Vitamin D: not just a trend. Norse studies point to a discrete link between vitamin D deficiency and the current flu epidemic.

Vitamin D deficiency seems to have become the uberword of the year.  However, it is not just a trend.  Medical research not only has pointed out recently how the deficiency has become a pressing emergency, but how its occurrence has given rise to new medical findings.

One such discovery was made by Norse scientists very recently.  In the Netherlands, the flu epidemic has reached a level not seen in recent years.  Since the winter months are often when a vitamin D deficiency can start, the researchers focused on its possible links with the high incidence of flu cases.

Indeed the researchers found that as the level of vitamin D declines, the numbers of flu cases rises sharply.  More worryingly, the number of deaths are also tied to the vitamin deficiency, pointing to not only a higher risk of contraction, but also to a higher risk of mortality.

Prof. Johan Moan of Oslo university explained just how such decline in vitamin levels occur.  When the sun reaches its nadir, the ability to synthetize vit D drops drastically, and with it the ability for the human body to make use of its protective action.

If such studies are confirmed, they pose a daunting question, since the level of mortality can rise between 20 to 260 times what would be a normal mortality rate.  The university of Oslo furthermore compared their data with flu epidemic reporting in Sweden, Norway, USA, Singapore and Japan, by pegging the mortality rate to the intensity of UV radiation at the time.

BPH News Staff

Source: MNT/ 1.31.13