Most
getting enough calcium, vitamin D
By Nanci Hellmich
, USA TODAY
A report
today from the influential Institute of Medicine sets the first formal
recommendations for daily intakes of calcium and vitamin D for bone health, and
suggests that most people are getting what they need.
The recommended
amounts are higher than guidelines set 13 years ago that were simply estimates,
but the vitamin D recommendations immediately drew criticism from some experts
who said they are still far too low.
According to the
report, children and adults younger than 71 need no more than 600 international
units (IUs) of vitamin D a day and should consume 700 to 1,300 milligrams of
calcium a day, depending on their age.
The committee was
surprised to see that most Americans are meeting their needs for both of the
nutrients, except for adolescent girls who may not be getting enough calcium
and some elderly people who don't get enough of either, says Catharine Ross,
professor of nutrition atPennsylvania
State University and chairwoman of the panel that
prepared the report. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is set up by Congress to advise on a variety of health issues.
Among the reasons
for sufficient intakes: food fortification and more supplement use. Many foods,
such as milk and yogurt products, are rich in calcium and fortified with
vitamin D. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and tuna also have a lot of
vitamin D.
Sunlight triggers
the production of vitamin D in skin and contributes to people's levels.
Robert Heaney, a
professor of medicine at Creighton University in Omaha who has studied vitamin
D's health benefits, says the overall daily value of 600 IUs of vitamin D a day
"is way too low." He says people should consider taking up to 4,000
IUs a day.
"For me, it's
a no-brainer. There is a large body of evidence for benefit at intakes above
the IOM recommendations. There is no risk, and very little cost, so why not
take a chance of a benefit if there's any possibility?"
The committee,
made up of nutrition scientists, set the upper limit for vitamin D at 4,000 IUs
a day for those who are ages 9 and older. This is considered the safe boundary
and is not the amount people should strive for, the panel cautions. Excessive
vitamin D can damage the kidneys and heart, and too much calcium from
supplements has been linked to kidney stones, the report says.
Vitamin D has been
a hot topic in recent years because research has linked lower levels of the
nutrient to certain cancers, diabetes, and bone and immune system problems.
The panel
concluded that more scientific research is needed to investigate the potential
health benefits of larger amounts of vitamin D.
"We looked at
that evidence, and it's conflicting," Ross says. "Some studies show
potential benefit, but others show no benefit, and some studies show the
opposite, even harm."
Steven Clinton, a
committee member and a professor in the division of medical oncology at Ohio State University, says part of the
uncertainty over the nutrient comes from the blood tests that are used to
measure it. "There are no national guidelines for how vitamin D should be
measured and what levels are appropriate," he says.
Clinton recommends
that national standards be developed.
