Get Your Vitamin D Kids! (6th posting)

I recently read a health related newspaper article in the Star Tribune. It was titled Vitamin D: Sun can’t give enough and it discussed the recent findings that children need more vitamin D in order to prevent serious diseases. Pediatricians now advice that kids need twice as much vitamin D as before; they now suggest 400 IUs (international units) every day. Dr. Theresa Kovarik, a pediatrician at Health Partners, commented on these new discoveries and added that many women are vitamin D deficient and a woman’s child is born with only 70 percent of their mother’s level, so many babies are being born extremely deficient in vitamin D. The article also discussed ways to get vitamin D, such as drinking milk, eating a nutritious breakfast, taking supplements, and spending time outside. It can be tough to get outside during the frosty days of winter in Minnesota, but just to give perspective, only four glasses of milk gives you 400 IUs and on a sunny, summer day you can easily convert 10,000 to 20,000 units into your skin. Also, eating a nutritious breakfast, such as fortified cereal with milk and fruit, or two eggs, two slices of whole-grain toast, and 8 ounces of orange juice can give you 140 IU of vitamin D. These suggestions help the goal of 400 IUs to seem much more achievable.
I really enjoyed reading this article and learning about a new health discovery. I had recently heard something about this topic so it was nice to read about it and receive more clarification of the issue. Also, my childhood pediatrician was Dr. Theresa Kovarik so it was cool to see her name in the paper and read her wise words about this topic. I learned a lot and enjoyed reading this article.