Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
The year 2023 marks 100 years after Elmer McCollum discovered vitamin D. [1] For the first 80 years after the discovery, vitamin D was mostly known for its role in regulating the absorption and metabolism of calcium. Beginning in the last decade of the twentieth century and accelerating in the early twenty-first century, it became apparent that vitamin D’s health benefits extended far beyond bones. Many of the benefits occur through the hormonal metabolite of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (calcitrol) entering the vitamin D receptor which nearly every cell in the body has, and affecting gene expression. [2] By 2013, it was apparent that “Adequate vitamin D status seems to be protective against musculoskeletal disorders (muscle weakness, falls, fractures), infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, several types of cancer, neurocognitive dysfunction and mental illness, and other diseases, as well as infertility and adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes.” [3] Early evidence supporting vitamin D’s health benefits came from ecological studies related to sun exposure and season. Later, observational studies based on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and vitamin D supplementation as well as studies of mechanisms provided additional information.
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