Turning Sunshine into Performance
By Ilene
Does vitamin D have anything to do with investing and stock and options trading? Maybe. Preliminary research suggests that lack of vitamin D is associated with impaired mental abilities. And this may indicate that obtaining sufficient levels of vitamin D may improve cognitive performance.
Researchers stopped short of advising more sunshine, or fruit-flavored gummy D supplements (yum!), to improve one’s cognitive function. But further research is warranted.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, many children appear to be deficient in vitamin D (see below) so it may be worth investing in some of those gummy Ds.
Does Vitamin D Improve Brain Function?
New studies show low vitamin D levels may impair cognitive function
By Diane Welland, in Scientific American
The push to prevent skin cancer may have come with unintended consequences—impaired brain function because of a deficiency of vitamin D…
“We know there are receptors for vitamin D throughout the central nervous system and in the hippocampus,” said Robert J. Przybelski,… “We also know vitamin D activates and deactivates enzymes in the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid that are involved in neurotransmitter synthesis and nerve growth.” In addition, animal and laboratory studies suggest vitamin D protects neurons and reduces inflammation.
Two new European studies looking at vitamin D and cognitive function have taken us one step further…
The scientists found that the lower the subjects’ vitamin D levels, the more negatively impacted was their performance on a battery of mental tests…
A second study, led by scientists at the University of Manchester in England… looked at vitamin D levels and cognitive performance in more than 3,100 men aged 40 to 79 in eight different countries across Europe. The data show that those people with lower vitamin D levels exhibited slower information-processing speed…
Although we now know that low levels of vitamin D are associated with cognitive impairment, we do not know if high or optimum levels will lessen cognitive losses. It is also unclear if giving vitamin D to those who lack it will help them regain some of these high-level functions…
See Also:
Vitamin D for Quicker Thinking?
Men With Low Blood Levels of Vitamin D Fare Worse on Test Requiring Speedy Thinking
The study, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, included more than 3,100 men 40 and older in eight European cities:..
Men in their 60s and 70s with low levels of vitamin D were the most likely participants to have low scores on the visual scanning and processing test…
In the journal, Lee and colleagues call for further studies to test whether vitamin D supplements might help minimize age-related declines in specific mental skills.
Vitamin D Deficiency: Children Need Vitamin D
This nation has many costly health care problems, but vitamin D deficiency shouldn’t be one of them.
A new analysis focusing on U.S. children ages 1 through 11 says about a fifth of youngsters that age aren’t getting the minimally required level of vitamin D. Many more may fall short of the optimal dose.
The deficiency puts those children – disproportionately African-American – at risk of ailments such as rickets, a disease that can cause a weakening of growing bones and cartilage.
The potential for damage from vitamin-D deficiency in young children is so clear that the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that youngsters get a 400-unit, daily supplement…
Some evidence indicates that teens and adults may need much more vitamin D, well beyond what would be consumed in a good diet. This too suggests that daily supplements would be helpful.
References:
Association of vitamin D deficiency with cognitive impairment in older women. Cross-sectional study. Annweiler C, et.al., Neurology. Sept., 2009.
Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels Among US Children Aged 1 to 11 Years: Do Children Need More Vitamin D?, Jonathan M. Mansbach, et. al.
Defining Vitamin D Deficiency in Children: Beyond 25-OH Vitamin D Serum Concentrations, Frank R. Greer, Pediatrics. Nov., 2009
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Lee, D. May 20, 2009; advance online edition.
