Update in vitamin D.

by: John S. Adams, Martin Hewison

The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, Vol. 95, No. 2. (February 2010), pp. 471-478.

The past decade, particularly the last 18 months, witnessed a vigorous increase in interest in vitamin D from both the lay and biomedical worlds. Much of the growing interest in vitamin D is powered by new data being extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The newest statistics demonstrate that more than 90% of the pigmented populace of the United States (Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) now suffer from vitamin D insufficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D <30 ng/ml), with nearly three fourths of the white population in this country also being vitamin D insufficient.

This represents a near doubling of the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency seen just 10 yr ago in the same population.

This review attempts to provide some explanation for:

• the rapid decline in vitamin D status in the United States;

• the adverse impact of vitamin D insufficiency on skeletal, infectious/inflammatory, and metabolic health in humans; and

• the therapeutic rationale and reliable means for vigorous supplementation of our diets with vitamin D.