Vitamin Deficiency
Is There a Cure for Concave Fingernails?
Have you ever looked at your fingernails and wondered why they look the way they do, with ridges or streaks or splits? Often, there is not a specific answer to such a question. There are, however, a f…
Is Your Confusion Due to a Vitamin Deficiency?
As we grow older, our mental lapses bother us more and more. Could losing the car keys be the first sign of Alzheimer's disease? Is forgetting the PIN for the ATM an early warning flag for dementia? O…
Can You Get All Your Vitamins from Your Diet?
Do you take vitamin pills? How do you know you are getting all your vitamins? What about the time-honored advice to get the vitamins you need from your diet? Many doctors offer this advice. How well d…
Does Suboptimal Vitamin D Put Athletes at Risk f…
Vitamin D is critical for muscle as well as bone strength. A study of elite college football players found that nearly half of them had suboptimal vitamin D levels. This may make them more vulnerable…
Can You Get the Vitamin B12 You Need from Seawee…
Americans are accustomed to being told to just eat a well-balanced diet. The implication is clear that if they did so, they wouldn't need to take any dietary supplements. But "a well-balanced diet' is…
How Can You Overcome Long-Term Tingling?
Tingling, numbness or pain are common symptoms that doctors term "paresthesia." Sometimes the tingling resembles the pins-and-needles feeling when an arm or leg "goes to sleep." What can be done to ov…
Should You Fortify Your Life With Vitamins and M…
We continue to hear from many health professionals that vitamins and minerals are a total waste of money. This popular refrain has been repeated for decades: "If you take vitamins and minerals all you…
Who Needs Vitamin D and Why?
As people grow older, their ability to absorb nutrients may drop. In addition, many elderly people don't spend much time out in the sunshine. Even if they do, their skin may not make vitamin D efficie…
How to Raise Vitamin D Without Suffering
Vitamin D is critically important to maintain healthy metabolism as well as to keep bones strong. Many studies demonstrate the hazards of low circulating vitamin D levels, but few show that trying to…
Why Should Metformin Users Watch Their Vitamin B…
Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to cognitive impairment and dementia as well as fatigue and nerve damage. A new study shows that one of the most common diabetes medications, metformin, increases the r…
Babies Born in Winter Benefit from Moms’ V…
Scientists have lots of evidence that people in northern latitudes have lower levels of vitamin D in the winter, when sunlight is not strong enough for the skin to make this hormone. How does that aff…
How to Order Your Own Tests for Nutrient Levels
Do you know your vitamin D status? What about vitamin B12? It can be difficult to discern what your nutrient levels are unless you have the results from a laboratory test. If you have been reading abo…
Could Vitamin D Be a Lifesaver for Fibromyalgia …
Fibromyalgia can be a very debilitating condition. It is characterized by extreme fatigue and sleep disturbances, cognitive difficulties and headaches, but above all by fibromyalgia pain that affects …
Benefits of Prenatal Vitamin D Are Unclear
Epidemiological research has suggested that low levels of vitamin D are associated with a variety of serious health conditions including cancer, heart disease, inflammatory disorders, diabetes and dem…
Boosting Vitamin D Did Not Keep Seniors from Fal…
Vitamin D is crucial to bone health, but also may be essential for muscle strength. Previous research has indicated that older people with too little vitamin D in their systems are more susceptible to…
Prescribed Medicines Led to Vitamin B12 Deficien…
Medications can occasionally cause important nutritional deficiencies. That is especially true for drugs that are taken day after day for months or years. Certain widely-used medicines, especially tho…
Vitamin D Supplements Fall Short on Preventing F…
Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to muscle weakness and low bone mineral density that could put people at risk for broken bones. (We have written about these problems here.) Do Vitamin D Suppl…
Trouble Raising Low Levels of Vitamin D
Vitamin D, once dubbed "the sunshine vitamin" because sun-exposed skin makes the compound, has been the darling of nutritional research over the past decade or so. It has been shown to be essential fo…
Brits Told to Take Vitamin D Pills
British citizens are now being advised to take vitamin D pills. For years, UK doctors told their patients: "Just eat a well-balanced diet, no supplements needed." That advice should sound familiar, si…
Getting the Biggest Bang from Vitamin D3 Supplem…
Although newspapers seem to like headlines that "Vitamins Don't Matter," the studies showing no discernible difference in health from taking supplements apply to the average person in an ordinary situ…
Go Out to Play – Vitamin D Plus Exercise L…
One of the complications of excess weight is that it contributes to chronic inflammation. Higher levels of inflammatory markers such as interleukin-6 are linked to diabetes and some cancers. Investiga…
Will Using Sunscreen Lead to Vitamin D Deficienc…
Sunscreens are big business. Americans spend well over $8 billion a year slathering on creams, lotions and gels to protect themselves from sunburns. People have gotten the message that exposure to the…
Will a Shower After Sunbathing Wash Away Vitamin…
Every schoolchild learns that vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin, but as we grow older, we don't all remember why. We humans have the marvelous ability to create vitamin D in our skin when it is expose…
How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?
What you probably learned about vitamin D in school was that it is the "sunshine vitamin" and that you need it for bone health. That is true as far as it goes. There is now significant controversy amo…
Overcoming Vitamin D Deficiency Banished Pain an…
The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be extremely varied, and there is also disagreement over the best regimen for correcting it. Sometimes people have great success with supplementation, as this …
Vitamin D Supplements Reduce Mortality Among Can…
Many studies have previously shown that people with high circulating levels of vitamin D are less prone to a variety of cancers. Now, a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials shows that cancer …
Acid-Suppressing Medicine Can Deplete the Body o…
Q. My doctor prescribed Prilosec for heartburn and I took it for about a year. After discontinuing the Prilosec I was feeling very tired. The blood work that was done showed I had very low magnesium l…
Vitamin D Deficiency Increases the Risk of Cance…
People with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis are often deficient in vitamin D. Researchers in Boston wondered whether a lack of vitamin D would make them even more vulnerable to developing cancer…
Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D This Winter?
Have you had your vitamin D level checked lately? Chances are good that it has dropped since last summer. Unless you are taking a supplement, most of your vitamin D is made by your skin when it is exp…
Did Drug Taken to Prevent Diabetes Lead to Vitam…
Q. I recently started vitamin B12 injections. I had gone to my doctor with numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, fatigue and memory changes. He gave me extensive neuropsychiatric testing and did…
Muscle Weakness from Vitamin D Deficiency
Q. I am 61 years old. My doctor recently tested me for vitamin D and found I am deficient. I was really surprised, since I play golf both summer and winter. (We go to Arizona in the winter.) What are…
Corticosteroids Linked to Low Levels of Vitamin …
Millions of people take corticosteroids to ease symptoms of arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and lupus, as well as allergies and asthma. A new study suggests that such medications are linked to seri…
Heartburn Drug Leads to Deficiencies
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are enormously popular drugs to treat acid reflux or heartburn. While they can be very helpful for symptom control in the short term, they may lead to important deficienc…
Heartburn Drugs Have Unexpected Hazard
Acid Suppressing Drugs Lead to Low Magnesium Levels Magnesium is essential for good health, but this mineral doesn't get nearly the respect that it deserves. Every cell in the body requires magnesium …
Vitamin D Deficiency Was Devastating
Q. I spent three years crippled by a Vitamin D deficiency. I was in constant pain, and for five months I was homebound and in a wheelchair. I had loss of balance, resulting in falls in which a bone wa…
Heartburn Medicine Led to Vitamin Deficiency
Q. A gentleman wrote you that he had been taking a prescription heartburn pill for years. Through his own research he learned that he might have a B12 deficiency due to his use of the drug over an ext…
Insufficient Vitamin D Contributes to Pain
Q. I had severe leg pain during the night and day for about four months. My doctor did blood work and found that my vitamin D level was 8. She prescribed me 50,000 IUs per week for twelve weeks and no…
Are Acid-Suppressing Drugs Responsible For Vitam…
Q. After taking Aciphex to treat serious heartburn for four years, I developed a severe vitamin B12 deficiency. I complained to my doctor about being extremely tired all the time. I needed to rest aft…
Dealing With Vitamin D Deficiency
Q. I've just learned that many people over 50 are vitamin D deficient. My doctor called with my test results: I have about 7 percent of the recommended amount of vitamin D in my body. I've got all the…
Ice Craving Could Signal Iron Deficiency
Q. I read about the person who ate ice all the time. I too ate ice excessively. When I started taking an iron tablet every day, the craving stopped. Eating ice can totally ruin your teeth. Several mon…