TORONTO, Ont (October 28, 2021) – In these challenging times, vitamin D can be your superhero by strengthening your immune system to help reduce the possibility of severe effects or death from COVID-19.
For our 12th Annual World Vitamin D Day happening on November 2nd our message for you is clear – STOP Vitamin D Deficiency! Make sure you and your loved ones are not vitamin D deficient.
For more information on World Vitamin D Day on November 2nd, visit our website and help take action to STOP vitamin D deficiency. Please consider sharing one of our graphics from the Tools section on your social media on November 2nd. Please remember to include the hashtag #WorldVitaminDDay.
It is important to follow your health department’s COVID-19 guidelines. For vitamin D it is also important to follow the recommendations from 48 of the top vitamin D scientists, doctors and researchers who published their D*action recommendations 14 years ago and is provided here through GrassrootsHealth.
The vitamin D scientists recommend that for optimal health everyone, all ages, all ethnicities, should maintain a vitamin D blood level of between 100-150 nmol/L (Canada) or 40-60 ng/ml (USA). Recent research has found that a COVID-19 mortality rate close to zero could theoretically be achieved with 25(OH)D blood levels of 50 ng/mL or 125 nmol/L (Borsche 2021).
Stats Canada reports that 93% of Canadians do not meet this level. The great majority of Canadians are vitamin D deficient and must take preventative action immediately to alleviate this problem or face the health consequences.
The only way you will know for sure that you are within these recommended levels is to have your vitamin D or 25(OH)D tested. You can do this through your healthcare provider or by purchasing a home test kit through GrassrootsHealth. Remember to always get your test score and compare it to the level recommended by vitamin D scientists of between 100-150 nmol/L (Canada) or 40-60 ng/ml (USA).
This is the time of year that Canadians begin to lose their vitamin D that they have accumulated during the warm, sunny, summer months. Research has shown that adults use about 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day (Heaney 2003) for normal bodily function. This is why we recommend that adults need a vitamin D intake of at least 4,000 IU/day from all sources. This is just to replace what your body is using on a daily basis. If you do not do this your vitamin D blood level will continue to fall throughout the winter season making you further susceptible to COVID-19 and a multitude of other serious diseases.
Here is the action that you need to take now to make sure you are not vitamin D deficient:
- Adults need a daily vitamin D intake of 4,000 IU/day (100 mcg) from all sources, according to vitamin D experts.
- Get out in the natural sunlight when the UV Index is above 3 and your shadow is shorter than you. Remember to never sunburn.
- Consider artificial UVB exposure when natural sunlight is weak or not available and your skin type can receive UV exposure without burning.
- Increase your food intake of fatty fish such as salmon.
- Take a vitamin D3 supplement to make up the balance when sun exposure is not available or a viable option. UVB from sunlight or a sunlamp is what makes vitamin D naturally in your skin.
- Test and make sure your 25(OH)D blood level is between 100-150 nmol/L (Canada) or 40-60 ng/ml (USA).
You cannot become vitamin D toxic if you receive your vitamin D from UVB exposure to your skin.
“Adults should ensure that they receive a vitamin D intake of 4,000 IU/day from all sources (UVB, food, D3 Supplement). This is something everyone can do to protect their health,” says Perry Holman, Executive Director of the Vitamin D Society.
About the Vitamin D Society:
The Vitamin D Society is a Canadian non-profit group organized to increase awareness of the many health conditions strongly linked to vitamin D deficiency; encourage people to be proactive in protecting their health and have their vitamin D levels tested annually; and help fund valuable vitamin D research. The Vitamin D Society recommends people achieve and maintain optimal 25(OH)D blood levels between 100 – 150 nmol/L (Can) or 40-60 ng/ml (USA).
To learn more about vitamin D, please visit www.vitamindsociety.org
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For more information, please contact:
Perry Holman, Vitamin D Society, 877-520-4867 [email protected]
References:
Lorenz Borsche, Bernd Glauner, Julian von Mendel. COVID-19 Mortality Risk Correlates Inversely with Vitamin D3 Status, and a Mortality Rate Close to Zero Could Theoretically Be Achieved at 50 ng/mL 25(OH)D3: Results of a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients 2021, 13(10),3596; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103596
Robert P Heaney, K Michael Davies, Tai C Chen, Michael F Holick, M Janet Barger-Lux. Human serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol response to extended oral dosing with cholecalciferol. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jan;77(1):204-10. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/77.1.204.
Become a Citizen Scientist with the GrassrootsHealth Projects
Becoming a participant of GrassrootsHealth means that anyone is joining thousands of people in collaborating on nutrient research – we call it “citizen science.” Citizen science welcomes everyone’s participation in the discovery and sharing of scientific knowledge. As a citizen scientist, you’ll help everyone gain a better understanding of the role of nutrients in health and disease, and use the results to help inform public health officials to create change. Additionally, you can use your results to make informed decisions about nutrients that affect your health.
What Are YOUR Levels?
Enroll and test your levels today, learn what steps to take to improve your status of vitamin D and other nutrients and blood markers, and take action! By enrolling in the GrassrootsHealth projects, you are not only contributing valuable information to everyone, you are also gaining knowledge about how you could improve your own health through measuring and tracking your nutrient status, and educating yourself on how to improve it.