Sunlife is expecting! We will be updating the salon this summer for our arrival of six new beds! 3 - 20 Minute beds with 3 high pressure facials 1 - 12 Minute bronzing bed with 3 high pressure facials 1 - 10 Minute bronzing stand-up and adding 1 more of our most popular bed the 12 Minute Mega Bronzing bed ------------------------------------------------------ Sunlife raised $307 for the 1st D-feat breast cancer campaign we participated in during the month of May. We will have the national dollar amount raised, after the national tanning convention in September. | Vitamin D Updates People With Low Vitamin D More Likely To Die
06/25/2008
New research shows that patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about two times more likely to die from any cause during the eight years following the initial testing than those with the highest levels. The link with heart-related deaths was particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels.
The study, led by Austrian researchers, involved 3,258 men and women in southwest Germany. Participants were age 62 on average—most with heart disease—whose vitamin D levels were checked in weekly blood tests. During roughly eight years of follow-up, 737 died, including 463 from heart-related problems. According to one of the vitamin tests they used, there were 307 deaths in patients with the lowest levels of vitamin D versus 103 deaths in those with the highest levels. Counting age, physical activity and other factors, the researchers calculated that deaths from all causes were about twice as common in patients in the lowest-level group.
The study results appear in the June 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Lead author, Harald Dobnig of the Medical University of Graz in Austria, says the results don't prove that low levels of vitamin D are harmful, but adds that the evidence is just becoming overwhelming at this point.
It also can't be determined from this type of study whether lack of vitamin D caused the deaths, or whether increasing vitamin D intake would make any difference.
Low vitamin D levels could reflect age, lack of physical activity and other lifestyle factors that also affect health, says American Heart Association spokeswoman Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University.
Still, she notes that the study is an important addition to an emerging area of research. "This is something that should not be ignored," Lichtenstein says.
Dobnig adds that, while scientists used to think that the only role of vitamin D was to prevent rickets and strengthen bones, now we are beginning to realize that there is much more to it. Exactly how low vitamin D levels might contribute to heart problems and deaths from other illnesses is uncertain, although it is has been shown to help regulate the body's disease-fighting immune system, he says.
Earlier this month, the Archives of Internal Medicine included research led by Harvard scientists linking low vitamin D levels with heart attacks. And previous research has linked low vitamin D with high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, which all can contribute to heart disease.
Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard study says the new research provides the strongest evidence to date for a link between vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular mortality.
Source: MSNBC
Vitamin D is called "the sunshine vitamin" because 90 percent of all natural vitamin D is produced when skin is exposed to UVB in sunlight. That's why sun care messages should key on preventing sunburn - not telling people to avoid the sun entirely. Women who get 1,100 units of vitamin D daily reduce their overall cancer risk by 60-77 percent according to a 2007 Creighton University study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to higher rates of breast, colon and ovarian cancers. Ninety percent of vitamin D is made naturally through sun exposure to your skin. Sunlight dramatically reduces the risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture. Sunlight and/or vitamin D aids in relieving depression, chronic pain and lower backpain. Sunlight and vitamin D help to control heart disease, blood pressure and multiple sclerosis and increase muscle strength. Sunscreens are over-used today - they should be used to prevent sunburn, but not to block regular sun exposure.
Dr. Marc Sorenson, Author Solar Power From USA TODAY - New Research May Have Doctors Prescribing Sunshine! — No one is suggesting that people fry on a beach. But many scientists believe that "safe sun" — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — is not only possible but helpful to health... usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-21-doctors-sunshine-good_x.htm Sunshine's role in making vitamin D — Vitamin D is nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. Sunscreen blocks its production, but dermatologists and health agencies have long preached that such lotions are needed to prevent skin cancer. Now some scientists are questioning that advice. The reason is that vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even treating many types of cancer... post-gazette.com/pg/05145/509707.stm Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D In our recently published paper, Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D, we document the evidence that epidemic influenza, and even some of the viruses that cause the common cold, may be prevented by adequate doses of vitamin D. vitamindcouncil.com/newsletter/2006-oct.shtml
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