This past Saturday was “Vitamin D Day”! This was a day to recognize vitamin D deficiency as a world problem.

Researchers agree that at least one third of the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D, and many researchers found is a much higher percentage including me.

In my office, I still see 90% of my new patients with a vitamin D deficiency. Some of them severe.

We now know for sure that vitamin D deficiency can make some diseases more severe including autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and lupus as well as respiratory diseases and many others.

My colleague Michael Holick, M.D., is quoted as saying ““Vitamin D deficiency is a global pandemic that has serious health consequences for children and adults. Improvement in the world’s vitamin D status could significantly reduce risk of many chronic illnesses including cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and many deadly cancers as well as infectious diseases including upper respiratory tract infections, influenza and tuberculosis.”

I urge you to talk to your friends and family about vitamin D especially as winter is approaching, a time when all of us need to take vitamin D.

You can learn much more about Vitamin D Day at this link.