Vitamin D

Feeling blue? Have you checked your vitamin D levels?
New research suggests that low levels of vitamin D & depression may go hand in hand.

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In 33 patients undergoing knee arthroplasty, plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels were measured preoperatively, 6 to 12 hours after surgery, then daily for 5 days, and then after 3 months. By day 2 postoperatively, there was a large increase in the median C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration and a 42.5% decrease in the median 25(OH)D concentration (p < 0.001).

What you should know:
Vitamin D is extremely important for your bone health. Vitamin D increases your body's ability to absorb calcium, a mineral that builds our bones. Without enough vitamin D, our bones can become brittle, thin or misshapen.

What do food intolerances, allergies, asthma, coeliac disease, cancer, IBS, hayfever, behavioural issues, and many other increasingly similar conditions all have in common?
They are all symptoms of immune system dysfunction.

Vitamin D supplements for infants are being recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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Gastrointestinal health experts at the Boston University School of Medicine have found that Crohn's Disease, a chronic digestive condition, may prevent the body from absorbing Vitamin D, a nutrient crucial for maintaining bone health.

Their results appeared in the Journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

A novel vitamin D bioavailability test was employed by Boston Medical Center researchers investigating vitamin D deficiency in Crohn’s patients. Their findings are published online ahead of print in the Journal of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, the official journal of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. 

According to a report in the July 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine older adults with low levels of vitamin D appear more likely to experience declines in thinking, learning and memory over a six-year period.

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ScienceDaily.com tells us that Dr. Denise Houston from the Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University and her team studied the relationship between
Vitamin D status and physical function in a group of relatively healthy seniors living in Memphis, TN and Pittsburgh, PA. .

This study was part of the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) study initially designed to assess the associations among body composition, long-term health conditions, and mobility in older adults.

A new study by Montreal researchers, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, suggests that Vitamin D might also prevent and fight Crohn's disease,

John White, an endocrinologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center says that their data suggests for the first time that Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to Crohn's disease.
White noted that people who live in northern climates, where there is less sunshine that is essential for the production of Vitamin D by the human body, are especially vulnerable to Crohn's disease.