MEDICAL NEWS:

January 9, 2008 — Your ability to fight disease, build muscle and prevent broken bones may all hinge on how much vitamin D your body receives and produces. But new research published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal finds residents of the dairy state are vitamin D deficient.

"As a result of low dietary intake and sun avoidance, low vitamin D status is endemic in Wisconsin," say the authors, from the University of Wisconsin Osteoporosis Clinical Center and Research Program in Madison.

Vitamin D is produced in the skin when we're exposed to sunlight. But the risk of skin cancer has scared many of us out of the sun and has increased the popularity of using sunscreen, even though sunscreen "effectively blocks cutaneous vitamin D production."

While preventing skin cancer is important, so is preventing falls, especially since as of 2002, Wisconsin had the highest "crude death rate from falls in the United States," according to the Journal article.

"Since low vitamin D status increases falls risk, and supplementation reduces falling, it is likely that vitamin D supplementation is an inexpensive way to reduce falls and fractures in Wisconsin and elsewhere," the authors conclude. They estimate the cost at as little as $1 per month.

Milk, salmon and other fatty fish are good sources of vitamin D, but spending a little time in sunshine is probably necessary too, unless you take supplements.