Vitamin D tips
Kim Templeton, an orthopedic surgeon at Kansas University Hospital, and other researchers have developed the following tips about vitamin D:
• Educate yourself. Learn whether you are at risk for a vitamin D deficiency. Those most at risk include breast-fed infants, older adults, people with limited sun exposure, individuals with dark skin, people with fat malabsorption, and obese individuals.
• Talk to a physician. At your annual checkup, ask about your risk for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D needs vary by age, race and other factors, and certain people have more difficulty absorbing the nutrient.
• Spend 30 to 45 minutes in the sun each week. Vitamin D is mostly produced in the skin after UV exposure from the sun. However, try to avoid sunlight between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Eat a well-balanced diet. Vitamin D can be derived from milk, fatty fish, egg yolks and yogurt. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with milk allergy, lactose intolerance and a strict vegetarian diet.
• Take a supplement with caution. If you don’t already, start taking a daily multivitamin and make sure it contains vitamin D. If you are at risk for vitamin D deficiency, your doctor may recommend that you take a larger daily supplement of vitamin D.
Several different forms of vitamin D supplements are available on the market. Dr. Daniel Aires, director of the division of dermatology at Kansas University Medical Center, recommends taking a vitamin D supplement that has D3, or cholecalciferol, on the label. He recommends 1,000 units a day to almost all of his patients.
Vitamin D is drawing a lot of attention these days.
“It turns out to be super important, and more and more is being learned about it all of the time,” said Dr. Daniel Aires, director of the division of dermatology at Kansas University Medical Center. “I think of it as doing at least three things and probably a whole lot more.”
Those three things:
• Keeping bones strong.
• Helping prevent autoimmune diseases.
• Preventing cancer.
“The new thinking is, it’s one thing to be deficient, but it’s another thing to have enough,” he said. “At this point, nobody really has great data for how much is enough.”
But many doctors, including Aires, believe a good portion of the population is vitamin D deficient.
“One doctor here has been testing a lot of people for vitamin D. He finds more than half of the people he tests have low levels,” Aires said.
A simple blood test can determine an individual’s level of vitamin D.
Aires said the recommended daily intake is 400 international units a day, which is the amount someone would get by spending less than a minute outside. He expects the recommendation to increase with time.
“If you go outside on a sunny day with your shirt off for about a half hour, you are going to get something like 10,000 units of vitamin D,” he said. “The recommendations will probably end up somewhere in the neighborhood of what you might get if you spent an hour outside every day. That’s my guess, but at this point that really is a guess.”
There are two ways to get vitamin D.
One is by mouth, taking supplements and consuming vitamin D-rich foods such as milk and salmon. One 3.5-ounce glass of whole milk contains about 40 units and a 3.5-ounce piece of cooked salmon contains about 360 units. Aires suggests taking a supplement with some fat, so the body absorbs more of the vitamin. He said a glass of skim milk and cereal won’t necessarily cut it.
“I always tell my patients to be sure and take it with olive oil or a fried egg or something else with some fat in it.”
The other way to get vitamin D is through the skin, by exposing it to the sun. Sunscreen does make a difference. An SPF as low as eight can reduce vitamin D absorption by 95 percent.
“My advice is to be sun smart and to take vitamin D by mouth,” Aires said. “I don’t recommend people going outdoors just for the purpose of getting vitamin D.”
That’s because skin cancer is a concern, Aires said. About 15,000 Americans die each year from it.
“The thing is those deaths are, for the most part, preventable by avoiding sunburns and just being sun smart.”
He suggests taking a vitamin D supplement that has D3 or cholecalciferol on the label. He recommends 1,000 units a day to almost all of his patients.
“I don’t generally recommend a lot of vitamin supplements,” he said. “But, to my knowledge, there has been nothing negative about taking vitamin D for people with healthy kidneys.”
In fact, he takes 4,000 units.
