More time in sun helps supply vitamin D

By BARBARA ANDERSON
Fresno Bee
Saturday, January 19, 2008

The sun is a hot topic with doctors this winter.

What's causing the fuss? Recent studies suggest people may need more sun exposure for their health, which conflicts with long-standing warnings to stay out of the sun or use sunscreen to prevent skin cancer.

Those advocating for more exposure to the sun say it takes a moderate amount of sunlight to produce healthy levels of vitamin D -- the "sunshine vitamin." The body produces the vitamin from ultraviolet light.

But dermatologists say people might do themselves more harm than good if they're not careful.

"I'm absolutely mortified that this has come up," said Dr. Jane Kardashian, a Fresno, Calif., dermatologist who treats people for skin cancer.

Kardashian said increasing time in the sun puts people at greater risk of sun cancer. Most people in the San Joaquin Valley get enough sunshine to produce vitamin D, she said, and deficiencies most likely are the result of dietary problems rather than from a lack of sun exposure. Vitamin D can be obtained through fortified milk, cheese, yogurt and fatty fish, among other foods, and by taking supplements.

But the sun is the major source of vitamin D. And two studies made public this month add to a growing body of work that says people may not be getting enough of the vitamin to reap its health rewards.

Vitamin D has long been associated with helping to build strong bones.

But now researchers say it may prevent deaths from internal cancers, such as those of the colon, breast, lung and prostate. They also speculate it could help prevent heart disease and stroke.

A study published last week in the online "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science" concludes that sun exposure may help cut cancer deaths.

The study, by Norwegian scientists and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, found survival rates for internal cancers were better for people living in sunnier climes.

In the Jan. 9 issue of "Circulation," the journal of the American Heart Association, researchers who looked at 1,739 people from the Framingham Heart Study said vitamin D deficiency is associated with cardiovascular disease. They call for more study to determine whether eliminating vitamin D deficiency could prevent the disease.

"It's very clear that sunshine is a protective agent," said Richard Setlow, a senior biophysicist emeritus at Brookhaven who helped in the writing of the vitamin D and cancer study.

But Setlow said it's also known that too much sun increases the risk for skin cancer.

"If you have a lot of sunburn and a lot of vitamin D, you have a good thing and a bad thing," he said.

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Vitamin deficiency

1. Vitamin A deficiency (1) Horizontal disease: canine vitamin A requirements of the larger, if not long-term eating green feed, or feed boiled over, resulting in the destruction carotene, or long-term patients suffering from chronic enteritis dogs susceptible to the disease .

(2) Symptoms: The main symptoms of night blindness, corneal thickness and opacity of dry eye, skin drying, hair Pengluan, ataxia, and movement dysfunction. Anemia can be a physical failure.

(3) Treatment: Oral cod liver oil or vitamin A daily 400 international units / kg body weight. In pregnant dogs, and puppies Bitches breastfeeding in the diet to ensure adequate vitamin A, vitamin triple subcutaneous or intramuscular (including vitamin A, D3 and E) 0.5-1 ml, or in the feed dogs l drop in the Canadian Triple vitamins, for 3 to 4 weeks.

2. Group B vitamin deficiency

First, thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B1) deficiency, sick canine can be restored in neurological symptoms. With dogs suffering from weight loss, anorexia, general weakness, vision loss or loss of, and sometimes unsteady gait, trembling, and then Paralysis, convulsion.

Second, riboflavin (B2 living Cable) Lack, dogs suffering from cramps, anemia, cardiac bradycardia and prostration, as well as dry-attribute dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, and other fatty hypertrophy.

Third, nicotinamide and nicotinic acid (vitamin PP), the lack of black tongue disease is its uniqueness, and that is sick canine performance loss of appetite, mouth dried up, I mucosa flushing, in the lips, tongue and the buccal mucosa intensive pustules form, Cheng Hui tongue coating thickness and black (black tongue), I issued within the smell, unpleasant smell and outflow thick saliva, some with bloody diarrhea. Lack of vitamin B-treatment, in accordance with conditions right. Vitamin B1 deficiency, thiamine hydrochloride oral dogs to 10

Additional information :

From www.scrippsnews.com:
Almost all cases of vitamin B12 deficiency seen in patients today and in the past are due to diseases of the intestine, and are not due to a lack of B12 in.
Overview of Vitamin B12 and folate deficiency and tests used to diagnose.
Hypovitaminosis A Vitamin A deficiency is a very common problem in pet birds. When caught in its early stages, it is easily reversible with little.
Secondary vitamin A deficiency may be due to inadequate conversion of carotene to vitamin A or to interference with absorption, storage, or transport.
HotSpot for Birds has many informative articles on the health and safety of birds. This article discusses the most common preventable avian disease, Vitamin.
Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia is a blood problem that occurs when there is not enough of this vitamin.
While the injections can cure vitamin B12 deficiency, if the treatment is started too late there is a risk of permanent damage to the nervous.
Vitamin A deficiency is common in developing countries but rarely seen in developed countries. Approximately 250000 to 500000 malnourished.