Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource - July 9, 2002

Tuesday, July 09, 2002

Get Your Dose of Vitamin D from Sunshine, Diet or Supplements

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Have you had your recommended dose of sunshine? Vitamin D, called the sunshine vitamin, is critical to the development of healthy bones and teeth and helps prevent osteoporosis. Natural sunlight helps your body produce vitamin D.

Getting as little as 10 to 15 minutes of natural sunshine three times a week may be sufficient. But production of vitamin D can be hindered by anything that blocks ultraviolet light such as skin pigment, smog, sunscreen, windows or hats. Vitamin D production virtually stops during the winter for people who live in northern climates.

The July issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource offers these tips on getting vitamin D - when sunshine isn't enough: ■ Diet: Use milk and cereal fortified with vitamin D. Include liver, egg yolks and fish — all good sources of vitamin D — in your diet. However, getting adequate amounts of vitamin D gets harder as you get older because absorption from dietary sources decreases with age.

■ Supplements: A supplement with 400 international units (IU) may improve bone health for women ages 51 to 70. For women older than 70, experts recommend 600 to 800 IU a day. Talk with your physician or pharmacist about a supplement that will meet your needs; vitamin D supplements can affect other health conditions.

Snacking Linked to Lower Cholesterol

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - What you eat affects your cholesterol, but how often you eat might play a role too, according to the July issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource.

A study recently published in the British Medical Journal found that people who ate five or six times a day had a five percent lower total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (the "bad" kind) than people who ate once or twice a day. Even more striking, the frequent eaters ate more fat and calories than the group who ate one or two meals.

The results are biologically plausible. Animals who eat large, infrequent meals show an increase in cholesterol production. It could be that frequent snackers are reaping the benefits of metabolism.

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