Vitamin D benefits: hope or hype?
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:29 am
Vitamin D is good for what ails you. Or at least that's what patients and doctors might conclude if they read only the headlines.
In the past few months, deficiency in the substance has been linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, tuberculosis, spinal inflammatory diseases, age-related macular degeneration ... and the list goes on.
On the other hand, taking high doses of vitamin D didn't help patients with multiple sclerosis, MedPage Today reported, and it was of no benefit in reducing left ventricular mass in patients with chronic kidney disease.
But overall, vitamin D gets pretty good press. The trouble is that hard evidence to back up the vitamin's benefits is lacking, according to Clifford Rosen, MD, of the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough. "There's no data," Rosen told MedPage Today. "It's all weak association studies."... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1334