 The following is part seven of an eight-part interview with Dr. Michael Holick, author of "The UV advantage" and one of the world's most respected authorities on vitamin D and the health benefits of natural sunlight. His work can be found at www.UVadvantage.com. Be sure to print out the vitamin D myths, facts and statistics page summarizing the key points of this interview.
Adams: In your book you talk about the link with calcium and calcium assimilation. How important is that for people to understand?
Dr. Holick: Well, it's critically important for people to realize that even if they have an adequate amount of vitamin D, if they don't have any calcium around, the vitamin D can't have the desired effect on bone health without being able to get enough calcium out of the diet and to put it into the bloodstream which will eventually get to your bones. So, making sure that you have adequate calcium intake is very important. And the recommendation by the Institute of Medicine (and I was on this committee back in 1997) is that if you're a teenager, 1300mg a day of calcium, for adults ages 18-50 it's 1000mg of calcium and 51+ years it's 1200mgs of calcium for both men and women.
Adams: And you mention that you have to have calcium in your system for vitamin D to work - is the opposite also true? You've got to have vitamin D for the calcium to be effective?
Dr. Holick: Oh, no question about it. If you are deficient in vitamin D, you absorb on average 10-15% of the calcium that's in your diet. If you’re sufficient in vitamin D, if you have adequate sun exposure or adequate intake of vitamin D, you absorb about 30% of the calcium in your diet. During pregnancy and lactation, and during growth spurts, the body responds appropriately by actually increasing that efficiency up to 80%.
Adams: So the normal level is 30%.
Dr. Holick: 30% for healthy adults, yes.
Adams: So a person who's taking, let's say coral calcium supplements, if they're not getting sunshine or vitamin D to go with it, their absorption is halved.
Dr. Holick: Yeah, exactly, and it's really of little benefit.
Adams: That's fascinating. Once again showing that there's no single magic pill, you have to be healthy across the board.
Dr. Holick: That's right. And what I typically recommend to my patients is Tums or Os-Cal or Caltrate or any of the respected brands ... Super Cal or all good sources of calcium.
Adams: As long as you've got vitamin D.
Dr. Holick: Correct. If you have adequate vitamin D or some sun exposure.
Adams: Cod liver oil is of course a great source of vitamin D, as you mention, but some people are concerned about contamination of these oily fish with heavy metals - is that a concern?
Dr. Holick: Yes, PCBs. And so, what you have to do is if you're going to buy it, buy it from a respectable source. Certainly it's a step in the right direction. But you know there are omega fatty acids in there that have benefits to the heart, and have other health benefits. So it may be that many of those outweigh the possible risk if there are contaminants in there. Although, like I said, a lot of the manufacturers are pretty good at making sure that there aren't.
Boost this article on YahooBuzz! Click "BuzzUp!"
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher and author with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy efficient than incandescent lights. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
The Health Ranger recommends and personally uses Aquasana water filters:
NaturalNews Exclusive: FREE decanter with *any* purchase from Aquasansa. Click here to claim:
 |
Related Articles:
• Are the coral calcium claims by Bob Barefoot credible and believable?
• What's in Your Multiple Vitamin? Detecting Real Quality. Part 1 – Minerals
• Medicine's assault on calcium: Quack science fuels calcium bashing frenzy
• Junk science: negative study on calcium and vitamin D supplements was poorly constructed, yet widely reported
• New research clarifies roles of calcium, vitamin D, and protein in bone health, fracture risk (press release)
|
Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com
 Email this article to a friend
 Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us
Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/006429.html
Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link.
Embed article link: (copy HTML code below):
|
 |
 |
Receive our Natural Health Newsletter for FREE
 Subscribe now to receive a summary of each day's most important natural health stories, plus get full, free access to the entire archives of books on HealthBookSummaries.
You'll also get access to 20+ free downloadable reports and exclusive interviews here on NaturalNews.com. Join over 1.2 million monthly readers. Unsubscribe anytime. Your email privacy is protected. We absolutely do not sell or share email addresses with anyone!
- Receive breaking news alerts on natural health solutions, renewable energy, the environment, global warming and more.
- Get instant access to over 20 downloadable health reports and exclusive interviews.
- Get full access to the entire archives of downloadable book summaries from HealthBookSummaries.com.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Printable Version
