The estimated benefits of vitamin D for Germany

Abstract

This article gives an overview of the vitamin D status in Germany, provides evidence for an independent association of vitamin D deficiency with various chronic diseases, and discusses preventive measures for improving vitamin D status in Germany. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is 40-45% in the general German population. An additional 15-30% are vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D can prevent falls and osteoporotic fractures in older people. There is also accumulating evidence that vitamin D may prevent excess mortality and may probably prevent some chronic diseases that occur in early life such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Adherence to present sun safety policy (avoidance of the sun between 11 am and 3 pm) and dietary recommendations (5-10 microg daily for adults) would, however, definitively lead to vitamin D deficiency. The estimated cost saving effect of improving vitamin D status in Germany might be up to 37.5 billion euro annually. It should be the goal of nutrition and medical societies to erase vitamin D deficiency in Germany within the next 5-10 years. To achieve this goal, the daily production of at least 25 microg of vitamin D in the skin or an equivalent oral intake should be guaranteed.

Widespread vitamin D insufficiency: A new challenge for primary prevention, with particular reference to multiple sclerosis

“…Furthermore, financial projections based on the current data from association studies suggest that systematic vitamin D supplementation in these countries could markedly decrease the prevalence of a number of currently frequent, serious affections in different medical fields and that this could lead to savings in the order of tens of billions of Euros a year in countries such as Germany and France [28,37,38]. Nevertheless, irrespective of the actual amount, such savings could only be expected in the long term.…”

Concentrações de 25-hidroxivitamina D e níveis pressóricos em idosos hipertensos

“…A figura 1 mostra a distribuição dos valores pressóricos sistólicos e diastólicos nos grupos. (25,26).…”

Proceedings of the 5th annual symposium of the German Society for Paleo Nutrition held in 2017

“…In Germany as well as in many other countries worldwide it has been recognized that there is a need for a higher intake of vitamin D in all age groups from infants to aged people, which is due to new perceptions with respect to physiological and pathophysiological functions of vitamin D, besides its classical effects on bone [39][40][41].Thus, a low vitamin D status not only increases the risk of developing rickets in infancy or osteoporosis in adults, but is also of great importance for the intestinal absorption of calcium, specific and unspecific defense systems, the maturation of the immune system or the development of some forms of cancer [42][43][44][45]. Although the new functions are controversially discussed, there is increasing evidence from sound publications that vitamin D exerts non-skeletal effects.…”