Colorado seniors deficient in Vitamin D, study finds

The Rocky

Published July 23, 2008 at 5:59 p.m.
Updated July 23, 2008 at 5:59 p.m.

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Colorado's seniors aren't getting enough Vitamin D, a little gem that can prevent osteoporosis and may also guard against cancer, strokes, heart attacks and multiple sclerosis, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Hospital recruited 80 seniors, age 65 to 89, and found that three-quarters of them had insufficient levels of Vitamin D.

That's probably because they thought the old levels were sufficient, said Sunny Linnebur, associate professor at the CU-Denver School of Pharmacy.

"It was a surprise because in Denver we have so much sun," she said. "And these were ambulatory elderly, people who can walk around and go outside. We were expecting more of them to have normal levels of Vitamin D."

Sara Jane Barru of Denver said she had assumed she was taking plenty of Vitamin D, but when a test found her levels were low she eagerly jumped into the study.

She said she started taking a lot more Vitamin D while in the study "and I'm continuing to keep it up there.

"It's almost impossible to get it in food," she said. "You almost have to get a supplement unless you're out in the sun. And as you get older, all of those old abuses of lying out in the sun as a kid catch up with you, so that's not really a good option."

Barru said, "It didn't really make a difference in how I feel, but it may proved to make a difference in what happens to me. I feel good that I participated in the study."

The study appears in this weeks' issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

The patients most likely to be extremely low were those not taking any Vitamin D supplements and those who are obese, because the vitamin gets lost in the fat.

The truth is that it is very hard for Americans to get enough vitamin D in their regular diets, Linnebur said.

It's in fatty fish, egg yolks, milk and orange juice, but seniors would have to drink about eight cups a day of milk and orange juice to get enough.

In the 1980s it was assumed that people could overdose on Vitamin D, so maximum allowances were set, she said. "Now we believe it's very difficult to get too much Vitamin D," she said.

It's crucial to bone health, and that means that as people age if they don't have enough vitamin D they could break bones each time they fall. And, of course, they're more prone to fall if their bones are weak.

Muscles also have vitamin D receptors, which help them stay stable.

In the study, half of the volunteers were brought in for education on the importance of Vitamin D, while the other half didn't get the education boost.

Those who got the education were significantly more likely to reach the right levels of Vitamin D, Linnebur said.

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