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Health advocacy group urges review of vitamin D intake guidelines

New research has found current national vitamin D intake recommendations are too low and that body weight must be taken into account to determine the appropriate vitamin D dose in any given individual, a statement from Pure North S'Energy Foundation said.

December 2, 2014  By Massage Therapy Canada staff


Pure North S’Energy Foundation is a chronic disease prevention program
that uses nutritional supplements and is backed by research. It is
Canada’s largest primary prevention focused not-for-profit organization.

In
many instances, body weight is not taken into account when determining
appropriate vitamin D doses, which poses a serious Canadian public
health issue with significant cost and health impacts, the foundation
said, adding the impact vitamin D deficiency among the population is
costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

"Vitamin D, the ‘sunshine
vitamin,’ is very important to our health. It is used by nearly every
cell in the body and has an effect on every system – it acts as a
protector and regulator, and enhances the functioning of our body’s
systems to protect against disease. Simply put, optimizing vitamin D
levels results in better health," stated Dr. David Hanley,
endocrinologist and professor in the departments of medicine, oncology
and community health sciences at the University of Calgary.

Studies
have found that if Canadians increased their intake of Vitamin D, the
estimated death rate could fall by 37,000 annually, representing 16.1
per cent of annual deaths. In addition, the economic burden would
decrease by 6.9 per cent or $14.4 billion per year based on 2005
figures.

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In the newly published study, "The importance of body
weight for the dose response relationship of oral vitamin D
supplementation and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in healthy volunteers,"
the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin D, 600 IU/d, was found
to be much lower than the dose needed to achieve optimal vitamin D
status when more than 20,000 measurements of 25-hydroxyvitamin D
[25(OH)D] were analyzed. The dose required for overweight or obese
individuals to reach optimal 25(OH)D levels is actually 12,000-20,000
IU/d – two to three times higher than the amount needed by a normal
weight individual, and four to five times higher than the tolerable
upper level of intake currently recommended by Health Canada.

Given
the fact that two thirds of the population is overweight or obese, this
has significant public health impact, the foundation said. Also, the
study showed that vitamin D supplementation was safe up to 20,000 IU/d,
even with normal weight.

"The public health and clinical
implications of an error in the calculation of the recommended dietary
allowance for Vitamin D are serious, particularly for residents of
Canada," stated Dr. Paul Veugelers, research chair in nutrition and
disease prevention at the School of Public Health, University of
Alberta, and one of the authors of the new study.

He added many
Canadians will still be vitamin D deficient or insufficient, even if
they follow Health Canada’s recommendation of 600 IU per day.

"Canada’s
current approach to health must change from treating disease to
optimizing health. This is the only way to prevent chronic illness. A
proactive preventative approach increases health benefits for
individuals and has cost-benefits for taxpayers and government. Based on
these new findings we believe that it is imperative the Canadian
guidelines need to be reviewed," stated Dr. Samantha Kimball, director
of research at Pure North S’Energy Foundation.


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