Vitamin D a key player in overall health of several body organs, says UC Riverside ...( sunlight's ultraviolet rays act on a pr...)

Date:10/9/2008

, sunlight's ultraviolet rays act on a precursor compound in skin. When skin is exposed to sunlight, a sterol present in dermal tissue is converted to vitamin D, which, in turn, is metabolized in the liver and kidneys to form a hormone. It was Norman's laboratory that discovered, in 1967, that vitamin D is converted into a steroid hormone by the body.

The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old. The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old and 600 IU for people over 70 years old. Norman's recommendation for all adults is to have an average daily intake of at least 2000 IU.

"To optimize good health you must have enough vitamin D," he said. "Vitamin D deficiency is also especially of concern in third world countries that have poor nutritional practices and religious customs that require the body to be covered from head to toe. Ideally, to achieve the widest frequency of good health by population, we need to have 90 percent of the people with adequate amounts of vitamin D."

About half of the elderly in North America and two-thirds of the rest of the world are not getting enough vitamin D to maintain healthy bone density, lower their risks for fracture and improve tooth attachment.

"There needs to be a sea change by various governmental agencies in terms of the advice they present to citizens about how much vitamin D should be taken," Norman said. "The tendencies of people to live in cities where tall buildings block adequate sunlight from reaching the ground, to spend most of their time indoors, to use synthetic sunscreens that block ultraviolet rays, and to live in geographical regions of the world that do not receive adequate sunlight all contribute to the inability of the skin to biosynthesize sufficient amounts of vitamin D."

Found in minute amounts in food, vitamins are organic substances that higher forms of animals nee
'/>"/>

Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala iqbal@ucr.edu 951-827-6050 University of California - Riverside Source:Eurekalert

3 GOOD

Page: 1 2 3
Related biology news :

1. Low vitamin D during pregnancy linked to pre-eclampsia
2. Low vitamin D linked to higher risk of hip fracture
3. Vitamin E trials fatally flawed
4. Study shows vitamin C is essential for plant growth
5. Could vitamin D, a key milk nutrient, affect how you age?
6. Vitamin B-12 function may be diminished by excessive folate
7. Jefferson scientists studying the effects of high-dose vitamin C on non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients
8. New way to produce high-vitamin corn could improve nutrition in developing countries
9. Team finds an economical way to boost the vitamin A content of maize
10. Vitamin E may increase tuberculosis risk in male smokers with high vitamin C intake
11. Vitamin D and calcium influence cell death in the colon, researchers find