Grassrootshealth Launches D*action Community Project to Solve Vitamin D Deficiency Crisis

Serving as a model for public health action on vitamin D, GrassrootsHealth, an advocacy organization has launched the D*action Community Project, a consortium of scientists, institutions and individuals committed to solving the worldwide vitamin D deficiency crisis and will hold its first event, a seminar on vitamin D for health professionals at UC San Diego, December 2 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

We are very excited to have 18 scientists from the University join together for this major public health action

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) November 28, 2008 -- Serving as a model for public health action on vitamin D, GrassrootsHealth (www.grassrootshealth.org), an advocacy organization has launched the D*action Community Project, a consortium of scientists, institutions and individuals committed to solving the worldwide vitamin D deficiency crisis and will hold its first event, a seminar on vitamin D for health professionals at UC San Diego, December 2 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The seminar titled, Diagnosis & Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency, will be conducted by some of the country's notable vitamin D researchers and practitioners, including Anthony Norman, a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and of biomedical sciences at UC Riverside and Cedric Garland, an adjunct professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego. Norman and Garland recently joined with 16 other researchers at the University of California in issuing a "call to action" recommending that the daily intake of vitamin D for adults be revised by the government to 2000 international units (IU). Currently, the recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 IU for people up to 50 years old; 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old; and 600 IU for people over 70 years old.

"The D*action Project is designed to be a testing ground for exploring techniques and evaluation at a community level on the benefits of vitamin D on health and disease prevention," said Carole Baggerly, Director of GrassrootsHealth.

"We are very excited to have 18 scientists from the University join together for this major public health action," added Baggerly. "The general public is clamoring for more detailed information on vitamin D and action to be taken. In fact, they are moving faster than the medical community which is why we're moving forward with these seminars. Testing is the key right now. Many people just don't believe there is a problem until they see the test results. Towards that end, we will be announcing a major testing initiative at the conference."

With new vitamin D research appearing daily, questions abound as to how it can be applied to disease prevention or whether its deficiency causes many common diseases such as hypertension, Type 1 diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis, among others.

Major goals of the D*action Community Project include preventing 20-50% of breast cancer, colon cancer, Type 1 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases in five years by fostering greater awareness for the preventive health benefits of vitamin D.

Membership in the D*action Community Project is open to individuals and groups. Individual membership is a commitment to solving the vitamin D deficiency crisis by taking the following action steps:

Get your serum levels measured; establish your own personal range 40-60 ng/ml recommended

Download the Scientists Call to Action and the Disease Incidence Prevention Chart from www.grassrootshealth.org and send to your friends

Help schedule community seminars about vitamin D and spread the word about upcoming seminars and new information from GrassrootsHealth

Groups and institutions are encouraged to schedule community and/or department seminars in their organizations and spread the word about the Scientists' Call to Action and the Disease Incidence Prevention Chart. Medical institutions must diagnose and treat vitamin D deficiency in their population centers.    

D*action Communities will focus on three major public health activities:

Diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency (hold two seminars in each community) to educate healthcare professionals.

Hold monthly presentations within each community to train the trainers in the community to spread the word. Testing of vitamin D levels to be held at each presentation.

Conduct a five year study with 2000 people in the community to evaluate the results of the program on disease prevention and aid in creating a long-term plan of action for the specific communities.

Communities wishing to initiate their own plan or partner with existing groups can contact Carole Baggerly at 619-823-7062.

Joining UC scientists Norman and Garland on December 2 will be experts in cardiology, cancer, diabetes, bone and muscle health.

It is expected that at the conclusion of the seminar, participants will be able to list at least ten vitamin D sensitive diseases, quantify potential benefits of solving the vitamin D deficiency crisis, quantify proper dosages in relation to diseases such as muscle weakness in the elderly, type 1 diabetes and several cancers; and interpret the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D test for diagnostic and treatment measures; identify and quantify any risk categories for vitamin D treatment.

Healthcare professionals can register for the Diagnosis & Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency seminar on December 2 by visiting www.grassrootshealth.org.

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