According to the Vitamin D Council, a paper published recently in Dermato-Endocrinology reviewed evidence that vitamin D can reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

The paper states: “Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a leading cause of death in the US health care arena, with an overall estimated annual incidence of 1.7 million cases and 100,000 deaths. Pneumonia was the most likely disease, followed by bacteremias, urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, and others.”¹

Patients who are admitted to hospitals often do so as the result of other diseases linked to low vitamin D blood levels like cancer, cardiovascular disease, fractures, and infectious diseases. And HAIs are becoming more common due to several factors including a high number of people who might be infected and the use of antibiotics leading to antibiotic resistance bacteria.¹

“Low blood vitamin D concentration is an important risk factor for many types of infectious diseases, both bacterial and viral. The mechanisms include induction of cathelicidin and defensins, which have antimicrobial and antiendotoxin properties and affecting other aspects of the body’s innate immune system such as inflammatory cytokine response to infection.”²

To reduce the risk of developing HAIs, people entering hospitals should try to get blood vitamin D concentrations above 40 ng/ml either before admission or as soon after as possible.²

1) http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2012/07/06/vitamin-d-reduces-risk-of-hospital-acquired-infections/

2) http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/

Just as summer officially arrives, the FDA has announced that they are postponing required compliance with the new sunscreen regulations that they published last year.

The larger sunscreen companies were originally supposed to have new labeling in place on products beginning in June 2012. The delay gives them until December 2012 to comply with the new requirements. Smaller companies will be given another year to make the package changes.

When the rules take effect, consumers will either benefit from, or be confused by new labels on their favorite sunscreens. Some of the changes are listed below:

Terminology such as “waterproof”, “sweatproof”, and “sunblock” can no longer be used.

Maximum SPF is capped at 50+. The FDA doesn’t believe that higher SPFs offer any additional protection, so you won’t see those 100 SPF products on the shelves next summer.

Rather than a specific UVA rating system, the new regulations propose a claim of “Broad Spectrum” can be made if the formula meets a set UVB to UVA ratio as measured by way of a Critical Wavelength Test.

Only products that have an SPF of at least 15 and meet the Broad Spectrum test can claim to reduce the risk of skin cancer and skin aging.

Sunscreen formulators and marketers will have to work within these guidelines while trying to differentiate their products’ benefits on a more generic appearing label.

1) Huffington Post

A new study published in the Journal of Women’s Health may give yet another reason to increase vitamin D levels. The study from the nonprofit Kaiser Permanente Center for Heath Research shows that women who have insufficient vitamin D levels are also more likely to gain about two pounds over a nearly five-year period, compared with people who have enough in the vitamin.¹

“Nearly 80 percent of women in our study had insufficient levels of Vitamin D,” study researcher Dr. Erin LeBlanc, M.D., an endocrinologist and researcher at Kaiser, said in a statement. “A primary source of this important vitamin is sunlight, and as modern societies move indoors, continuous Vitamin D insufficiency may be contributing to chronic weight gain.”¹

The women who had insufficient vitamin D levels gained a little more weight over the course of the study than the women who had higher levels. While the study does show a correlation between weight gain and insufficient levels of vitamin D, it is inconclusive and should be studied further. Health concerns vary between individuals and you should speak to your doctor about any vitamin deficiency or weight concerns.

1) Huffington Post