Стр. 158 - 2

160
The new advice replaces a 2003 acade-
my recommendation for 200 units daily.
That’s the amount the government recom-
mends for children and adults up to age 50;
400 units is recommended for adults aged 51
to 70 and 600 units for those aged 71 and up.
Vitamin D is sold in drops for young chil-
dren, capsules and tablets.
The Institute of Medicine, a government
advisory group that sets dietary standards, is
discussing with federal agencies whether
those recommendations should be changed
based on emerging research, said spokes-
woman Christine Stencel.
The recommendations were prepared for release Monday at an
academy conference in Boston. They are to be published in the No-
vember issue of the academy’s journal, Pediatrics.
Besides milk and some other fortified foods like cereal, vitamin D
is found in oily fish including tuna, mackerel and sardines.
But it’s hard to get enough through diet; the best source is sun-
light because the body makes vitamin D when sunshine hits the skin.
While it is believed that 10 to 15 minutes in the sun without sun-
screen a few times weekly is sufficient for many, people with dark
skin and those in northern, less sunny climates need more. Because of
sunlight’s link with skin cancer, “vitamin D supplements during in-
fancy, childhood and adolescence are necessary,” the academy’s re-
port says.
Recent studies have shown that many children don’t get enough
vitamin D, and cases of rickets, a bone disorder often associated with
malnourishment in the 1800s, continue to occur.
Greer, a University of Wisconsin pediatrician, acknowledged that
most studies suggesting vitamin D may play a much broader role in
disease prevention have been observational, not the most rigorous
kind of medical evidence.
Nonetheless, many doctors consider the research compelling and
many have begun to offer patients routine vitamin D testing.