VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY

The Ignored Epidemic of the Developed World
is it a New Bio-Tech Drug, or is it Vitamin D?

What if I told you I discovered a Bio-Tech company with a new drug that could reduce the number of cancer deaths in the US by 43,000 annually, reduce colon cancer by 50%, and breast and ovarian cancer by 30% Would you be impressed? What if I then told you this same drug could safely prevent or alleviate the following medical conditions: Osteoporosis, Hypertension, Cardiovascular disease, Cancer, Depression, Epilepsy, Type One Diabetes, Insulin resistance, Autoimmune Diseases, Migraine Headache, Polycystic Ovary Disease (PCOS), Musculoskeletal and bone pain, Psoriasis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Cohn’s), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), as well as improve calcium absorption and reduce hip fractures.

Would you then be even more impressed, and rush out to buy the company stock and get rich quick? Of course you would, but we don’t need a new Bio-Tech drug to do this, because, all of the above benefits can be obtained with Vitamin D, an inexpensive vitamin which is free with sun exposure.

Vitamin D Deficiency in Florida, Surely You must Be Joking:

We all know it’s a fact: Everyone in Florida gets plenty of Vitamin D from the Florida Sun. This would have been true except for the fact that as Floridians, we are all told to avoid the sun to prevent solar skin damage (brown wrinkling) and to avoid skin cancer.

So the question remains, do we get enough Vitamin D from sun exposure? To answer this question, we actually measured blood Vitamin D levels, and we were surprised to discover that the majority showed Vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/ml), or insufficiency (less than 40 ng/ml).

What if you are not fortunate to live in sunny Florida and you live up north above the Mason Dixon Line, in Boston, New York, Chicago, Canadaor Scandinavia? Northern latitudes have an even more serious vitamin D deficiency because of the lack of UV sunlight during the winter months. The angle of the sun through the atmosphere closes off the Ultraviolet Light from reaching the earth.

An Epidemic of Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency has been reported in 57% of 290 medical inpatients in Massachusetts, 93% of 150 patients with overt musculoskeletal pain in Minnesota, 48% of patients with Multiple Sclerosis, 50% of patients with lupus and fibromyalgia, 42% of healthy adolescents, 40% of African American Women, and 62 % of the morbidly obese, 83% of 360 patients with low back pain in Saudi Arabia, 73% of Austrian patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis, 58% of Japanese girls with Graves's Disease, 40% of Chinese adolescent girls, 40-70% of all Finnish medical patients.

Vitamin D Toxicity

Vitamin D excess and toxicity requires daily dosage in excess of 40,000 units over a period of months, so 5,000 units a day is safe and far below the level needed to develop vitamin D toxicity. Remember Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, so toxicity is possible with massive doses over long periods of time. Vitamin D toxicity causes elevated calcium levels. That’s why Vitamin D supplementation should done only under your physician’s supervision with monitoring of serum 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D levels.

Space Satellite Maps

Maps of UV Sunlight exposure correlate with incidence of Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis.

If you take NASA space satellite photos of North America and color code the UV sunlight exposure as Dr. Grant has done on his web site, Sunarc.org you will see a pattern remarkably similar to the incidence of cancer and multiple sclerosis. This is thought to be due to differences in Vitamin D levels. The farther north with less sun exposure and lower Vitamin D levels, there is an increased incidence of cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Diseases Caused By, or Associated With Vitamin D Deficiency:

Again here is the list: Osteoporosis, Hypertension, Cardiovascular disease, Cancer, Depression, Epilepsy, Type One Diabetes, Insulin resistance, Autoimmune Diseases, Migraine Headache, Poly Cystic Ovary Disease (PCOS), Musculoskeletal and bone pain, Psoriasis, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)

The current recommendation for Vitamin D deficiency in those people who must avoid the sun is 5,000 IU of Vitamin D per day which costs 5 cents a day..

Vitamin D is not really a Vitamin, it is a Hormone.

Like all other steroidal hormones, vitamin D is made from a cholesterol precursor, converted in the skin by sunlight. Like all other hormones, Vitamin D enters the nucleus of the cell and binds to the DNA where it gives a message to the DNA to manufacture proteins.

