Vitamin D can Save the Global Economy Hundreds of Billions in Health Costs

Ensuring the German population gets adequate intakes of vitamin D could save the country about €37.5 billion in health care costs, according to a new review.

Writing in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, Professor Armin Zittermann from Ruhr University Bochum states that up to 45 per cent of the German population could be vitamin D insufficient, with an additional 15 to 30 per cent deficient, thereby putting them at risk at a variety of health problems.

Moderate sun exposure is absolutely crucial to your
health. This is the way your skin produces
Vitamin D3, a powerful healing chemical.

In addition, current recommendations are not enough and need to be doubled at least, wrote Prof Zittermann, with daily intakes of 25 micrograms required. This would represent a significant increase from current recommendations, which range from 5 to 10 micrograms per day.

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“Adherence to present sun safety policy and dietary recommendations would definitively lead to vitamin D deficiency,” states Prof Zittermann. “Therefore, there is an urgent need to change current sun safety policy and dietary vitamin D recommendations.”

Vitamin D deficiency in adults is reported to precipitate or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. There is also some evidence that the vitamin may reduce the incidence of several types of cancer and type-1 diabetes.

The science supporting the muscle function of vitamin D, as well as the vitamin’s role in immune health, is sufficiently robust to have merited a positive opinion from the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA).

Despite such proclamations of support, many people across the world are not getting enough vitamin D. Prof Zitterman reviewed data from the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey (GNHIES), and the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), and concluded that between 40 and 45 per cent of the general German population is vitamin D insufficient, whiel an additional 15 to 30 per are vitamin D deficient.

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Commentary

Many of us have been brainwashed into believing that exposure to the sun is bad for you. It’s true that chronic, excessive exposure to sunlight does increase the risk of skin cancer, but sensible, moderate sun exposure is absolutely crucial to your health because this is the way your skin produces Vitamin D3, one of the most powerful healing chemicals that your body can produce.

Although it has been labeled a vitamin, D3 is actually a very powerful steroid hormone that regulates over 2000 (of your 30,000) genes. This should illustrate to you just how important it is to your health.

It has been estimated that approximately one billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency. Dr. Michael Holick, who has been researching vitamin D deficiency for over 30 years, believes that vitamin D deficiency is epidemic throughout the entire United States, through all age groups.

The following statistics amplify Dr. Holick’s assertion:

• Over 40,000 Americans die annually from cancer caused by Vitamin D deficiency

• Research suggests that 85% of the U.S. population could be vitamin D deficient without knowing it

• 32% of doctors and medical school students are vitamin D deficient

• 42% of African-American women of childbearing age are deficient in vitamin D

• 48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient

• 76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing a vitamin D deficiency in their unborn children (and this predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life)

• 81% of children who had vitamin D deficient mothers were also Vitamin D deficient

How to Get Your Share of Vitamin D3

The best source of vitamin D3 is direct exposure to the sun (and it’s free). Dr. Holick recommends that you expose 6 to 10% of your body to the sun a couple of times a week and this should be sufficient to get all the vitamin D your body needs to function optimally. Other experts suggest daily sun exposure, from 10 to 20 minutes per day.

Cod liver oil is another good source of vitamin D3.

You can get some vitamin D from your diet, but it’s unlikely that you will get all you need. Oily fish like salmon, sardines, tuna and mackerel contains vitamin D, but you would have to eat salmon and mackerel 3 to 5 times a week in order to get your vitamin D requirement.

You can also use a vitamin supplement, but make sure that it is vitamin D3 and NOT D2. There are two forms of vitamin D that the human body can synthesize and use: D2 and D3 – the latter is a lot more powerful and effective.

Please Take Note

1. You should note that sunscreen blocks your skin’s ability to produce vitamin D. When you’re outside in the sun, do not apply any sunscreen for the first fifteen minutes. If you remain in the sun and wish to wear sunscreen, apply it only after 15 minutes exposure to the sun.

2. Recent research has revealed that it takes your body 48 hours to absorb the vitamin D produced by your skin. Until it is absorbed, the vitamin remains on the surface of the skin. Apparently the soaps and gels that we commonly use to wash ourselves can actually get rid of the vitamin D as well. After exposure to the sun, it may be a good idea to rinse off the entire body with warm water and only wash the “essential” areas until the vitamin is entirely absorbed.

3. One of cholesterol's many functions in the body is to act as a precursor to vitamin D. If you’re taking drugs such as Statins to lower the cholesterol in your blood, this will decrease your capacity to produce vitamin D3.

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