Posted on 02/24/2005 1:50:18 PM PST by blam
Week of Feb. 19, 2005; Vol. 167, No. 8 , p. 126
Stroke patients show dearth of vitamin D
Nathan Seppa
From New Orleans, at a meeting of the American Stroke Association
Having a stroke puts elderly people at an increased risk of breaking a hip. Scientists have assumed that a major reason is that an impaired sense of balance from a stroke leads to more falls. They've also observed a loss of bone density in the first few months after a stroke, possibly from reduced mobility during this phase of recovery.
Researchers now report that people recovering from a stroke have less vitamin D in their systems than do healthy peers. This finding could explain why stroke patients lose bone density, says Elizabeth A. Warburton, a neurologist at Cambridge University and Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England. Vitamin D and calcium are necessary for bone maintenance (SN: 10/16/04, p. 248: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041016/bob9.asp).
Warburton and her colleagues identified 34 stroke patients, average age 72, and 96 healthy people who matched the patients in age, gender, and other characteristics. The scientists took a blood sample from each patient shortly after his or her stroke and from the other volunteers at the same time. The team then obtained samples bimonthly from both groups for 14 months. The samples revealed that the stroke patients had only two-thirds as much vitamin D on average as did their healthy peers. In the first month after their strokes, most of the patients had vitamin D concentrations so low as to be "off the scale," Warburton says.
The take-home message for doctors, Warburton says, is that they should consider testing stroke patients for vitamin D deficiency and giving calcium and vitamin D supplements to those patients with low readings.
Thats why I smoke and eat Cheese.
Dreath?
I'm you're feather, Luke - Dreath Vader
"Dreath"? This is obviously a hugh and series problem in spelling, which I will attend to as soon as I answer my beeber.
D'OH!
I'm your feather, Luke - Dreath Vader
I have been drinking more milk lately and I feel much better and lost weight.
I used to drink it all day long, got out of the habit when I 'grew up' but stated back again and I feel great.
Can I still wear my tin foil hat?
I drink two glasses of milk a day and recently began supplimenting that with 400 IU of vitamin D.
"The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., currently recommends that people from infancy through age 50 get 200 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day, that those ages 51 through 70 receive 400 IU daily, and that anyone over 70 get a net of 600 IU from sun, food, and supplements."
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin and lack of it is what caused people to turn white after leaving Africa.
Black and dark skinned people in the northern climes are presently receiving way to little Vitamin D to their detriment. The vitamin D suppliments in our food today were calculated for light-skinned people. Some nutritionist are starting to take note of this.
Plus a lot of skincreams have sunscreen in them which is not helping anyone... and a lot of people also work inside, drive in their cars,etc.
The lack of vitamin D is known to cause rickets, osteoporosis and osteomalacia (soft bones). New research indicates that vitamin D malnutrition may also be linked to many chronic diseases such as cancer (breast, ovarian, colon and prostate), chronic pain, weakness, chronic fatigue, autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, mental illnesses--depression, seasonal affective disorder and possibly schizophrenia--heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, tuberculosis and inflammatory bowel disease."
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