Vitamin D Is Important to a Balanced Diet

You've heard the saying, you missed the forest for the trees. In the case of a healthy diet, there may be too much focus on the risk of being deficient of one vitamin, when an overall balanced diet should be the concern. While the research of the effects, benefits, risks, and so forth related to specific vitamins is nice to know, there is a bigger problem than a lack of vitamin D in a typical diet. That problem is a lack of overall nutrition. Here's more on the research on the importance of Vitamin D to your health from ScienceDaily.com.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the most conclusive evidence to date that inadequate levels of vitamin D, obtained from milk, fortified cereals and exposure to sunlight, lead to substantially increased risk of death.

In a study set to appear in the Archives of Internal Medicine online Aug. 11, the Johns Hopkins team analyzed a diverse sample of 13,000 initially healthy men and women participating in an ongoing national health survey and compared the risk of death between those with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D to those with higher amounts. An unhealthy deficiency, experts say, is considered blood levels of 17.8 nanograms per milliliter or lower.

Of the 1,800 study participants known to have died by Dec. 31, 2000, nearly 700 died from some form of heart disease, with 400 of these being deficient in vitamin D. This translates overall to an estimated 26 percent increased risk of any death, though the number of deaths from heart disease alone was not large enough to meet scientific criteria to resolve that it was due to low vitamin D levels. Read more...

This goes hand in hand with the fact that many health problems could be solved or even prevented by diet changes. There are so many additives and chemicals and things used in food items that can't be pronounced that may just be adding to or even causing problems. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables will provide a plethora of nutrients important to the health and wellness of the body. When you can keep things as simple as "eating seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day, avoiding processed foods, drinking plenty of water, eating lean protein sources including fish, and getting exercise almost everyday" then you can rest assured that you are supporting good health. After developing good dietary and exercise habits, then you can get more detailed and start nitpicking by analyzing your vitamin balance and intake, counting calories, keeping track of protein grams, and so on. But to worry that you're not getting vitamin D in your diet when you're eating fast foods five days a week may be equivalent to worrying about a small cut on your finger when you've got a concussion.

Bottom line: Worry about the big picture of your health before addressing the details.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.