virtues of Vitamin D, claiming it will prevent everything from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease. Advertisers constantly persuade us to buy foods and supplements packed with Vitamin D, calcium, and other nutrients. Responding to the hype, the governments of the United States and Canada asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to evaluate the validity of these claims and to recommend dietary requirements for both Vitamin D and calcium.
The IOM committee released its report in November of 2010. Over one thousand studies and reports were reviewed and the findings were actually quite straightforward: the committee found that Vitamin D and calcium play a significant role in bone health, which was not surprising as we have known this for years. However, the report found no evidence that Vitamin D or calcium play a role in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, cognitive function, fertility, and other conditions. Furthermore, excessive intake of Vitamin D and calcium has been linked to kidney and other ailments. With so many foods being fortified with Vitamin D and calcium, excessive intake can occur.
The committee also found that most Americans and Canadians are receiving a healthy amount of both nutrients, with certain exceptions. Teenage girls may be consuming too little calcium and postmenopausal women may be consuming too much. When it comes to Vitamin D, people who rarely go outside and those with darker skin pigments may be deficient. The average requirement for Vitamin D was found to be 400 IU per day, with some older adults possibly needing up to 800 IU per day. Average calcium requirements vary by age: children 1-3 years 500 mg/day, children 4-8 years 800 mg/day, adolescents 1300 mg/day, women 19-50 and men 19-71 800 mg/day, and women over 50 and men over 71 1000 mg/day.
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-for-Calcium-and-Vitamin-D/Report-Brief.aspx?page=1.
By: the Physicians of Health Butler
[8/30/2011]