Many of you know that I am the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit, the Vitamin D Council. This winter marks the tenth year in my work educating the public about vitamin D and vitamin D deficiency. Today, I remain as convinced as ever on the importance of the issue. My work in the area really started before my work in vitamin D. You see, I spent my undergrad years studying zoology, learning about things like natural selection, evolution and basic biology. When I went on to medical school, I took many of these concepts with me, and always asked, "How did nature intend for us to live?"Since school, I have served the medical community in many capacities for over thirty years: as a general practitioner, emergency physician and psychiatrist. Although life expectancies have risen, I have also seen a marked rise in childhood diseases, such as autism, asthma and autoimmune disorders. Therefore, I returned to the question, "How did nature intend for us to live?"
Of course, nature intended for us to live out in the sun, naked, making lots of vitamin D. And, if we're living indoors, heavily clothed, heavily slathered in sunscreen, we cannot be getting enough vitamin D. And I thought there were likely ill-effects in not getting enough vitamin D.
So I founded the Vitamin D Council in 2003 and have worked hard since, educating the masses on the importance of vitamin D, sun exposure and how to avoid deficiency. Since we founded, research has poured out and literature in the area has grown exponentially. We know better than ever that people aren't getting enough vitamin D due to sun avoidance, and there are serious consequences in these habits, especially among our children.
In the wintertime, the vitamin D deficiency epidemic gets worse. The earth shifts, the sun focuses on the southern hemisphere and us here in the northern hemisphere can't get enough sunlight. Too often, the sunlight that we do get is no longer intense enough to trigger our skin to make vitamin D. And just like that, the majority of the world's population is at risk for vitamin D deficiency.
This is why every November, we take extra steps in educating the public on vitamin D and vitamin D deficiency. This past November 2nd, the Vitamin D Council helped with a tremendously successful Vitamin D Day campaign that reached over a million people. But we still have work to do this Vitamin D Awareness Month.
So this month, get the word out and educate yourself and your loved ones on vitamin D this winter. Find alternative ways to get your vitamin D, like taking a larger dose, 5,000 IU per day for adults is our recommendation. After three months on 5,000 IU/day, get a blood test and make sure you're getting enough vitamin D. The test is called a 25(OH)D. You can head to vitamindcouncil.org or vitamindday.net for more information and more education.
Remember, one way to avoid deficiency in the winter is by taking extra steps to ensure you're sufficient, like testing and taking more vitamin D. I feel today, as I did ten years ago, that making sure you're sufficient in vitamin D is the single most important thing you can do for your health.
In health,
John Cannell, MD
Vitamin D Council
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