Nonclassical Vitamin D Actions
Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia, Ruhr University Bochum, Georgstrasse 11, 32545 Bad Oeynhausen, Germany
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Nutrients 2010, 2(4), 408-425; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2040408
Received: 23 February 2010
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Revised: 17 March 2010
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Accepted: 22 March 2010
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Published: 25 March 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Vitamins)
It is becoming increasingly clear that vitamin D has a broad range of actions in the human body. Besides its well-known effects on calcium/phosphate homeostasis, vitamin D influences muscle function, cardiovascular homeostasis, nervous function, and the immune response. Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency has been associated with muscle weakness and a high incidence of various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 and 2 diabetes. Most importantly, low vitamin D status has been found to be an independent predictor of all-cause mortality. Several recent randomized controlled trials support the assumption that vitamin D can improve muscle strength, glucose homeostasis, and cardiovascular risk markers. In addition, vitamin D may reduce cancer incidence and elevated blood pressure. Since the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is high throughout the world, there is a need to improve vitamin D status in the general adult population. However, the currently recommended daily vitamin D intake of 5–15 µg is too low to achieve an adequate vitamin D status in individuals with only modest skin synthesis. Thus, there is a need to recommend a vitamin D intake that is effective for achieving adequate circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations (>75 nmol/L).
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Keywords:
vitamin D; cancer; cardiovascular; mortality; ultraviolet B radiation; diet
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zittermann, A.; Gummert, J.F. Nonclassical Vitamin D Actions. Nutrients 2010, 2, 408-425. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2040408
AMA Style
Zittermann A, Gummert JF. Nonclassical Vitamin D Actions. Nutrients. 2010; 2(4):408-425. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2040408
Chicago/Turabian StyleZittermann, Armin, and Jan F. Gummert. 2010. "Nonclassical Vitamin D Actions" Nutrients 2, no. 4: 408-425. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2040408
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