Image left: Vitamin D Chemical Structure Courtesy Wikipedia

Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis.

A review by Dr. Brown reported that Vitamin D supplementation prevented the development and progression of experimental autoimmune encephalitis, an animal model of MS, in mice. A large, prospective, cohort study found that vitamin D supplementation was associated with a 40% reduction in the risk of developing MS. Four small, non controlled studies suggested that vitamin D supplementation may decrease exacerbation of MS symptoms.
MRI studies of multiple sclerosis lesions show improvement during summer months and worsening during winter months suggesting a Vitamin D link.

Vitamin D and Cancer

A four-year clinical trial, involving 1,200 women found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn't take it, a drop so large — twice the impact on cancer attributed to smoking — it almost looks like a typographical error. The study was done by professor of medicine Robert Heaney of Creighton University in Nebraska and was published in June 2007.

Vitamin D and Total Mortality

a 2007 meta-analysis review of 18 studies showed a reduction in all-cause mortality of about 10% in people supplementing with commonly used doses of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D Supplementation for Adults

the RDA in America is only 400 IU per day, yet current research suggests that our daily Vitamin D requirement is closer to 4,000 to 5,000 IU. Twenty minutes of Sun exposure will give us ten to twenty thousand IU of Vitamin D.

Adult Supplementation with Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil can provide Vitamin D along with Vitamin A . However, for an intake of 5,000 IU vitamin D per day, inexpensive Vitamin D3 capsules are widely available for about 5 cents a day. We provide these as a convenience to our office patients.

Vitamin D Testing at the Lab

Optimal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D values are 45-50 ng/ml. Below 40 ng/ml is called Vitamin D insufficiency, and below 20 ng/ml is deficiency.

Conclusion

Our health care system is in crisis. We are spending billions on expensive procedures like coronary artery bypass and organ transplantation, yet measurements of health are lower than other countries that spend less. In terms of getting more bang for your health care buck, Vitamin D testing and supplementation for the population is one solution which is guaranteed to improve overall health of the population at a ridiculously low cost.

The cost saving in reduced cancer rates, and lower osteoporotic fracture rates would be enormous, and we would all enjoy improved health. My goal as a physician in our community is to improve the health of of our community, and Vitamin D testing and supplementation is one way to achieve that goal with no adverse side effects and enormous cost savings.

Vitamin D, specifically vitamin D3 cholecalciferol, is quite the hot topic lately. Medical journals are overflowing with the latest research findings on vitamin D and the many ways it protects one's health. Almost daily, vitamin D appears to be dominating the headlines in the media, and people all over the globe are starting to realize that vitamin D is one nutrient that should not be overlooked.

To help you stay informed, we've scoured the internet for a variety of the most exciting vitamin D news articles and compiled them here in one convenient, easy location. We've done all the work for you! Continuously updated, we hope the Vitamin D Council's Vitamin D News page will come to be your preferred resource for all the latest vitamin D news.

Authors of a new study have concluded that males with a low level of Vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin, are more likely to suffer a heart attack, technically known as a Myocardial Infarction (MI).

There are a variety of clinical studies showing that the death-rates attributed to cardiovascular diseases grew during winter months. Conversely, the opposite was found at lower altitudes. This background pattern was expressed in the author’s article, published in the June 9 edition of the journal, Archives of Internal Medicine.

In conjunction with a team from the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., analyzed the medical records and blood samples of 454 men, aged between 40 & 75. All of whom have suffered from fatal heart diseases or had previously suffered non-fatal heart attacks.

Researchers took that data and compared it with the medical records and blood samples of 900 men, still living, who never had any of the heart complications the base subjects had.

What they found was that males with Vitamin D deficiency or those who merely meet the “intermediate” levels of Vitamin D, were more at risk of heart attack, compared to those with a healthy amount of Vitamin D in their diet. Researchers concluded that their results supported the fact that Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of heart attack, and possibly death.

They added that their findings support the need to enhance Vitamin D levels in the body to reduce the problem.

Where Do We Get Vitamin D?

One of the body’s essential vitamins, Vitamin D is referred to as the “sunshine vitamin.” After being in the sun, our bodies produce vitamin D naturally. Really, if you’re in the sun for as little as 10 to 15 minutes, and only 3 times a week, that is enough time for your body to produce vitamin D in quantities it needs.

When you look at it in these terms, unless you get very little “sun time,” there’s really no need to get vitamin D from your diet or supplements. Guess what, you can even store vitamin D in your body.

When vitamin D is manufactured in the body, the excess of what you need at the time can remain for months. So in the summer time, you can increase your vitamin D levels by increasing your time in the sun.

Vitamin D plays a very important role in your body’s health. Its job is to promote the absorption of magnesium and calcium. These substances are vital to the healthy development of bones and teeth. Vitamin D also helps to keep adequate levels of phosphorus and calcium in the blood.

If you have to, you can take supplements of vitamin D to meet your body’s needs. One thing you may want to consider when shopping for vitamins: Vegans choose Vitamin D2 labeled items instead of Vitamin D3.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VITAMIN D2 & VITAMIN D3

Deficiency Symptoms: Will you know Before It’s Too Late?

Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms - Vitamin D is best known as the sunshine vitamin. Ultraviolet light falling on the skin stimulates the production of this vitamin and hormone. Many people get their entire supply of vitamin D from sunlight. But what happens if you don't get enough sun? Or, if you suffer any of the following conditions that predispose to vitamin D deficiency symptoms.

Aging: After the age of 60, people are more likely to have had an experience with skin cancer and subsequently to use sunscreen. With advancing age, people are more likely to stay indoors. Persons in rest homes or similar institutions are at extremely high risk of vitamin D deficiency symptoms without supplementation.
Covering all exposed skin or using sunscreen whenever outside: Osteomalacia came to public attention when it became epidemic among Afghan women during the Taliban?s rule. This condition of brittle bones is a risk for women who cover all of their skin whenever they are outside for religious or cultural reasons. Applying sunscreen with an SPF factor of 8 reduces production of vitamin D by 95%. Applying sunscreen with higher SPF reduces vitamin D production even more.
Dark skin: Dark skin produces less vitamin D than light skin. The risk of vitamin D deficiency is especially high in dark-skinned people who live far from the equator. In the U.S., 42% of African American women between 15 and 49 years of age were vitamin D deficient compared to 4% of white women. The problem is more severe in persons of African origin who live in Canada.
Exclusively breast fed infants: African-American who are exclusively breast fed and do not receive vitamin D supplementation are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency symptoms, particularly if receive little sun exposure. The vitamin D content of mother's milk simply isn't enough for the infant. Vitamin D deficiency symptoms can also occur in older infants and toddlers exclusively fed milk substitutes or other foods not containing the vitamin D. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all infants that are not consuming at least 500 ml (16 ounces) of vitamin D fortified formula or milk be given a vitamin D supplement of 200 IU/day.
Fat malabsorption syndromes: Vitamin D deficiency symptoms are also common in cystic fibrosis and many forms of liver disease impairing the absorption of vitamin D from food.
Inflammatory bowel disease: People with inflammatory bowel disease such as inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn's disease are at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency symptoms, especially those who have had small bowel resections.
Obesity: Vitamin D deficiency symptoms increase in people who are obese. Since vitamin D is fat-soluble, it can accumulate in body fat, making it less available to other parts of the body.

The simple answer is, if you don't get sun, or if you suffer any of these conditions, you have to take extra care to get your vitamin D from food or supplements and if you don't get your vitamin D, here's what can happen:

Hypovitaminosis D osteopathy.

What's that?

Vitamin D is essential for healthy bones. The main job of vitamin D is to regulate the body's use of calcium. It helps make the hormones that make sure calcium goes into bone and not into other tissues.

Hypovitaminosis D osteopathy, a collection of vitamin D deficiency symptoms, is a condition occurring when there isn't enough vitamin D to make the hormones that maintain healthy calcium balance.

This condition takes place over a very long time. For a period of up to 5 years, there may be a shortage of calcium going into the bones, but there are no symptoms. For another 5 to 30 years, changes in the bone could be noted with a bone scan but there would still be no unusual breaks or fractures. Only in the latest stages of the condition do vitamin D deficiency symptoms manifest themselves as broken bones or reduced height.

There are other conditions of vitamin D deficiency symptoms that also take a long time to develop:

Colon cancer in men.
Breast cancer in women before menopause.
Prostate cancer, especially in African-American men.

Getting enough foods with vitamin D or supplemental vitamin D reduces the risk of developing insulin-dependent diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or rheumatoid arthritis, especially in dark-skinned persons, observant Muslim women, and persons living in the northern United States, Canada, northern Europe, Siberia, Alaska, or New Zealand.

But you won't know you're deficient until after vitamin D deficiency symptoms appear - many years after you should have started making sure you were getting enough vitamin D.

Can you get enough vitamin D from sunlight alone to avoid vitamin D deficiency symptoms?

If you live north of 40 degrees north latitude (about the latitude of New York City) or south of 40 degrees south latitude (about the latitude of Wellington, New Zealand), for at least half of the year, you can't.

In Boston, Massachusetts, for instance, there is insufficient ultraviolet radiation in the sunlight for skin to make adequate amounts of vitamin D from early November to early March. On the South Island of New Zealand, vitamin D deficiency is a real risk from early May to early September. In Calgary, Alberta, residents don't get enough vitamin D even if they get daily sun exposure from October until nearly April. And in northern Europe, Alaska, and Russia, the problem is even worse.

You can, of course, get some vitamin D from foods with vitamin D. The problem is, the list of foods with vitamin D isn't very long, you have to eat a lot of them to avoid vitamin D deficiency symptoms, and they tend to lack taste appeal.

Here is a list of Foods and Vitamin D IU

Cod liver oil - 2218 iu
Herring (raw) - 2061 iu
Shiitake mushrooms (dried) - 1122 iu
Catfish (raw) - 1122 iu
Button mushrooms (raw) - 691 iu
Pink salmon, canned - 530 iu
Sardines (canned) - 521 iu
Herring (pickled) - 519 iu
Mackerel, canned - 214 iu
Caviar - 184 iu
Quaker Nutrition for Women Instant Oatmeal - 140 iu
Cow's milk, fortified with vitamin D - 100 iu
Orange juice, fortified with vitamin D - 100 iu
Vanilla milkshake (fast food) - 52 iu
Egg yolk - 25 iu
Mashed potatoes - 11 iu
Fruits and fruit juices - 0 iu
Cereal, fortified - 40-50 iu

Note that the greatest amounts of vitamin D are found in fish liver oil and raw fish. (Penguins and polar bears rarely suffer vitamin D deficiency.) If you don't really care for cod liver oil , and caviar and catfish sushi aren't really practical diet choices for you, and if you don't really have room in your calorie counts for 10 glasses of milk or OJ with breakfast, it may be a good idea to pass on foods with vitamin D and consider supplementation.

Most over the counter nutritional supplements contain cholicalciferol, better known as vitamin D3. Foods with vitamin D may also contain another form of the vitamin called ergocalciferol or vitamin D2, which originates in plants.

Multivitamin supplements for children usually contain 200 IU (5 micrograms) of vitamin D3, and multivitamins for adults usually contain 400 IU (10 micrograms) per daily dose. Stand-alone vitamin D supplements usually offer 400 to 1,000 IU per day, and vitamin D is often included in calcium supplements.

It is possible to get too much vitamin D. In an extreme case in which a hamburger maker added vitamin D powder instead of salt to hamburger meat, hundreds of people developed a skin rash. Getting a "sunburn" without getting sun is a sure sign of taking too much vitamin D - but you'd have to take the whole bottle all at once and then go out and buy another one and take it for this to happen.

A single dose of even 100,000 IU is non-toxic, but unnecessary. If you don't have a rare vitamin D deficiency disease that should be treated under a physician's supervision, you never need more than 2,000 IU per day.

If you suffer hyperparathyroidism, lymphoma, sarcoidosis, or TB, taking supplemental vitamin D can cause the release of too much calcium into your bloodstream. Consult a physician before taking any vitamin D supplement if you have any of those conditions.

It's also important to consult a physician before taking supplemental vitamin D if you take digitalis (Digoxin). People who have a health condition requiring caution about vitamin D should also exercise caution before eating foods with vitamin D.

