In the News

LESLIE BECK If you’re over 50, chances are you’ve heard about osteoporosis – the bone-thinning disease that increases the risk of fractures, particularly of the hip, spine and wrist. It’s estimated that 1.4 million Canadians, including one in four women and at least one in eight men aged 50 and older, have the disease.… continue reading

Menzies Research Institute A study which examined the vitamin D levels of people from Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania has found that Vitamin D insufficiency is common over a wide latitude range in Australia. The findings were announced on the 8 November at the launch of Research Australia’s ‘Thank You Day’ in Tasmania.… continue reading

By Gailon Totheroh When a nasty flu struck California’s Atascadero State Hospital, Doctor John Cannell made an interesting discovery. “I know my patients had been exposed to influenza, but none of them got sick,” he said. Why? One reason could be that 30 of Cannell’s patients had been given vitamin D on a regular basis.… continue reading

Sunshine can make vitamin D Researchers at King’s College London, found that the vitamin, which is mostly created by sunshine, may play an important role in protecting people against certain diseases as well as slowing down ageing. They studied the telomeres of 2,160 women aged between 18 and 79 years, parts of the DNA which are a biological marker of ageing – as people age telomeres get shorter.… continue reading

LONDON — A study of 2,100 female twin pairs found those with higher vitamin D levels may knock off five years of aging, British and American researchers say. Researchers at the London School of Medicine; St. Thomas’ Hospital, in London; and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey used a genetic marker — leukocyte telomere length — and found those with the highest vitamin D levels had longer leukocyte telomere length, indicating lower levels of inflammation and body stress.… continue reading