Posts Tagged ‘Oliver Gillie’

Read this page in:


« Older Entries

Oliver Gillie: Time to abandon this outdated view on staying out of the sun

Monday, July 5th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Monday, 5 July 2010

Lack of sunshine and the vitamin that it makes in our skin is probably the most serious single cause of disease in the UK today.

Vitamin D deficiency is well known as the classic cause of rickets and serious bone diseases, but in the last 10 years it has also been identified as a major risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, infections, some cancers and other ills.

The cost of all this disease to the UK has been put at an astounding £27bn annually, which compares with only £5bn for the cost of disease caused by smoking.

Small amounts of vitamin D can be obtained from food but you can’t obtain more than about 10 per cent of the optimal amount this way unless you eat oily fish – skin and all – three times a day.

We depend on the sun for our vitamin D. Since our weather is so unreliable, British people suffer more than almost any other from vitamin D deficiency.

Many years of bad advice has also been a factor.

The British Isles are located far north so the winter sun is not strong enough to make any vitamin D. The prevailing westerly wind bringing cloud in from the Atlantic is also against us. The Scots are worst off because there is nothing to the west to protect them. Their vitamin D levels are lower and they have the highest incidence of multiple sclerosis in the world.

Scientists studying MS now believe that it may be prevented if women take vitamin D in pregnancy and children take regular supplements. Another devastating disease, diabetes type 1 – affecting mostly children who must inject themselves with insulin – could be prevented by the same vitamin D supplements.

Indeed it is possible that these two diseases could now be eradicated if Government had the will.

However a recommendation that pregnant women take vitamin D has been ignored over many years by obstetricians.

Standard advice is that babies are not given vitamin D until they are six months old. Nobody any longer remembers the reason for this, which is implemented nowhere else.

Everybody thinks that breast milk is a complete food – and so it might be if mothers sunbathed as often as they can. As it is, breast milk in the UK is deficient in vitamin D while artificial milk is supplemented.

This need not be a problem if mothers give vitamin D drops to their babies. Melanoma, the worst form of skin cancer, has dramatically increased during some 20 years of advice to avoid the sun and use suncream. This is quite possibly because the advice has been wrong. Suncream blocks the action of UVB (shortwave ultraviolet radiation from the sun) – so blocking synthesis of vitamin D with loss of protection against cancer – while UVA (longwave radiation), which seems to carry the main risk of melanoma, is not blocked by many creams.

We could do much, much more. The Irish Republic has already fortified semi-skimmed milk with vitamin D, Finland has fortified milk and Israel is making milk fortification mandatory. Jordan is bringing in fortification of bread.

The UK the Food Standards Agency has hummed and hawed. The United States has had fortification for 80 years. What are the English and Scots waiting for?

The one simple action open to us all is to sunbathe, carefully without burning. The sun is natural, free, and safe if you are sensible. It’s also good to take a vitamin D supplement of at least 1000 to 2000 IUs [international units of measurement] per day.

The author is a health writer and vitamin D campaigner.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/oliver-gillie-time-to-abandon-this-outdated-view-on-staying-out-of-the-sun-2018389.html

Public advice on suntanning may mean vitamin deficiency risk

Monday, July 5th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Concerns over the link between rising skin cancer rates and exposure to sunshine may have led to overly precautionary advice being given to the public about staying out of the sun at midday, according to a confidential “position statement” by leading health organisations.

The current advice to the public from the leading research charity on skin cancer, Cancer Research UK, states to spend between 11am and 3pm in the shade and to cover the skin with clothing, hats and sunscreen if out.

But a confidential position statement being prepared by the charity in collaboration with other health organisations – and seen by The Independent – acknowledges the changing evidence and emphasises the importance of exposing the skin to the midday sun without any protection in order to maximise production of vitamin D.

