Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Jerry Hickey is a pharmacist and radio personality and fills the esteemed role of Scientific Director and President of Invite Health. He has spent his professional life analyzing nutritional information and medical studies with the aim of creating the highest quality and most natural nutraceuticals …
Up to 70% of Americans suffer from low levels of vitamin D due to low sunlight for much of the year, avoiding the sun during the summer months, and/or insufficient consumption of food sources. Without an adequate amount of this “sunshine vitamin”, you may become …
About 75 percent of children get ear infections and by one years old, 60 percent will have had at least one.[1] Ear infections occur when fluid is trapped in the middle of the ear. It is a common side effect of a cold, throat infection or even allergies. But a new study from the University of Milan could shed light on the benefit of vitamin D supplementation when it comes to your child’s ear infections.
Researchers from the University in Italy studied 116 children with recurrent otitis media, “three of more episodes in the 6 months prior to the study or four or more episodes in the 12 months prior to the study,” Medpage Today reports. With an average age of 34 months old, most of the children studied are Caucasian and over 80 percent (the placebo group and vitamin D group) had received a vaccine for pneumonia. Researchers reported that over 72 percent of the test group and 84 percent of the placebo group had been breastfeed for three months or more. The children were monitored for six months.
Results of the study showed a significantly lower amount of ear infections (acute otitis media) in the treatment group (given 1000 IU of vitamin C) than the placebo group. Also seen in the results was a reduction in the number of incidences of complicated acute otitis media.
Though Vitamin D is commonly thought of as the “Sunshine Vitamin”, this vitamin actually plays numerous roles throughout your body. The National Institutes of Health reports that vitamin D is also a major factor in immune function and the reduction of inflammation.
“Dr. Susanna Esposito, one of the researchers, noted that as many as 80 percent of children in the study had baseline serum vitamin D levels that were <0 ng/mL. All but two of the children in the treatment group had improvements to levels >30 ng/mL from supplementation, the recommended level for vitamin D. Esposito suggested to doctors that “if you have a child with recurrent otitis media you can check serum levels of vitamin D and if they present below certain levels you can try supplementation,” reported EmpowHER.
*The study advises parents to be sure to consult their child’s doctor before starting them on a vitamin supplementation routine.
Sources:
[2] http://www.medpagetoday.com/
Vitamin D, commonly referred to as the “sunshine vitamin”, is naturally produced in the body through sun exposure but also can be consumed through some foods like fish and eggs and through supplementation. A vitamin D deficiency can occur for a number of reasons, which …
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reported roughly one in four women over the age of 65 have osteoporosis of the hip and spine, a painful and debilitating bone disorder. Yet, this disorder only plagues less than 6% of men over the age of …
You can have enough vitamin D in your blood, have insufficient levels, or really lack it (deficiency). In this study from University California Davis and Rutgers University having low levels of vitamin D accelerated cognitive decline dramatically – at three times a faster rate compared to those with adequate levels.
The researchers analyzed data from 382 diverse men and women with an average age of 76 at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Sacramento. The participants had normal cognitive function or had either mild cognitive impairment which increases the risk for Alzheimer’, or were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Twenty-six percent of participants were vitamin D deficient and 35% were insufficient. Fifty-four percent of Caucasians and 70% of African Americans and Hispanics had low vitamin D. The rate of cognitive decline was two-to-three times faster in the vitamin D deficient people over a five-year period. The study is published in JAMA Neurology.
Vitamin D has become one of the most highly recommended dietary supplements over the last few years by healthcare professionals. Though not technically an essential vitamin, since the body naturally synthesizes the “sunshine vitamin” through a chemical reaction between the sun’s UV rays and the cholesterol on your skin, it has been estimated that approximately 70% of North Americans have Vitamin D deficiencies. This is due to a combination of factors: low levels of sunlight for most of the year, obesity, sun avoidance, and low consumption of foods high in the vitamin such as fatty fish (salmon, tuna, sardines). Inadequate levels in the body often leads to conditions such as rickets and osteomalacia, which bring on symptoms like bone and muscle pain, enlarged joints, and easily fractured bones. Given the high prevalence of this deficiency, this could be the most essential of all the conditionally essential vitamins.
For even more information and studies on Vitamin D, click here!