Vitamin D: Miracle Vitamin?

As recipients of surgical weight loss we need to be vigilant about our nutritional intake and nutrient balance in our bodies. Lately the headliner vitamin in mainstream media is Vitamin D. The jury is still out on the impact of vitamin D deficiency in surgical weight loss patients so we are left to make sense out of data presented for people without WLS. I found this article in Clean Eating which succinctly brings to focus our need for vitamin D. Take a look:

As Reported in Clean Eating (March/April 2009: Page 86)

Is vitamin D really the "miracle vitamin" I keep hearing about?
by Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

"It's pretty darned close. Research has shown a link between vitamin D and lower levels of both breast and colon cancer, higher measures of physical strength and performance in older adults, mood enhancement and stronger bones. In the famous Framingham Heart Study, those with low levels of vitamin D doubled their risk for heart disease. And in the follow-up study, men who were vitamin D deficient were twice as likely to have heart attacks. If that weren't enough, a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that the individuals taking vitamin D were seven percent less likely to die of life threatening conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. You might think we get plenty of vitaminD, but we don't. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics is suggesting that we double the recommended daily allowance for children and infants. The current recommended daily allowance (RDA) is between 200 to 600 IUs. Vitamin D is inexpensive and comes in a tiny little soft gel that's very easy to swallow. I believe we'd all benefit from supplementing with 1,000 IUs a day. Foods that contain high levels of vitamin D are cheese, egg yolks, milk, certain fish and cod liver oil."