<p>Probably not good enough.</p>
<p>[Too</a> Little Sun Cuts Americans? Vitamin D, Study Says (Update1) - Bloomberg.com](<a href=“Bloomberg Politics - Bloomberg”>Bloomberg Politics - Bloomberg)</p>
<p>This is a hot, hot topic around the doctors’ lounge. I’m not sold yet, but it is intriguing.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve heard this too from doctors. I’ve eased up on the sunscreen.</p>
<p>The true believers connect it to a number of conditions, including wound healing (bed sores, diabetic ulcers, etc) and some symptoms of fibromyalgia - the increased, abnormal bone turnover causes tenderness in the periosteum, the outermost layer of bones. The periosteum is known to have a lot of pain receptors, and that could explain the hurting all over of fibromyalgia. Interesting, not proven. as a laboratory scientist, when I hear that 90% of people have an abnormal test result, my first response is that something is wrong with the test.</p>
<p>I read once, alas, that at the latitude of Boston, it’s possible to stand outside naked all day during the winter and not synthesize the RDA of vitamin D.</p>
<p>The last time I had blood work done, my doctor told me that my vitamin D level was too low.</p>
<p>And two weeks ago, I had to have a skin cancer removed, leaving a rather unattractive dent in my face.</p>
<p>Some people just can’t win. :(</p>
<p>Take supplements. Most calcium comes with D in it these days.</p>
<p>I take a supplement like that. I’m very much an indoor person, I’m <em>very</em> pale, I stay out of the sun as much as possible, and I use sunscreen religiously. I just had my Vit D level tested as part of a complete physical, and it was in the normal range, so those supplements must help. (I also eat a lot of salmon.)</p>
<p>Last fall my doctor tested my vitamin D levels. I was sure they’d be fine. I never use sunscreen, I drink four or five glasses of milk a day. Severely deficient. 8 weeks of 50,000 units a week. Retested. Still severely deficient. I’m now taking another round of supplements. We’ll see.</p>
<p>Oh, and my doctor said that EVERY patient she’s tested has been deficient.</p>
<p>I wonder if the rates of deficiency vary depending on proximity to the equator. So. Cal versus Pac. Northwest? </p>
<p>I’ve read that Vitamin D is very difficult to absorb via supplements.</p>
<p>Vitamin D is the hot topic of 2009. The rules seemed to have changed - as seems to be evident by dmd77’s doctor’s comment. That certainly makes me suspicious. EVERYONE is deficient - EVERYONE’S numbers are too low - and NO ONE has clinical symptoms - hmmm.</p>
<p>The real danger could be that a true low level of Vitamin D can be a symptom of other conditions - just raising the level with supplements would just mask the reason why the level is low in the first place.</p>
<p>I figured the rules changed too. Because I’ve had a yearly physical for at least 20 years and nobody ever said my vitamin D was deficient until this year. Now I hear it from almost every woman I’ve spoken to. Except one sister who apparently was told that her vitamin D level was too high. I think they need to fix the test</p>
<p>I have a clinically diagnosed condition directly related. Osteopenia. Part of the issue is finding out what the clinical symptoms might be, as with the fibromyalgia above, since the research on Vit. D deficiency is new and in progress. </p>
<p>The level is low in the first place because most of us live indoor lives. A generation or two ago, people were outside far more. Hanging up laundry in the yard, supervising kids playing outside. Letting arms hang out car windows, in the absence of air conditioning. </p>
<p>My level, just checked, is marginally low, and was only checked at my insistence. I have taken 1000 units per day for the last year, since the osteopenia diagnosis. Now I’m doubling the dose, after the lab result. </p>
<p>Marian, I have had skin cancers as well, basal cell, so use SPF 40 every day of the year. On my face anyhow, I figure the limbs can get some sun exposure.</p>
<p>Thanks for the article…I’m actually working on a short presentation on Vitamin D for my nutrition class tomorrow so I will definitely discuss the study. :)</p>
<p>is this a plot to get us to drink more milk?</p>
<p>Off the OT, but related-- esp. to post 15… I drink a fair amount of milk. Aside from bone health, I also just like it (as long as it’s icy cold).</p>
<p>At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I’m a grown human, drinking something that was meant for the cow’s baby. Are there any studies that show harm in adults drinking milk? I have a friend who will only drink soy milk. Coming from a maternal line riddled with osteoporosis, though, I always figured cow’s milk, along with calcium (and now vitamin D) was the way to go (?)</p>
<p>well not only the bone issues, but low vitamin d levels i breast cancer and other cancers is a huge problem. It is a potent immune system modulator. Some people will have polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor(VDR) making them in higher need of increased vitamin d over the norm intake. </p>
<p>One also runs into issues with SAD from lack of sunlight, extra vitamin d in the winter months. </p>
<p>[Vitamin</a> D status, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and the immune system – Cantorna et al. 80 (6): 1717S – American Journal of Clinical Nutrition](<a href=“http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/6/1717S]Vitamin”>http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/6/1717S)</p>
<p>Calcium is present in vegetables. [Calcium-Rich</a> Vegetables and Vegetable Products](<a href=“http://www.citracal.com/Calcium/Foods/Vegetables.aspx]Calcium-Rich”>http://www.citracal.com/Calcium/Foods/Vegetables.aspx)</p>
<p>Make sure you take the right variety of vitamin (D3). Of course sunlight is the best way for your body to make it but as a person ages the body can’t make it as easily.</p>
<p>[Vitamin</a> D - What Should I Know About Vitamin D?](<a href=“http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/vitamind.htm]Vitamin”>Vitamin D: Benefits, Side Effects, Dosage, and Interactions)</p>
<p>I was also told a couple of years ago that my vit D level was very low. After trying over the counter calcium and vit D supplements, which did not bring it up, I was put on the 50,000IU once a week for 12 weeks treatment, which brought it up. I now take an extra 1000 a day, but haven’t been tested in a year.</p>
<p>I think everyone is being told their levels are low because they just started testing everyone for it. I am outside plenty without sunscreen, maybe Pittsburgh doesn’t get enough sun?</p>
<p>
Now that’s a scary image – all these people standing around naked trying to soak up vitamin D …</p>