Vitamin D a key player in overall health of several body organs, says UC Riverside biochemist

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Public release date: 9-Oct-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/uoc--vda100908.php

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University of California - Riverside

Vitamin D a key player in overall health of several body organs, says UC

Riverside biochemist

Study by Norman advocates higher intake of the vitamin to help

prevent diseases

Norman is a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and

of biomedical sciences at UC Riverside. He also holds the title of

Presidential Chair in Biochemistry-Emeritus.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Essential for life in higher animals, vitamin D,

once linked to only bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, is

now recognized as a major player in contributing to overall human

health, emphasizes UC Riverside's Norman, an international

expert on vitamin D.

In a paper published in the August issue of the American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, Norman identifies vitamin D's potential for

contributions to good health in the adaptive and innate immune systems,

the secretion and regulation of insulin by the pancreas, the heart and

blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity. In

addition, access to adequate amounts of vitamin D is believed to be

beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer.

Norman also lists 36 organ tissues in the body whose cells respond

biologically to vitamin D. The list includes bone marrow, breast, colon,

intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and the uterus.

According to Norman, deficiency of vitamin D can impact all 36 organs.

Already, vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle strength

decrease, high risk for falls, and increased risk for colorectal,

prostate and breast and other major cancers.

" It is becoming increasingly clear to researchers in the field that

vitamin D is strongly linked to several diseases, " said Norman, a

distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and of biomedical

sciences who has worked on vitamin D for more than 45 years. " Its

biological sphere of influence is much broader than we originally

thought. The nutritional guidelines for vitamin D intake must be

carefully reevaluated to determine the adequate intake, balancing

sunlight exposure with dietary intake, to achieve good health by

involving all 36 target organs. "

Vitamin D is synthesized in the body in a series of steps. First,

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 need to grow and sustain normal health.

Vitamins, however, are not synthesized in sufficient amounts to meet

bodily needs. Therefore, the body must acquire them through diet or in

the form of supplements.

Because it is found in very few foods naturally, milk and other foods

(often orange juice) are fortified with vitamin D.

While deficiency of vitamin D impacts health negatively, ingestion of

extremely high doses of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, a condition

in which the blood's calcium level is above normal. The highest daily

'safe' dose of vitamin D is 10,000 IU.

" More than ever we need to increase the amount of research on vitamin D,

with more funding from government agencies and pharmaceutical companies,

to meet the challenge of preserving or improving the health of everyone

on the planet, " Norman said.

###

Norman is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Ernst

Oppenheimer Award from the Endocrine Society; the Mead Award and

the Osborne and Mendel Award from American Institute of Nutrition; and

the F. Neuman Award from the American Society of Bone & Mineral

Research. He is a fellow of the American Association Advancement Science

as well as the American Society for Nutritional Sciences.

A grant he received in the late 1960s from the National Institutes of

Health to study vitamin D has been renewed consecutively for 41 years,

totaling more than $9 million.

The University of California, Riverside is a doctoral research

university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues

critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around

the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment of

about 17,000 is expected to grow to 21,000 students by 2020. The campus

is planning a medical school and has reached the heart of the Coachella

Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center. The campus has an

annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion. To learn more,

visit www.ucr.edu or call (951) UCR-NEWS.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD

" Ask the Parkinson Dietitian " http://www.parkinson.org/

" Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease "

" Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy "

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