It seems that this is going to be a regular blog-watch theme, but there is so much new information always appearing about this particular vitamin and it appears to be so crucial to performance, that discussions about Vitamin D become central to a blog like this.
Vitamin D - a vital supplement
I have finally managed to plough through the 2,000+ articles that had collected on my Google Reader during the last three weeks (I had zero time to read during the week before I went on holiday and last week had no free time either). On my way through I found a significant number of articles about Vitamin D and a few other topics which will appear over the next few weeks.
To top this off, I heard an article on the radio news at the weekend while waiting for an update about the Tour de France and the Wimbledon (Tennis) Men’s Finals. I was impressed to find that they were discussing a recent study connecting Vitamin D deficiency and pregnancy on mainstream media. This convinced me to do an updating Vitamin D blog-watch this week.
- Robb Wolf does his research thoroughly, saving the rest of us from trawling quite so hard on everything. A while ago he did an article about Vitamins A, D and K including discussion about how they interact. I like his key question which kicks the article off – “What are your needs?” Everyone is different and therefore everyone’s needs are different.
- If you still aren’t sure about exactly how Vitamin D works, then a recent NephroPal article summarises how Vitamin D behaves a bit like an anti-inflammatory hormone. NephroPal is concluding that the requirement for Vitamin D was one of the reasons that humans evolved to be naked. My caveat for this point is that there are several plausible theories for why we should now be naked (if this is something that interests to then it is worth reading The Aquatic Ape hypothesis), so be sure to bear this in mind when you are reading the NephroPal article.
- It was really good to read a detailed review of “The Vitamin D Solution” by Dr. Michael F. Holick, written by Michael Eades. It seems that there is a lot to get your teeth into in this book, although whether Michael Eades has summarised all the best points remains to be seen… I am certainly tempted to get the book and read the detail myself.
- I’ve found a recent update on Vitamin D for improved immunity from viral infections and other ailments from Dr Briffa. A study suggests that those with a Vitamin D level of 38ng/ml or higher were half as likely to suffer from a viral respiratory infection during the study period. Those who were ill suffered with severe symptoms for an average of 2 days instead of 9 days. Dr Briffa has voiced some of his concerns about the study within the article, but I am also concerned about how different the people were. Those with higher levels of Vitamin D may well have had a more robust/clean diet or been more active and have learned about Vitamin D supplementation through the fitness industry. I’ve not had time to read the study so I don’t know if they’ve covered this, but it’s something to think about.
- Obviously, one of the best ways to get your Vitamin D dose is from the sun. Difficult to do all year round unless you live near the equator, but what about the risks of overexposure? General advice is that you want about 20-30 minutes exposure to midday sun without sunscreen before you start to slather on the sunscreen, but Chris at Zen to Fitness has been having some ideas about natural alternatives to sunscreen. In itself, this is a great idea since I find myself applying sunscreen straight out of the shower in the mornings because I can’t guarantee that the opportunity will arise at the right moment once I am outdoors.
- A warning from Dr. William Davis about taking calcium supplements alongside Vitamin D. It seems that the two can interact to create abnormal calcium deposition leading, in the long term, to kidney stones and arthritis (amongst other things). So just be a bit careful about what other things you are supplementing with your Vitamin D.
Every time I write one of these Vitamin D blog-watch articles I think it’s going to be a long time before I find enough to do another one but new research seems to be endlessly appearing on this subject. Have you seen anything else of interest?
I think I’m going to head outside and make the most of the remaining summer sunshine of the day now.
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Hello Ammi,
Always nice to read from people who are on the right side of the sun-block!
Since you seem to be an outdoor-person (and even if not!), I believe you can benefit from the information on my blog and especially this post:
http://thetanningguru.com/do-you-know-how-to-tan