Alaskan Resolutions to increase vitamin D

Update Alaska recommends more vitamin D: Infancy 800 IU, Pregnancy 1400 IU (avoid rickets) Sept 2018

Update Feb 2013 Alaska House Bill 90 Vitamin D newborn testing

• Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, keeps Costco-sized bottles of vitamin D in his office for anyone who may be lacking and plans to hand them out to fellow legislators, as he's done in the past.
• About 11,000 babies are born each year in Alaska. Seaton proposes to make the tests mandatory but allow parents to opt out. He estimated 10,000 babies would be tested during the one-year study period.
• He's working on an arrangement with GrassrootsHealth, a public health organization based in San Diego County, to handle the tests for $30 each, much less than the cost if the state did the work directly, he said.

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March 2011 HCR 5 2011 Alaska

HCR 5 calls upon the State of Alaska to adopt a prevention model of public health by increasing awareness about vitamin D deficiency, testing and supplementation. There was much discussion about the implications of the resolution, including the potential population benefits of instituting a public health initiative related to vitamin D and prevention of chronic disease. Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner William Streur and members of the committee expressed their appreciation for bringing this issue to the forefront. The resolution was held in committee so more in-depth discussion could take place to address some of the concerns Commissioner Streur and the other members had.

10 minute Video of Seaton, Baggerly and Heaney Feb 28, 2011

Seaton gave out a voucher for a free bottle of vitamin D and had about 1/3 of the Alaska House members take him up on it

Representative.Paul.Seaton at akleg.gov

Updated March 2014

 Download March 2014 PDF from VitaminDWiki.

 Download Senior Health Issues Nov 2014 PDF from VitaminDWiki.

 Download Alaska rickets increase with latitude - 2014 PDF from VitaminDWiki.

• Alaska latitude: 50º to 73º
• Rickets increased 2.3 fold for every 4º increase
•    approx 10X more rickets in Northern Alaska

Video of Senator Paul Seaton talking about Vitamin D sometime in 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD0MJvf5Lyg 22 minutes

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Alaska health care costs rising fast - 2011 report

 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki.
The state’s health-care spending has been rising fast, tripling since 1990 and jumping 40% just between 2005 and 2010 and at current trends it could double by 2020, reaching more than $14 billion.

Very cost effective to give vitamin D free to every Alaskan

Cost of medical care per Alaskan - $10,000/year
Cost to give Vitamin D free to every Alaskan for a year = $25 ($0.20/capsule, 25 capsules/year, 5X the cost of capsule for overhead)
5% Reduction in medical care cost due to the extra vitamin D (extremely conservative)
   Does Less Sun mean More Disease video shows 3X fewer doctor after vitamin D levels were raised
So very conservative cost savings would be 5% X $10,000 = $500
Return on investment = 20X ($500/$25)

Total dollars
Alaska would then pay $20 milllion to give Vitamin D to every Alaskan (750,000 population X $25 per person)
and would save at least $400 million (ROI = 20X)

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See also VitaminDWiki

• all items in Far from Equator 124 items
• all items in Canada and vitamin D 51 items
• Inuit preschoolers were very vitamin D deficient – Aug 2010
• Vitamin D and Inuit (dark skin) – April 2012
• 90 % of Canadian youth less than 30 ng vitamin D – Oct 2010
• Vitamin D blood levels of Canadians – Jan 2013
  • Vitamin D levels continue to fall: Canada 6 percent drop from 2009 to 2011 – Feb 2013
• Autism is a big problem for people with dark skin living a long way from equator - example Somali in Alberta Canada
• Economic burden of premature deaths due to vitamin D deficiency in Canada not Alaska, but close
• Dark skinned pregnant women far from equator were very vitamin D deficient – Sept 2012
• Disadvantaged get less sun and have poor health in the North– Aug 2011
• People with no UV for 6 months in the winter need at least 2000 IU of vitamin D – April 2011
• Vitamin D Testers coming soon (low cost and easy) - June 2014
  by 2016 vitamin D tests should be very low cost and accessable anywhere in Alaska
• Suggest more vitamin D above the Arctic Circle – May 2013

UV Index must be greater than 3 ( above the green) to generate any vitamin D

People in Anchorage get no vitamin D from the sun for 8 months of the year

• CLICK HERE for other US UV index

100% of Alaskans are in one high risk category: Far from Equator

30% of Alaskans are in a second high risk category: Dark Skin