From Health magazine
The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends 400 to 800 IU of vitamin D daily for adults younger than 50, and 800 to 1,000 IU for adults 50 and older. But many experts now agree that most of us need even more—up to 2,000 IU a day—to raise our levels high enough to fight diseases.
How do you know where you stand? First, talk to your doctor about a “serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D” test, considered the gold standard for measuring blood levels of vitamin D. While women who live at latitudes above 37—in cities like Minneapolis, Boston, and San Francisco—may be at greater risk for D-deficiency, “every woman should consider getting checked,” says Cedric Garland, MD, a leading vitamin D researcher. Then try these tricks to keep your level of vitamin D in or above the recommended safe zone (40 to 60 ng/ml).
Eat naturally D-rich foods. Eat oily fish such as salmon (360 IU), sardines (250 IU), and tuna (200 IU) a few times a week.
Go for fortified foods. Look for D in milk, orange juice, and other fruit juices (100 IU), soy milk (120 IU), butter substitutes (80 IU), and some cereals and yogurts.
Take a supplement. Add a calcium-and–vitamin D supplement containing at least 400 IU of D daily. (Most multis contain this much, and many calcium-vitamin D supplements contain 1,000 IU per capsule.)
Enjoy the sun. Whoa! Is that really possible without hurting your skin? Experts say yes. Just 5 to 10 minutes is usually enough.
Related Links:
Comments (4)
Can someone tell me : If I’m drinking a shake with 80% Vit D, how do I convert that into IU’s?
If you are interested in vitamin D you should take a look at http://www.vitaminD3world.com The Canadian Cancer Society now recommends that everyone take vitamin D to prevent cancer. The site has good summaries of the data and offers a new preparation of vitamin D in a micro-pill formulation. The pills have been formulated with cellulose which absorbs water very quickly. This ensures that the pill breaks up very quickly to provide for maximum absorption. The micro pill is tiny and tasteless. Many vitamin D pills on the market have very poor dissolution properties resulting in poor absorption.
The site also offers to supply customers with a free supply of 400IU for their children and it also has a good newsletter.
There is some interesting data suggesting that keeping your vitamin D level optimal will prevent colds, flu and in particular H1N1 (swine Flu). The Canadians are taking the data very seriously and starting studies to see if Vitamin D can prevent Flu
Here are links to two interesting articles:
August 2009-Vitamin D3 deficiency and its role in influenza
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs026/1102452079631/archive/1102685428884.html
Sept 2009-More on Vitamin D3 and influenza
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs026/1102452079631/archive/1102728693089.html
We applaud this article talking about the importance of Calcium and Vitamin D in tandem. Check out a couple other resources on the topic.
Here find the new FIT TOOL KIT, with a nutrition quiz and lots of information the roles different nutrients play in your overall health:
http://www.overthemoonmilk.com/toolkits/toolkit-01.aspx
Our nutritionist talks about calcium and weight loss on facebook discussion board:
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=over+the+moon+milk+&init=quick#/pages/Over-the-Moon-Milk/143650540910?ref=search&sid=1579533264.402671352..1