A Critical Evaluation Of Vitamin D

Vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin, also called as "sunshine vitamin" is derived mostly from sun exposure and food, and for normal activation, it has to undergo two hydroxylation reactions. Vitamin D affects more than 2000 genes in the body. Serum level of 25(OH) D is an ideal indicator of vitamin D status in our body. Vitamin D deficiency leads to various diseases. On a therapeutic point of view, vitamin D helps to treat many diseases. The book "A Critical Evaluation of Vitamin D - Clinical Overview" targets the principles, mechanisms, and clinical significance of vitamin D. This book covers four sections: "Vitamin D in Cardiovascular and Renal Diseases", "Vitamin D in Age and Neurological Diseases", "Vitamin D and Cancer" and "Therapeutic Measurements of Vitamin D". Each of these sections is interwoven with the theoretical aspects and experimental techniques of basic and clinical sciences. This book will be a significant source to students, scientists, physicians, healthcare professionals and also other members of this society who are interested in exploring the role of vitamin D in human life. [Vitamin D can be considered as vitamin of "defense" since it cures several diseases. - Sivakumar Gowder]

Because diseases of the bone are often less acute and less lifethreatening than dis eases of the circulatory system, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver, and the nervous system, they have received a disproportionately smaller amount of attention in the medical world. With the average increasing life span of man as a result of improve ments in modern medicine, espe~ially in the pediatric field, the seriousness of many metabolic bone diseases has indeed become more obvious. In addition, other improvements in medicine, such as hemodialysis for the preservation of renal failure patients, have permitted the development of other consequences of diseased kidneys, one of which is the appearance of renal osteodystrophy. Finally, the appearance of several genetic disorders in the area of metabolic bone disease has been underscored by the solution of other pediatric diseas~s of much more serious consequences. These emerging problems all suggest that much remains to be learned concerning the sys temic control of bone, both as a structural organ and as a reservoir for the important elements of calcium and phosphorus so essential for the support of life in complex multicellular organisms of which man is the most important. As will be demonstrated in the historical portion of this manuscript, the existence of the three most important humoral factors regulating bone metabolism and func tion are now known.

Since 1941, Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) has been recognized as the most authoritative source of information on nutrient levels for healthy people. Since publication of the 10th edition in 1989, there has been rising awareness of the impact of nutrition on chronic disease. In light of new research findings and a growing public focus on nutrition and health, the expert panel responsible for formulation RDAs reviewed and expanded its approachâ€"the result: Dietary Reference Intakes. This new series of references greatly extends the scope and application of previous nutrient guidelines. For each nutrient the book presents what is known about how the nutrient functions in the human body, what the best method is to determine its requirements, which factors (caffeine or exercise, for example) may affect how it works, and how the nutrient may be related to chronic disease. The first volume of Dietary Reference Intakes includes calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, and fluoride. The second book in the series presents information about thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, biotin, and choline. Based on analysis of nutrient metabolism in humans and data on intakes in the U.S. population, the committee recommends intakes for each age groupâ€"from the first days of life through childhood, sexual maturity, midlife, and the later years. Recommendations for pregnancy and lactation also are made, and the book identifies when intake of a nutrient may be too much. Representing a new paradigm for the nutrition community, Dietary Reference Intakes encompasses: Estimated Average Requirements (EARs). These are used to set Recommended Dietary Allowances. Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs). Intakes that meet the RDA are likely to meet the nutrient requirement of nearly all individuals in a life-stage and gender group. Adequate Intakes (AIs). These are used instead of RDAs when an EAR cannot be calculated. Both the RDA and the AI may be used as goals for individual intake. Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs). Intakes below the UL are unlikely to pose risks of adverse health effects in healthy people. This new framework encompasses both essential nutrients and other food components thought to pay a role in health, such as dietary fiber. It incorporates functional endpoints and examines the relationship between dose and response in determining adequacy and the hazards of excess intake for each nutrient.

Vitamin D is the topic for many discussions in the scientific community. Nowadays, a different interpretation of this secosteroid hormone is needed. Today the term "vitamin" may be considered outdated. This compound may be correctly be called a vitamin only when it is administered to humans or animals that suffer from its deficiency. This book attempts to clarify the role of Vitamin D deficiency in many pathological processes in the whole organism. Chapters in this book cover such issues as the earliest clinical and preclinical investigations of the consequences of Vitamin D deficiency for cognitive, cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, and renal disorders.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Vitamin D and Human Health" that was published in Nutrients