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Scientists have found that vitamin D influences more than 200 genes, including ones related to cancer and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis — a discovery that shows how serious vitamin D deficiency can be.
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“Our study shows quite dramatically the wide-ranging influence that vitamin D exerts over our health,” said Andreas Heger of the Functional Genomics Unit at Britain’s Oxford University, who led the study…the group looked at disease-associated regions of the gene map to see if they had higher levels of VDR binding. They found VDR binding was “significantly enriched” in regions linked to several common autoimmune diseases, such as MS, type 1 diabetes and Crohn’s disease, as well as in regions associated with cancers such as leukemia and colorectal cancer.
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Some experts say that up to half the world’s population has lower than optimal levels of vitamin D, and that about one billion people are actually vitamin D deficient. The problem is getting worse as people spend more time indoors.
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A study published in March [reported here in Science Daily] found that vitamin D is vital for activating the immune system’s killer cells, known as T cells, which remain dormant and unaware of threats from infections if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.
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Ramagopalan said the latest study suggested vitamin D played a role “in susceptibility to a host of diseases” and that health authorities should consider giving supplements to pregnant women and young children as a preventative measure. “Vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and the early years could have a beneficial effect on a child’s health in later life,” he wrote. “Some countries such as France have instituted this as a routine public health measure.”

I’m no health expert, and am not certified to give nutritional advice. In this blog post and in past blog posts regarding nutrition and supplements, I provide just a small (& most certainly biased) sampling of the evidence that’s out there to inspire you to research more on a given topic. Regarding Vitamin D3 supplementation, I will also share with you my family’s protective measures in response to my research. I’ve stopped putting lotion containing “protective” sunscreen on my face after showering in the morning. I don’t slather sunscreen on our son prior to departing the house for an outing in the park or anywhere else for that matter, although I do stow it in my rucksack for later. I whip out the sunscreen after I know he’s enjoyed over 20 minutes of direct sun (we live in a northern climate and he’s never burned). I am pregnant and take 5000IU Vitamin D3 with a fat source when I don’t anticipate getting sun during the day. Please do the research yourself and decide what is best for you and your family!