!["[Vitamin D] is a pure public health intervention," says professor Bischoff-Ferrari.](/var/plain_site/storage/images/publications/food-beverage-nutrition/subject-categories/science-nutrition-research/eu-must-drive-limited-ip-vitamin-d-research-bischoff-ferrari/3336164-5-eng-GB/EU-must-drive-Limited-IP-vitamin-D-research-Bischoff-Ferrari_dnm_headline.jpg "\"[Vitamin D] is a pure public health intervention,\" says professor Bischoff-Ferrari.")
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“What is holding us back is a lack of clinical trials,” Bischoff-Ferrari told NutraIngredients after meetings last week in Lyon and Brussels that highlighted micronutrient deficiencies in Europe and elsewhere, with vitamin D featuring prominently.
Vitamin D is most commonly linked with bone health but research has shown it can benefit immunity, cancer and heart health and figures quoted at last week’s meetings highlighted its ability to save €187bn in healthcare costs if deficiencies in 17 European countries could be addressed.
“The problem is vitamin D has limited Intellectual Property (IP) potential, it is a pure public health intervention,” Bischoff-Ferrari said. “There needs to be more double blind, randomised clinical trials but we lack these because it is difficult to gain corporate interest.”
Hopes are being pinned to the 7th European Commission Framework which funds research and technological development projects.
Vital
A proposal for a large European trial of over 70-year-olds with bone fracture, cardiovascular, functional disability, immunity and cognitive endpoints had been proposed by a consortium around Bischoff-Ferrari that would bridge to a similar National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored, 20,000+ subject trial (called Vital) underway in the US.
That trial will test two of the three interventions proposed in the European trial for major cardiovascular and cancer endpoints, albeit with younger subjects (over 60s).
“You need to collaborate to save money and you need the large numbers to have that level of statistical power so that we can find the definite answer,” Bischoff-Ferrari relayed.
She said the EC was due to respond next month to the proposal that sought to track over 2000 seniors who would be closely monitored to test the benefit of three simple nutrition and exercise-based public health strategies, one of them being vitamin D.
A leading ingredient supplier had agreed to supply the vitamin D that will be tested free of charge, but the company was not able to fund the whole trial, which would cost about €13m.
Lobbying
While interested parties waited on the EC decision, Bischoff-Ferrari said events like those held last week were vital because they helped spread the message about the damage being done to public health due to vitamin D deficiencies – coupled with ignorance of the problem.
It also brought academia face-to-face with industry, regulators and government officials.
“You just hope the message reaches the people that make decisions,” she said. “There are many compelling reasons to take measures to increase vitamin D consumption but it comes down to select panels that make such decisions.”
“Meetings like last week are important because it makes parties realise in many cases they are seeking the same goals and that it needs different stakeholders to push forward the agenda. We were pleased with it because the ‘call to action’ message was very clear.”
“And from a research point of view we got to emphasise that it is not like pharma research, that this kind of research needs support from many sources.”
Call to action
Those signing up to the 'call to action' included DSM, Kraft Foods, Unilever, GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), the International Genetic Alliance and the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
They “urged” European health ministers to:
· Implement campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of micronutrients in the diet
· Ensure that health professionals fully understand the consequences of micronutrient deficiency
· Promote research in the field of nutrition
· Provide fact-based information on the role of micronutrients in minimising disease burden and saving on healthcare costs
· Ensure health professionals can offer effective nutrition care programs to patients.
D background
Vitamin D refers to two biologically inactive precursors - D3, also known as cholecalciferol, and D2, also known as ergocalciferol. The former, produced in the skin on exposure to UVB radiation (290 to 320 nm), is said to be more bioactive.
The human body manufactures vitamin D on exposure to sunshine, but the levels in some northern countries are so weak during the winter months that our body makes no vitamin D at all, meaning that dietary supplements and fortified foods are seen by many as the best way to boost intakes.
10 comments (Comments are now closed)
Start using Supplements and enjoy sunlight
I agree with Bill Sardi. Just start with yourself. Don't give your health in the hands of the Governments. Use a good supplement and enjoy the sun outside or inside in a professional tanning salon. And measure your vitamin D status once or twice a year by a simple bloodtest. Then you know !
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Posted by Toni Kragtwijk
14 April 2011 | 08h31
Vitamin D
I forgot to add: I am taking vit. D for about a year now, and it makes wonders in, for instance, decreasing arterial stiffness, improving endothelial function.
