More studies. What can I say, I'm a reader and Vitamin D is my hammer, lol!!!

Low-Dose Vitamin D Prevents Muscular Atrophy and Reduces Falls and Hip Fractures in Women after Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial - Cerebrovasc Dis. 2005 Jul 27;20(3):187-192 - "48 patients received 1,000 IU ergocalciferol daily ... Vitamin D treatment accounted for a 59% reduction in falls ... There were increases in the relative number and size of type II muscle fibers and improved muscle strength in the vitamin D-treated group"
Vitamin d for health and in chronic kidney disease - Semin Dial. 2005 Jul-Aug;18(4):266-75 - "In addition to its role in maintaining calcium and phosphorus homeostasis, vitamin D is now being recognized as important for maintaining maximum muscle strength and for the prevention of many chronic diseases, including type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, cardiovascular heart disease, and many common cancers"

Vitamin D and calcium supplementation prevents severe falls in elderly community-dwelling women: a pragmatic population-based 3-year intervention study - Aging Clin Exp Res. 2005 Apr;17(2):125-32 - "female residents who followed the Calcium and Vitamin D Program had a 12% risk reduction in severe falls"

Fracture prevention with vitamin D supplementation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - JAMA. 2005 May 11;293(18):2257-64 - "Oral vitamin D supplementation between 700 to 800 IU/d appears to reduce the risk of hip and any nonvertebral fractures in ambulatory or institutionalized elderly persons. An oral vitamin D dose of 400 IU/d is not sufficient for fracture prevention"

Osteoporosis: the role of micronutrients - Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 May;81(5):1232S-9S - "Higher doses than the current US recommendation (600 IU) of vitamin D in the elderly (age >/= 65 y) may actually be required for optimal bone health (800-1000 IU/d)"

Vitamin D and calcium deficits predispose for multiple chronic diseases - Eur J Clin Invest. 2005 May;35(5):290-304 - "calcium and vitamin D deficits increase the risk of malignancies, particularly of colon, breast and prostate gland, of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (e.g. insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis), as well as of metabolic disorders (metabolic syndrome, hypertension)"

Failure of High-Dose Ergocalciferol to Correct Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults with Cystic Fibrosis - Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005 Apr 28 - "In the 33 CF adults who also completed the recommended second course of 800,000 IU of ergocalciferol over two months, none demonstrated correction of their deficiency" - I threw this in because ergocalciferol is vitamin D(2), with is not absorbed as well as vitamin D(3) (cholecalciferol). If your taking supplements containing the D(2), you might want to change.

Pilot Study: Potential Role of Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol) in Patients With PSA Relapse After Definitive Therapy - Nutr Cancer. 2005;51(1):32-6 - "Fifteen patients were given 2,000 IU (50 mug) of cholecalciferol daily and monitored prospectively every 2-3 mo. In 9 patients, PSA levels decreased or remained unchanged after the commencement of cholecalciferol. This was sustained for as long as 21 mo. Also, there was a statistically significant decrease in the rate of PSA rise after administration of cholecalciferol (P = 0.005) compared with that before cholecalciferol. The median PSA doubling time increased from 14.3 mo prior to commencing cholecalciferol to 25 mo after commencing cholecalciferol. Fourteen of 15 patients had a prolongation of PSA doubling time after commencing cholecalciferol. There were no side effects reported by any patient"

Why we should offer routine vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy and childhood to prevent multiple sclerosis - Med Hypotheses. 2005;64(3):608-18 - "Prevention of MS by modifying an important environmental factor (sunlight exposure and vitamin D level) offers a practical and cost-effective way to reduce the burden of the disease in the future generations"
Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin d levels indicative of vitamin d sufficiency: implications for establishing a new effective dietary intake recommendation for vitamin d - J Nutr. 2005 Feb;135(2):317-22 - "The current adult recommendations for vitamin D, 200-600 IU/d, are very inadequate when one considers that a 10-15 min whole-body exposure to peak summer sun will generate and release up to 20,000 IU vitamin D-3 into the circulation ... Recent studies reveal that current dietary recommendations for adults are not sufficient to maintain circulating 25(OH)D levels at or above this level, especially in pregnancy and lactation"

