Vitamin D Helps Stop Bone Loss Caused by Antiseizure Drugs, Study Concludes
A study published in the journal Neurology suggests supplementing with high levels of vitamin D can help stem the bone loss caused by the long-term use of antiseizure medication.
The fact that antiseizure medications used to control epilepsy expedite the breakdown of bones, often leading to bone loss and osteoporosis is old news. The fact that vitamin D increases absorption of calcium during digestion and reduces its excretion through urine thereby increasing the calcium available to the body for maintaining bone structure is also nothing new.
A team of researchers however, wanted to determine if higher levels of vitamin D would be more effective in preventing bone loss. They conducted a study involving 72 adults and 78 children over the age of 10 that were all being treated for epilepsy with antiseizure medications. The researchers gave some of the participants a daily vitamin D supplement of 400 IU, and gave others 4,000 IU for adults and 2,000 IU for children which is a significantly higher amount.
The current daily recommended vitamin D intake is 400 IU, but recent studies have suggested that higher amounts are safe and also more effective in providing numerous health benefits.
At the beginning of the study, all of the adult participants were already experiencing bone loss solidified by the fact that they had a lower bone mineral density (BMD) than healthy adults in the same age group. Over a 1 year period, an improvement in BMD was evident in the adults who received the 4,000 IU treatment, although it still remained below the healthy level. In the adults treated with 400 IU, no improvements in BMD were evident.
All the children involved in the study had healthy BMD when the study began and ended. Both groups given 400 IU and 2,000 IU saw no significant difference.
Frank Mangano’s Commentary:
As I’ve said previously, natural sunlight is your still your best source of vitamin D. As little as a ½ hour a day of sun on the face and hands for darker-skinned people and 15 minutes for lighter-skinned people will provide you with the sufficient amount of daily vitamin D needed.Â
Don’t fall into trap of associating natural sunlight with cancer. The sun screens used to block sunlight are far more deadly than 15 to 30 minutes of sunlight each day. Why has the public been lied to all these years and told the sun is bad and sun screen is good? Simple, natural sunlight is free and sun screens are companies in business to make money.
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- Increased Vitamin D Intake Can Ward Off Cancer, Study Shows
- Heart Disease Death Risk Lowered by One-Third Through Vitamin D, Study Says
 
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Posted: October 23rd, 2007 under osteoporosis, Vitamin D.
