Given the number of new studies and reactions to it in 2010, vitamin D appears as the star of the year.
• Several scientific studies published during the year have focused on the protective effect of vitamin D against various diseases: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, breast cancer, arthritis, asthma, Crohn's disease ...
• Forty scientists at the initiative of the French physician David Servan-Schreiber, launched an appeal in February 2010, asking the public health authorities in Europe and North America to put the recommended daily intake of vitamin D 1000 IU per day.
• Osteoporosis Canada recommended last summer, a daily intake of 400 to 1000 IU per day for adults 50 years and under, plus a supplement of 800 to 2000 IU per day for more than 50 years. Not to mention that since 2007, the Canadian Cancer Society recommends that adults take in the fall and winter, an additional 1000 IU per day.
• Health Canada and the Institute of Medicine of the United States (IOM) have just increased the recommended dietary intake (RDA) of vitamin D. The IOM was commissioned by Health Canada and several U.S. federal agencies to address the RDA for calcium and vitamin D. Despite higher inflows, which have tripled, vitamin D continues to cause controversy: some experts are the new recommendations too timid.
The new Dietary vitamin D
The new intake of vitamin D were set at 600 IU for people 70 years and less and 800 IU for 70 years and older. Previously, they were 200 IU for those 50 and younger, 400 IU for those 51 to 70, and 600 IU for those over 70 years.The expert committee of the IOM concludes that the evidence is sufficient to say that vitamin D helps maintain bone health, but are insufficient to say that vitamin D can prevent certain diseases such as cancer and diseases of heart.
By cons, experts of vitamin D - which were not part of the committee - believe the IOM recommended intakes too conservative. They denounce, among other things, the criteria used by the committee that they describe as "unrealistic" and maintain that scientific evidence is compelling.
Foods or supplements?
Is it possible to reach 600 IU per day without taking supplements of relying only on our diets, as stated by a member of the IOM press conference? A statement that surprised many, including nutritionist Nathalie Jobin Extenso: "It's very difficult to reach 600 IU per day by diet alone. "And you, what do you think of this debate? Do you care about your vitamin D intake? Do you take supplements? Do you think your diet provides enough vitamin D?