“It’s absolutely being connected to more things,” he said of vitamin D deficiency. Those things include: increased death rate, heart trouble and weight issues.
Eudora resident Rose Polok, 38, who had been suffering from tiredness and an inability to lose weight, was diagnosed as being vitamin D deficient on June 2.
“I was surprised,” she said. “It’s not something you really think of.”
She had a blood calcidiol level of 17 nanograms per milliliter, which is considered mildly deficient. A level of less than 14 is considered severely deficient. An optimal level is between 35 and 55. Polok’s doctor recommended that she take 6,000 units a day for two months and then get retested. She paid about $12 for an over-the-counter supply of 120 pills.
Polok already has noticed a difference.
“When I work out, I have noticed that I’ve been able to do more and not be tired after working out,” she said. “I also have noticed that I seem to feel better throughout the day.”
Comments
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alm77 (anonymous) says…
My doctor ran some typical blood tests last week including this one. They called to say the only "abnormality" was that my Vitamin D is above average. She asked if I drank a lot of milk and I told her I hate it and only have it on cereal. I did tell her that I spend tons of time outside. What I didn't tell her was that I almost never wear sunscreen. Guess she figured that out on her own.
justthefacts (anonymous) says…
I'm too pale for much sun bathing (and busy~!). But I do take 2000 units per day of supplemental D. Might want to up that to 4000. And eat fat with it!
inspire (anonymous) says…
Okay here's one of my soapboxes. If sunscreen worked why does the rate of skin cancer continue to rise and why have skin cancers become more deadly? The sunscreens with all their unpronounceable ingredients are very likely contributing to this Vit D deficiency and to increasing skin cancer rates! Good ole fashioned sunshine in moderate amounts is healthy- it's the way nature intended- and there are probably so many other good reasons to be outdoors more. Take supplements in the winter months but just get your butt outside for some great Vit D. Btw, my other soapbox is low fat dieting. If that worked, wouldn't we have seen a decrease in heart disease by now? and so i digress... We all must think for ourselves more and stop believing everything we read/hear/see about nutrition and health. Remember most of what is in the media is put there by folks with an agenda. Not that the media is to blame- it's just the way things are these days.
budwhysir (anonymous) says…
Anything to help the tan stores and the cancer doctors of the future.
woodenfleaeater (anonymous) says…
Who cares about Vitamin D? The more important thing here is Does she have a boyfriend?
rodentgirl16 (anonymous) says…
Her arm and shoulder look like a leather bag. Let's see how good she looks in about 15 years... Of course, I'm probably just jealous because I'm pasty white most of the year.
bangaranggerg (anonymous) says…
There was a story under that picture I guess, but who cares?
gontek (anonymous) says…
I think the LJW should do more stories about Vitamin D, as well as bikini and swimwear fashion, use of cell phones at pools, use of apartment pools, public pools, uh, outdoor tanning methods, umm, chlorine in pools, concrete around pools, poolside furniture, and more stories that feature photos of people hanging around pools. Yeah, I'd *read* that.
beatrice (anonymous) says…
Comedian Rita Rudner, commenting on the health risks of sunbathing had the following to say about young women trying to tan: “Fry…you homewreckers!”
woodenfleaeater (anonymous) says…
There's some days I just wish I were a yellow and orange beach towel.
appleaday (anonymous) says…
Inspire -- Sunscreen prevents skin damage and skin cancer if you actually use it regularly. Most people don't.
autie (anonymous) says…
I'm currently dosing with vitamin G, with tonic and twist of lime (vitamin C). Nothing like an ice cold, crisp vitamin G on a hot afternoon.
Did_I_say_that (DIST) says…
woodenfleaeater (Anonymous) says…
"There's some days I just wish I were a yellow and orange beach towel."
Be careful what you wish for; rumor has it that Drew Carey owns a yellow and orange beach towel.
wysiwyg69 (anonymous) says…
wow, I mean WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
woodenfleaeater (anonymous) says…
Let me clarify....That orange and yellow beach towel. The one in the picture. Not the one Mr. Carey has.
