CANCER
Vitamin D emerged as a protective factor in a study of more than 3,000 adults who underwent a colonoscopy; there was a significantly lower risk of advanced cancerous lesions among those with the highest vitamin D intake, according to the National Institutes of Health. A four-year trial at Creighton University, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that the higher the level of vitamin D, the lower the risk of all cancers in post-menopausal women.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
An analysis of two large Nurses' Health Study groups found a reduced risk of MS was associated with vitamin D supplementation, according to a 2004 report in Neurology.
DIABETES
A study published in the Lancet in 2001 concluded that children who were given vitamin D supplementation were less likely to develop Type 1 diabetes.
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
In the Iowa Women's Health Study, women consuming higher levels of vitamin D showed a reduced risk for rheumatoid arthritis.
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
A study in the journal Circulation found that those with low vitamin D levels had a 62 percent increased risk of heart failure.
FALLS & FRACTURES
Seniors taking a high daily dose of vitamin D experience 72 percent fewer fractures, according to a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. A daily supplement of 800 units of vitamin D could prevent a quarter of hip fractures in older people, suggests a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
ASTHMA
In a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, children of mothers with lower intakes of vitamin D during pregnancy were more likely to develop asthma.
FIBROMYALGIA
Some researchers believe this disorder could actually be vitamin D deficiency, which can cause muscle weakness and pain. One Canada study, published in 2001 in the journal Rheumatology, found that half the fibromyalgia patients tested had low levels of vitamin D.
