Vitamin D is known to reduce bone loss, but the NEJM advises against its use. The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, which has recently tarnished its reputation by refusing to publish articles unfavorable to popular prescription drugs, is barreling forward this week with its anti-natural, anti-health approach to medicine in asserting that vitamin D should not be universally recommended for postmenopausal women with low levels of vitamin D, and stating that we need a 5-year randomized trial before we can safely recommend its use for reducing the risk of heart disease or cancer.*The journal describes a postmenopausal woman in her…
We all know our skin makes vitamin D during sun exposure, so you’d think that most of us here in Hawaii would have plenty of vitamin D, right? Wrong. A study done on prototypical surfer-dudes in Honolulu, titled: Low Vitamin D Status Despite Abundant Sun Exposure (Binkely, 2007) found that, amazingly, more than half (51 percent) had less-than-optimal blood levels of vitamin D and were therefore putting their bodies at risk. At risk for what? Low vitamin D has been associated with overweight and obesity, as well as a variety of serious medical conditions, including cancer, heart failure, mental illness,…
“Vitamin D’s star is on the rise and researchers say it’s about time.” –AMA News, April 27, 2009 The government’s recommended intake (RDA) for D may underestimate the true amount we need by a factor of ten, according to Michael Holick MD, Ph.D., at Boston University Medical center. Current recommendations are for 200-400 I.U. per day, depending on age. But Dr. Hollick suggests that our true needs may be on the order of 2,000 I.U. Since studies show that most people consume very little D and don’t get enough from sun exposure, there is a nearly universal shortfall of vitamin…
For years I've avoided putting my patients on fosamax and related drugs for "bone health," because according to the package insert, these drugs don't make bones healthy. They prevent part of the natural cycle of bone growth, called bone resorption, and by doing so make them denser looking on bone scans. Dense bones might sound like a good thing, but realize that a stick of chalk would look really dense on XRay, and it snaps in your fingers. Healthy bone that won't break when you slip and fall is a matrix of protein and minerals, and just adding more minerals…
