Medical Panel: Don't Go Overboard On Vitamin D [View All]

[LaurenG]

November 30, 2010
The Institute of Medicine is throwing cold water on the latest dietary supplement fad: big doses of vitamin D.

Humans make vitamin D when they are exposed to the sun. But many worry that clothing, indoor living and sunscreen are depriving most people from enough of the sunshine vitamin. It's also hard to get enough vitamin D from the diet, proponents say, despite fortification of milk and orange juice.

But the Institute's Food and Nutrition Board, which makes official recommendations on dietary intake, says advocates of high-dose vitamin D are going overboard.

After two years of study and debate, the panel says children and most adults need 600 international units of vitamin D a day. People over 70 need 800.

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/29/131668100/medical-panel-don-t-go-overboard-on-vitamin-d?sc=fb&cc=fp