The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a warning to parents and caregivers about the dangers of accidental overdose when giving infants liquid vitamin D supplement products.

Some products are sold with droppers that could allow harmful amounts of the vitamin to be given to an infant. These droppers can hold a greater amount of liquid vitamin D than an infant should receive.  Infants should not receive more than 400 international units (IUs) of vitamin D a day.

“It is important that infants not get more than the recommended daily amount of vitamin D,” says Linda M. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., interim chief medical officer in FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “Parents and caregivers should only use the dropper that comes with the vitamin D supplement purchased.”

Vitamin D helps in the formation of strong bones and is essential to keep children from developing rickets.  Opinions vary as to whether breastfed babies require additional vitamin D supplementation (it is a part of most infant formulas).  Regular exposure to sunlight can provide children with a good source of vitamin D and is, in fact, the way that human were designed to receive the vitamin.  Darker skinned children and babies whose mothers suffer from a vitamin D deficiency (rare in the developed world) might have deficiencies that require supplementation.

Source: FDA and Kellymom.com

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In a recent study of seniors ages 65-99, only 35 percent had sufficient vitamin D blood levels. Those with higher levels of Vitamin D had better cognitive performance on the tests than those in the deficient and insufficient categories, particularly on measures of “executive performance,” such as cognitive flexibility, perceptual complexity, and reasoning.

Metabolic pathways for vitamin D have been found in the hippocampus and cerebellum areas of the brain involved in planning, processing, and forming new memories. This suggests that vitamin D may be implicated in cognitive processes

The 2009 study appears in the Journals of Gerontology, Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

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Researchers at Children’s National Medical Center have discovered that African American children with asthma in metropolitan Washington, DC, are significantly more likely to have low levels of vitamin D than healthy African American children (see also Children’s National Medical Center).

Editor’s note: This study supports recent research showing vitamin D plays a greater role in the body than just keeping bones healthy, including depression, autoimmune disorders, cancer prevention and now asthma.

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Study shows that low levels of vitamin D3 is linked to an increase in the prevalence of macular degeneration.

Ref: Parekh N, Chappell RJ, Millen AE, Albert DM, Mares JA. Association Between Vitamin D and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 Through 1994. Arch Ophthalmol. May 2007;125: 661-669.

Editor’s Note: Vitamin D3 is one of the super nutrients that should be part of everyone’s diet, and should be added as a supplement particularly for people who do not get much exposure daily to the sun. Numerous studies have shown Vitamin D3 as helping prevent cancer, improve immune function and bone health, regulate insulin and blood pressure, and more.

For more information on nutrition and macular degeneration, go to www.naturaleyecare.com/macular_degen_short.asp?d_num=8

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A new study reinforces the role that Vitamin D plays in preventing colds and other respiratory tract infections. 

Researchers using data from 18,883 participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that Vitamin D could boost immunity to colds, even after adjusting for demographic and clinical factors such as season, body mass index, and smoking history.  The study, published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine reinforces the importance of Vitamin D in avoiding upper respiratory tract infections. 

Vitamin D is produced by the body when exposed to direct sunlight.   It is crucial for people with limited sun exposure (such as during winter months) to include Vitamin D in their diet.  Good sources of Vitamin D include fatty fish, fish liver oils, and eggs.

SOURCE;  Association Between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Level and Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Ginde, et al, Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(4):384-390.

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Breast cancer is a disease so directly related to vitamin D deficiency that a woman’s risk of contracting the disease can be ‘virtually eradicated’ by elevating her vitamin D status to what vitamin D scientists consider to be natural blood levels, according to vitamin D pioneer Dr. Cedric Garland who delivered in Toronto Tuesday as part of the University of Toronto School of Medicine’s “Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency” conference – the largest gathering of vitamin D researchers in North America this year. More than 170 researchers, public health officials and health practitioners gathered at the UT Faculty club for the landmark event.

SOURCE: GrassrootsHealth
CONTACT: or to set up an interview with Dr. Vieth, please contact: Michelle Di Rocco, (416)360-6522 ext. 251 or michelle@punchcanada.com

Reported from www.naturaleyecare.com

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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 a premature 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 an increased 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 absorbed in a supplement. See more information on nutrients and health conditions.

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