With the Winter solstice rapidly approaching (21 Dec) many of us are mourning the loss of sunlight and the decent into the long dark winter nights. I thought it would be interesting to provide you with a list of recent web sites, articles and an excellent video on the “sunlight vitamin”. Vitamin D which can be synthesized from exposure to sunlight impacts our health in many ways in northern countries. Please note this is by no means an exhaustive listing. If you’re interested in Vitamin D or other topics we’d be happy to do a more in depth search for you on more specific topics.
Health Canada & Statistics Canada
- Vitamin D and Calcium: Updated Dietary Reference Intakes (Health Canada; 2010)
- Vitamin D blood levels of Canadians (Statistics Canada; Jan 2013)
- Bone health: Osteoporosis, calcium and vitamin D (by Didier Garriguet; Statistics Canada;2013)
Entertaining video (sort of related to Vitamin D)
- Richard Weller: Could the sun be good for your heart? [13 min]
“Our bodies get Vitamin D from the sun, but as dermatologist Richard Weller suggests, sunlight may confer another surprising benefit too.”
Articles (freely available)
- Neurology. 2012 Sep 25;79(13):1397-405.
Vitamin D, cognition, and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Balion C, Griffith LE, Strifler L, Henderson M, Patterson C, Heckman G, Llewellyn DJ, Raina P. - N Engl J Med. 2012 Jul 5;367(1):40-9. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1109617.
A pooled analysis of vitamin D dose requirements for fracture prevention.
Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Willett WC, Orav EJ, Lips P, Meunier PJ, Lyons RA, Flicker L, Wark J, Jackson RD, Cauley JA, Meyer HE, Pfeifer M, Sanders KM, Stähelin HB, Theiler R, Dawson-Hughes B. - Int J Circumpolar Health. 2012 Mar 19;71:18001. doi: 10.3402/IJCH.v71i0.18001.
Vitamin D deficiency among northern Native Peoples: a real or apparent problem?
Frost P. - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Oct;97(10):3550-6. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2020. Epub 2012 Aug 1.
The effect of vitamin D on calcium absorption in older women.
Gallagher JC, Yalamanchili V, Smith LM. - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Apr;97(4):1153-8. doi: 10.1210/jc.2011-2601. Epub 2012 Mar 22.
Guidelines for preventing and treating vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency revisited.
Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Gordon CM, Hanley DA, Heaney RP, Murad MH, Weaver CM. - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Nov;97(11):4139-47. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-1575. Epub 2012 Aug 29.
High-dose vitamin d intervention in infants–effects on vitamin d status, calcium homeostasis, and bone strength.
Holmlund-Suila E, Viljakainen H, Hytinantti T, Lamberg-Allardt C, Andersson S, Mäkitie O. - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Nov;97(11):E2070-7. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2538. Epub 2012 Sep 18.
The effect of maternal vitamin D concentration on fetal bone.
Ioannou C, Javaid MK, Mahon P, Yaqub MK, Harvey NC, Godfrey KM, Noble JA, Cooper C, Papageorghiou AT. - Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012 Jan 15;185(2):124-32. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201108-1502CI. Epub 2011 Oct 20.
Vitamin D and asthma.
Paul G, Brehm JM, Alcorn JF, Holguín F, Aujla SJ, Celedón JC. - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Aug;97(8):2670-81. doi: 10.1210/jc.2011-3328. Epub 2012 May 17.
Vitamin D with calcium reduces mortality: patient level pooled analysis of 70,528 patients from eight major vitamin D trials.
Rejnmark L, Avenell A, Masud T, Anderson F, Meyer HE, Sanders KM, Salovaara K, Cooper C, Smith HE, Jacobs ET, Torgerson D, Jackson RD, Manson JE, Brixen K, Mosekilde L, Robbins JA, Francis RM, Abrahamsen B. - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Oct;97(10):3557-68. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2126. Epub 2012 Aug 3.
Vitamin D3 supplementation has no effect on conventional cardiovascular risk factors: a parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled RCT.
Wood AD, Secombes KR, Thies F, Aucott L, Black AJ, Mavroeidi A, Simpson WG, Fraser WD, Reid DM, Macdonald HM. - Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jan;95(1):91-100. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.014779. Epub 2011 Dec 14.
Vitamin D deficiency and mortality risk in the general population: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
Zittermann A, Iodice S, Pilz S, Grant WB, Bagnardi V, Gandini S.
