Vitamin D is one of those buzz-words that everyone seems to
be hearing about lately. Vitamin D is the vitamin that we naturally get from
the sun, but many people have turned to supplements instead. Supposedly,
if you do not get enough Vitamin D it raises the risk of cardiovascular
disease. Now with research completed at John Hopkins, they have found the exact
opposite. They looked at records of people who have died and their levels of
vitamins. They found that in general, people who had a normal amount of vitamin
D cut their chance of heart disease in half, while people with much higher
blood levels actually increased the change of death. The doctor want to caution
people though, for people who are elderly, postmenopausal, or have kidney
disease, a vitamin D supplement is often necessary. It is the people who are
already healthy and take the supplements who are increasing their risk. The
moral of the story is that unless your doctor tells you that the supplement is
necessary, don’t take it because not only are they expensive it could be doing
yourself more harm than good. The best thing to do is consult a doctor and
watch for signs of heard disease.
NOS Themes
-Science is collaborative- A team at John Hopkins worked on these findings.
-Science is based on evidence- They had numbers and facts that these conclusions came from.
-Science in tentative and subject to debate- This information can be disproven, these are the finding of one study.
-Role of skepticism- Not everyone will believe this, further research needs to be done.
Link:
Rachel Nelson, Hour 1
This is really interesting research. I know my mom has vitamin D deficiency and takes supplements. I found another study that concludes many of the same things that the researchers at John Hopkins found. The University of Copenhagen is conducting similar research. They found that if you have both too little vitamin D or too much, it is still bad.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2151926/Excess-levels-Vitamin-D-linked-higher-death-rates.html
I think there could also be a role of curiosity because the scientists want to learn more about it and help people who are using the supplement incorrectly. I thought this article was interesting, and it actually surprised me little bit that something healthy can turn into something unhealthy if not used correctly.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting, because recently in Minnesota there has been a lot of talk of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which can be treated with Vitamin D. I wonder if people who take this Vitamin D during the winter are actually doing more harm than good?
ReplyDeleteThis article gives some more information about vitamin D and SAD.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090317142847.htm