Many experts are concerned that past advice designed to protect against skin cancer may have resulted in an increased risk of other illnesses linked to a lack of vitamin D, which the body can only produce when skin in exposed to bright sunlight. New concerns about Britain’s policy on sun exposure led to this review of the evidence about the risks and benefits of staying in the shade and covering up during the sunniest part of the day.

The confidential document, seen by The Independent, says: “The time required to make sufficient vitamin D is typically short and less than the amount of time needed for skin to redden and burn. Regularly going outside for a matter of minutes around the middle of the day without sunscreen should be enough. When it comes to sun exposure, little and often is best. However, people should get to know their own skin to understand how long they can spend outside before risking sunburn under different conditions.”

The wording of the draft document is being seen by come commentators as a tacit admission by Cancer Research UK that it had got it wrong in the past about telling people to avoid the midday sun, to apply sunscreen and to stay in the shade in order to avoid exposure to the cancer-causing rays of the sun.

“Cancer Research UK is working on a new position statement on vitamin D and sunshine which it expects to agree with other health organisations,” said Oliver Gillie, a health writer who has championed the case for vitamin D. “Their new position is expected to break with 20 years of advice to seek the shade and is expected to suggest that people go out in the sun in the middle of the day for at least a few minutes. Several health bodies have agreed to the wording but others are still discussing the details.”

Organisations such as the British Heart Foundation, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Diabetes UK and the National Osteoporosis Society are discussing what their public position should be on sunshine and vitamin D in the light of several new studies suggesting a link between various illnesses and a chronic lack of the vitamin.

The draft position statement says: “Cancer Research UK’s SunSmart campaign encourages people to enjoy the sun safely and avoid exposures that lead to sunburn. However, for most people, sunlight is also the most important source of vitamin D, which is essential for good bone health.

“It is important to ensure that skin cancer prevention messages are balanced with the need to make enough vitamin D, and reflect the latest scientific evidence.” Sara Hiom, director of health information at the charity, said that the draft consensus statement has not yet been finalised, agreed or released. “It is not our advice to the public and should not be interpreted in that way,” Ms Hiom said.

“Even once we reach a consensus we will not be advising the public to go in the sun in the middle of the day without sunscreen. This is because, for some people – those most likely to be at risk of skin cancer – a few minutes in the middle of the day is enough for them to burn and cause serious and lasting skin damage.

“The very fact that messages around safe sun exposure times cannot be generalised to the population means that our advice needs to be general and is, and will remain, to enjoy the sun safely, spend time in the shade around midday and know your own skin type.”

Vitamin D is ray of sunshine for multiple sclerosis patients

Friday, February 19th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

By Melanie Reid – The Times

Multiple sclerosis could be prevented through daily vitamin D supplements, scientists told The Times last night.

The first causal link has been established between the “sunshine vitamin” and a gene that increases the risk of MS, raising the possibility that the debilitating auto-immune disease could be eradicated.

George Ebers, Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, claimed that there was hard evidence directly relating both genes and the environment to the origins of MS.

His work suggests that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and childhood may increase the risk of a child developing the disease.

He has also established the possibility that genetic vulnerability to MS, apparently initiated by lack of vitamin D, may be passed through families.

These risks might plausibly be reduced by giving vitamin D supplements to pregnant woman and young children.

“I think it offers the potential for treatment which might prevent MS in the future,” Professor Ebers said.

“Our research has married two key pieces of the puzzle. The interaction of vitamin D with the gene is very specific and it seems most unlikely to be a coincidence of any kind.”

Warnings over sun exposure could now also be called into question – sunlight allows the body to produce the vitamin.

Professor Ebers said: “Serious questions now arise over the wisdom of current advice to limit sun exposure and avoid sunbathing. We also need to give better advice and help to the public on vitamin D supplements, particularly pregnant and nursing mothers.”

The news has momentous implications for Scotland and other northern countries, where the incidence of multiple sclerosis is the highest in the world. It will give added urgency to recent moves by Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer to consider recommending vitamin D supplements.

