Over on another thread Tammie and I were discussing psoriasis lamps--I'm thinking of finding a source of UVA/UVB this winter since btw Nov-March you can't make any Vitamin D from the sun in NY.
Though some people like to take Vitamin D supplements, I don't except for Carlson's Cod Liver Oil, in which they take out the vitamins, clean the oil, and put the vitamins back in. I'm not sure how much that denatures the actual cod liver oil but I tolerate that fine. Most Vitamin D's out there are made from lanolin. Something about d3 supplements throws my body off badly. I simply cannot tolerate them. Besides, when I'm exposed to sunlight, my body makes exactly what it needs and then shuts the process off. If I take a supplement I may get too little or too much. I find it alarming that some people are taking large amounts.
We evolved to be outdoors. We essentially live in caves. We work indoors, sleep indoors, commute "indoors" (cars subways busses). Even those who exercise outside in clement weather or garden aren't getting enough Vitamin D. I find this new article very interesting and important for us. Sorry I don't know the URL as it was emailed to a list I'm on.
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Phys Ed: Can Vitamin D Improve Your Athletic Performance?
By Gretchen Reynolds
Patrik Giardino/Getty Images
When scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport recently decided to check the Vitamin D status of some of that countrys elite female gymnasts, their findings were fairly alarming. Of the 18 gymnasts tested, 15 had levels that were below current recommended guidelines for optimal bone health, the studys authors report. Six of these had Vitamin D levels that would qualify as medically deficient. Unlike other nutrients, Vitamin D can be obtained by exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, as well as through foods or supplements. Of course, female gymnasts are a unique and specialized bunch, not known for the quality or quantity of their diets, or for getting outside much.
But in another study presented at a conference earlier this year, researchers found that many of a group of distance runners also had poor Vitamin D status. Forty percent of the runners, who trained outdoors in sunny Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had insufficient Vitamin D. It was something of a surprise, says D. Enette Larson-Meyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Wyoming and one of the authors of the study.
Vitamin D is an often overlooked element in athletic achievement, a sleeper nutrient, says John Anderson, a professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of North Carolina and one of the authors of a review article published online in May about Vitamin D and athletic performance. Vitamin D once was thought to be primarily involved in bone development. But a growing body of research suggests that its vital in multiple different bodily functions, including allowing body cells to utilize calcium (which is essential for cell metabolism), muscle fibers to develop and grow normally, and the immune system to function properly. Almost every cell in the body has receptors for Vitamin D, Anderson says. It can up-regulate and down-regulate hundreds, maybe even thousands of genes, Larson-Meyer says. Were only at the start of understanding how important it is.
But many of us, it seems, no matter how active and scrupulous we are about health, dont get enough Vitamin D. Nowadays, many people arent going outside very much, Johnson says, and most of us
assiduously apply sunscreen and take other precautions when we do. The Baton Rouge runners, for instance, most likely ran early in the morning or late in the day, Larson-Meyer says, reducing their chances of heat stroke or sunburn, but also reducing their exposure to sunlight.
Meanwhile, dietary sources of Vitamin D are meager. Cod-liver oil provides a whopping dose. But a glass of fortified milk provides a fraction of what scientists now think we need per day. (A major study published online in the journal Pediatrics last month concluded that more than 60 percent of American children, or almost 51 million kids, have insufficient levels of Vitamin D and another 9 percent, or 7.6 million children, are clinically deficient, a serious condition. Cases of childhood rickets, a bone disease caused by lack of Vitamin D, have been rising in the U.S. in recent years.)
Although few studies have looked closely at the issue of Vitamin D and athletic performance, those that have are suggestive. A series of strange but evocative studies undertaken decades ago in Russia and Germany, for instance, hint that the Eastern Bloc nations may have depended in part on sunlamps and Vitamin D to produce their preternaturally well-muscled and world-beating athletes. In one of the studies, four Russian sprinters were doused with artificial, ultraviolet light. Another group wasnt. Both trained identically for the 100-meter dash. The control group lowered their sprint times by 1.7 percent. The radiated runners, in comparison, improved by an impressive 7.4 percent.
