A number of recent studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and Archives of Neurology have found that vitamin D and vitamin E appear to play an important role as we age.

Two independent long-term studies which have recently come to completion have found that higher vitamin D levels seem to lead to a reduced risk for Parkinson's disease, while low levels of vitamin D spell trouble for our ability to think clearly, learn, and memorize.

Additionally, another long-course experiment has found that consuming higher levels of vitamin E is associated with lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

For further details, please take a moment to have a look at the abstracts below:

DSIB: Vitamin D
DSIB: Vitamin E
Archives of Neurology: Dietary Antioxidants and Long-term Risk of Dementia
Archives of Neurology: Serum Vitamin D and the Risk of Parkinson Disease
Archives of Internal Medicine: Vitamin D and Risk of Cognitive Decline in Elderly Persons

Over the weekend, the Huffington Post featured an article by Dr. Mark Hyman that focused on the findings of the Health Impact Studies, which were commissioned the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau.

Dr. Hyman praises the study's strictness and rigor, and there is an interesting conversation developing in the comments section. Check out the video below, in which Hyman discusses the studies at length:

Hop on over to the Post for the full article: How Dietary Supplement Reduce Health Care Cost, and review the entirety of the series of Health Impact studies right here, on DSIB: Health Impact Studies I-IV.

Jump into July with the DSIB Healthnotes Newsletter!

The newest newsletter was posted today, and the features include a Summer Exercise Spotlight, as well as great monthly features such as the Cooking Corner and Everyday Answers.

Sign up for our monthly newsletters today, or have a look at our extensive archives: DSIB Healthnotes Update.

Have a lovely 4th of July.

With the shifting of the seasons, Vitamin D supplementation sometimes gets a little lost in all the sunshine. Sunlight is key to natural vitamin D synthesis in the body, and so with the onset of summer, we tend to hear less and less about vitamin D.

With this in mind, we would like to direct your attention a recent study regarding vitamin D, lest it fly under the radar and go unnoticed in the fine weather.

Researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research in Tromsø have just reported findings that vitamin D levels are best achieved through supplements, due to the risks associated with UV exposure. From the study's conclusions:

Although it may be tempting to recommend intentional sun exposure based on our findings, it is difficult, if not impossible to titrate one's exposure. There are well-known detrimental side effects of ultraviolet irradiation. Therefore, oral supplementation remains the safest way for increasing vitamin D status.

Be careful out there in the sun! And please take a moment to read up further on vitamin D and sun-safe health:

DSIB: Vitamin D

Journal of American Academy of Dermatology

According to British doctors, children who are spending excessive amounts of time using the internet may be at risk for developing rickets due to vitamin D deficiency.

In a review in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal, Newcastle University researchers stated that as a younger generation spends more of its leisure time indoors, vitamin D levels drop, exposing the population to greater risk for the disease, and a rise in its occurrance, which had been all but ended in modern times. Not long ago, rickets was a condition associated with extreme poverty and starvation — not the affluence of the modern industrialized societies.

The authors of the study suggested "fresh air", adding new regulations to fortify milk products in the UK, and/or other dietary supplementation.

DSIB: Vitamin D

British Medical Journal: Diagnosis and management of vitamin D deficiency

BBC: Newcastle University experts want Vitamin D put in food

Guardian UK: Rickets warning from doctors as vitamin D deficiency widens

Times Online: TV and computer games blamed for return of rickets

Press Association: Rickets rise for inactive children