Okay, this isn’t directly related to the state of our republic, but there’s been a lot of noise about this lately. If you need stronger justification, know there have been accusations of conspiracy for this issue not getting more attentions sooner, though that seems to have now changed:
What vitamin may we need in amounts up to 25 times higher than the government recommends for us to be healthy?
What vitamin deficiency affects 70-80 percent of the population, is almost never diagnosed and has been linked to many cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, depression,(i) fibromyalgia, chronic muscle pain, bone loss and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis?(ii)
What vitamin is almost totally absent from our food supply?
What vitamin is the hidden cause of much suffering that is easy to treat?
The answer to all of these questions is vitamin D.
Over the last 15 years of my practice, my focus has been to discover what the body needs to function optimally. Vitamin D, a nutrient (more of a hormone and gene modulator) is a critical, essential ingredient for health and optimal function. The problem is that most of us don’t have enough of it because we work and live indoors, use sun block and can’t get enough from our diet–even in fortified foods.
Two recent studies in the journal Pediatrics found that 70 percent of American kids aren’t getting enough vitamin D, and this puts them at higher risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and lower levels of good cholesterol. (iii) Low vitamin D levels also may increase a child’s risk of developing heart disease later in life.
Overall, 7.6 million, or nine percent, of US children were vitamin-D deficient, and another 50.8 million, or 61 percent, had insufficient levels of this important vitamin in their blood.
The average blood level of vitamin D was 25 ng/dl for Caucasians and 16 ng/dl for African Americans. The optimal level is 45 ng/dl and requires about 3000-4000 IU a day of vitamin D3 — 10 times current recommendations. If our whole population achieved a minimum level of 45 ng/dl, we would have 400,000 fewer premature deaths per year. There would be a reduction of cancer by 35 percent, type 2 diabetes by 33 percent and all causes of mortality by seven percent. (iv)
(Read more from huffingtonpost.com)