The effects of postmenopausal Vitamin D treatment on vaginal atrophy - Maturitas. 2004 Dec 10;49(4):334-7 - "The mean physical findings score in Vitamin D treatment (VDT) group was significantly lower than the mean physical findings score in the group without treatment ... As maturation indices: in VDT group, superficial cells proportion was significantly higher and basal, parabasal cells proportion was lower than in the group without treatment"

Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1678S-88S - "Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized epidemic among both children and adults in the United States. Vitamin D deficiency not only causes rickets among children but also precipitates and exacerbates osteoporosis among adults and causes the painful bone disease osteomalacia. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased risks of deadly cancers, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes mellitus"

Functional indices of vitamin D status and ramifications of vitamin D deficiency - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1706S-9S - "For typical older individuals, supplemental oral intakes of approximately 1300 IU/d are required to reach the lower end of the optimal range"

Vitamin D requirements: current and future - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1735S-9S - "Upper levels of vitamin D intake were set at 50 mug/d (2000 IU/d) for all ages. Some individuals would require higher levels than these to achieve serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations for optimal calcium absorption. So much new information on vitamin D and health has been collected since the requirements were set in 1997 that this nutrient is likely the most in need of revised requirements"

Vitamin D2 is much less effective than vitamin D3 in humans - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Nov;89(11):5387-91 - "Vitamin D(2) potency is less than one third that of vitamin D(3). Physicians resorting to use of vitamin D(2) should be aware of its markedly lower potency and shorter duration of action relative to vitamin D(3)"

Vitamin D insufficiency and fracture risk - Endocrinology & Diabetes. 11(6):353-358, December 2004 - "There is a growing body of evidence for the alarming prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency among healthy adolescents, adults, and elders"

Vitamin D in Australia. Issues and recommendations - Aust Fam Physician. 2004 Mar;33(3):133-8 - "In cases of established vitamin D deficiency, supplementation with 3000-5000 IU per day for at least 1 month is required to replete body stores"

Vitamin D Insufficiency and Deficiency in Chronic Kidney Disease. A Single Center Observational Study - Am J Nephrol. 2004 Sep 22;24(5):503-510 - "In the group undergoing maintenance hemodialyis, we found that 97% of the patients had vitamin D levels in the suboptimal range ... vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are highly prevalent in patients with CKD and may play a role in the development of hyperparathyroidism"

Randomized comparison of the effects of the vitamin D3 adequate intake versus 100 mcg (4000 IU) per day on biochemical responses and the wellbeing of patients - Nutr J. 2004 Jul 19;3(1):8 - "winter wellbeing/depression scores improved with both doses of vitamin D"

Supplementation with oral vitamin d3 and calcium during winter prevents seasonal bone loss: a randomized controlled open-label prospective trial - J Bone Miner Res. 2004 Aug;19(8):1221-30 - "Supplementation with oral vitamin D(3) and calcium during winter prevents seasonal changes in bone turnover and bone loss in healthy adults. It seems conceivable that annually recurring cycles of low vitamin D and mild secondary hyperparathyroidism during the winter months contributes, at least in part and over many years, to age-related bone loss. Supplementation with low-dose oral vitamin D(3) and calcium during winter may be an efficient and inexpensive strategy for the primary prevention of bone loss in northern latitudes"

Association between serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and periodontal disease in the US population - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Jul;80(1):108-13 - "Low serum 25(OH)D(3) concentrations may be associated with PD independently of BMD. Given the high prevalence of PD and vitamin D deficiency, these findings may have important public health implications"
Prevalence of vitamin d deficiency among healthy adolescents - Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004 Jun;158(6):531-7 - "Seventy-four patients (24.1%) were vitamin D deficient"

