That's Fit

Life Fit Chat with That's Fit Life Fit Expert Laura Lewis brings conversation provoking tidbits to your table, served up with a touch of spice! Byte-sized information that pack some punch, brought to you every Wednesday and Thursday!

Wow ... this is a pretty intense headline ... Lack of vitamin D linked to deaths. In my book, 52 Ways To A Healthy You, I dedicate my first chapter to the powerful health benefits of this essential vitamin. So, when this headline showed up on CNN, I took notice.

Recent studies link low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and other causes, giving even more evidence that the "sunshine" vitamin is indeed essential to good health. Research shows that patients with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood were more than two times more likely to die in the next eight years and most specifically more likely to die from heart-related illness. How much should you take? During months with less sunshine, optimal levels of 1,000 to 3,000 IU's has been recommended to reap optimal health benefits as opposed to the minimum requirement of 400 IUs.

One of vitamin D's most important functions is the regulation of calcium absorption and metabolism. Without sufficient vitamin D, even if there exists sufficient dietary calcium, it cannot be properly absorbed and metabolized. Beyond calcium metabolism, vitamin D is also recognized as critical to a number of other body systems. A deficiency may be associated with chronic diseases such as common cancers (ovarian, breast, prostate, colon, kidney, and pancreas); autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis; as well as cardiovascular heart disease, depression, and decreased muscles strength.