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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

THE VITAMIN D "UPDATE"-MORE UNCERTAINTIES

Relatively little is known about the impact of Vitamin D supplements being peddled by the industry making diverse health claims, none of which has been proved conclusively with impeccable clinical trials. Knowing the limitation of our knowledge of this vitamin, coordinated studies are now being undertaken with human subjects to bring out the real facts. Vitamin supplements are not desirable for normal healthy humans. Many believe that taking them regularly can only help boost the financial health of the pharmaceutical industry and not the consumer. This has been proved by a few scientific studies. Taking a balanced and diverse diet can provide all the necessary essential nutrients and those who want to take these supplements must do so only after confirming deficiency through reliable analysis of their blood.

"People most at risk for vitamin D deficiency are older, have diabetes or kidney disease, stay indoors or have darker skin. African-American teenagers are at particularly high risk, possibly because in addition to their dark skin, they are less likely at that age to drink milk or play outside. The scientific community continues to debate the optimum level of vitamin D. In general, people are considered to be deficient if they have blood levels below 15 or 20 nanograms per milliliter. But many doctors now believe vitamin D levels should be above 30. The ideal level isn't known, nor is it known at what point a person is getting too much vitamin D, which can lead to kidney stones, calcification in blood vessels and other problems".

With processed milk fortified with vitamin D in many countries, it is unlikely that normal consumers would encounter deficiency of this nutrient. When exposure to sun for just 15 minutes is adequate for generating the needed Vitamin D in the body where is the necessity for most of the people to take Vitamin D supplement or foods fortified with the same for a healthy life.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

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