Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for maintaining normal calcium metabolism. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) can be synthesized by humans in the skin upon exposure to ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation from sunlight, or it can be obtained from the diet. Plants synthesize vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), which also has vitamin D activity in humans. When exposure to UVB radiation is insufficient for the synthesis of adequate amounts of vitamin D3 in the skin, adequate intake of vitamin D from the diet is essential for health.

• Structural Support
• Helps Maintain Strong Bones
• Supports Dental Health*

LifeSource’s Vitamin D softgels supply this key vitamin in a highly-absorbable liquid softgel form. Vitamin D is normally obtained from the diet or produced by the skin from the ultraviolet energy of the sun. However, it is not abundant in food. As more and more people avoid sun exposure, as they should, Vitamin D supplementation becomes even more necessary to ensure that your body receives an adequate supply. This product can be used in combination with our Vitamin A and all Calcium supplements.

What can high-vitamin D do for you?

• Help prevent a growing list of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, breast cancer, colon cancer, and ovarian cancer
• Help keep your bones and teeth strong and healthy
• Regulate the growth and activity of your cells
• Reduce inflammation

What symptoms can indicate a need for more vitamin D?

• Bone pain and/or soft bones
• Frequent bone fractures
• Bone deformities or growth retardation in children
• Lack of exposure to sunlight for any reason, including geography, use of sunscreen, or wearing of protective clothing

Why is D3 preferred?

There are two main options to supplement with Vitamin D. D2 (ergocalciferol) is produced from irradiated fungi in a laboratory. D-3 (cholecalciferol) is the form typically extracted from fish oil or food sources. Due to the manufacturing process, it seems that D2 has been associated with more potential side effects, and has greater risks for toxic contamination. D-3 matches what is produced by human skin, and is much more efficiently converted by the liver to support circulating active levels of 25-HydroxyVitamin D. Potency and quality are key in D-3 supplement choice, and only pharmaceutical grade products are held to consistent content and quality standards. While some studies and pharmaceutical companies use D2 supplements, we believe there is strong evidence to use D-3.

Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency

• Exclusively breast fed infants: Infants who are exclusively breast fed and do not receive vitamin D supplementation are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency, particularly if they have dark skin and/or receive little sun exposure. Human milk generally provides 25 IU of vitamin D per liter, which is not enough for an infant if it is the sole source of vitamin D. Older infants and toddlers exclusively fed milk substitutes and weaning foods that are not vitamin D fortified are also at risk of vitamin D deficiency. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all infants that are not consuming at least 500 ml (16 ounces) of vitamin D fortified formula or milk be given a vitamin D supplement of 200 IU/day.
• Dark skin: People with dark skin synthesize less vitamin D on exposure to sunlight than those with light skin. The risk of vitamin D deficiency is particularly high in dark-skinned people who live far from the equator. In the U.S., 42% of African American women between 15 and 49 years of age were vitamin D deficient compared to 4% of White women.
• Aging: The elderly have reduced capacity to synthesize vitamin D in the skin when exposed to UVB radiation, and are more likely to stay indoors or use sunscreen. Institutionalized adults are at extremely high risk of vitamin D deficiency without supplementation.
• Covering all exposed skin or using sunscreen whenever outside: Osteomalacia has been documented in women who cover all of their skin whenever they are outside for religious or cultural reasons. The application of sunscreen with an SPF factor of 8 reduces production of vitamin D by 95% (1).
• Fat malabsorption syndromes: Cystic fibrosis and cholestatic liver disease impair the absorption of dietary vitamin D.
• Inflammatory bowel disease: People with inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s disease appear to be at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, especially those who have had small bowel resections .
• Obesity: Obesity increases the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Once vitamin D is synthesized in the skin or ingested, it is deposited in body fat stores, making it less bioavailable to people with large stores of body fat.
  The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin D as determined by the Food and Nutrition Board is presently under scrutiny by researchers and scientists who believe that the current suggested RDA for vitamin D of 200-600 IU (International Units) is far too low and should be raised to at least 1,000 I.U. Many researchers believe that in order to achieve maximum benefit from vitamin D, doses may need to be between 3,000-5,000 I.U per day until blood levels are maintained at ideal, with regular monthly blood testing for safety during that process.
  

Please see your doctor if using higher dosage supplementation for repeated vitamin D and calcium blood tests. Rarely, an individual may ingest too much vitamin D which puts them at risk for a reaction from vitamin D hypersensitivity. Symptoms of hypersensitivity or toxicity may include serious stomach upset accompanied by vomiting and excessive thirst. If you suspect vitamin D toxicity when using supplements, you should contact your doctor immediately. New studies seem to indicate that vitamin D toxicity is highly unlikely for most healthy individuals using even up to 6000 IU’s of D-3 daily, unless suffering from an underlying kidney or metabolic condition which affects serum calcium levels.

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News

Dec. 19, 2006 -- There is new evidence supporting the idea that vitamin D helps prevent multiple sclerosis, but it is too soon to recommend taking the vitamin to lower your risk, researchers say.

In the first large-scale study to examine the issue, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reported a strong association between vitamin D levels within the body and MS risk among whites, but not among blacks and Hispanics.
The study is published in the Dec. 20 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Senior researcher Alberto Ascherio, MD, DrPH, tells WebMD that roughly half of white Americans and two-thirds of black Americans could be considered to have insufficient levels of vitamin D. Because exposure to sunlight is a major source of the vitamin for most people, vitamin D levels are usually lowest in the wintertime.

"Our findings suggest that vitamin D may have a direct impact on multiple sclerosis risk," Ascherio says. "If we confirm that the vitamin is protective, we could potentially prevent thousands of cases of MS a year in the United States alone."

Some 350,000 new cases of multiple sclerosis are diagnosed in the U.S. annually, and the chronic autoimmune disease is more common among women than men.
In earlier studies, Ascherio and Harvard colleagues reported that women who took multivitamins with at least 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D appeared to have a lower risk of MS than women who did not.

Their newest study involved a study population of more than 7 million members of the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy with blood samples stored in a Department of Defense repository.
Between 1992 and 2004, 257 people were diagnosed with MS. Each case was compared to two people without MS matched for age, race, sex, and dates of blood collection.

By RYAN A. STANTON, M.D., ABC News Medical Unit

Sept. 14, 2006 — There's not a lot of good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

The disease, often aggressive and fatal, is difficult to treat with standard cancer treatments.
Scientists from Northwestern and Harvard University, however, have found a possible important link between vitamin D and pancreatic cancer.

In two studies, researchers tracked more than 120,000 men and women from 1986 to 2000.
They compared how much vitamin D the men and women ate to the number of cases of pancreatic cancer.

There were 365 cases of pancreatic cancer over the 16-year span. Researchers found that patients who had consumed high levels of vitamin D were 41 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer when compared with people with low vitamin D diets.

From these findings, the researchers conclude that vitamin D may have some role in the prevention of pancreatic cancer, possibly as a type of tumor-fighting vitamin that keeps cancers from growing and multiplying.

Thankfully, vitamin D is not hard to find.

It is found in many foods, and skin naturally makes vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. It also may fight off more cancers than just this one.

"We have enough data to conclude that vitamin D is linked to many types of cancer," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "I was originally skeptical, but the data from multiple studies changed my view."

In addition to vitamin D's link to pancreatic cancer, connections between vitamin D and breast, prostate and colon cancer have also been suggested.

Lichtenfeld said there should be more study of the link between the vitamin and cancer, but the research is at an early stage.

"There is not enough data to make recommendations at this point," he said.