I know, you’re probably all sick of reading me writing about Vitamin D. After all, we had the Vitamin D blog-watch last autumn and then the Vitamin D post-winter review. However there’ve been some very interesting articles recently and I’m convinced that vitamin D is such a crucial supplement, especially for those of us who live so far north in the northern hemisphere. I thought I’d summarise some of the latest news for anyone who is interested in the vitamin D debate.
Vitamin D - an important supplement but don't overdo it
- I thought I would start off with a warning about vitamin D supplements. Dr. Davis from the Heart Scan Blog has come across five people who have taken the Nature Made brand and seen almost no improvement to their vitamin D blood levels. He did actually get a response to his post from Nature Made but the response doesn’t seem to have much substance to it. I don’t know anything about the Nature Made brand, but it’s a warning about vitamin supplements in general. If possible, test yourself before and after taking them to see if the supplement is actually doing what it should do, and be wary of the very cheapest brands unless you trust the provider.
- Eric Cressey interviewed Dr. Rick Cohen from Bioletics where they use testing of nutrients to help athletes to improve their performance. It fits in here because there is particular focus in the interview on the vitamin D deficiency that is found in so many athletes and the improvements that can been seen in performance if vitamin D levels are improved. Here’s also some fascinating information about iron. Most women have iron deficiency (unsurprisingly) while a lot of men have excess iron from eating more calories and red meat than women. Excess iron can result in the development of heart disease, cancer and immune disorders in later life and is linked to hemochromatosis, a genetic disorder where the body absorbs iron too easily and which I am particularly aware of since a member of my own family suffers from this. A reminder that you should check your levels of all nutrients before supplementing them rather than just assuming that you are deficient.
- Staying on the theme of taking care with supplementation, the Vitamin D Newsletter responded to a letter from someone who had taken so much vitamin D that they ended up toxic. It was fascinating reading about an issue I had previously never considered.
- ITB Health have done an article about The Vitamin D Solution, a new book by Dr. Michael F. Holick that identifies the causes of vitamin D deficiency, outlines why it is important for health and provides solutions to our vitamin D deficiencies. It certainly sounds like a book to direct towards any vitamin D naysayers.
- For a couple of specific health reminders we’ve had a few , No Bull Muscle posted up a short article to remind women that vitamin D can help maintain bone density since vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium. So if you are supplementing with vitamin D then you can optimise the calcium that occurs naturally in the foods we eat all the time. Dr Briffa also recently highlighted various pieces of research that suggest that vitamin D supplementation may be linked with reduced risk of cancer, including breast cancer.
- Finally, in case you were thinking that Vitamin D is the only benefit from the sun, Chris on Zen to Fitness provided a reminder on all the other benefits, so don’t think you can get away with sitting inside all day and supplementing.
Hopefully there’s been some new information for people who are interested in supplementation and how it impacts on their performance. I’m certainly interested in that book and may see if I can get hold of a copy at the library.
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