Deficiency in vitamin D, caused by lack of exposure to sunshine, has been increasingly linked to the cloudier climate in Scotland and other northern latitudes. The deficiency is twice as common among the Scots as it is amongst the English – and Orkney and Shetland have among the highest rates.

Studies have also shown that fewer people with MS are born in November and more in May, implicating a lack of sunshine during pregnancy.

The breakthrough comes after a groundswell of expert belief in the importance of vitamin D. Last November, at a conference organised by the Scottish Government, international experts urged vitamin D supplements for Scots to be tested “sooner rather than later” to find whether they could improve the nation’s health.

Researchers for the World Health Organisation said there should be large, randomised trials as there was strong evidence that increased daily intake of vitamin D could significantly improve health.

The seminar followed evidence, revealed in The Times, that Scotland’s poor health record has close links to vitamin D deficiency. Last September this newspaper reported evidence from scientists in Canada that children with early symptoms of multiple sclerosis have low levels of vitamin D.

Until now there has been no scientific proof of the links. However, Professor Ebers and his team have shown that vitamin D affects a particular genetic variant, identified as the one that increases the risk of developing MS threefold.

They suggest that a shortage of the vitamin alters this variant, thus preventing the immune system from functioning normally.

Professor Ebers said: “Whether it’s at the core of MS is going to take some further work, but it does look like a reasonably good chance.”

Last October Professor Ebers, in an article in The Times, backed the idea of distributing vitamin D supplements in Scotland to guard against conditions that may be linked to a deficiency, including MS.

“It is plausible that some 200 cases a year of MS might be prevented in Scotland alone by giving vitamin D to mothers and children,” he wrote.

“Over a trial duration of 25 years, 5,000 cases of this disease might be otherwise prevented.

“The economic impact of each person with MS is at least an extra million pounds during a lifetime.

“Over 25 years £5 billion is at issue in this disease without factoring in the human cost, the increasing rate of MS or inflation. A large-scale programme providing vitamin D could provide scientific evidence.

UK Milk Has No Effect On Vitamin D Levels

Sunday, February 14th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Recent media reports have covered research announced ahead of the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) Annual Meeting in April which suggested that milk during pregnancy may lower a baby’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life.

The theory from the researchers in Boston, announced in an AAN press release, was based on a survey of American mothers.

It was claimed that MS risk was lower among women born to mothers with high milk or dietary vitamin D intake in pregnancy.

Unfortunately UK media reports focussed on the milk link ; however it is in fact the case that there are only trace elements of vitamin D in milk consumed in this country.

Unlike America, most of Britain’s milk is not fortified with vitamin D and so whatever quantity of milk is ingested, vitamin D levels in the body are likely to remain unaffected.

MS Society Scotland and 14 year old Ryan Mclaughlin announced last week that Scotland will host a international conference on April 27 to discuss the role of vitamin D. The event, to take place in Glasgow, will be opened by Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary. Leading researchers into links between vitamin D deficiency and multiple sclerosis are expected to attend.

Source
Multiple Scleroris Society

Should we all be taking vitamin D?

Monday, February 1st, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

a1pills_385x185_678889a

Dr Mark Porter: Should we all be taking vitamin D?

From The Times
February 1, 2010

New research showing that vitamin D may protect against cancer of the colon is the latest in a long line of studies suggesting that there is far more to this vitamin than its traditional role in helping to maintain healthy bones. And although this new study involved more than 500,000 people from ten different European countries, it is pertinent to the UK because so many of us have low levels of vitamin D — especially at this time of year.

So should more of us be considering supplements?

Vitamin D is required to help the body make proper use of calcium — the basic building block of bones — which is why interest in it has traditionally centred on rickets, a condition that results from severe deficiency. But we now understand that it does far more than maintain the skeleton, and that milder degrees of deficiency may predispose to a range of other illnesses including diabetes, lung disease, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, various cancers, and even Alzheimer’s disease.

