|
Why do African
Americans suffer more from heart disease, cancer,
hypertension, diabetes and other degenerative diseases than
white Americans? One reason is that vitamin D deficiency is
far more common in blacks.
In my book, I
documented the relationship of vitamin D deficiency to
dramatically increased risk of diabetes, cancer, heart
disease, diabetes, hypertension and numerous other diseases
and conditions--105 in all. If dark-skinned Americans are
more likely to be deficient, it stands to reason that they
would be more likely to succumb to those diseases.
Here are some
interesting facts that relate vitamin D deficiency to poor
health in black Americans:
1. When USA white and
black
women are compared for vitamin D levels, black women are ten
times more likely to be vitamin D deficient.[1]
2. In patients in Minneapolis, Minnesota
who were being treated for chronic pain, 100% of African
Americans, along with Native Americans,
East
Africans and Hispanics were vitamin D deficient.[2]
3. Vitamin D is known to be a
potent inhibitor of tuberculosis. African Americans have
lower resistance to tuberculosis, lower levels of D and
lower ability to produce cathelicidin, a natural internal
bactericide.[3]
4. A 37-year-old disabled
Black woman with myopathy (a muscle disease) and severe
vitamin D deficiency was able to leave her wheelchair and
function normally after six weeks of vitamin D therapy.[4]
5. Vitamin D deficiency leads
to increased death from the major internal cancers, and a
disproportionate number of those cancer deaths occur in
African Americans.[5]
Dr. William Grant, in
summarizing the findings of his study on African Americans
and cancer, wrote that “Solar UVB was found significantly
inversely correlated with mortality rates for breast, colon,
esophageal, gastric and rectal cancers for black Americans.”
Other research in 2008
corroborated his findings, showing that in the Southeast
USA, vitamin D deficiency is about four times more common in
African Americans as whites, suggesting that the greater
cancer risks among African Americans is due to that
deficiency.[6]
Shortly I will post another blog citing
research that further establishes vitamin D deficiency as a
likely culprit in the poor health of dark-skinned
Americans.
[1]
Nesby-O’Dell, S. et al. Hypovitaminosis D
prevalence and determinants among African American
and white women of reproductive age: third National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994.
Am J Clin Nutr 2002;76:187-92.
[2]
Plotnikoff G. et al. Prevalence of severe
hypovitaminosis D in patients with persistent,
nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Mayo Clin Proc.
2003;78:1463-70.
[3]
Liu, P. et al. Toll-like receptor triggering of a
vitamin D-mediated human antimicrobial response.
Science. 2006;311:1770-73.
[4]
Prabhala, A. et al. Severe myopathy associated with
vitamin D deficiency in western New York. Arch
Intern Med 2000;160:1199-1203.
[5]
Grant, W. Lower vitamin-D production from solar
ultraviolet-B irradiance may explain some
differences in cancer survival rates. JNMA
2006;98:364
[6]
Egan, K. et al. Vitamin D insufficiency among
African Americans in the southeastern United States:
implications for cancer disparities (United States).
Cancer Causes Control 2008;19:527-35.
|
