Overview Deficiency of vitamin D

FACT: Much of the world is now vitamin D deficient
OBSERVATION:There are many reasons that a person may be vitamin D deficient
11 of the reasons for the epidemic are new in the past 40 years, Example: Air Conditioning
OBSERVATION: The more reasons that apply to an individual, the more likely he is to be deficient (additive reasons)
FACT: Vitamin D Deficiency has been associated with many diseases

FACT: Vitamin D intake can be increased by supplements, injection, UV, and sun (very little by food) 112 items

FACT: Adding vitamin D to diets has been proven E1 E2 in clinical trials to both PREVENT some and TREAT some diseases
OBSERVATION: Adding vitamin D (intervention) does PREVENT and TREAT additional diseases - more trials are underway
OBSERVATION: There are at least 10 ways to increase the response by the blood to vitamin D intake

Details at VitaminDWiki

• All items: Deficiency of Vitamin D 468 items
• Incidence of 22 health problems related to vitamin D have doubled in a decade many charts
• Vitamin D levels have been crashing since 1995 (Polish Children, Elite Military, etc)
• People with gut problems are low on vitamin D – April 2011
• Concealing clothing resulted in only 8 ng vitamin D – Feb 2011
• 23 ng of vitamin D in sunny Israel – Dec 2010
• Need to avoid the sun during the summer in Dubai
• Vitamin D deficiency spares no body part – NE Asia – Jan 2013
  • Diseases associated with Winter and the North are occurring in the Summer now that they can avoid the extreme summer heat with air conditioning
• Vitamin D less than 22 ng in Greece half of the year– May 2011
• Vitamin D insufficiency in UK youths – 37X more likely if dark skin – July 2011
• All items in Far From Equator 124 items
• Beijing extremely vitamin D deficient even in the fall: 10 ng – April 2013
• 93 % of US children had less than 30 ng of vitamin D Oct 2021
• 92 % of ALL Germans less than 30 ng - Jan 2012
• 92 % of German elderly less than 30 ng - Jan 2012
• 91 % of Japanese women less than 30 ng - 2012
• 90 % of Canadian youth less than 30 ng vitamin D – Oct 2010
• 90 % of Swiss men have less than 30 ng of vitamin D in the winter – Nov 2012
• 90 % of young health care professionals had less than 30 ng of vitamin D – Nov 2011
• 87 % of Tennessee general medicine patients had less than 32 ng of vitamin D – Jan 2011
• 86 % of UK elderly less than 30 ng - Jan 2010
• 86 % of US military has less than 32 ng of Vitamin D – Dec 2020
• 82 % of Swedes did not have the recommended amount of vitamin D – Feb 2011
• 80 % of teens in Europe had less than 30 ng of vitamin D – Aug 2011
• 79 % of middle aged Americans had less than 32 ng of vitamin D – July 2010
• 76 % of Irish had less than 30 ng of vitamin D – April 2013
• 70 % of Koreans in their twenties had less than 20ng of vitamin D – Dec 2010
• 50 % of Quebec kids had less than 20 ng of vitamin D – Milk and movement did not help – Mar 2011
• 42 % of US adults less than 20 ng of vitamin D and 82 % of blacks – Jan 2011
• 33 % of pre-teens in Tehran had less than 5 ng of vitamin D – Feb 2011
• 30 % of US had less than 20 ng of vitamin D - CDC March 2011
• 27 % of Turkish mothers has less than 11 ng of vitamin D
• Vitamin D could save More than 10,000 Canadian lives annually LEF
• Teens increasingly indoors - especially if dark skin - July 2010
• Criteria to associate a disease with the lack of vitamin D
• Many reasons why vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic
• Ways to increase the amount of vitamin D you get from the sun
• Review of Vitamin D Deficiencies in developing countries - Oct 2011
• Military and Vitamin D - many studies
• Quick, free, self test of vitamin D deficiency

• Health problem frequency - 1997 = rates of occurrence of human health problems

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Only half as many people had >30 ng of vitamin D 16 years later

Approximately 44% in 1988 and 22% by 2004

CLICK HERE for paper which has this chart: "Demographic Differences and Trends of Vitamin D Insufficiency in the US Population, 1988-2004"

Vitamin D Cure book by Dr Dowd's (pg 32-33) has one of the ways to make a vitamin D risk assessment

Ethnic Background	dark skin 4, 5, 6	3 points
Body Mass Index	>30	3 points
Breast fed infant		3 points
Have fatigue	or muscle, bone, or joint paint	2 points
Senior	older than 50	2 points
Live far from equator	more than 35 degrees	2 points
Put sunscreen on before sunning	8 SPF or more	2 points
Rarely spend time outdoors	11 AM to 4 PM	2 points

The vitamin D research indicates that the following factors should be added to Dr. Dowd's list

Pregnant	improve Calcium availability	2 points
Very far from equator	> 70 degrees	1 point
Winter		1 point
Recent sunny vacation		-1 point
Frequent use of tanning bed	If bed does produce UVB, not just UVA	-1point
High altitude	increases UV - Colorado	-1 point
Cloudy or smoggy	reduce UV	2 points
Very obese	in addition to BMI > 30	1 point
Vegetarian	no fish and no supplements	1 point
Medical condition which obstructs vitamin D	rickets, MS, gut, HIV, kidney, liver, thyroid..	3 points
Vitamin D depleting drugs]		2 points
Smoking		1 point
Avoid sun with extra clothing, umbrella	skin cancer concern, whiter skin, social reasons	2 points
Medical problem related to D runs in family	Cancer, MS, Heart, Lupus, TB, etc.	2 points

Risk Assessment

Low Risk	0-2 points
High Risk	3-5 points
Very high risk	6-8 points
Extreme risk	9+ points

If you have a risk factor >2 see: Overview: How Much vitamin D

Text was extracted from graph July 2011 - for translation to other languages and to be read to the blind

A similar cause and affect diagram for African-Americans - by Grant 2010

CLICK HERE for web page

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Only a tiny number of Americans eat even the "minimum wage" of vitamin D

orange line indicates the Institute of Medicine Nov 2010 minimum recommendations

Note that this shows few Americans get at even 400 IU of Vitamin D

• <5% of all females,
• <10% of males
• 0% of females ages 14-31
• 0% of seniors (over age 71)

Percent of population with less than 20 ng of vitamin D has the following graph

Large % of people in many countries have less than 20 nanograms:
Australia 31, Canada 61, China 45, India 75, Korea 56, Malaysia 74, Middle East 90, Mongolia 98, New Zealand 56, North Africa 60, Northern Europe 92, United States 36

Low levels of Vitamin D for 70,000 people in California 2007

click on chart for details

Vitamin D reduced so low that Victorian age diseases are returning has the following chart

Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency

See also web

• President Trump had a Vitamin D blood level of only 20 ng Jan 2018
  • He has not had as much golf time after the Coronavirus hit the US, which probably lowers his level of vitamin D
• I Have a Vitamin D Deficiency: Personal Stories, Advice, and Support Experience Project, 59 people as of Sept 2013

click on chart for details

short URL for this page = tinyurl.com/amIdeficient