What You Didn't Know About Vitamin D

This vitamin protects the heart. It controls the release of stress hormones that lead to 
high blood pressure and inflammation. It can decrease the risk of colon cancer by half. A 
study of post-menopausal women showed a 77 percent lower risk of all cancers among 
those who took 1,000 mg of D plus calcium. 

The role of vitamin D in bone health has been proven for some time, making the vitamin an 
important factor in preventing osteoporosis.

According to the National Institutes of Health, vitamin D-fortified orange juice has joined 
the short list of foods and beverages that contain vitamin D. This is good news for people 
who don't drink much milk. 

Vitamin D helps to prevent falls in older adults. While exercise is important in fall 
prevention, vitamin D is more important. 

Vitamin D is best known as essential for calcium uptake and the prevention of disease in 
childhood. Since it was added to milk, rickets has largely disappeared. 

Vitamin D could be a factor in diabetes prevention. 

Vitamin D is needed by the immune system. A deficiency can also cause poor absorption of 
bone minerals, which can contribute to cancer, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, and type 1 
diabetes.

A study published in the Journal of Public Health concludes that taking vitamin D pills could 
substantially reduce the risk for breast, colon, prostate, and ovarian cancer. The 
University of California, San Diego researchers contrasted the nickel-a-day cost of a 
vitamin D supplement with "the high human and economic costs of treating cancer 
attributable to insufficiency of vitamin D."

Other evidence shows that vitamin D is as important as calcium for building bone and 
preventing osteoporosis. 

Vitamin D is found in sunlight, eggs, fish, liver, fortified milk, and some calcium 
supplements. 

A study in the Archives of Neurology shows that almost 70 percent of patients with early 
Parkinson's disease had very low levels of vitamin D. Fatty fish contain vitamin D as do 
fortified foods such as milk. 

It's true that vitamin D is an important nutrient. New studies suggest that it can even 
reduce the risk of diabetes and various types of cancer.