New entries in the growing Vitamin D evidence base.

Friends have been alerting me to new findings on Vitamin D. Stunning evidence on its importance to human health continues to mount monthly.
If you're young and athletic, take a look at the Sept 29 New York Times blog post on Vitamin D and athletic performance. (Thanks, Lisa T.) Take the time to read the comments readers have left on the post; they crystallize the issues that believers and doubters are debating.
From Clare G. comes word of a study of high-dose Vitamin D & physical therapy in preventing falls and hospitalizations in elderly people after hip fractures. This is a clinical trial reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. Good summary is in Medscape.com (You'll have to register to see the article, but it's a good site for medical literature, so why not?) The gist is this: Patients taking 2000 IU of vitamin D had a 25% reduction in falls and a 39% reduction in hospital readmissions compared with those taking 800 IU per day. That included a whopping 90% reduction in infections bad enough for hospitalization in the higher-dose Vitamin D group. What's good for the elderly is good for me! (Of course, in a few months, I will be one of the elderly, so that's a tautology.)
Finally, take a look at the following YouTube videos of a Vitamin D conference at the University of California San Diego (Feb 09):
Robert Heaney, M.D., (Creighton University) - Great talk on how much Vitamin D is enough? How much is too much? He and the data will convince you that 2000 IU is a reasonable amount to be taking and it won't hurt you.
Cedric Garland, Ph.D., (UCSD)- an epidemiologist who reviews evidence on Vitamin D and cancer prevention (and treatment). Gets pretty technical, but if you slog through it (as I did )you'll at least get the rough sense (as I did ) that the latest (stunning!) findings regarding breast, prostate, and other cancers make sense scientifically.
Other presentations - including Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disease are also available at the Conference home page (see right hand panel for clickable presentations).