As preterm births are on the rise worldwide, there is powerful new evidence supporting the claim that sufficient vitamin D levels can reduce your risk of having apremature delivery. It can also help protect your newborn baby from other health problems.

In what is considered the first scientific trial that meets the most stringent criteria for “evidence-based inquiry,” US researchers Drs. Hollis and Wagner divulged their findings at a recent international vitamin D research conference in Brugge, Belgium.

Their findings included:

• Mothers who took 4,000 IU’s (ten times the RDA of 400 IU) of vitamin D during pregnancy had their risk of premature birth reduced by half
• Premature babies born to women taking high doses of vitamin D were reduced by half at both 32 and 37 weeks, and
• There were also fewer babies who were born “small for dates”
• Women taking high doses of vitamin D had a 25 per cent reduction in infections, particularly respiratory infections such as colds and flu as well as fewer infections of the vagina and the gums
• The “core morbidities of pregnancy” were reduced by 30 per cent in the women who took the high-dose vitamin D (including diabetes, high blood pressure, and pre-eclampsia – a potentially deadly increase in blood pressure and
  fluid)
• Babies getting the highest amounts of vitamin D after birth had fewer colds and less eczema

Reported by www.naturaleyecare.com

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Study shows that consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and omega-3 rich fish could slash the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 40 per cent.

This study adds further support for increasing the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids with the finding that arachidonic acid (AA, omega-6 fatty acid) is associated with anincreased risk of AMD.

Ref: “Association Between Vitamin D and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 Through 1994″

Authors: N. Parekh, R.J. Chappell, A.E. Millen, D.M. Albert, J.A. Mares

Archives of Ophthalmology

May 125, 2007 Volume 125, Pages 671-679

See more related information on macular degeneration.

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In a new study, it was found that women with breast cancer should be given high doses of vitamin D because a majority of them are likely to have low levels of vitamin D, which could contribute to decreased bone mass and greater risk of fractures, according to scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Vitamin D is essential to maintaining bone health, and women with breast cancer have accelerated bone loss due to the nature of hormone therapy and chemotherapy.

Weekly supplementation with high doses of vitamin D — 50,000 international units or more improved the levels, according to Peppone’s study.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine suggests that blood levels nearing 32 nanograms per milliliter are adequate.

Reported from www.naturaleyecare.com

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A new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) shows vitamin D plays a vital role in reducing the risk of death associated with older age. The research, just published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, evaluated the association between vitamin D levels in the blood and the death rates of those 65 and older. The study found that older adults with insufficient levels of vitamin D die from heart disease at greater rates that those with adequate levels of the vitamin, with approximately 1/3 of seniors considered to be deficient in vitamin D.

Editor’s note: Vitamin D3 is the form best asborbed in a supplement. See more information on nutrients and health conditions.

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