Did You Know Just That Many Cancers Are Linked To A Vitamin Deficiency?
The
Undercover Vitamin
By David Leonhardt
There is a secret vitamin
in the neighborhood, wandering around your body under cover.
This "vitamin" has just one single purpose, although
some researchers believe he has ulterior motives. He goes
by the inconspicuous codename of "D" – Vitamin
D.
Don't be fooled by his clever
disguise. D is no vitamin. He's a steroid hormone, slipping
through your body under guise of a vitamin. And he doesn't
have dozens of functions, like vitamin C or vitamin E, just
one vital mission – to mineralize your bones!
Mineralization is a key
objective of every body. Imagine if we all had flabby bones.
The world would look like a Salvador Dali nightmare. Vitamin
D saves us from having flabby bones.
More importantly, vitamin
D saves us from having brittle bones. He prevents us from
rickets and osteomalacia by balancing the calcium and phosphorous
in our blood. Ooh, that D is a clever one. Not only is he
a master of disguises, but he is a master chemist, constantly
monitoring, measuring and balancing the mix so it just right
to ensure everybody has strong and healthy bones.
Word on the grapevine is
that 30% to 40% of hip fractures in elderly people are the
result of insufficient vitamin D. So we caught up with D,
and managed to slip away with a rare interview transcript:
"D, some of your fans
can't get enough of you. What should they do?"
"Get plenty of sun.
That is the key. Where the sun touches your skin, that's
where I will be."
"But, D, what about
people who can't? What about people in the far north, or
those who wear head-to-toe clothing or who are stuck indoors?"
"If you find yourself
overdressed in a dungeon in Mongolia, get a good multi-vitamin
supplement."
"D,
that's a wonderful idea."
"Or drink lots of milk,
fortified with me, of course. Some breakfast cereals are
fortified with me, too. I also hang out in a lot of saltwater
fish, like tuna and sardines and herring and salmon. And
I love to slip around in the ol' cod liver oil."
"So if we can't get
enough sun, milk and fish will do the trick."
"That's right, but
be careful about milk products. Not all of them are made
with fortified milk. I make no commitment to be there if
they are not."
"What
about the supplements, D?"
"A good multivitamin
supplement should do it for most people. Get a liquid supplement,
cause those pills just don't digest. You just end up flushing
me down the toilet...ooh, I hate that feeling."
"Yuck."
"And you shouldn't
need a specific vitamin D supplement, because it is possible
to overdose. And you wouldn't want too much of a guy like
me around."
That was all we could slip
through the lines. But I think we learned a lot about what
it is like to live the life of a secret vitamin. To our
hero, vitamin D, we offer our best wishes. May everybody
get plenty of vitamin D to keep their bones strong and healthy
for many years to come.
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