Posts Tagged ‘Vitamin D’
Importance of Vitamin D to Prevent Rickets
In the early twentieth century the disease was a serious problem, particularly in Scotland and other parts of northern Europe. Some scientists realized that there was a relationship between the geographical distribution of stunting and the proportion of sunlight in the region and, later, in 1913, researchers at the University of Wisconsin (USA) have found that some milk-producing goats they were kept indoors much of the calcium lost from the skeleton, while those located outside the conserved.
Six years later, in 1919, German scientist K. Huldschinsky made a remarkably innovative experiment, since the condition was cured using ultraviolet light produced artificially. Two years later, researchers Alfred F. And L. Hess F. Unger, Columbia University (USA) showed that the sun was enough to expose infants stunted to cure them of the disease. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Children's Health, Rickets | 
Tags: importance of vitamin D, Importance of Vitamin D to Prevent Rickets, rickets, Vitamin D | 
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Rickets and Vitamin D
It is known for hundreds of years, but rickets could only fought until it was discovered the relationship between bone health and vitamin D deficiency, which is essential for calcium and phosphorus are used by the body.
Rickets is a disease that causes weakening and softening of the bones in growth, precisely the period in which the body demands high levels of calcium and phosphorus. It is generally observed in children between 6 and 24 months old, and it is known that the presence of vitamin D is essential to prevent its occurrence, because without it the minerals mentioned above can not be used by the human body. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Children's Health, Rickets | Tags: deficiency of vitamin D, rickets, Rickets and Vitamin D, Vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency | No Comments »
Vitamin D does protect against the flu (influenza)?
Vitamin D may protect against the flu (influenza), researchers believe. A study currently underway at the Public Health Agency of Canada aims to test it. It tests whether people who developed a mild form of seasonal influenza have blood levels of vitamin D higher than those who developed severe reactions and even death.
Vitamin-D
Researchers have long suspected a link between vitamin D and influenza because in the northern and southern hemispheres, influenza is primarily a disease of winter, the period when the sun is not intense enough to allow the production natural vitamin D in response to exposure of skin to sunlight.
In the 1940s, researchers showed that mice whose diet was low in vitamin D were more susceptible to influenza infection than those receiving a normal dose, the agency said.
Vitamin D to help fight the flu by boosting the immune system. A study has shown, for example, it offfrait some protection against tuberculosis.
“The evidence that vitamin D seems to improve the ability of the immune system to attack foreign bodies are almost overwhelming,” Reinhold Vieth believes the University of Toronto.
The mechanism by which vitamin D may protect against influenza is not fully understood but a new study suggests that it may induce the production of antimicrobial substances whose activity neutralizes a variety of infectious agents.
Several experts and organizations recommend a daily dose of vitamin D food supplement (supplement) of 1000 IU per day for adults. For children, the American Academy of Pediatrics in October 2008 recommended a daily intake of 400 IU. Most children need supplements to achieve this recommendation, they specified.
Vitamin D: What foods, how much sun, which recommended intake?
Vitamin D is mainly produced in the skin in response to exposure to sunlight. Extend the midday sun in a swimsuit during a period of 20 minutes can produce between 8,000 and 10,000 IU (200 mcg to 250 mcg) (1). From October to April the sun’s rays are not strong enough to allow sufficient production.
Vitamin D - Sunlight
In the diet is found primarily in animal fats such as in butter, milk, whole milk products and eggs as well as in fish (especially oily fish) and liver. It is also added to some margarines and oils.
Many experts believe that these foods may, however, difficult to meet daily requirements for vitamin D.
- Two cups of milk (500 ml) provides 200 IU (5 micrograms)
- A portion of oily fish provides 200 to 400 IU (5 mcg to 10 mcg) <
- An egg provides 80 IU (2 mg)
- One serving provides 40 IU of liver (1 g).
How much vitamin D per day is recommended to take it?
While Canada’s Food Guide recommends 400 IU (10 mcg) of vitamin D3, various sexperts and organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society instead recommend 1000 IU (25 mcg) per day. As this contribution is almost impossible to obtain through diet, they recommend taking supplements of vitamin D (specifically Vitamin D3).
The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board U.S., the upper tolerable intake of vitamin D3 for adults is 2,000 IU (25 mcg). But some experts believe that this upper limit would be more than 10,000 IU (25 mcg) and the daily dose should be 2000 IU (50 mcg). Symptoms of vitamin D intoxication include weakness, nausea, decreased appetite and weight loss.
Vitamin D prevents fractures
According to a recent study, taking vitamin D supplements orally reduced over 65 years a 20% frequency of non-vertebral fractures. Vitamin D is fat-soluble vitamins group has a key role in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, vital for healthy bones and teeth.
The study on Vitamin D and its impact on the decrease of bone fractures was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine of 23 March 2009, by members of the European universities of Zurich, Bern and Basel, and North American Harvard and Tufts University in Boston.
The authors of the study on the effect of vitamin D on fractures, made 12 randomized and controlled clinical trials on non-vertebral fractures and 8 trials for hip fractures comparing the frequency of fractures in participants who are leshuesos -strong-vitamins given vitamin D supplements, with or without calcium, with those who received only calcium or placebo.
The result is clear: With high doses of vitamin D (400 IU / day), we obtain better results in the prevention of invoices. High dose is 400 IU / day which was reduced by 20% the incidence of fractures. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Immune System | Tags: Calcium, Fish, Healthy bones, Phosphorus, Skin, Supplements, Teeth, Vitamin D, Vitamin D Supplements | No Comments »