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Is it time to double your D?
While doctors usually offer a unified front regarding wise health choices — don’t smoke, get enough sleep, exercise — there are the rare incidents where they break ranks. Case in point: How to get enough vitamin D.
Safe sunning
Laurie Radovsky, a family medicine doctor at the HealthEast Grand Avenue Clinic, confesses that she gives advice that could make a dermatologist wince. "What I tell people to do is get as much sun as they safely can in the summertime — 15 to 20 minutes a day between 10 am and 2 pm, without sunblock," she said. The reason? Sunblock, while protecting from skin-damaging UV rays, also prevents our bodies from creating vitamin D.
Take it outside
Vitamin D, as most people are aware, is essential to calcium absorption. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. "There is really good evidence showing that vitamin D affects rates of certain cancers, that it has an effect on gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, that it can impact our immune system, our blood pressure, our mood," said Radovsky. "The problem is, we’re the victims of advances in our society. Just 50 years ago, we were outside hanging up laundry or walking to work or school, and getting vitamin D that way. Now, we’re inside most of the time — and when we’re out, we slather up with sunscreen."
The Minnesota challenge
Dr. Laurie Radovsky will be offering a presentation titled "What You Need to Know about Vitamin D" at 5 pm, Thursday, January 28, at the HealthEast Grand Avenue Clinic. Call 651-326-2273 to reserve your spot.
By some reports, vitamin D deficiency has reached epidemic proportions. Recent research reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine show that only 23% of the tested population had the minimum amount of desired vitamin D in their system. And in Minnesota, long winters plus our northern location stack the odds against us. "At our latitude, from October to April, the sun is just too low to have enough effect on our skin to create vitamin D," commented Radovsky. People with darker skin are even more at risk, since even less sunlight penetrates their skin than in people with lighter skin.
What can you do?
Dr. Radovsky recommends, first of all, asking your doctor to test for vitamin D deficiency. In addition, consider:
- Add vitamin D supplements to your diet during the winter months, upping your intake to 1000 to 5000 IU, depending on your test results (The current RDA of 400 IU, the amount found in most multivitamins, is not enough according to Radovsky, as well as the American Medical Association)
- While no food provides enough vitamin D naturally to make up for deficiencies, it doesn’t hurt to boost good sources in your diet: wild salmon, fortified milk and milk substitutes, tuna and fish liver oils
- In the summertime, expose your skin to small, safe amounts of sun
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