The Recipe Doctor
From low-fat recipes to recipes designed for persons with diabetes, Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, shares recipes and advice to create healthy meals that are guaranteed to please. [Editor's note: Elaine no longer contributes to Silver Planet, but we have made her archived blog entries available as a service to our readers.]
The Vitamin You Need More Of
Hint: It may do more than promote bone growth
The winner of the award for “vitamin we’re most likely to hear more about in the future” is . . . drum roll please . . . vitamin D!
We haven’t heard the half of it about this fascinating fat-soluble vitamin. For years, we’ve known about vitamin D’s role in calcium absorption and bone growth, but now we know vitamin D does so much more in the human body. Unfortunately, many of us still aren’t getting enough.
Up to 30 to 50% of apparently healthy US adults and children are affected by vitamin D deficiency, according to researchers.
Why is vitamin D deficiency running rampant in America? First of all, we are just plain outside a lot less these days. And when we are outdoors, there’s the also important issue of preventing skin cancer by using sunscreen. (Sunscreen with an SPF of 15 is thought to block about 99% of vitamin D synthesis by the skin as a result of the sun exposure.)
Here’s the clincher: As we get older and as we get heavier (overweight or obese), our bodies become less efficient at making this valuable vitamin D in response to the sun exposure we are getting.
Beyond bones
Low levels of vitamin D may encourage an assortment of conditions, none of which we want and all of which increase the risk of heart disease:
- High blood pressure
- Congestive heart failure
- Chronic blood vessel inflammation (associated with hardening of the arteries)
- Increased insulin resistance through changes in hormone levels
More studies need to be done, but the latest results of epidemiological, laboratory, and animal research suggest vitamin D could play a role in decreasing cancer risk (colon, prostate, and breast cancers).
Stay tuned, because my guess is you’ll be hearing a lot more about the health benefits of getting your daily dose of vitamin D!
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
The Recipe Doctor Blog
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