Vitamin D deficiency misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrom, says researcher

• The Institute of Medicine brought experts together recently to explore the question of whether the RDA or recommended daily allowance, of vitamin D has been set too low.
• The impetus for the occasion was the mounting evidence for this vitamin's role in preventing common cancers, autoimmune diseases, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
• Furthermore, studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is common in the U.S. Because the typical symptoms are aching bones and muscle discomfort, vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, according to Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, of the Boston University School of Medicine.
• Dr. Holick has conducted a review of all vitamin D studies, which was published in the December 2004 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
• For most Americans, sunlight provides the lion's share of our vitamin D requirements because we eat few foods that naturally contain vitamin D, such as cod liver oil and oily fish (salmon, sardines, and mackerel).
• What's more, vitamin D deficiency is more pronounced among people living at higher latitudes, such as the New England States, especially in winter.
• It should be noted, however, that the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, is unrelated to sun exposure, as the disease usually occurs in areas of the body not exposed to the sun.
• "Little attention was paid to it until the 1980s when other researchers reported that colon and breast cancer rates were higher for those living at higher latitudes in the U.S."
• Even then, the finding was not taken seriously until researchers understood the mechanism for how the breast, colon, and prostate activate vitamin D and use it to regulate cell growth, which Dr. Holick explained as a process that is, "keeping cell growth in check and possibly preventing the cell from becoming autonomous and developing into an unregulated cancer cell."