By Staff Writer - December, 6th 2013

Vitamin D is used for preventing and treating rickets, a disease that is caused by not having enough vitamin D (vitamin D deficiency). Vitamin D is also used for treating weak bones (osteoporosis), bone pain (osteomalacia), bone loss in people with a condition called hyperparathyroidism, and an inherited disease (osteogenesis imperfecta) in which the bones are especially brittle and easily broken. It is also used for preventing falls and fractures in people at risk for osteoporosis, and preventing low calcium and bone loss (renal osteodystrophy) in people with kidney failure. It is also used for boosting the immune system, preventing autoimmune diseases, and preventing cancer. Because vitamin D is involved in regulating the levels of minerals such as phosphorous and calcium, it is used for conditions caused by low levels of phosphorous (familial hypophosphatemia and Fanconi syndrome) and low levels of calcium (hypoparathyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism).

Natural Health News — A new analysis has concluded that while Vitamin D deficiency may increase risk for several major health disorders, supplementation may not reduce risk.

Although the media headlines might suggest this most recent study is the last word on the subject, in fact the meta-analysis raises more questions than it answers.

Vitamin D deficiencies and the use of supplementation have been the subject of debate for years. Several recent studies suggest that a number of factors, including increasingly indoor lifestyles, mean we are becoming vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D deficiency  is associated with a range of chonic health problems, but while there is no doubt that vitamin D plays a role in bone health, but its role in non-skeletal disorders remains unclear.

Researchers at the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France  reviewed 290 prospective studies and 172 randomised trials, to help them understand more …

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