The vitamin is manufactured in the skin when we’re exposed to sunlight but our northern latitude and short summers mean that for six months of the year UV levels are so low that most of us don’t make enough of the vitamin to meet basic requirements.

The problem is compounded by the use of sunscreens, which further reduce natural UV exposure during the summer months when vitamin D stores are replenished, and the popularity of supplements containing vitamin A (it is thought that as many as 1 in 5 of the population take one), which antagonise some of the D’s actions.

As well as manufacturing the vitamin in our skin, we also take it in from our diet. It occurs naturally in oily fish, such as tuna and herring, and liver, milk and eggs. In most industrialised countries it is added to margarine, some powdered milks, bread and breakfast cereals.

The scale of the potential problem is nicely outlined by researchers from the University of Sheffield, who looked at vitamin D levels in the cord blood of babies born at the hospital at the end of spring — the time when their mothers’ vitamin D stores were likely to be at their lowest. Seven out of ten of the babies had lower than ideal levels of vitamin D, 90 per cent of whom were white, dispelling the myth that deficiency is principally a problem in ethnic minorities with darker skin (the extra pigment reduces UV penetration even further).

Meanwhile in Finland researchers tracking a group of people born in the Sixties turned up evidence suggesting a link between low levels of vitamin D and Type 1 diabetes later in life. Children brought up in the gloomy winters of Finland are more than a hundred times more likely to develop the condition than their peers in sunny Venezuela. Since then UK research has shown that children given vitamin D supplements are around a third less likely to develop diabetes.

Vitamin D is a steroid and there are receptors on almost every cell in the body. Its link with diabetes could be explained by an action on receptors in the pancreas and on the various cells in the immune system, but there are similar vitamin D specific targets in almost every other organ, including the brain, heart, muscles, kidneys and, of course, the skeleton. Little wonder then that there is growing interest in the role of the vitamin in diseases, ranging from MS to Alzheimer’s.

Should we all be taking a supplement? It’s too early to tell whether mass supplementation is the way forward, but it is now widely agreed that the following key groups are those most likely to benefit:

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
Children under 5 (particularly breastfed infants)
The over-fifties
Vegetarians who don’t eat oily fish
Anyone who is housebound or who covers up when outside
Those who are dark-skinned — particularly Asians.

The standard dose for an adult is 10mcg day and trials looking at the safety of long-term supplementation have reported no adverse effects at intakes of more than double that. Much higher doses (50mcg a day or more) can weaken bones and increase the risk of calcium deposits (such as kidney stones) forming elsewhere.

During the summer most people will manufacture enough vitamin D by exposing their face and arms to the sun for an hour across the week. You don’t have to sunbathe, just accumulate around ten minutes of exposure while going about your normal business — assuming you are not wearing a sunscreen, or a moisturiser that contains one.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/expert_advice/article7008426.ece

50% of UK Vitamin D deficient

Friday, January 29th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Spending too long indoors, applying excessive sun screen and the changing ethnic population is causing precariously low levels of Vitamin D in parts of the UK, warn Professor Simon Pearce and Dr Tim Cheetham at Newcastle University.

“More than 50% of the adult population have insufficient levels of vitamin D and 16% have severe deficiency during winter and spring,” they say. “The highest rates are in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. People with pigmented skin are at high risk as are the elderly, obese individuals and those with malabsorption.”

The research published in the British Medical Journal, has found that the most commonly affected are people of Asian and African descent who live in the North; a key part of the research focused on young Somalis who live in east Newcastle.

Other causes include consistent sun screen application instead of allowing 20 to 30 minutes exposure to the sun two or three times a weeks, staying indoors all the working day and children sitting in front of computer games rather than playing outdoors.

Pearce has written to the Department of Health proposing Vitamin D is added to milk. It is already added to artificial baby milk.

Rickets are associated with the 19th century and young workers in industrial cities. The disease causes softening of the bones and muscle weakness. When a child has rickets, there is not enough mineral in the bones, making them soft and weaker.

