Study Reveals Your Kids May be Dangerously Deficient in Vitamin D

Children aren’t spending enough time outside, which is one of the leading causes of Vitamin D deficiency. Here’s how to improve vitamin D levels and boost immunity, especially during cold and flu season when there is less sunshine.

Did you and your children get your daily dose of sunshine today?

Now that isn’t something we hear recommended by our doctors very often! But with recent findings revealing that 20% of kids lack sufficient levels of vitamin D, our habits may need readjustment.

New analysis and research from Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital in Boston found that at least one in five children in the United States, ages one to 11, are lacking in vitamin D, putting them at risk for several health problems, including weak bones.

Even scarier, almost 90 percent of black children and 80 percent of Hispanic children in the age group could be vitamin D deficient.¹

A deficiency of vitamin D can put you at risk for a variety of illnesses and diseases including:

• Osteoporosis
• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Infection
• Cancers
• Rickets
• Diabetes

The Sunshine Vitamin

Known as the “sunshine vitamin,” vitamin D can be obtained by allowing the sun’s UV rays to touch your skin and by eating foods naturally rich in vitamin D.

In today’s high-tech, over-scheduled world, most children are not getting enough time outside! Writer Richard Louve famously termed this discouraging trend “nature deficit disorder” in his best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods, sparking a movement that encourages children to spend more time outdoors in the natural world.

If the risk of skin cancer worries you, applying sunscreen dramatically reduces the strength of the UV rays. But keep in mind that too much reliance on sunscreen means you are not letting the sun’s rays penetrate your skin and create vitamin D. Experts agree that spending time outdoors without sunscreen for short periods of time is a great way to boost your vitamin D naturally.

Vitamin D can also be obtained through your diet, but it is still necessary for children to supplement with at least 2,000 IUs per day through the winter season.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates only 400 units of daily vitamin D for all children, but according to Dr. John Cannell from the Vitamin D council, children should take take 1,000 IU per every 25 pounds of body weight to protect themselves from the swine flu.² Dr. Cannell goes on to say that kids should have their vitamin D levels tested “after taking this dose for 3 months.”³

Vitamin D from Foods

While the media promotes milk fortified with vitamin D as a great source, many people are unable to drink milk, due to issues with digesting casein (the protein in milk) that often masks itself as lactose intolerance. To learn more, read:  Are You Sensitive to Casein in Dairy and Don’t Even Know It?

So instead of milk reach for foods that are easier to digest and more importantly, make sure you are digesting them.

While lack of sunshine is one reason so many kids are low in vitamin D, another little-known reason is that many kids suffer from either a poor diet full of processed foods or an imbalanced inner ecosystem that cannot assimilate nutrients efficiently.

Here are some Body Ecology tips for how to obtain enough vitamin D for good health:

• Eat healthy fatty fishes like wild salmon and cod. Many people, especially children, don’t get a sufficient amount of fish in their diets. Try sneaking bits of fish into grain dishes instead of serving it whole. Flavoring fish simply with plenty of lemon, garlic and herbs is a great way to get your kids hooked on the Vitamin D staple.
• Eat organic eggs – especially eat extra yolks. You’ll love our Body Ecology scrambled eggs recipefor a cooking protocol that ensures your eggs are easy-to-digest.
• Assist your digestion. To ensure you are actually assimilating the nutrients in your food, many people need to give their digestive system some help. Using digestive enzymes with meals helps your body to break down and make use of important vitamins and minerals you need for good health. Body Ecology’s Assist Digestive Enzymes and Assist for Dairy and Protein are an excellent way to help your body get the nutrients it needs.

The Connection Between Vitamin D and Immunity

When a cold strikes, your immune system becomes inflamed so that you can fight the infection. When the cold goes away, so does the inflammation. Vitamin D is responsible for telling your immune system that it’s been successful and that the inflammatory response can then be turned off.

Since most of the illnesses and diseases that vitamin D can help prevent and treat are just that, preventable, it is essential for children to start getting the daily amounts now.

But how do you know if your children are lacking in this important vitamin and suffering from compromised immunity?

We recommend that everyone get their vitamin D levels tested, especially in the winter season when sunlight is low and especially THIS season with the H1N1 flu scare.

To learn which vitamin D test is most accurate, how to know if your test results are too low for flu immunity (and to prevent issues from getting the flu shot), how to supplement with vitamin D and the best form and brand of vitamin D – attend Body Ecology’s eye-opening training event: Powerful Natural Secrets to Boost Your Immunity and Avoid the Flu.

In this exclusive training event, Body Ecology founder, Donna Gates brings a unique understanding and protocol for how to deal with any virus, including the flu virus so that you can move beyond the flu scare and take charge of your health. Donna is joined by Dr. Leonard Smith, M.D., a renowned gastrointestinal, vascular and general surgeon as well as an expert in the use of nutrition and natural supplementation.

Together, they will shed light on how to make sure your vitamin D levels AND your immunity are the best they can be for the flu season and every season thereafter.

This training is so important that we are even offering a “get in free” option to make it accessible to everyone. Learn more today!

How do you know if you and your kids have sufficient vitamin D levels to help prevent the flu? Join us asDonna Gates and Dr. Leonard Smith, M.D. cut through the confusion of the flu scare this season with proven techniques and unique protocols to help boost your vitamin D levels AND your immunity, whether you choose to get flu vaccines or protect your health naturally instead. Learn how to register for this important event, including our get in free option!

Educating yourself can help you make the right choices for you and your children, and alert you to any changes that need to be made. Vitamin D is essential for your overall health and making sure your children get off to a good start can help them have a healthier, stronger future.