Letter from the Director

I am also thankful for my great GrassrootsHealth staff. They do so much for our organization that goes beyond their jobs. They all believe firmly in the cause and definitely show it with their own contacts with their families and friends. And I am thankful for the scientists we are privileged to work with. Their science and their participation are the backbone of the organization. Our staff and some of our panel scientists are working together on the seminar coming up - Vitamin D for Public Health - Integrating Sunshine, Supplements and Measurement for Optimal Health. I'd love for you all to consider coming, and to share the information of this educational seminar with others.

The seminar is shaping up to be a gathering of activists, from the exhibitors to the attendees and speakers. Those coming are indeed eager to share and learn new ways of promoting public health.

Carole Baggerly 

Director, GrassrootsHealth

A Public Health Promotion & Research Organization

Moving Research into Practice NOW!

Let's take a few minutes to look back to when we founded GrassrootsHealth in 2007. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Vitamin D Research

A search of PubMed reveals that there were only 749 research papers published in 2007 concerning vitamin D. Most of those papers dealt with bone and skeletal health - not disease prevention.

That same search reveals 2051 papers published in 2014, and we are not even done yet! (2186 in 2013).

Also, there is increasing research and acceptance to the findings that vitamin D can indeed promote health, as witnessed by doctors now encouraging their patients to take vitamin D supplements and some even being pro-active with vitamin D testing (in 2007 many doctors denied their patients vitamin D blood tests when asked, citing it was a waste of money).

GrassrootsHealth Scientists' Call to Action

One of the cornerstones of GrassrootsHealth is its panel of 42 scientists and the first published press release of GrassrootsHealth - our Call to Action. We wanted to attack this prevention problem from a different direction, and it has been very successful. 42 scientists agree that:

• 40-75% of the world is vitamin D deficient.
• 4000 IU vitamin D per day can be considered a safe upper intake level for adults aged 19 and older.
• The public should have vitamin D serum levels between 40 and 60 nanograms/milliliter (100-150 nanomoles/liter) to prevent disease.

This consensus is now commonly accepted by many in the medical community and has been quoted in books, such as The Vitamin D Solution by Michael Holick, PhD, MD. It is also included as part of a recommendation from The Vitamin D Society, an advocacy group in Canada.

Specific Findings Yield Big Results

When we started GrassrootsHealth most of the research with respect  to vitamin D was on bone health and a growing amount on cancer. Evidence showed that circulating blood levels of 25(OH)D between 40-60 ng/ml could reduce the incidence of breast cancer by up to 77% and other cancers by varying amounts.

We are thankful now for new research on vitamin D during pregnancy that shows some amazing results in a very short time period. One outcome is the reduction of preterm births, potentially by 50% or more when pregnant mothers have a 25(OH)D measurement of 40-60 ng/ml. We are taking steps to move this research into practice in local community centers through our Protect our Children NOW! project. It is a project that can be done quickly, and findings can be reported (there is no speculation whether a baby is preterm or not, it is based on gestation time).

The Protect our Children NOW! project is up and running and we can present it to any interested community center or public health officer in the country. Together, we can make an impact and we are thankful for those that are willing to act with us.

Thankful for D*action

D*action was started in 2009, and we have had over 10,000 participants. 74% of D*action participants come in to their first test already taking some level of vitamin D supplements.

We have 210 participants who have completed 10 or more tests! Thank you for staying with D*action for the 5 years it takes to run those tests and thank you for your data and consistency. It is very helpful for our data analysis and studies to have multiple tests from each participant spread out over time. Ideally, we would like participants to take a test every six months.

I am going to take a minute and express my thanks on behalf of many of you. I have heard this expressed many times, so I am just the pen to put it on paper (or the typist to put it in the word processor).

Thank you, Carole Baggerly, for your dedication, your drive, your intellect and your founding of GrassrootsHealth. It is truly a one-of-a-kind non-profit and has found a unique niche in getting research into practice. You have taken a bunch of individual scientists and united them under one banner. You have allowed research to get more press and take hold with the medical community.

Thank you for your drive. You never stop trying to make the world a better place, a place without disease.  

Thank you from all the participants, scientists, and people you have touched!

Susan Siljander       

Marketing Director, GrassrootsHealth

A Public Health Promotion & 

Moving Research into Practice NOW!

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You can prevent disease if just one more person finds out about the preventative properties of vitamin D and starts moving their blood serum levels to 40-60 ng/ml.