Some vitamin D is obtained from certain foods: egg yolk, liver, oily fish such as sardines, herring, tuna, salmon and mackerel. A diet low in these foods will contribute to a lack of vitamin D but the main cause of the problem is lack of sunlight on the skin.

Ryan Mclaughlin launches ‘Fortify Scotland’s school milk’ campaign

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

4776_108144088904_655468904_1856221_6039710_n

Ryan McLaughlin launches ‘Fortify Scotland’s school milk’ campaign

14 year old Ryan McLaughlin of the Shine on Scotland campaign has launched a new social networking campaign to gain public support for his Idea of adding vitamin D to all school milk in Scotland. The 14 year old campaigner believes that vitamin D is so important to improving the health of scottish kids and wants to ascertain how many parents agree with him, using the social platform Facebook.

Ryan is asking scottish parents to join the group and have their say on the subject.

Figures compiled by Oxford University for a national supplementation program of vitamin D in scotland suggest 2000 cases of MS could be prevented over the next 10 years and save the UK economy £4 billion over 25 years.

The World Health Organisation have said that Scotland should start a national supplementation program.

The campaigner says ‘much work still has to be done to get the RDA of vitamin D raised significantly and I will work with the Scottish Government, SACN and the FSA to get that done, but I am positive that fortifying school milk with vitamin D offers the best solution to offering protection to all kids in Scotland’

I am proud to say that the Scottish Government have been amazing in supporting my goals, they have really listened and acted on the current evidence in support of vitamin D, as more evidence is put in place I believe that the case for fortification of school milk will increase, the Scottish government have not ruled out my proposal for fortified school milk they have said “Following advice from the FSA Scotland, the Scottish Government believes that it would not be appropriate to introduce fortified milk (or other fortified drinks) at school until such time as the evidence base is more conclusive about the impact on the population.

However this was said before new research released by the scottish government and the announcement that NHS Scotland said there was now an ‘urgent need to educate women and that all pregnant mothers and all children up to the age of 4 should be taking vitamin D everyday’ .

Now that BUPA have said that they believe vitamin D could prevent cancer and Israel announced all 3% milk is to be fortified I think we need to ask the Scottish Government to look at this again as the evidence is certainly more conclusive and it can only have a healthy impact on the population .

We are now aware that it will cost  £2.7 million if every pregnant mother and child takes up the Health Start vitamin’s on offer but what would it cost to fortify the school milk, I think some political will and some help with financial costs to the dairies could see this happen sooner rather than later.

Almost all milk in the US is fortified with vitamin D, Israel has just decided to fortify all 3% milk and we have heard rumors that both France and Ireland are also considering such a move.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=150104079977&ref=nf

Scotland must fortify school milk!

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

4776_108144088904_655468904_1856221_6039710_n

When 14 year old Ryan Mclaughlin started his Shine on Scotland campaign he had set a goal to get vitamin D into our school milk, a simple idea to protect every child in scotland from Multiple Sclerosis,  but he quickly became aware that far more diseases would benefit from vitamin D supplementation not just MS.

Now the countries largest private health care provider BUPA agree’s and says we should all be taking between 1,500 to 2,000 IUs per day to beat cancer. This is 5 times the current UK RDA and exactly what Ryan has campaigned tirelessly for almost 9 months.

Dr Virginia Warren, assistant medical director for Bupa, commented: “There has been a lot of research over the last few years about the health benefits of taking a vitamin D supplement. Based on this evidence, we would recommend taking between 37.5 and 50 micrograms of vitamin D on a daily basis to help reduce your risk of certain cancers. Spending time outside in summer will also increase your vitamin D levels, but is a risk for skin cancer.

“Ensuring you get enough vitamin D is a simple and effective way to reduce your risk of developing certain cancers. Alongside this, it’s important to ensure you eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise regularly, only drink in moderation and do not smoke.

It was again reinforced today when the Israeli Health Ministry announced that all 3% milk is to be fortified with vitamin D in the next 3 months and Ryan McLaughlin wants the Scottish Government to look to follow suit.

