Life as a beach bum may be healthy; lots of sun and fish
Now this should be an interesting study!
A massive, National Institutes of Health–sponsored study looking at whether vitamin-D and/or omega-3 fatty-acid supplementation can reduce the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, or cancer will get under way in January 2010, according to a website for the study. Drs JoAnn Manson and Julie Buring (Harvard Medical School/ Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA) will head up the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL).
The study is aiming to enroll 20Â 000 men and women, one-quarter of whom will be black.
According to a Brigham and Women’s Hospital press release, the study is intentionally aiming to illuminate a potential racial and ethnic disparity hypothesized to be linked to vitamin D [1]. “African Americans have a higher risk of vitamin-D deficiency as well as a greater frequency of diabetes, hypertension, and certain types of cancer.” Â Â For VITAL, women need to be over age 65 to enter the study; men need to be over age 60.
Study participants will be randomized to one of four groups: daily vitamin D (2000 IU) and fish oil (1 g); daily vitamin D and fish-oil placebo; daily vitamin-D placebo and fish oil; or daily vitamin-D placebo and fish-oil placebo. The trial will run for five years and is expected to cost US $20 million.
In a related article, investigators are reporting that more than one third of mothers and more than half of their infants are vitamin D-deficient at the time of birth.
What’s more, the data, released at Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting 2009, demonstrate that prenatal vitamin D supplements do not fully protect against deficiency.
Anne Merewood, MPH, Director of the Breastfeeding Center at Boston Medical Center, and associates examined vitamin D levels in 433 women and 376 newborns using blood samples obtained within 72 hours of birth. They also collected data from questionnaires completed by the mothers and from the mothers’ medical records.
The results showed that vitamin D deficiency (defined as 25(OH)D <20 ng/mL) was present in 36% of mothers and severe deficiency (defined as 25(OH)D <15 ng/mL) was present in 23%.
Fifty-eight percent of infants were vitamin D deficient and 38% were severely deficient.
Risk factors for vitamin D deficiency in infants included winter birth versus summer birth, African American race, and severe maternal obesity.
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