The Vitamin D Controversy
Vitamin D could quite possibly be one of the most controversial supplements of the decade. Deficiency can cause rickets (in children) or osteoporosis, and experts such as Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University assert that the average modern-world citizen doesn’t get enough.1
Alternatively, other researchers such as Dr. Clifford Rosen of the Maine Medical Center Research Institute—who, until recently, subscribed to Holick’s point of view2—argue that North Americans consume adequate amounts of vitamin D in their diet. Moreover, their research shows that excessive amounts of vitamin D can increase risk of other diseases—including, ironically, one of the same conditions caused by rickets and osteoporosis: fractures.3
Read Dr. Holick’s statement in The New York Times.
Listen to Dr. Rosen’s counterargument on NPR.
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Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism, 7th Ed. by Clifford J. Rosen (Editor-in-Chief), Juliet E. Compston (Senior Associate Editor), Jane B. Lian (Senior Associate Editor) |
1. Holick MF (2010). Vitamin D: Evolutionary, Physiological and Health Perspectives. Current drug targets PMID: 20795941
2. Sullivan SS, Rosen CJ, Halteman WA, Chen TC, & Holick MF. (2005). Adolescent Girls in Maine Are at Risk for Vitamin D Insufficiency Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105 (6), 971-974 DOI: 10.1016/j.jada.2005.03.002
3. Ross AC, Manson JE, Abrams SA, Aloia JF, Brannon PM, Clinton SK, Durazo-Arvizu RA, Gallagher JC, Gallo RL, Jones G, Kovacs CS, Mayne ST, Rosen CJ, & Shapses SA (2010). The 2011 Report on Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D from the Institute of Medicine: What Clinicians Need to Know. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism PMID: 21118827
