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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

In a dispatch from Honduras, Nicholas Kristof has written a very interesting op-ed about micronutrients. By turns enlightening and horrific, Kristof's account focuses to readers' attention on the simple preventative measures which can be taken to eliminate a host of birth defects which plague developing nations. This very issue has been mentioned on the DSIB blog before, but this particular article is one of the more powerful examples we have encountered in coming from a major news source. From the NYTimes article:

“In the early stages of life, the die is cast,” said David Dodson, the founder of Project Healthy Children, an aid group that fights micronutrient deficiencies in Honduras and other poor countries. “If a child is not getting the right micronutrients, the effect is permanent.”

“I had never seen anything in my life that could have so much impact for so little money and be sustainable,” Mr. Dodson said

Please have a look at the full article, "World's Healthiest Food, and take a moment to learn more about the micronutrients discussed below.

DSIB: Iodine
DSIB: Iron
DSIB: Vitamin A
DSIB: Vitamin B-Complex
DSIB: Zinc

The FDA is set to begin research into an area of critical importance for the health-awareness of the general population: Why is it that food labels are roundly ignored by so many people?

Since the early 1990’s, the number of consumers who utterly ignored food labels on food products has risen by almost 50 percent, and the worst for this were populations under 35 years old.

A new internet-based study has been proposed by the agency, and it expects over 40,000 volunteer participants to help them learn more about three main points:

• The identification of attitudes and beliefs to do with health, diet and label usage
• The relationships between these attitudes and beliefs, demographics, and actual label use
• The relevance of these attitudes between different demographics, to see whether there are different barriers to label use for different age groups

For more info on this study and food labels:
GPO.gov: Internet Survey on Barriers to Food Label Use (bottom of the page)
FDA.gov: Consumer Info: Nutrition Facts Label
NutraUSA: New study to investigate why people ignore food labels

On Monday morning, ABC's Good Morning America ran a feature about vitamin D.

The segment kicks off by highlighting "Five Ways Vitamin D Can Save Your Life" and goes on to itemize the most efficient ways one can go about ensuring that vitamin D levels are optimal.

The video is nice and simple, so if interested in a bare bones explanation regarding the vitamin, have a look: GMA has a look at the Sun Vitamin.

DSIB: Vitamin D

Harvard researchers, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have determined that Omega-3 deficiency is responsible for 72,000 to 96,000 preventable deaths each year in the United States. This startling finding would mean that Omega-3 deficiency is the sixth largest cause of death for Americans.

According to the data, collected in a 2005 study, tobacco smoking and high blood pressure were responsible for an estimated 436,000-500,000 deaths, high blood pressure taking 372,000-414,000 victims, responsible for nearly 20% of deaths for US adults. Overweight and obesity conditions caused 188,000-237,000 fatalities, while physical inactivity caused 164,000-222,000. High dietary salt (97,000-107,000 deaths), low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (72,000-96,000), and high dietary trans fatty acids (82,000; 63,000-97,000) round out the top causes of mortality.

Last month, Dr. Daniel Fabricant made the following statement to NutraUSA about such recent finding:

“We need more clinical research that nails down why omega-3 is so effective,” Fabricant said. “This seems to be the last missing piece for omega-3s in terms of clarifying the picture for governmental/regulatory bodies of its efficacy.”

To learn more about what we do know regarding Omega-3, please have a look at the DSIB Healthnotes page: Omega-3

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) has just updated their position regarding vitamin D as related to UV light. A few brief highlights here, and then check out the entire statement at the link below.

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends that an adequate amount of vitamin D should be obtained from a healthy diet that includes foods naturally rich in vitamin D, foods/beverages fortified with vitamin D, and/or vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D should not be obtained from unprotected exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

...

There is no scientifically validated, safe threshold level of UV exposure from the sun that allows for maximal vitamin D synthesis without increasing skin cancer risk.

Position Statement on Vitamin D (AAD)