Had your Vitamin D levels checked lately?

I’ll bet you haven’t. And if you are over 50, I ask why not? Most people over 50 in the United States are Vitamin D deficient - and you simply can’t get enough from food and still stay within reasonable caloric guidelines. And unless you’re living in the outdoors and naked - and not using sunblock - you’re not getting enough that way either.

Get your D checked.

Ask your doc for a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test. It costs $35 to $45, but there is no other way to check your levels. If they’re below 50, ask about taking more, especially because some supplements contain less D than the label claims.

The newer federal guidelines for Vitamin D3 (600 to 800 IU daily) are better than the old ones, but still fall way short of what experts now recommend. As a cancer survivor with osteoporosis, and being over 50, this was really critical for me. My local doctor didn’t know that he should be testing me until last year when I had it tested at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, as part of my annual cancer checkup.

Once I explained to my local doc in Reno, what they told me there, he got right onboard.

The government has finally agreed that you need more. An expert committee convened by the Institute of Medicine has recommended a 200% increase in daily D for adults under the age of 50, and 30% to 50% more after 50.

For adults under 60 - who are otherwise healthy and don’t have risk factors such as cancer or osteoporosis - the recommended dose is now 1,000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily. For persons over 60, the daily dosage goes up to 1,200 IU. Taking other risk factors into account, I take 4,000 IU in the winter time ( I live in Reno, Nevada and we have a lot of short dark days here in the winter), then reduce that to 3,000 IU in the summer when I’m outdoors gardening and cycling.

Be sure to take Vitamin D3 and not plain D. The D3 is the type your skin makes naturally and is the most active form. You can buy it most cheaply, as I do, at Costco. I buy the Kirkland brand, which is small softgels that are easy to swallow.

-maven

Do Vitamin D and Omega-3s live up to their promise?

Here’s another case of government interference in health care - the National Institutes of Health is funding the largest study of its kind into whether or not Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids really do prevent cancer, heart disease or stroke.

It’s going to be a five year clinical trial named VITAL for VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL.

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Kids not getting enough Vitamin D for future good health

Here’s something that I’d forgotten: Vitamin D isn’t a vitamin. It’s a hormone. That helps to understand why it’s so important.

Vitamin D: another weapon in the arsenal against cognitive decline

According to a sizeable study published in the May issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, getting plenty of Vitamin D - the sunshine vitamin - may help keep you sharper as you age.

The study measured the vitamin D blood levels in more than 3,000 men aged 40 to 79, and then assessed their performance on standard cognitive tests. They discovered that men with lower levels of the vitamin scored lower on measures of cognitive agility when compared to those with higher levels - even after adjusting for differences like depression, physical activity levels and education. These factors all affect cognitive ability and agility as we age.

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More reasons to get additional Vitamin D

As a cancer survivor I know the importance of Vitamin D supplements to help keep my breast cancer from returning, but my endocrinologist also tells me that it’s critical in keeping my bones strong, since the cancer meds have a way of making them brittle. So I take 3,000 IU daily of Vitamin D3 capsules. That’s right, 3,000. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) - which seems to come from nutrition studies conducted in the 15th century or maybe the 1950’s - is still hanging in there with 400 IU for those under 70 years of age, and 600 IU for those over 70.

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Heart failure and hip fractures- the connection

According to the Hohns Hopkins Medical Letter, Health After 50, researchers have found that among more than 16,000 feart patients, those with heart failure were four times more likely to sustain a fracture ( primarily at the hip) than patients who had other types of heart condition.

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Do you get enough Vitamin D?

I’ve been beating this Vitamin D drum for several years now, since the Unviersity of San Diego came out with their ground breaking research on the importance of the vitamin in so far as keeping strong, healthy bones - in addition to perhaps keeping cancer at bay.

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