John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

‘Wardlaw's Perspectives in Nutrition' is one of the most widely used university level nutrition textbooks.

In the section on vitamin D, Robert Heaney (Professor of Medicine) makes the comment that in the past 10 years scientists have gained new insight into vitamin D. He states that it has a major role in governing genes involved in diabetes; colon, prostate and breast cancer; cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. It appears to activate disease-protecting genes and suppress those that cause disease.

I suspect it also has a role in allergies, asthma, mood illnesses like seasonal affective disorder, depression and many more. In his comment, Dr Heaney concludes that the recommended intake from sunshine and supplements should be increased dramatically, as most people get only half their optimum levels and that tolerable upper limit should be raised from 2000IU daily to 10,000IU daily.

We have certainly embraced the ‘Slip, Slop, Slap' message to protect us from skin cancer. The problem is that unless you take a supplement, you are also causing a vitamin D deficiency. My advice is to get some sunshine but never to the point of burning and to ensure that at a very minimum your daily multi-vitamin has 500- 1000IU daily. I would then add 1000-2000 IU daily from May to October or get the monthly 50,000IU (1.25mg) on prescription.

A research paper titled 'Vitamin D supplementation and total mortality” (Arch. Intern. Medicine 2007) looked at 18 research papers on Vitamin D and concluded 'Intake of ordinary doses of vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases in total mortality rates.” There is compelling evidence that we are becoming increasingly deficient in vitamin D.

As a result of new research and the growing vitamin D deficiency, I have had to re-assess the levels I add to supplements and have recently increased the amount in my multi antioxidant/mineral/vitamin formula and advise additional supplementation either through your GP or daily supplement. My advice is to have your vitamin D levels checked and to make sure you are getting enough of this critical nutrient. It only costs $30 to have your vitamin D levels tested and you should aim to be at least in the mid-range of normal (50-150 nmol/l). Give me a call if you need help. To join my weekly newsletter go to www.johnarts.co.nz and visit www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health. To contact John phone (local) 578 9051 or 0800 423 559.