On a website today, I discovered that, in the USA, you can buy orange juice which has been fortified with Vitamin D and calcium.
Off I went to my local supermarket. The manager had never heard of it, and the buyer-person was out of the store so he couldn't tell me whether it is available in Canada.
If I can't find it here, I might just make a trip to Buffalo to buy frozen cans of this special OJ.
But is it available as a frozen product?
Am I likely to find it in any decent sized store or will I have to hunt for it?
If you buy this product, please let me know what you think about it.
Vitamin D is rather hard to get through food products. Your choices are salmon, herrring, sardines, etc -- all very fat-laden choices.
People living in the northern end of the northern hemisphere are Vitamin D deficient during the winter. I'd like to avoid that if I can.
I have found a couple of websites with pictures that may help. We have lots of OJ on the shelves with Vitamin D and Calcium but not sure about the frozen cans. Tropicana Minute Maid
I've seen this fortifed OJ in liquid form for years, and I THINK Minute Maid used to have the "plus calcium" forumla in the forzen juice as well, but it seems to me that the frozen OJ section is getting smaller and smaller as the section in the refirgerated case become larger....just another 'convenience' I guess.
Three things worth noticing. In first place, D vitamin is naturally produced by the body through a moderate exposition to the sun. With moderate it means that it's enough to expose face and hands to the sunlight for 10-15 minutes 3-4 times a week (with sunscreen if you prefer) to have the D vitamin needs fulfilled. D vitamin is also present in milk and milk derivates (butter, yogurt, cheese9 as well as in eggs. As long as you eat or drink some of these you should not particularly worry about lack of D vitamin even if you have no way to expose to the sun. The daily need of D vitamin is 10 µg per day, 200 grams of a fat fish like salmon, contain 50 µg of D vitamin. Finally, D vitamin can be accumulated in the body. Unlike water-soluble vitamins (line C vitamin), fat soluble vitamins (A, E and D) accumulate in the fat tissues. This means that the D vitamin produceed during the summer is still available in winter, but it also means that it's quite easy to get mildly or severely poisoned by the excess D vitamin if you use too much D vitamin fortified foods and drinks. Eu Health Commission recommends not to assume more than 50 µg per day of D vitamin.
I've found the oj w/ calcium to have a slight chalky taste to it; don't like it and would rather just drink the milk. Of course, it could be my imagination but you never know.
Originally posted by Kim: I've found the oj w/ calcium to have a slight chalky taste to it; don't like it and would rather just drink the milk.
Yes Kim, I agree, but this vaires from brand to brand. It's been so long since I've bought any that I don't remember which brand I liked the best. Since I don't drink milk, (I just don't like milk, but do eat yogurt, cheese and of course, hot chocolate!) the added calcium in OJ (which I love!) was a nice bonus.
Thanks for the website links. I am going to do some more research on this.
Alice,yes, Vitamin D is produced in the body with minimal exposure to the sun and I get a healthy tan every summer to build up my store of Vit D.
The problem with people living in the northern part of the hemisphere is that our bodies produce Vit D in the spring, summer and fall through sun exposure; but not at all in our long dark winter. Our sun isn't strong enough to produce this effect for most people, e.g. those of us who work indoors. I walk every day during sunlight hours, but I doubt that it's doing anything for my Vit D.
Yes, Vitamin D is stored in our fat cells and released when needed. But when Vitamin D levels are low, the parathyroid gland becomes overactive, PTH levels rise, blood levels rise, and phosphorus rises.
The best North American research is being done by Dr. Holick at the Vitamin D Research Lab at Boston University Medical Centre, and his research shows that if you are obese, you make less Vitamin D naturally.
With obesity rates soaring in this country, an extra dose of Vitamin D through fortified OJ might be a good thing -- although I have generally avoided drinking OJ because it contains a lot of sugar (22-24 grams for 8 ounces) and I far prefer to eat whole fruit for its fiber benefits.
About 50% of adult Canadians are found through blood tests to be Vit D deficient in the wintertime.
They believe now that there is a link between Vit D deficiency and colon cancer. Canada has the highest rates of colon cancer in the world. (My Dad is a recent survivor.)
They know that many MS (multiple sclerosis) patients are Vit D deficient. And guess which countries have the highest rate of MS? Canada, Norway, Sweden, etc. Countries which don't get much sun in the winter.
And the most recent research is now looking at Vit D receptor cells in breast cancer tumours and how extra dosages of Vit D might be used in treatment. Canada has a very high incidence of breast cancer.
If you are on blood-thinning medication (Heparin, or Coumadin), which is the case for my elderly Dad, this drug interferes with Vitamin D activation.
In the USA, 200-600 IU of Vit D daily has traditionally been considered to be "Adequate Intake" -- but it is NOT optimal intake for people who live north of San Francisco or NYC. Or people of colour (African Americans in particular) who don't get as much benefit from sunlight exposure because of high levels of melatonin in their skin.
Because of new research on Vitamin D, Canadian adults are now being advised that we need 1,000 IU of Vit D daily. Our daily upper limit is 2,000 IU.
In a daily multivitamin pill, if you take one, you get 400 IU of Vit D.
In the fortified with Vit D and calcium orange juice available in the USA, you get another 100 IU of Vit D.
One tablespoon of cod liver oil gives you 1,360 IU, but I just gag on this stuff!
