By John Cannell, MD and Alex Vasquez, D.C., N.D. Our children
need help. Many of them are suffering from unrecognized and
untreated vitamin D deficiency. A recent June 2004 study from
Harvard found 24 percent of healthy adolescents had vitamin D
levels less than 15 ng/ml and 42 percent had levels less than 20
ng/ml. Many adults need help, too. Several studies have
documented that vitamin D deficiency among adults is an
epidemic, not only on a national level, but also worldwide.
However, the problem is much worse than that because a wide
variety of diseases and unhealthy conditions are associated with
vitamin D levels less than about 40 ng/ml--more than 70 percent
of adolescents in the above study had 25(OH)D levels less than
40 ng/ml. Remember that 25(OH)D blood levels are technically
difficult to perform and significant variation occurs from lab
to lab and from the past literature to present literature.
However, as Reinhold Vieth has pointed out, one must proceed
with the literature, and the variation, as th