Canadians Need More Vitamin D :: Holistic Healing :: Functional Foods/Nutraceuticals :: M-R

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Canadians Need More Vitamin D

While vitamin D is especially important for preventing osteoporosis and bone fractures, researchers say Canadians aren’t getting enough. Vitamin D can be obtained from the diet but is mainly generated through skin exposure to sunlight. Several studies have shown that people living at northern latitudes (at or above 42° N) tend to be vitamin D deficient in fall and winter months. A study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (December 2001) found that vitamin D deficiency can occur when Canada’s long, dark winters deplete the body’s stores of the vitamin. Another study at the University of Calgary backs this up, finding that 97 per cent of Calgarians studied were vitamin D deficient in the fall and winter.

Dr. Reinhold Vieth, a world-renowned vitamin D researcher, believes most Canadians are vitamin D deficient and recommends 1,000 IU daily of D3 (colicacepherol) during fall and winter. D3 is naturally sourced from eggs, salmon, sardines, herring and fish oils such as salmon or cod liver oil--and, when possible, 15 minutes of sunshine directly on the skin daily.

Source: Hans Larsen, MSc, Canadian Medical Association Journal, June 11, 2002.

Source: alive #C

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