Vitamin D - The Untold Secret

Vitamin D is a hormone essential for many functions in the body. The most well-known is for bone health. Deficiencies can lead to diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis.

More recently it has become apparent that people who have low vitamin D levels may be at increased risk of other serious dis-eases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes and cancers such as breast, bowel, prostate and lymphoma amongst others. Studies have shown that those patients diagnosed with melanoma in summer do better than those diagnosed in winter and it has been postulated that this is because of the increased vitamin D levels during summer helping the body fight the cancer.

Usually Vitamin D is made in the skin in response to the sun’s UV rays. However, Vitamin D deficiency is becoming much more common as the anti-skin cancer message spreads. Sunscreen blocks out the UV rays too well!

We recommend that the best way to get enough Vitamin D is to expose a large part of the body for a very short period (not enough to burn) in the middle of the day. Getting exposure at the ends of the day is not sufficient as the UVB rays necessary for Vitamin D production do not reach the Earth when the sun is lower in the sky.

Additionally, as one gets older, the enzyme that makes Vitamin D in the skin stops working which is why people over the age of 70 are susceptible to Vitamin D deficiency and potential bone and other problems.

Very few foods other than cod liver oil have enough Vitamin D to supplement one’s diet naturally so vitamin supplementation is recommended.

To have the best effect, blood vitamin D levels should be right near the top of the normal range (approximately 120nmol/L) and supplementation of between 2000-5000IU may be re-quired.

Please ask your doctor about having your vitamin D levels checked and our Skin Cancer Prevention Program which includes Vitamin D supplementation.