Drew_Carey (anonymous) says…
Damn right I do and I got the hot babes to go with it.
kmat (anonymous) says…
and of course, oeralinda had to make a racist comment. Wouldn't expect anything less.
Multi - there's a difference between making yourself bronze your whole young life and having some color.
labmonkey (anonymous) says…
More pictures like this please LJWorld!!! Good Job.
Dateable_Shelter_Dude (anonymous) says…
I see you all are hanging out at the pool huh. I click on enlarge photo so I can smell the sunscreen. I'm saved the photo and put it as my wallpaper so when it's hot in here...well I guess that's just going to make it hotter won't it.
tangential_reasoners_anonymous (anonymous) says…
Yeah, I'm a pepper, too.
labmonkey (anonymous) says…
To quote Outkast:
"A little vitamin C, and vitamin D, and vitamin me."
Newell_Post (anonymous) says…
Nancy Boy, we finally agree on something.
think_about_it (anonymous) says…
The women who grew up in the 60's and 70's are old now and no one wants to look at them anyway. It doesn't matter if the girls use sunscreen now, when they hit 40 they will still be 40 and look like it. Sunscreen or not.
KUnlv13 (anonymous) says…
Was in town recently on vacation & happened to stay briefly at Parkway Commons and Highpointe with former classmates that reside there; and wow, the number of over-priveledged self-absorbed students not doing internships, summer school, holding even part-time work, or volunteering was astounding. A full pool every day with the same young adults boozin'. Defintely in for a rude awakening upon graduation when their shoddy resume is tossed aside; unless of course Mom&Pops has something lined up for them. Or maybe I'm just jealous...Lol.
yankeevet (anonymous) says…
Wow; nice pic..........huh?? vitamin D?
defenestrator (anonymous) says…
Bing-Bing!
lionbacker (anonymous) says…
whatup whatup, get ready honey cause I am moving into that apartment complex. your daddy is coming home.
Dateable_Shelter_Dude (anonymous) says…
Moar!
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galler...
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
Inspire: To answer your question~~ The ozone layer used to filter much of the damaging UV rays, but since the 1980s, a hole in that layer has been growing--allowing UV to reach the earth at a high rate; because damage from the sun can sometimes take decades to "simmer" before resulting in cancer; because a huge cohort (baby boomers) who sunbathed a lot in their youth are reaching an age at which sun damage triggers cancer cells; because many people still don't use sunscreen or use it adequately, especially in cooler months when (surprise) the damaging rays are just as prevalent.... Need any other reasons?
In other words--there are many reasons why skin cancers, including very deadly ones, are rising, despite the invention and use (by some) of sunscreen.
"Good old-fashioned sunshine," as you call it, is NOT the good, old-fashioned sunshine of 50 or even 25 years ago. Again, the widening hole in the ozone layer allows increasing amounts of damaging UV rays to reach the earth.
We need some sunshine, as this article explains. But nobody needs to lie around and bake. Take a good look at those cute chicks, guys... In a few years, their skin will make them look 10 years (or more) older than they are.
According to Dr. Templeton (see sidebar of article above), we need between 30-45 minutes of sun per week--and not between the peak "blazing sun" hours, but in the morning or evening. That's it! Break that down to a "per day" number and it's really a very small bit of time.
Snoop (anonymous) says…
OeraLinda (Anonymous) says…
If she stays in the sun any longer she is going to become a protected class under affirmative action. A good strategy in this job market.
******
Hey OeraLinda cracka ass cracka redneck racist skank why don’t you expound on that comment a bit.
Is your tin trailer a little hot these days causing you to lash out?
Is there ever a story posted here where you don’t make some backhanded racist comment?
I mean seriously. Will you be burning BIG blazing crosses in your yard on the 4th?