Last week on a STV news interview with Ryan McLaughlin in realtion to his win for vitamin d campaign he said ‘that fortification of school milk was still at the top of his priorities’ as he still thinks its the best way to protect future generations of Scots from many diseases not just MS, this announcement by the Israeli Government only goes to further back his case and show that it can be done on a national basis and with the worst health record in western world and the highest rates of MS in the world – Scotland must take the lead.

Dr Sareeram Ramagopalan of Oxford University and Ryan’ family all gave evidence at the Scottish Parliaments petitions committee back in June and told the committee that Israel was looking at fortification of both Milk and flour and we heard that France was also looking at it, now its been confirmed in Israel we need to really start considering moving towards fortification of the school milk program now in scotland.

There are many problems associated with just offering supplementation, simply try getting a child to take a supplement every day for their young life seems doomed for failure, Ryan says he has forgotten a few times to take his and he is running the vitamin D camapign !

How many adults get a course of antibiotics which state finish the course and don’t.  Ryan say’s ‘I am sure almost every adult can say that take them till they feel better and the rest is left in a medical cabinet’.

Furthermore do we really want kids popping tablets everyday ?

Can we ask our teachers to dish out supplements he doesnt think so!

We would need to ask the questions from the Education Dept, teachers and of course get the teachers unions to agree to it, teachers have a big work load already, Ryan points out that many parents will be able to relate to the following point ! How many times as a parent have you been called home and had to take a day off work when a paracetamol would sorted a sore head or a slightly high temperature and the child could have stayed in school getting educated – It would all take too long, too many problems to overcome.

We could spend millions of pounds trying to educate parents and expectant mothers to take vitamin D supplements everyday, but  I believe we should lead from the front from the start , we owe it to the kids and we must protect each and every child in Scotland.

If parents don’t want it for their kids – let them simply opt out !

Ryan believes we need to think much much bigger!  He think we should educate parents to the idea of  the benefits of vitamin D everyday and proposing putting vitamin D into the school milk program so kids get it every day, start debating it with the public and informing parents immediately !

Vitamin D boosts your immune system to help fights off cold and bugs and it would improve the school attendence records on wasted days of school due to simple sniffles, as well as save parents the loss of earnings by taking time off work with sick kids that could be in school learning.

Add his very valid points to the figures compiled for national supplementation of vitamin D in Scotland in relation to just MS alone and you have very good case – Scientists believe it could prevent 2000 cases over 10 years in Scotland alone and could save the UK economy some £4.5 billion surely children’s health must be the priority and a penny onto the cost of a pint of milk is well justified and we should start talking to the dairies immediately !

Vitamin D can reduce number of falls and fractures in elderly

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

elderly

Story by Melanie Reid

Elderly people who take a daily dose of vitamin D can boost their muscle strength and reduce the risk of falls by 19 per cent, according to a new study.

Researchers also found that a supplement of between 700 to 1,000 international units (IUs) a day can cut the risk of hip fracture by 18 per cent and other fractures by 20 per cent.

The study, by the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the University of Zurich and published in the British Medical Journal, comes as Bupa, the private health care provider, recommended for the first time that people should take a vitamin D supplement to reduce the risk of several cancers.

The benefits, which occur as a result of the vitamin’s positive effects on muscles, were significant within two to five months of starting supplementation and extended beyond 12 months of treatment.

Researchers said that one in three people aged over 65 fall each year. “Vitamin D has direct effects on muscle strength modulated by specific vitamin D receptors present in human muscle tissue,” the study said.

“In several trials of older individuals at risk for vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation improved strength, function and balance in a dose-related pattern. Most importantly, these benefits translated into a reduction in falls. An important risk factor for falls is muscle weakness, which is a prominent feature of the clinical syndrome of vitamin D deficiency and could plausibly mediate fracture risk through increasing susceptibility to falls.”

