Vitamin D status and recommendations to improve vitamin D status in Canadian youth.

Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2010 Oct;35(5):718.
Mark S.
Health Canada, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, 757 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E6, Canada (e-mail: sean.mark at hc-sc.gc.ca).

Little is known regarding the vitamin D status of Canadian youth. Our objectives were
(i) to describe the vitamin D status of Quebec youth using a representative sample;
(ii) to examine the relative contributions of diet, physical activity, and fat mass to the variance in plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D(25(OH)D), the best biomarker of vitamin D status; and
(iii) to examine the influence of household income and food insecurity on the intakes of dietary vitamin D, calcium, and dairy foods.

To describe vitamin D status, we used data from the Quebec Child and Adolescent Health and Social Survey (QCAHS), which is a cross-sectional survey representative of Quebec youth aged 9, 13, and 16 years.
For the second objective, 159 youth, aged 8 to 11 years, whose parents (at least one) were obese or had the metabolic syndrome, were used for cross-sectional analysis in the Quebec Adipose and Lifestyle InvesTigation in Youth (QUALITY). Fat mass was measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and physical activity was assessed by an accelerometer. Finally, we analyzed data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), which collected data from 9 to 18 year olds (N = 8960), and was representative of Canadian youth. From this survey a single 24-h dietary recall, measured height and weight, sociodemographic, and food insecurity information were available.

In both the QUALITY and QCAHS study, >90% of youth had suboptimal vitamin D levels (plasma 25(OH)D < 75 nmol·L-1) at the end of winter and beginning of spring.
In the QCAHS study, older youth had a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D < 27.5 nmol·L-1) (>10%) than younger youth, and girls from low-income households had lower plasma 25(OH)D concentrations.
In the QUALITY study, milk consumption and physical activity had modest associations with plasma 25(OH)D, corresponding to 2.9 nmol·L-1 and 2.1 nmol·L-1 higher plasma 25(OH)D per standard deviation increase in these exposures, respectively.
In the CCHS study, we found evidence that milk intake was being displaced by sweetened beverages among low-income boys and food insecure girls.
We conclude that population-wide measures to increase dietary vitamin D intake should be examined in Canadian youth. PMID: 20962929
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90% < 30 ng/ml, (full text might be available in Nov 2010)

Attached to this page is a 2008 publication by the author - perhaps with the same data

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See also Vitamin D Life

• Overview Deficiency of vitamin D
• All items: Deficiency of Vitamin D 363 items
• Vitamin D insufficiency in UK youths – 37X more likely if dark skin – July 2011
• All items in category Canada 47 items
• Vitamin D in the UK = Vitamin D Association
• UK elderly need vitamin D – 86 % less than 30 ng - Jan 2010
• Scotland and Vitamin D
• UK survey of vitamin D knowledge of midwives - 2011
• 90 % of Canadian youth less than 30 ng vitamin D – Oct 2010
• 2000 IU daily dose of vitamin D would save Germany 37 billion euros – Aug 2010
• Vitamin D should Improve mortality in Nordic Countries – Feb 2011 Grant
• Recommend 2500-4000 IU per day to reduce all-cause mortality by 18%– Grant Netherlands April 2010
• Vitamin D could save More than 10,000 Canadian lives annually LEF
• Only 18 % of Swedes got recommended amount of vitamin D – Feb 2011
• 50 % of Quebec kids had less than 20 ng of vitamin D – Milk and movement did not help – Mar 2011
• Doubling of people less than 30 ng of vitamin D - 75% of whites and 90% of blacks – Feb 2010
• Save 160 lives annually if Netherlands have 42 ng vitamin D PDF
• Economic burden of premature deaths due to vitamin D de?ciency in Canada PDF
• US Mortality and vitamin D Grant 2009 PDF
• Dark Skinned youths and vitamin D in Southern Canada - Dissertation 2011