World Vitamin D Day - November 2nd

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TORONTO, ON (October 28, 2024) - November is the month that Vitamin D winter begins in northern latitudes – including all of Canada. A time when the sun can no longer trigger vitamin D production in your skin as fall and winter UVB rays are too weak. The Vitamin D Society is reminding everyone that now is the time to TAKE ACTION to ensure you are not vitamin D deficient through winter.

During the last 16 years the Vitamin D Society has educated the public about the benefits of vitamin D and sun exposure through November Vitamin D Awareness Month and World Vitamin D Day on November 2^nd to help prevent vitamin D deficiency.

The importance of regular, non-burning sun exposure for health was highlighted this year by a new study published by researchers from the University of Edinburgh. This study looked at the health records of 395,000 people from the UK Biobank database and found that the people who use solariums and who live at locations with higher annual average sun exposure in the UK have a lower risk of both cardiovascular and cancer mortality.

McGill discovery explains link, highlights the importance of adequate vitamin D intake, especially in children

As Canadians brace for “vitamin D winter” – months when the sun’s angle is too low to produce the vitamin in the skin – a McGill University study explains why vitamin D deficiency early in life is associated with a higher risk of autoimmune diseases.

During childhood, the thymus helps train immune cells to distinguish between the body’s own tissues and harmful invaders. A vitamin D deficiency at that stage of life causes the thymus to age more quickly, the researchers discovered.

“An aging thymus leads to a ‘leaky’ immune system,” said lead author John White, a Professor in and Chair of McGill’s Department of Physiology. “This means the thymus becomes less effective at filtering out immune cells that could mistakenly attack healthy tissues, increasing the risk of autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes.”

Key Takeaways

• Vitamin D plays a neuroprotective role, influencing serotonin synthesis and brain plasticity, relevant for mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.
• Deficiency in vitamin D is linked to increased risk of depression, ADHD, anxiety, and suicide, with supplementation showing potential benefits.
• Testing vitamin D levels is essential in psychiatry to identify deficiencies and tailor treatment, supporting personalized mental health care.
• Despite research limitations, vitamin D supplementation is a simple, effective intervention that can enhance standard mental health treatments.

Of the many researched integrative medicine interventions for the treatment of mental health conditions, perhaps one of the simplest is vitamin D. While controversy around its use remains, including recent guidelines that recommend against testing vitamin D levels for virtually any reason,1 my own clinical experience combined with the latest research strongly suggest benefits for a number of mental health conditions.

For 40 years, Americans have been told that lying in the sun without skin protection from ultraviolet (UV) rays is a dangerous thing. After all, the incidence of melanoma − the most dangerous form of skin cancer − has been increasing globally.

But a new study from the University of Edinburgh of 360,000 people living in the United Kingdom indicates that when the health benefits of sun exposure are factored in, we might rethink the issue.

Correcting for confounding factors of age, gender, smoking, socioeconomic status, and exercise, the study found that sunbed users had a 23% lower rate of cardiovascular (CV) death and a 14% lower rate of cancer death in general.

A recent follow-up to the MAVIDOS trial confirms that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy improves offspring bone mineral density, with benefits persisting up to seven years of age.

Previously, the MAVIDOS trial reported that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy significantly improved offspring's bone mineral density (BMD) when measured at four years. In a recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers examine the persistence of this improvement in BMD into later childhood years.

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Distribution

TORONTO, ON (August 20, 2024) – A large, cohort study from the UK has reported that people who have higher exposure to UV through sunlight or sunbeds have a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality. The study adds to the growing evidence that the health benefits of UV exposure may outweigh the risks in low-sunlight environments.

The Vitamin D Society has been educating people on the benefits of non-burning UV exposure – the body’s primary source of vitamin D - for 15 years. This is the first time that sunbed users have been included in a large study of health benefits and mortality.