Some people need to be extra sure to get their D. Vitamin D is depleted by phenytoin (Dilantin), fosphenytoin (Cerebyx), phenobarbitol (Luminal), carbamazepine (Tegretol), and rifampin (Rimactane). Any prescription or non-prescription "fat blocker" will also stop the absorption of vitamin D from food.

If you take any of these medications, chances are you need supplemental vitamin D. Don't take any of these prescription medications and a vitamin D supplement at the same time. Elderly persons who don't get sunlight need supplemental vitamin D (as mentioned above) for bone health.

For everybody else, 400 IU of D a day assists in maintaining your physical wellbeing. For best results, choose a balanced supplement including D and all the other supplements you need to avoid vitamin D deficiency symptoms and thrive in good health.

References

Author of first article: Jeffrey Dach MD - www.drdach.com - www.jeffreydach.com

(1) http://www.vitamind-veith.ms-diet.org/
Prospects for Vitamin D Nutrition. Vitamin D and Human Evolution Clinical relevance of higher vitamin D intakes, Toxicology of Vitamin D Reinhold Vieth, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto Calgary AB, Oct 13 2005. Highly recommended Web Cast video presentation on Vitamin D by Dr. Vieth

(1A) http://wildhorse.insinc.com/directms13oct2005/
another link to this same video presentation on Vitamin D by Dr. Vieth

(2) http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/04/03/vitamin-d-grant.aspx
Valuable Insights Into the Importance of Vitamin D and Sun on Mercola.com, Interview with William B. Grant, Ph.D.

(3) http://www.sunarc.org/
Satellite Maps, Cancer mortality rates and multiple sclerosis prevalence rates for U.S. states compared to UVB doses for July, William B. Grant, Ph.D.

(4) http://www.sunarc.org/embryms1.htm
Vitamin D Supplementation in the Fight Against Multiple Sclerosis, Ashton F. Embry, Ph.D. 2004, Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, v.19, p. 27-38.

(5) http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
Vitamin D Council, John Cannell MD Web Site: Understanding Cholecalciferol Vitamin D

(5A) http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/PDFs/cme-clinical-importance-vit-d.pdf
Excellent review article on Vitamin D by John Cannell MD full PDF File Clinical Importance of Vitamin D: A Paradigm Shift. ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES, sept/oct 2004, VOL. 10, NO. 5

(6) http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/bestNewsArticles.shtml
Listing of the best Vitamin D articles on the internet posted by John Cannell Vitamin D Council.

(7) http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/
Cancer Defeated: Vitamin D Pill For All. Economical Pill Would Cut Cancer Rates In Half.
Bill Sardi Knowledge of Health Blog

(8) http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi70.html
Just One Pill Away, by Bill Sardi, review of Vitamin D on Lew Rockwell.

(9) http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/24941.php
Medical News Today. Healthcare Professionals Ignore Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic by John Cannell MD

(10) http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/10/26/beware-of-most-prescription-vitamin-d-supplements.aspx
Beware of prescription Vitamin D supplements, info from Mercola

(11) http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/02/28/vitamin-d-part-twenty.aspx
Vitamin D Lowers inlfammation by John Cannell MD on Mercola.com

(12) http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminD/index.html
Linus Paulng Institute on Vitamin D

(13) http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminD/drefs.html
Linus Pauling Institute Vit D References with Links.

(15) http://www.clltopics.org/VitaminD3/EssentialforHealth.htm
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Web Site: CLL topics: vitamin D is quite cytotoxic to CLL cells?

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Vieth, Reinhold. Vitamin D supplementation, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, and safety. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 69, No. 5, 842-856, May 1999

(17) http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/422
Vieth, Reinhold, Vitamin D and Reduced Risk of Breast Cancer: A Population-Based Case-Control Study. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 16, 422-429, March 1, 2007.

(18) http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/73/2/288
Veith R, Chan P-C R, MacFarlane G D. “Efficacy and safety of vitamin D3 intake exceeding the lowest adverse effect level.” Am J Clin Nutr 2001; 71: 288-294

(19) http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/23/2832
Munger, Levin,. Hollis, PhD Howard, Ascherio, Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Risk of Multiple Sclerosis JAMA. 2006;296:2832-2838 Epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests that high levels of vitamin D, a potent immunomodulator, may decrease the risk of multiple sclerosis.

