Sardines are naturally rich in vitamin D.
Low Vitamin D Levels? Sardines To The Rescue
August 03, 2009
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111509588
Researchers have published two studies in this week’s journal Pediatrics that raise some concerns about whether children receive adequate amounts of vitamin D.
Vitamin D is abundant in fatty fish like sardines, tuna and salmon, and it’s also found in fortified cereals, milk and orange juice.
And the old-fashioned teaspoon of cod liver oil has about 400 international units of the vitamin, which is the current dose recommendation for children from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Federal officials are now reviewing their recommended daily allowance, which is currently set at 200 IUs a day.
The review is in response to mounting evidence that American adults as well as children are not getting enough vitamin D.
And that vitamin D deficiency could be linked to a host of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers.
In one recent study, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine looked at federal health statistics on children between the ages of 1 and 21.
They determined that 9 percent of them were deficient in vitamin D.
That’s nearly 8 million children who had less than 15 nanograms per milliliter of blood.
They also found that 61 percent — or 50.8 million children — were what researchers term “insufficient.”
These children had less than 30 nanograms per milliliter, though using this number as a standard is controversial, as the medical community does not agree on what constitutes optimal levels of vitamin D.
In the study, Dr. Michal Melamed, from Albert Einstein College, describes her findings as extremely surprising and worrisome.
“After we turn 30, we start losing bone, so, if many of our young children don’t have enough vitamin D and are not reaching peak bone mass, then, in 60 years, there’ll probably be a lot more osteoporosis” among adults, she says.
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