Preventing vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is an international health care priority.
While the elderly and institutionalized adults have the highest risk of vitamin D deficiency, young adults are also at risk. Further, African Americans, Asians and other darker-pigmented people have a higher risk because their skin cannot produce vitamin D efficiently.
Vitamin D insufficiency causes secondary hyperparathyroidism, rickets in children and osteomalacia and osteoporosis in adults. It may also be associated with an increased risk of colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and other cancers.
Vitamin D is not present in many foods and is therefore difficult to obtain from the diet. While milk and cereals are fortified with vitamin D in the United States, researchers say that this is not sufficient since so many people cannot tolerate these products.
Researchers therefore analyzed the effects of vitamin-D-fortified orange juice on healthy adults.
In the study, some participants drank a daily glass of orange juice that had been fortified with 1,000 IU of vitamin D, while others drank a regular glass of orange juice.
Researchers took weekly measurements of serum 25(OH)D concentrations, a measure of vitamin D status, over a 12-week period.
Both groups experienced significant increases in serum 25(OH)D concentrations, which researchers attributed to the change in season from winter to spring at the time of the study.
However, people who drank the vitamin-D-fortified orange juice had a 150 percent increase in their serum 25(OH)D concentrations compared with a 45 percent increase among people who drank regular orange juice.
Researchers noted that fortification of foods with vitamin D is an inexpensive way to ensure that children and adults receive adequate amounts of vitamin D.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 49 percent of the U.S. population over two years of age drinks at least one glass of fruit juice daily.
Researchers conclude that fortifying orange juice and other juice beverages with vitamin D could increase vitamin D intake and reduce the risk of problems associated with vitamin D deficiency.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 2003;77(6):1478-1483
While this study does a great job of reviewing the problem of vitamin D deficiency and its enormous consequences on our physical health, it has some major problems.
It certainly seems reasonable to provide public health recommendations to increase our vitamin D status as I have mentioned many times previously, most of us are deficient in vitamin D. This defiency increases our risk of osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases and many cancers.
More than half of the people in the United States consume at least one glass of fruit juice every day, so adding vitamin D to fruit juice would certainly seem reasonable.
The problem the researchers fail to realize is that fruit juice is not a very healthy food. It is loaded with eight teaspoons of a relatively dangerous simple carbohydrate, fructose.
If you are unaware of the health consequences of consuming fructose please review the links below.
So while consuming vitamin-D-enhanced fruit juice would be helpful from a vitamin D standpoint alone, it still would only further promote the ridiculous concept that we should be consuming fruit juice.
The motivation to do so would only be increased if the juice were "enhanced" with vitamin D and calcium, as people would be deceived into believing that this was an exceptionally healthy beverage that had the government endorsement.
They would be blinded to the fact that the sugar from the juice would be far more devastating to their long-term health than the vitamin D benefits they would receive.
So, if you are not up to speed on vitamin D I would encourage you to review the articles below. Fortunately, we do have a more reasonable and easily available food source of vitamin D.
It is called cod liver oil, and it not only has the vitamin D but is also chock full of vitamin A and highly beneficial omega-3 fats, which are even better for you than the vitamin D.
So wouldn’t it make more sense to take the cod liver oil, which will increase your health, rather than a fortified orange juice?
Just be careful to measure your vitamin D levels in the summer if you are going to use cod liver oil, as it is possible to overdose on vitamin D if you are getting plenty of sun exposure.
When choosing your cod liver oil, it is important to remember that not all brands are the same. In my research--and in my clinical experience with my patients--I have found that 1) the liquid form is superior to capsules; 2) that certain brands definitely seem inferior to others; 3) that the Carlson's brand of cod liver oil is of an exceptional quality and purity. It is likely not the only brand in the world of such high quality, but up to this point it is the only one of such quality that I can recommend, so I now have Carlson's cod liver oil available on Mercola.com; you can also check your local health food store to see if they carry it.
Related Articles:
Fructose is No Answer For a Sweetener Fructose is Not an Acceptable Sugar More Problems With Fructose Breakthrough Updates You Need to Know on Vitamin D Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency
Fructose is No Answer For a Sweetener
Fructose is Not an Acceptable Sugar
More Problems With Fructose
Breakthrough Updates You Need to Know on Vitamin D
Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency