Study conducted at the Children’s Hospital Boston showed some surprising results when Kendrin R. Sonneville, Sc.D., R.D and his colleagues examined the relation between risk of stress fractures in growing girls and their intake of calcium, Vitamin D and/or dairy products. (4) Stress fractures usually occur due to overuse of a particular bone or set of bones. In other words, they arise out of repeated strain on a bone. Stress fractures are incomplete fractures and occur when muscles become fatigued due to overuse/repeat movement without adequate rest and recovery. These muscles are unable to absorb shock of the movement and transfer the repeat stress overload to the bones which develop microscopic cracks or fractures. They most commonly occur in the lower leg and feet. High impact physical activities such as running on hard surfaces, tennis, squash, basketball put one to…

A study on menopausal women in Europe has scientists reveal that as high as 70% of women in this category have low Vitamin D levels. The dip in percentage is very significant and has shocked the European medical fraternity.  This especially so because the percentage is seeing a steady dip without a reversing trend despite increased awareness among women in the last decade over the importance of Vitamin D and it’s bearing on bone health. As per the experts, a good level to be aimed at by menopausal women would be over 30 ng/ml (or nanograms per millilitre). This is also corroborated by the recommendation made by the Office of Dietary Supplements on Vitamin D. They clearly state that persons are potentially at risk for inadequacy at levels ranging from 12–20 ng/mL and that all people are sufficient at levels…

A recent study conducted by the orthopaedic surgeons at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that those spinal fusion surgery patients who were deficient in Vitamin D before the surgery had a long recovery phase. Spinal fusion surgery is a major surgery that is usually recommended to remove the spinal canal of bone and tissue material obstructing/narrowing the canal or squeezing the spinal cord. The surgery lasts several hours and is also prescribed to correct fractures of the spine and treat herniated discs, tumors etc. (1) The findings of the Washington University School of Medicine were presented in the 26th Annual Meeting of the North American Spine Society. The study had examined 313 spinal fusion surgery patients and found that more than 50% of them had low Vitamin D levels that made the recovery phase for…

Vitamin D is a prohormone of the secosteroid type. It acts as a precursor to what makes a hormone or is a hormone prototype, if you will. Usually exposure to sunlight helps our body (skin in particular) to synthesize Vitamin D. The epidermal layers of Stratum basale and Stratum Spinosum produce maximum amount of a particular type of a pre-vitamin D3. It is fat-soluble in nature. So how is Vitamin D and bone health related? Vitamin D is metabolised by the liver and the kidneys and is converted to a hormone called Calcitonin. Calcitrol ensures that there is enough calcium in the blood to help form bones, teeth and maintain bone density. When ultra-violet rays shine on our skin, a cholesterol-like substance gets converted to Vitamin D and absorbed into the blood. Vitamin D is required for the metabolisation of…