Why the optimal requirement for Vitamin D(3) is probably much higher than what is officially recommended for adults - J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2004 May;89-90:575-9 - "If 70nmol/L is regarded as a minimum desirable target 25(OH)D concentration, then current recommendations of 15mcg per day do not meet the criterion of an RDA"

Vitamin D deficiency: new perspectives on an old disease - Endocrinology and Diabetes, 2/04 - "Even though vitamin D deficiency has been thought to be obsolete in developed countries such as the United States, recent data suggest that this diagnosis may exist in epidemic proportions. Chronic vitamin D deficiency may be associated with a susceptibility to hypertension, multiple sclerosis, and various malignancies, problems beyond the more commonly recognized skeletal manifestations"

Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Mar;79(3):362-71 - "Vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia ... Studies in both human and animal models add strength to the hypothesis that the unrecognized epidemic of vitamin D deficiency worldwide is a contributing factor of many chronic debilitating diseases ... The recommended adequate intakes for vitamin D are inadequate, and, in the absence of exposure to sunlight, a minimum of 1000 IU vitamin D/d is required to maintain a healthy concentration of 25(OH)D in the blood" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products. Vitamin D can be toxic in high doses.

Vitamin D and prostate cancer prevention and treatment - Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Nov;14(9):423-30 - "The association between either decreased sun exposure or vitamin D deficiency and the increased risk of prostate cancer at an earlier age, and with a more aggressive progression, indicates that adequate vitamin D nutrition should be a priority for men of all ages"
Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in elderly women in Italy: clinical consequences and risk factors - Osteoporos Int. 2003 Jul 11 - "Vitamin D deficiency is extremely common among elderly Italian women ...

Hypovitaminosis D is associated with worsening of the ability to perform activities of daily living and higher hip fracture prevalence. This finding should lead to an urgent population-based strategy to remedy this condition"

Vitamin D Deficiency Masquerading as Pseudohypoparathyroidism Type 2 - Journal of The Association of Physicians of India, 6/03 - "Phenytoin and phenobarbitone are well known to cause vitamin D deficiency by decreasing intestinal absorption and increasing metabolism of 25 (OH) D in liver ... vitamin D deficiency can mimic PHP-II and therefore before considering this rare diagnosis vitamin D deficiency must be excluded"

Oral vitamin D3 decreases fracture risk in the elderly - J Fam Pract. 2003 Jun;52(6):431-5 - "Despite a seemingly large dose averaging 800 IU per day, this regimen is a safe, cheap (<$2 per year), and effective therapy for primary prevention of fractures"

Vitamin D in preventive medicine: are we ignoring the evidence? - Br J Nutr 2003 May;89(5):552-572 - "European children and young adults often have circulating 25(OH)D levels in the insufficiency range during wintertime. Elderly subjects have mean 25(OH)D levels in the insufficiency range throughout the year. In institutionalized subjects 25(OH)D levels are often in the deficiency range. There is now general agreement that a low vitamin D status is involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. Moreover, vitamin D insufficiency can lead to a disturbed muscle function. Epidemiological data also indicate a low vitamin D status in tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, hypertension, and specific types of cancer. Some intervention trials have demonstrated that supplementation with vitamin D or its metabolites is able: (i) to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients; (ii) to improve blood glucose levels in diabetics; (iii) to improve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. The oral dose necessary to achieve adequate serum 25(OH)D levels is probably much higher than the current recommendations of 5-15 &mgr;g/d."

Calcium, vitamin D, milk consumption, and hip fractures: a prospective study among postmenopausal women - Am. J. of Clin. Nutr., 2/03 - "Women consuming 12.5 µg vitamin D/d from food plus supplements had a 37% lower risk of hip fracture (RR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.94) than did women consuming < 3.5 µg/d. Total calcium intake was not associated with hip fracture risk (RR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.34 for 1200 compared with < 600 mg/d). Milk consumption was also not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture (P for trend = 0.21)"