(20) http://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/6/1158
Brown, Sherrill J, The Role of Vitamin D in Multiple Sclerosis , DRUG INFORMATION ROUNDS, The Annals of Pharmacotherapy: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 1158-1161. DOI 10.1345/aph.1G513

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(22) http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/3/362
Michael F Holick, Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 79, No. 3, 362-371, March 2004

(23) http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/80/6/1678S
Holick , Michael F VITAMIN D AND HEALTH IN THE 21ST CENTURY: BONE AND BEYOND, Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 80, No. 6, 1678S-1688S, December 2004. Excellent full text article review.

(24) http://books.google.com/books?id=FvH7ySek6yAC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=michael+f+holick+vitamin+d&source=web&ots=
4OzEEZCiX2&sig=pkZAqXRlKtNB-YtwdXxt2HfSXWI#PPR6,M1
Vitamin D Analogs in Cancer Prevention and Therapy By Jorg Reichrath, M. Friedrich,Chapter by Michael Holick Vitamin D in Book Online:

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1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol Prevents and Ameliorates Symptoms of Experimental Murine Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Journal of Nutrition. 2000;130:2648-2652.
Margherita T. Cantorna, Carey Munsick, Candace Bemiss and Brett D. Mahon

(26) http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/135/11/2739S
Holick, Michael F, The Influence of Vitamin D on Bone Health Across the Life Cycle, The Vitamin D Epidemic and its Health Consequences J. Nutr. 135:2739S-2748S, November 2005

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The Miracle of Vitamin D by By Krispin Sullivan, CN on Weston Price Web Site.

(28) http://app2.capitalreach.com/esp1204/servlet/tc?cn=asbmr&c=10169&s=20343&e=6950
Webcasts : Contemporary Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D-Related Disorders, American Society for Bone and Mineral Disorders.

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Garland CF, Comstock GW, et al. “Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and colon cancer: eight-year prospective study,” Lancet 1989; 2(8,673: 1,176-1,178

(30) http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=151071
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/130/11/2648
Regulation of renin expression and blood pressure by vitamin D3 Curt D. Sigmund, J Clin Invest. 2002 July 15; 110(2): 155–156.

(31) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11705562
Intake of vitamin D and risk of type 1 diabetes: a birth-cohort study. Lancet 2001; 358(9,292): 1,500-1,5003. Hypponen E, Laara E, Reunanen A, Jarvelin MR, Virtanen SM.

(32) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12800453
The effect of vitamin D3 on insulin secretion and peripheral insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetic patients. Int J Clin Pract 2003; 57(4): 258-61. Borissova AM, Tankova T, Kirilov G, Dakovska L, Kovacheva R.

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Pfeifer M et al. “Effects of a short-term vitamin D3 and calcium supplementation on blood pressure and parathyroid hormone levels in elderly women.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2001; 86: 1,633-1,637

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Lind L et al. “Reduction of blood pressure during long-term treatment with active vitamin D (alphacalcidol) is dependent on plasma renin activity and calcium status. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study.” Am J Hypertens 1989; 2: 20-25

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(36) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10939587
Embry AF, Snowdon LR, Vieth R.Ann Neurol. 2000 Aug;48(2):271-2. Vitamin D and seasonal fluctuations of gadolinium-enhancing magnetic resonance imaging lesions in multiple sclerosis.

(36A) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20070428.wxvitamin28/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
Vitamin D casts cancer prevention in new light by MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT, From Saturday's Globe and Mail, April 28, 2007

(37) http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/6/1586
Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85, No. 6, 1586-1591, June 2007 Joan M Lappe, Dianne Travers-Gustafson, K Michael Davies, Robert R Recker and Robert P Heaney.

(38) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D
Wikipedia Vitamin D Page with Links

(39) http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/167/16/1730
Vitamin D Supplementation and Total Mortality A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Philippe Autier, MD; Sara Gandini, PhD Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:1730-1737. Conclusions Intake of ordinary doses of vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases in total mortality rates.

(40) www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/6/1586
Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85, No. 6, 1586-1591, June 2007 Joan M Lappe, Dianne Travers-Gustafson, K Michael Davies, Robert R Recker and Robert P Heaney.

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