Dec. 28--LONGMONT -- During her last year of medical school in 2006 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Longmont Clinic dermatologist Dr. Sarah Bair participated in a bone density study for the money.
"I did it because I was a poor college student, but it helped me figure out that I had low bone density and a vitamin D deficiency," said Bair, 32.
She is hardly alone.
About half of the population suffers the same deficiency, according to her Longmont Clinic colleague, endocrinologist Dr. David A. Podlecki.
Growing awareness of this high deficiency rate and vitamin D's impact on health prompted him in 2007 to routinely order a blood test to check for the deficiency when patients complained of fatigue or muscle aches, he said.
Podlecki supports using vitamin D supplements to bring blood levels up to optimum levels.
But he said claims that megadoses of vitamin D -- 10,000 or more international units daily -- to fight everything from cancer to heart disease are "fad fiction."
A report released in November by the Institute of Medicine also debunked those claims and warned of the link between megadoses of vitamin D and increased risk of pancreatic cancer and kidney stones.
It also amended the guidelines it set in 1997 to lower the healthy threshold for vitamin D blood levels from between 30 nanograms per milliliter and
50 ng/ml to between 20 ng/ml and 50 ng/ml.
It also raised the recommended daily allowance from 400 international units of vitamin D as listed on food labels to 600 IUs for those ages 1 to 70. People older than 70 need as much as 800 IUs a day. Breastfed babies need about 400 IUs, according to the American Pediatric Association.
Getting the proper amount of vitamin D daily protects children against rickets, a condition of soft, deformed bones; osteomalacia, or adult rickets; and osteoporosis, weak and porous bones suffered most often by the elderly.
However, getting enough through diet alone is easier said than done, as very few foods naturally contain vitamin D, according to the National Cancer Institute. They include fatty fish, fish liver oil and eggs. Meat and cheese contain smaller amounts of it. Most dietary vitamin D comes from fortified foods, such as milk, juices, yogurt, bread and breakfast cereals.
About 90 percent of the body's supply of vitamin D comes from the skin manufacturing it when exposed to sunlight. Ten to 15 minutes of sunshine three times weekly is enough to produce the body's requirement of vitamin D, according to the National Institutes of Health.
However, Bair cautioned against sun exposure and cited the American Academy of Dermatology's position on the subject -- to eat a vitamin D-rich diet and take supplements if needed.
"As a dermatologist, I do not go out without sunblock, not even for 15 minutes," she said.
Pam Mellskog can be reached at 303-684-5224 or pmellskog@times-call.com.
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