Make sure you're drinking your milk because it gives you a strong healthy heart?It's the latest in research about vitamin D that's linking it to everything from protecting you against heart disease to preventing cancer.
And with nearly 60 days cloudy days on average during the winter, it's no wonder so many of us are vitamin D deficient, and that's not a good thing.
Recent studies on the vitamin have found it might be more important to the body than any other, "It is represented in over 13 different organ systems in our body. Our central nervous system, our pancreas, our intestines, our muscles our bones." Dr. Mark Gostine with Michigan Pain Consultants in Grand Rapids has been studying the affects of vitamin D on the body for nearly a decade.
"What we're finding out is vitamin d has tremendous impact on multiple diseases."
Gostine says it can aid in preventing cancer and protecting you against heart disease, "Vitamin D can dampen the inflammation that leads to the hardening of the arteries and that of course can lead to heart failure."
That's a theory that's recently been supported by the American Heart Association. A recent study of nearly 28,000 patients showed that those who were deficient in vitamin D were twice as likely to have diabetes and high blood pressure.
But it's not just heart disease where doctors are discovering the benefits of vitamin D, Dr. Gostine believes it may even help in the prevention of certain cancers like breast and prostate, "The immune system is probably the common denominator here with vitamin D."
Vitamin D is actually a hormone steroid not a vitamin. So the body uses it to regulate the immune system which helps the body in the fight against cancer. "By up regulating the immune system it can help the white cells and all the immune components that are looking for the cancer trying to stamp out the cancer when it's very small when it can still be treated by the bodies immune system.", says Gostine.
So how much vitamin d should we get every day?
Dr. Gostine believes that the 400 units in your multi-vitamin aren't nearly enough because the recommended daily allowance for vitamin D supplements was based on a child's dosage in the 1940's
Dr. Gostine would like to see adults get at least 4,000 units a day or more depending on your level of deficiency.
Melissa Cooper has suffered with back pain for nearly a decade undergoing two unsuccessful surgeries before being recommended to Dr. Gostine. The first thing he did was check to see if she was vitamin d deficient, "I just couldn't believe it when they said my vitamin d level was so low."
In fact it was one of the lowest levels Dr. Gostine had ever seen and immediately placed her on 50,000 units of vitamin D a week. It took more than three months to get Melissa up to normal levels.
Once she was, she endured a third back surgery, this time it was more than successful.
A side by side comparison shows that Melissa actually grew bone in her spine.
Dr.. Gostine is a firm believer vitamin D made the difference, "I don't think there was any question that that was the reason."
Is it the next miracle vitamin? - that's yet to be determined.
But in the meantime it never hurts to soak up the sun when you get the chance.
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