Vitamin D Deficiency News and Research

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Low levels of vitamin D associated with poorer lung function in children with STRA

Children with severe therapy-resistant asthma (STRA) may have poorer lung function and worse symptoms compared to children with moderate asthma, due to lower levels of vitamin D in their blood, according to researchers in London.

23 Sep 2011

African-American men living in low sunlight areas more likely to have Vitamin D deficiency

African-American men living in areas with low sunlight are up to 3 - times more likely to have Vitamin D deficiency than Caucasian men and should take high levels of Vitamin D supplements, according to a new study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

21 Sep 2011

Scientists discover 29 new genetic variants linked with MS

Multiple sclerosis is primarily an immunological disease. Scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) have in succeeded, in collaboration with 23 research teams from 15 different countries, in discovering a total of 29 new genetic variants that are involved in the genesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory disease of the nervous system.

7 Sep 2011

Sunscreen pills from coral

Researchers have found that coral does not suffer from sunburn despite living in shallow water in tropical areas, because it is able to produce its own “natural sunscreen”. By studying the compounds which protect it from UV rays, researchers hope to develop a tablet which can protect human skin and eyes without the need for dark glasses or sun cream. Scientists from King's College London said the first sunscreen pill could be available within five years.

31 Aug 2011

Vitamin A supplements in children could save up to 600,000 lives a year: Study

Researchers have found that giving vitamin A supplements to children under the age of five in developing countries could save up to 600,000 lives a year. Writing in the British Medical Journal, UK and Pakistani experts assessed 43 studies involving 200,000 children, and found deaths were cut by 24% if children were given the vitamin. They add that it would also cut rates of measles and diarrhea.

30 Aug 2011

Study confirms that vitamin D deficiency increases aggressiveness of colon cancer

A study conducted by VHIO researchers confirms that a lack of vitamin D increases the aggressiveness of colon cancer.

16 Aug 2011

Scientists identify 29 new genetic variants linked to multiple sclerosis

Scientists have identified 29 new genetic variants linked to multiple sclerosis, providing key insights into the biology of a very debilitating neurological disease. Many of the genes -implicated in the study are relevant to the immune system, shedding light onto the immunological pathways that underlie the development of multiple sclerosis.

11 Aug 2011

Conference to discuss novel studies that address how inherited genes cause breast cancer

A woman's ethnicity as well as her genetic makeup are two of the main risk factors for hereditary breast cancer. Research into understanding and treating hereditary breast cancer will be presented today at the Era of Hope conference, a scientific meeting hosted by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.

4 Aug 2011

Experts available to discuss various effects of sun exposure

After many long winter months, Canadians are eager to get outside and enjoy the short and sweet season of warm summer sunshine. Although soaking up the sun can help us forget our winter blues, too much or unprotected exposure can have harmful consequences to your health.

15 Jul 2011

Vitamin D insufficiency may increase risk of muscle injuries in NFL football players

Vitamin D deficiency has been known to cause an assortment of health problems, a recent study being presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in San Diego today, suggests that lack of the vitamin might also increase the chance of muscle injuries in athletes, specifically NFL football players.

11 Jul 2011

Study reports high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in patients with psoriatic arthritis

New research reports a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency among patients with psoriatic arthritis. Seasonal variation in vitamin D levels was not observed in patients in southern or northern locations.

11 Jul 2011

Vitamin D-deficiency linked to deaths of famous musicians

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 - 5 December 1791), suffered from many infectious illnesses including catarrh, fever, sore throat, and bad colds from 1762 to 1791, the year of his death at 35 years of age.

1 Jul 2011

New highly-accurate blood test can measure all forms of vitamin D deficiencies

Researchers from London's Kingston University have developed a new highly-accurate blood test which can detect how much a patient's diet could be responsible for a lack of the so-called 'sunshine vitamin'. Vitamin D deficiencies can weaken the immune system and increase the risk of cancer and osteoporosis.

30 Jun 2011

Simple non-invasive breath test could accurately detect vitamin B12 deficiency

Researchers have developed a new test to detect the levels of vitamin B12 using your breath, allowing for a cheaper, faster, and simpler diagnosis that could help to avoid the potentially fatal symptoms of B12 deficiency.

23 Jun 2011

Endocrine Society honors BUSM professor with The Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award

Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, director of the General Clinical Research Center and professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, is this year's recipient of The Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award from the Endocrine Society for his scholarly work on the history of endocrinology.

18 Jun 2011

High rates of type 1 diabetes in Australian children

According to a new report the rate of Type 1 diabetes in Australian children will leap by 10 per cent in the five years to 2013, cementing Australia's position in the top 10 OECD nations for the condition's prevalence. Currently the prevalence of diabetes in Australia ranks seventh-highest among the 30 OECD nations.

17 Jun 2011

The Endocrine Society releases clinical practice guideline on Vitamin D deficiency

Today, The Endocrine Society released "Evaluation, Treatment, and Prevention of Vitamin D Deficiency: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline." The clinical practice guideline (CPG) is published in the July 2011 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of The Endocrine Society.

7 Jun 2011

Non-steroidal, oral contraceptive for men

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center are honing in on the development of what may be the first non-steroidal, oral contraceptive for men. Tests of low doses of a compound that interferes with retinoic acid receptors (RARs), whose ligands are metabolites of dietary vitamin A, showed that it caused sterility in male mice.

7 Jun 2011

Study to determine how vitamin D affects cardiac structure, functions in blacks with hypertension

A Wayne State University School of Medicine physician researcher has received a $1.9 million National Institutes of Health grant to study the role of vitamin D in halting and reducing subclinical cardiac damage in African-Americans suffering from high blood pressure.

3 Jun 2011

Vitamin D levels low in African Americans with multiple sclerosis

In the first major study exploring the connection between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis in African Americans, a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has discovered that vitamin D levels in the blood are lower in African Americans who have the disease, compared to African Americans who do not.

30 May 2011