The Times, which has highlighted the links between high levels of vitamin D deficiency in Scotland and poor health — due to low levels of sunshine — has collated other new research which points to the vitamin’s positive role with regard to falls and fractures.

A five-month trial at the Institute for Aging Research in Boston, the United States, found that nursing home residents who took at least 800 IUs of vitamin D a day were 72 per cent less likely to fall than those taking a placebo.

The researchers concluded that adequate supplementation could reduce the number of falls experienced by this high-risk group.

Other research in Boston found that elderly patients with hip fractures who were given 2,000 IUs of vitamin D experienced 60 per cent fewer complications and 90 per cent fewer infections than hip fracture patients who received a placebo in a double blind randomised trial. They were also 40 per cent less likely to be readmitted to hospital, according to research by Beth Dawson-Hughes of Tufts University, Boston.

Although the amount of vitamin D that needs to be taken to be effective remains a matter of debate, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, director of the centre in Zurich, suggested that the best results were found in people who took between 1,800 and 4,000 IUs a day.

In its newly issued advice, Bupa recommended taking 1,500 to 2,000 IUs per day.

The research was published as the Scottish government responds to evidence surrounding vitamin D deficiency. NHS Health Scotland has announced that there is “an urgent need” to provide information to all health professionals who work with pregnant women and young children about current guidance on vitamin D supplementation.

The study results are also a victory for Ryan McLaughlin, 14, from Glasgow, whose mother suffers from multiple sclerosis. Ryan, who started the campaign “Sunshine on Scotland”, has petitioned the Scottish Parliament over the need to raise awareness of the dangers of vitamin D deficiency.

Israel – All 3% milk to be fortified with Vitamin D

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized
New Health Ministry nutrition...

New Health Ministry nutrition dept. head Dr. Ziva Stahl.

Photo: Judy Siegel-itzkovich

In a few months, dairies will be required to fortify 3%-fat Milk and vitamin D  - which has been scientifically proven to reduce the risk of a wide variety of diseases from osteoporosis to ovarian cancer and dementia – at no extra cost to the consumer, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The Health Ministry has finally taken action through an official standard formilk that will insert the vital but very cheap vitamin into bags, cartons and glass bottles of 3% milk, which is the most widely consumed. At present, only 1% fat milk has to be fortified withvitamin D.

Milk has been fortified for decades in the US and many other countries.

The dairy companies have long opposed forced fortification of 3% milkbecause they market “specialty” milks with vitamin D plus calcium – for which they can charge more, since these products are not subject to government price controls.

Forcing them to add the vitamin while charging the same price will cause them to lose income.

However, Health Ministry Nutrition Department head Dr. Ziva Stahl said that forcing dairy companies to fortify all their products – including soft white cheeses and yogurts – with the vitamin is quite a way off, as this will require a different standard.

The companies oppose adding vitamin D to cheeses and yogurts even more than to ordinary milk because it would require some complicated technological changes that will add to their costs, said Stahl, who is a clinical dietitian.

Doctors and other experts have long thought that Israelis, living in a country that is sunny almost all year, would have no shortage of vitamin D, as the sun’s ultraviolet rays induce cells in the skin to produce it.

But recent screening of blood by Maccabi Health Services has found this to be mostly untrue. The vast majority of blood tested for medical reasons was screened by the health fund for a few weeks and found to be deficient in vitamin D.

Nowadays Israelis are more likely to keep out of the sun and use sunscreen to reduce the risk of skin cancer; moreover, the observant of all religions dress modestly the year, while children tend to stay indoors in front of their computer or TV screens rather than play outside, thus reducing their exposure to sunlight.

The health funds do not check blood for vitamin D unless doctors specifically request it.

Stahl said the ministry, which recommends that all women of childbearing age take folic acid pills to minimize the risk of having infants with neural-tube disorders, is also considering the possibility of adding folic acid to all flour used in Israel.

Story by the Jerusalem post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1261364529466&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

« Older Entries

Categories

Archives