EDITORIAL – JUNE 2000

Welcome to the June issue. As usual it is brimming with news of vital importance to your continued good health.

Vitamin D has made our news again. Medical doctors at the State University of New York report five cases of vitamin-D deficiency which debilitated its victims to such an extent that they became wheelchair-bound. They also point out that they have seen several cases of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression which were actually vitamin D deficiencies. Over 60% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D and the numbers are not much better in Europe. The doctors speculate that this deficiency contributes to immobility and ill health in a significant number of people in northern United States and Canada. The bottom line is that you need an hour or two daily of unprotected sunshine (early morning or late afternoon without sunscreen) to keep your vitamin D stores up. If you don't get this you need to supplement with 800-1000 IU every day.

Research continues to show the benefits of vitamin-C. Not only is there evidence that it helps prevent premature death, but supplementation has also been found highly effective in preventing gallstones in women.

Also in the news recently. The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences has announced new recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for vitamins C and E and selenium. They are 90 mg/day of vitamin C for men and 75 mg/day for women, 15 mg/day (22 IU) of natural vitamin E, and 55 micrograms of selenium per day for both men and women. Dr. Balz Frei of the Linus Pauling Institute comments that these new allowances are still way too low to have any meaningful effect in preventing heart disease, stroke and cancer. He recommends 200 mg/day of both vitamins C and E and 200 micrograms/day of selenium. You can find the full text of his comments at:

http://www.orst.edu/dept/lpi/new/re sponse.html
and
http://www.orst.edu/dept/lpi/new/rda.html.

The Food and Nutrition Board also published "tolerable upper intake levels (ULs)" as part of their new recommendations. ULs are defined as the highest daily intakes that are unlikely to have adverse effects. They are now set at 2000 mg/day of vitamin C, 1000 mg/day for vitamin-E (any form of alpha-tocopherol), and 400 micrograms/day of selenium.