I’m just going over the new vitamin D Council Newsletter. Here are a few of the highlights that caught my eye.

1. 15 cancers are associated with lower UVB light! (colon, esophageal, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, rectal, small intestinal, bladder, kidney, prostate, breast, endometrial, ovarian, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma). (I still say we must not get much uvb where I live)

2. 257,000 cancer deaths in 2007 in the USA were accounted for by inadequate vitamin D levels.

3. Latitude is a strong determining factor in childhood diabetes and the disease almost doesn’t even exist near the equator!

4. 50 ng/ml should be considered the lower limit of adequate 25(OH)D levels.

5. Breast milk is a poor source of vitamin D because nursing mothers are vitamin D deficient!

I have several friends who know that I write this blog but have yet to get their D levels evaluated. Health is aways kind of a tricky subject when you’re dealing with friends (and boundaries) and you run a health care clinic. I usually try to avoid health discussions with my friends, but this whole vitamin D issue is so important - come on guys, you know who you are!