http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041009/bob8.asp
Vitamin Boost
From muscle strength to immunity, scientists find new vitamin D benefits
Janet Raloff
The story of vitamin D would appear simple. Take in enough sun or drink
enough fortified milk to get the recommended daily amount, and you'll have
strong bones. Take a supplement, if you want insurance. But recent studies
from around the world have revealed that the sunshine vitamin's role in
health is far more complex. More than just protecting bone, vitamin D is
proving to preserve muscle strength and to give people some protection
against deadly diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS), diabetes, and
even cancer.
What's now clear is that vitamin D is a potent force in regulating cell
growth, immunity, and energy metabolism, observes David Feldman of Stanford
University School of Medicine. He's the editor of a new 1,300-page
compilation of research findings from more than 100 labs working on this
substance (2004, Vitamin D, Academic Press). Not only is the vitamin
gaining increasing respect as a governor of health, he notes, but it's also
serving as the model for drugs that might tame a range of recalcitrant
diseases.
Ironically, observes bone-metabolism specialist Robert P. Heaney of
Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., vitamin D is a
misnomer. "A vitamin is an essential food constituent that the body can't
make," he explains, but people have the capacity, right in their skin, to
produce all the vitamin D they need from a cholesterol-like precursor.
Copyright ©2004 Science Service.
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