Posted Mar 5, 2010
You’ve slogged through the past two months of deep winter without complaint. (Or, at least not too many complaints.)The gray skies. The dreariness. The sloppy snow and the cold.
Now, March is here — spring may be right around the corner — and you just can’t seem to shake the doldrums.
You feel tired, even depressed. It may be just a mood, or overwork. But if this sounds like you, then medical experts in Western New York say you may be experiencing a vitamin D deficiency.
Don’t laugh. If you’re not getting enough sun direct sun, mind you, not cloudy skies and eating tons of vitamin-fortified foods, your body is likely not getting enough vitamin D to be fully healthy.
Even if you feel pretty good right now, this is the perfect time to:
–Be sure you are taking a multivitamin on a regular basis.
–Check your usual vitamin brand, to make sure it contains a full day’s supply of vitamin D.
–Ask your doctor whether you should add on a supplementary vitamin D dose.
Because, even if you like milk and yogurt, that’s still probably not enough vitamin D in your diet, said Dr. Michael Jordan, who is board-certified in family and sports medicine, and practices at Lifetime Health Medical Group on Sweet Home Road in Amherst.
“Typically, most people aren’t getting enough, especially in Buffalo,” said Jordan, a University at Buffalo School of Medicine graduate. “People may feel tired, or they may feel the symptoms of depression. With vitamin D, the thing people think of is its absorption through the skin. But really, it’s throughout the body.”
Vitamin D deficiency can be detected through a simple blood test, Jordan said.
And while the medical community disagrees to some degree about what is a desirable daily dose, Jordan recommends a dose of 1,000 international units for adults lacking in the vitamin, which has been linked to the prevention of many conditions, including hypertension, diabetes and osteoporosis.
For the severly deficient, the doctor said, a “megadose” is sometimes given intensively over six to eight weeks — as much as 50,000 international units a week–to repair the deficiency. As you age, your stores of the vitamin slip, so a high dose may be needed.
“People sometimes return to feeling better within a few weeks” on that dose, said Jordan. “I would tell people to go and be proactive, go see their doctors, at the point where they are feeling fatigued. It’s quality of life that’s at risk.”
Children also are likely to be deficient in the vitamin, especially at this time of year, and drinking fortified milk each day is typically not enough to fulfill their needs, Jordan said. A child would need to drink one liter of vitamin-enriched milk a day–or about four cups — to get enough, he said.
“The typical child is not getting enough in their diet. They will require a vitamin supplement,” Jordan said.
But you don’t have to pay a lot for that sort of health.
“Generic is fine,” the doctor said, “as long as the vitamins you need are in there. I would check the label to be sure.”
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Copyright © 2010, The Buffalo News, N.Y.