much more vitamin d please

If your new year’s resolution includes getting healthier, this might get your attention. Sales of vitamin D have suddenly spiked to the point where manufacturers can barely keep up. The CBC’s health reporter Kelly Crowe explains.

KELLY CROWE (REPORTER):

At Jamieson Laboratories they can’t make vitamin D fast enough. Demand has suddenly doubled in the past three months.

VIC NEUFELD (JAMIESON LABORATORIES):

(Windsor, Ontario) The 50 percent spike in recent sales was unexpected.

KELLY CROWE (REPORTER):

Why is vitamin D so hot? Study after study suggests it could play an important role in fighting a growing list of cancers and other diseases. Yet for half the year, Canadians can’t get enough from the sun so we turn to supplements, but how much vitamin D is enough or too much? At this point, not even the experts can say for sure.

REINHOLD VIETH (RESEARCHER, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL):

(Toronto) A dose that is probably appropriate for grown-ups, my prediction is it will be about 4000 units per day, but you don’t know.

KELLY CROWE (REPORTER):

Health Canada is revising its recommendation of up to 400 units per day, which many experts believe is too low.

REINHOLD VIETH (RESEARCHER, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL):

I’m on the side that argues more vitamin D is beneficial. The other side says, well, wait a minute, we can’t tell people that until we’ve done placebo- controlled clinical trials.

DR. TRACEY O’CONNOR (ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE):

(Buffalo, N.Y.) How are you feeling today?

KELLY CROWE (REPORTER):

Dr. Tracey O’Connor isn’t waiting for any more studies. Evidence so far has convinced her to adjust the vitamin D levels in her breast cancer patients.

DR. TRACEY O’CONNOR (ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE):

Patients with adequate vitamin D levels seem to do better. Now, whether that means that you can give somebody vitamin D at diagnosis and make that change is not yet known.

KELLY CROWE (REPORTER):

You can’t get too much vitamin D from the sun, especially not on a day like this, but you can get too much from taking supplements at very high doses. That’s why Canadians who want to know more should talk to their doctors. A simple blood test is the only way to find out how much vitamin D is being absorbed by the body. Kelly Crowe, CBC News, Toronto.

The National
Tue Jan 5, 2010, 10:00 PM ET
Byline: Peter Mansbridge (Host)