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Posted by Laszlo G Meszaros
13 April 2011 | 16h16
Vitamin D and corporate support
While I am getting professor Bischoff-Ferrari's point, I find it upsetting that such important issue should depend on corporate support; not mentioning the very troublesome fact that Europe is falling behind in every respect of health sciences, both basic and clinical sciences.
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Posted by Laszlo G Meszaros
13 April 2011 | 16h12
Misdirections in vitamin D
The article should say that health authorities (namely the NIH) are dragging their feet over human studies. However, the best way to proceed is not wait for studies, but to supplement and fortify, then retrospectively measure outcomes. This is what was done with aspirin. The posting that says we need less supplementation is a misdirection based upon the false notion that D elevates immunity and therefore is involved in autoimmune reactions. Actually, D normalizes the immune response and is often suggested in place of steroids for organ transplant patients. Penicillin, insulin, digitalis, vaccines, all came into common use without prospective double-blind placebo-controlled longitudinal studies. Where are the vitamin D-fortified foods for kids? Industry is slow by a few decades here.
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Posted by Bill Sardi
13 April 2011 | 13h09
Vitamin d the wasted cure.
A very good analysis was done. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research "Why the IOM Recommendations for Vitamin D Are Deficient – Mar 2011
Robert P Heaney and Michael F Holick
Well worth reading
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Posted by vince
08 April 2011 | 01h45
1,25(OH)D is not only made in the blood
Donald 2 points:
There was no need for vitamin d in food as it was formed by sunlight, until we started avoiding the sun, wearing clothes and living in doors.
1,25(OH)D is formed within cells from 25(OH)D. This 1,25(OH)D cannot be measured in the blood because unless you have a couple of specific illnesses it never enters the blood. The 1,25(OH)D in the blood controls calcium, the 1,25(OH)D formed inside cells has the other effects. The 25(OH)D is the supply to the cells. Vitamin d receptors are inside cells not outside.
No one knows if D3 is more effective than D2 but D3 is what your body evolved to use.
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Posted by Pete
08 April 2011 | 00h04
Vitamin D is not a vitamin - it's a hormone
The active form 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone. Thus it's precursor, D3, is a prohormone. Do we really want to be supplementing our food supply with this? How did the human species survive for millions of years and evolve to a point where we are so dependent on a substance (vitamin D) that has very few good sources in our food chain? Maybe thats because we don't need to ingest it, our bodies make what we need when we need it and controls it's production very carefully through multiple feedback pathways. The studies that show a correlation between various diseases and low vitamin D levels don't mean that it's a causative relationship. These studies all measure levels of the inactive form (D3) rather than the active for (1,25,D). If they measured the active form they may very well find that it is high, because chronic inflammatory diseases tend to disregulate our vitamin D metabolism. What we need is less supplementation with vitamin D, not more.
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Posted by Donald
07 April 2011 | 18h55
Vitamin D is a compassionate public health model
Those billions of euros of savings represent billions of dollars of losses to the pharmaceutical industry and the medical professions! No wonder no one will implement a vitamin D public health policy. Governments need to save money but doctors and pharmacists need to make money. Here's the solution. Implement your own public health policy. Take at least 4,000 iu of Vitamin D3 per day. If you can't get tested, just stay on this dose the rest of your life. If you can get a 25(OH)D Vitamin D test, which is most appropriate three to four months after you have raised your dose, adjust your dose upward or downward until you reach the optimal blood level of 50 ng/ml (also expressed as 125 nmol/L). Kaiser HMO has now established a "normal" range of 30-100 ng/ml (75-250 nmol/L), but leading researchers suggest that the body is beginning to store reserves of Vitamin D only when blood levels reach 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L). You also want to be sure you have calcium (1000mg/d), magnesium (500 mg/d) and zinc (15 mg/d) in your diet as Vitamin D uploads these minerals and will "borrow" from your bones if you don't have those minerals in your diet. That's the policy. Tell your friends! Implement it whether or not the robber barons resist you.
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Posted by Milton Hare
07 April 2011 | 17h51
D2 & D3
Everyone is copying some unproven statements as D3 is more bioactive (or potent) than D2. However, if you see Dr. Michael Hollick's work (35 years research on the topic by him), has scientifically proven (published in peer reviewed journal) that D2 & D3 are equivalent.
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Posted by Jake
07 April 2011 | 16h50
1300 vitamin D clinical trials
Overview:
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1331
The VitaminDWiki has results of 400+ successful vitamin D clinical trials, 50+ meta-analysis of random controlled clinical trials - 30+ of which found that vitamin D helped.
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php
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Posted by Henry Lahore
07 April 2011 | 16h38
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