Get In 2 Vitamin D

Vitamin D has long been known as a crucial factor in muscle strength and tone. People who are vitamin D deficient have less muscle strength - and muscle weakness corrects quickly once you restore their vitamin D status to normal. Calcium is also a crucial factor in the onset of labor in pregnant women - [...]

Researchers have known for decades that the incidence of multiple sclerosis is related to how far "north" you live on Image via Wikipedia the globe during childhood. The rates go way up the higher the latitude, which is a strong clue that vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) might be involved. Further studies backed up this [...]

In an interesting twist on the vitamin D/breast cancer data, researchers interviewed breast cancer patients (and Image by Whatsername? via Flickr people who'd never had breast cancer) about their intake of vitamin D, cod liver oil, and sunshine. The study revealed that having gotten cod liver oil, vitamin D and sun exposure* from ages 10-19 [...]

In a fun video opinion piece on Medscape, Dr. George Griffing tackled the slippery subject of cod liver oil. Was our mother's Image via Wikipedia (and grandmother's) somewhat pushy advice to hold your nose and take it, foolish or informed? Here's how Dr. Griffing summarizes recent findings: "It turns out cod liver oil contains large [...]

Image via Wikipedia With the difficulty that most of us face seeing a doctor (much less the cost), the obvious question emerges - what if you just take 800 IU a day of vitamin D? Heck, it's a decent dose, right? Controversy about daily dosing rages between national organizations. Some organizations stick to very OLD [...]

A good review article in Current Opinion in Rheumatology summarizes what is known and not known about vitamin D Image via Wikipedia and lupus - an autoimmune disorder. In general, studies to date show profound deficiencies of vitamin D in patients with lupus (even when compared to other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis). Furthermore, studies [...]