Vitamin D Newsletter: Harvard Professor Giovannucci

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" Vitamin D Newsletter " <thevitamindcouncil

Harvard Professor Giovannucci

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 14:13:26 -0700

 

 

 

 

Vitamin D Newsletter

6/21/05

 

 

 

This month's highlight was Harvard professor Ed Giovannucci's

interview with National Public Radio: Debate over the Benefits of Sun

Exposure . Professor Cheryl Rosen, the dermatologist who was supposed

to debate him, didn't show up. Professor Giovannucci was also quoted

by the Los Angles Times which finally ran a story on the issue.

 

The month brought a lot of press coverage about new vitamin D

research. For example, a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine

found women with the highest vitamin D and calcium intake had about

half the chance of developing premenstrual syndrome. The findings

triggered hundreds of press articles, from FoxNews to CBS to Forbes to

the Baltimore Sun.

 

Yet another study documented dangerously low 25(OH)D levels in

American children . The press apparently felt PMS was a sexier story

than the health of our children and ran no stories on the vitamin D

deficient children, even though half the kids were frankly deficient.

Nor did the press show much concern for pregnant women, as yet

another paper, a review of the literature, concluded vitamin D

supplementation may be crucial in pregnancy. Remember, Australian

researchers, led by Professor John McGrath, are finding that even

transient vitamin D deficiencies during gestation cause permanent and

irreversible brain damage. Other research shows this damage is

similar to the changes seen in patients with schizophrenia.

 

Cardiovascular disease is beginning to get some vitamin D attention.

This month, a Finnish group reported that low intakes of vitamin D

were associated with both heart attack and stroke . A group in Texas

discussed evidence on the role of vitamin D in left ventricular

hypertrophy and cardiac function.

 

A paper in Cancer Research showed, once again, that sunshine reduces

the risk of prostate cancer. It is nice to see Professor Gary

Schwartz is finally getting some attention for the theory he first

proposed twenty years ago: FoxNews and CBS.

 

Another study added to the evidence that vitamin D deficiency plays a

causative role in Type 2 diabetes. In Clinical Endocrinology, a group

from Australia demonstrated that blood sugars go up as 25(OH)D levels

fall. At least six studies now support Professor Boucher's 1998

theory in the British Journal of Nutrition that vitamin D deficiency

is a major cause of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

 

Research this month even suggested that Parkinson's Disease may be

related to vitamin D deficiency.

 

But we wait. Developing fetuses, teenage children, women with PMS and

Americans dying of cardiovascular disease and cancer are waiting,

waiting for the government to act. Because African Americans are the

most deficient, they are suffering the most. Several months ago, the

Vitamin D Council filed a civil rights complaint against the FDA on

behalf of black Americans, challenging the FDA's policy of

preferentially fortifying food that whites consume.

 

But the FDA is waiting too, waiting for the government body entrusted

with giving the nation official advice on vitamin D: the venerable

Institute of Medicine. Every month, evidence grows that hearts are

deteriorating, cancers are forming, blood sugars are rising, and fetal

brains are being damaged by widespread vitamin D deficiency while

Americans patiently wait, wait for the Institute of Medicine to act.

When will they do so?

 

John Cannell, MD

9100 San Gregorio Road

Atascadero, CA 93422

The Vitamin D Council