What we know — and don't know — about the benefits of vitamin D

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With the end of winter around the corner, I figured this might be a moment when people might have vitamin D on the mind. So I called Brigham and Women’s Hospital's Dr. JoAnn Manson, the leader of the largest, randomized vitamin D trial ever conducted to see if she could help me sort fact from fiction.

This is an excerpt from WBUR's weekly health newsletter, CommonHealth. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox,Our bodies synthesize vitamin D from sun exposure and absorb it from many foods.

Manson and her colleagues “saw no effect of vitamin D supplementation on cardiovascular disease on total cancer incidence,” she told me. They also saw no effect for reducing depression, cognitive decline, atrial fibrillation or macular degeneration. The supplements didn’t even significantly reduce the risk of bone fractures, the researchers found.

There were hints in the data that Black adults might benefit more than other groups from vitamin D supplementation to reduce memory loss and total invasive cancer, but Manson cautioned more research is needed here.suggested people with a body mass index under 25 might benefit more from supplementation than those with obesity or who are overweight. But again, more exploration is needed, Manson said.

You can also go outside in the middle of the day for 15 minutes a couple of times a week, she said, although people should avoid prolonged sun exposure without sunscreen because that can increase the risk of skin cancer and skin aging.

 

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