Vitamin D: A global concern

   

Our bodies can obtain vitamin D from diet and make it from sun exposure. But worldwide, an estimated 1 billion people aren't getting enough.

 

If you live north of the line connecting San Francisco to Philadelphia and Athens to Beijing, you may be "D-ficient". The same holds true if you don't get outside for at least a 15-minute daily walk in the sun. African-Americans and others with dark skin, as well as older individuals, tend to have much lower levels of vitamin D, as do people who are overweight or obese.

 

Learn more about what increases your risk for vitamin D deficiency.  

 

Cause for concern 

Research conducted over the past decade suggests that vitamin D plays a much broader disease-fighting role than once thought. Insufficient vitamin D may increase the risk of a host of chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, heart disease, some cancers, and multiple sclerosis, as well as infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, and even the seasonal flu. In industrialized countries, doctors are even seeing the resurgence of rickets, the bone-weakening disease that had been largely eradicated through vitamin D fortification. 

 

Learn more about the complex role of vitamin D in disease prevention. 

 

Making up for low D
Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. Good sources include dairy products and breakfast cereals (both of which are fortified with vitamin D), and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.

 

For most people, the best way to get enough vitamin D is taking a supplement, but the level in most multivitamins (400 IU) is too low. Encouragingly, some manufacturers have begun adding 800 or 1,000 IU of vitamin D to their standard multivitamin preparations. If the multivitamin you take does not have 1,000 IU of vitamin D, you may want to consider adding a separate vitamin D supplement, especially if you don't spend much time in the sun. Talk to your healthcare provider.

 

What type of vitamin D supplement is the best?

Read more about why vitamin D and calcium guidelines recently released by the Institute of Medicine are too low in vitamin D and too high in calcium for bone health.