Report
on vitamin D
On November 30, the Institute of Medicine issued a new
report on vitamin D. How did the report compare to the opinion of
experts like the Vitamin D Council1?
| The
Institute of Medicine |
Vitamin D Experts |
| Americans
should take no more than 600 IU of vitamin D per day. |
Americans
should take 1,000–5,000 IU daily for optimum health. |
| The average
American is already getting enough vitamin D. |
As many as
two-thirds of Americans are deficient in this essential vitamin. |
| More than
4,000 IU daily is unsafe. |
Up to 10,000
IU daily can be taken safely without a doctor’s supervision
(some experts say up to 25,000 IU). |
Worse still, although the
RDA of vitamin D was dramatically increased, mainstream media
outlets spun the report as though it discouraged higher vitamin D doses
with headlines like “Can Too Much Vitamin D Be Hazardous to Your
Health?” (Wall Street Journal)2 and “Vitamin D Report
Shocker: High Doses Unnecessary, Risky” (CBS News)3.
The timing couldn’t be worse as we move into flu
season, when Americans and Canadians need vitamin D the most!
As you might expect, ANH-USA has a plan to counter the
bad science in the IOM’s report. How will we do that?
First,
we’re revving up our campaign to ensure the public is told the truth
about vitamin D. How?
- We’re reaching out
to media with press releases and letters to editors.
We’re gathering signatures from scientific
and medical experts on an open letter repudiating the report’s
findings.
With your help,
we’re petitioning Congress to appoint a new scientific panel
that will examine all the evidence on vitamin D and ask the GAO
to investigate the IOM’s behavior in creating the report.
Second,
we plan to file Qualified Health Claims for vitamin D with the FDA.
If we succeed, vitamin D supplement producers will be free to tell
their customers about scientific studies that show the benefit of
taking vitamin D during flu season. If the FDA attempts to suppress
these claims, we will take them to court and force them to allow the
claims, just as we have previously done for selenium.
The Alliance for Natural Health USA
1350 Connecticut Ave NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036
Ph: 800.230.2762
www.anh-usa.org
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