Getting by with a little help from my friends...
I’m a big fan of brunches–weekend afternoons just seem to lend themselves to fun, proactive, we-can-take-over-the-world conversations. Or at least we-can-make-our-lives-saner ones. This past Sunday, I got absolutely that kind of fix from my friends Sue and Danielle (left to right, in the photo). Sue, it turns out, is on a vitamin D kick. She says it’s helped everything from mood to energy.
Galvanized, I went home and did some digging. Last fall, I’d covered a study that showed a linear relationship between vitamin D consumption and weight loss. And Sue was right on the mood business–among a few interesting studies, one recent University of Massachusetts paper linked it to reduced PMS symptoms. Then there were the big guns–or the promise of them: In addition to its role in maintaining bone health, vitamin D is on the radar for some compelling (if emerging) immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer connections. Which is probably why the most emailed story in the New York Times right now is, actually, all about vitamin D.
Specifically, the Times article notes that one major U.S. lab reported a 50 percent rise in vitamin D tests toward the end of 2009. And I found market research showing that vitamin D supplement use was up 30 percent.
Some of this may be due to the fact that news is starting to trickle out that the standard recommended does of 400 I.U.s isn’t enough. According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (via the NYT piece), about half of us are thought to have “less than optimum levels” of vitamin D in our bodies. Elsewhere, I’ve read that the FDA is expected to up its recommendation sometime this spring.
So what should we be doing? While researchers are quick to point out that vitamin experiments are tricky to interpret (somebody who takes supplements regularly likely does other healthy things), there’s a lot of promising data out there–especially when vitamin D consumption is closer to 1,000 or 2,000 I.U.s. Since there aren’t any studies showing it hurts in such (or, frankly, any) amounts, there seems to be no harm in gearing your intake a little more toward these slightly higher numbers.
Here’s the catch, though: Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin in the classic sense. Rather, it works more like a hormone in its ability to turn cells on and off. Because hormones tend to be mostly produced in the body, this makes D tougher to come by than your average antioxidant. But far from impossible. Here, five easy “to-dos” you could, well, be doing.
Get (a little) more sun: Spending just ten to fifteen more minutes outdoors every day can have an effect. (The vitamin D-sunlight connection is, in fact, something many researchers believe is linked to Seasonal Mood Disorder.) The down side here is that you’ll only benefit if you shirk the sunscreen. I’m an sun-protection fanatic, so I’m finding this a tough one to picture. Though ten minutes is admittedly not terribly long.
Put fish or shrimp on the menu: Here’s one closer to my heart. A 3.5-ounce serving of wild salmon (sockeye is especially good, and sustainable!) can get you between 600 and 1,000 I.U.s. Pacific cod and shrimp are also great sources. Because vitamin D is a stable compound, too, there’s no risk of it “cooking away” like some vitamins in vegetables.
‘Shroom it: Weirdly, given the right conditions, mushrooms are a great repository for vitamin D. Apparently, they’re extra good at soaking up the compound from the little sun they get. In fact, one recent study found that just one gram of sun-treated shiitake (about 1/10 of a mushroom) provided 460 I.U.s of vitamin D. Unsurprisingly, companies are now rushing to market such super light-exposed fungi. Among the first to hit the market are a portobello by Dole and a sliced, packaged variety by Monterey Mushrooms.
Don’t count on milk alone: This was news to me: According to the Times story, it would take a quart of milk a day to get all the vitamin D you need in a day.
Take a D3 supplement: This is what I’m doing. To me, a supplement really seems like the surest, most hassle-free way to go here. Look for D3, as that’s the kind researchers believe is best absorbed. A new Harvard study is following women who take about 2,000 I.U.s (along with omega-3s!) to see what this does to their heart disease and cancer risk, so I’m taking a page from that playbook and trying for something close to that amount. (A final idea–be a multi-tasker and take D3 at the same time as calcium. Not only do the two work together for bone health, but calcium also has some great energy and weight benefits of its own.)