Salmon gives you 425 IU; Herring 765 IU; and Sardines 255 IU. Canadians now eat a lot more salmon (it is a standard menu choice in a lot of restaurants), but very little herring is consumed (not sure why), and even less sardines -- unless perhaps you are an immigrant from a Mediterrean country (Italian, Portguese, Spanish-Canadian) where this is more of a staple in your diet.
The fat grams in 3.5 ounces of salmon are equal to the fat of the same amount of beef tenderloin. I can't eat salmon every day and keep my svelte (ha, ha) figure!
A Vitamin D3 supplement for winter time use is another alternative: it contains 1,000 IU.
We have just had the dullest and most rainy fall in the last 30 years. I feel like we've hardly seen the sun.
I'm exploring options for increasing my Vit D for this winter.
Marion, I lived in Northern Germany for a number of years. It was common practice to go to the tanning salon once or twice a week from November to the end of March, not for the sake of being tan, but for the production of Vitamin D. The sun levels in Hamburg are about equal to southern Sweden and Denmark.
I am no expert on this, but I did the tanning salon thing on occasion when living there under the auspices of Vitamin D production.
Kelly doesn't drink milk but loves OJ (though doesn't like any pulp). I've bought her the Calcium/Vitamin D juice for years. We buy it in liquid form, not frozen.
Kaydee, yes Tropicana and Minute Maid are the two leading brands in Canada. (Actually Tropicana used to be owned by Seagrams, when it was a Canadian company.) It's good to hear that your daughter like it.
I went to a better grocery store today and found OJ fortified with Calcium and Vit D. I bought a frozen and a liquid version from two companies so that I can compare tastes.
And I checked out the prices at a tanning salon (quite cheap), and learned that you need to go almost every day for about 4-5 days to build up a base tan on a low-intensity machine, and then you move to a higher intensity machine for once weekly visits. I am going to do this after the Xmas holidays.
Those tanning beds are dangerous and exposure makes you vulnerable to all types of skin cancers including melanoma the deadliest form of skin cancer. The beds have the same dangers as sun exposure. I had a melanoma many years ago and, fortunately, it was caught in time. I lived on the East Coast, have olive skin and never got sunburned. I tanned very quickly because of my olive skin and did not spend a lot of time lying out in the direct sun. Despite my not fitting the profile to get melanoma, I did. I caution all of you who use or are considering using tanning beds to please read up on the dangers. Find your Vitamin D somewhere else!!!
Posts: 1122 | Location: Laguna Beach, CA | Registered: 09 February 2006
Please, while it has been well-proven that sun exposure can be a danger factor in skin cancers, it should be also known that avoiding all types of sun exposure does NOTHING to PREVENT cancer (exactly like not smoking does not prevent lung cancer). By not overexposing ourselves we simply reduce a bit the risk. But if you lived in total shadow, you may still get skin cancer while also having a huge number of other illnesses caused by the lack of solar exposure. lke'ts not become intewgralists about anything.: a limited exposure to the sun or to UVA rays is the best way to buld the D vitamin. Overdoing it is dangerous, but 10 minutes sitting in front of a lamp pointed at our faces and hands only, covered with fitting sunscreen, can do wonders to both D vitamin levels and mood.
. . .
Although, a few hours on a Greek beach preferably covered with NOTHING, maybe except a lover and followed by a large portion of fried squids, are a whole lot better for the mood.
Alice, I don't want to debate you at any length on the dangers of too much sun exposure but it is a medical fact that exposure to harmful UV rays is the primary cause of skin cancer. There has been a marked increase in skin cancer over the years with an increased number of deaths. The primary reason is that the ozone layer is being depleted from our atmosphere thereby allowing in more harmful UV rays. Tanning beds and lamps emit these same harmful UV rays. If my melanoma was not inadvertently diagnosed in the early stages by my dermatologist I could very well have not been here to post this reply. In his office hangs a picture of a baked potato with the caption, "This was made to bake not you!" Having a cavalier attitude about sun exposure is just plain dangerous.
Posts: 1122 | Location: Laguna Beach, CA | Registered: 09 February 2006
Pure water is dangerous. it's poisonous, indeed. Drink too much water and you will die. Does this make it any less a wonderfully healthy drink? Should we avoid drinking so that we could, instead of drawning, die of dehidratation?
Too much sun exposure is dangerous, it's poisonous and it causes cancer. Too little causes just as dangerous diseases PLUS depression.
Alice, it's hard to comprehend why you would be so defensive about someone merely pointing out the most common cause of skin cancer. I think it's best if we end this dialogue.
Posts: 1122 | Location: Laguna Beach, CA | Registered: 09 February 2006
Tanning beds used for the sake of maintaing a tan are harmful!! No doubt.
In northern Europe, however, when they are often used very, very minimally, ten minutes once or twice a week, for a limited time period, they provide a benefit because there is simply not enough light exposure to provide good health.
If the sun goes up at 9.30 in the morning, and goes down at 4 in the afternoon, and it rains or is cloudy for two months, meaning the hours between ten and two are as dark as dusk, you cannot be healthy. It is depressing, it wrecks your immune system, it depletes every bit of energy you may have.
The minimal risk of a melanoma at these very small levels of UV exposure needs to be weighed with depression, both physical and psychological, which can be as fatal as quickly. NOthing like depression to remind a person that cancer is not the only fatal disease out there. There are higher levels of suicide in northern European countries because of lack of sun exposure. Sweden has one of the highest suicide and alcoholism rates in the world. Most of those stats are attributable to one phenomenon: the darkness in winter. Vitamin D production is just one part of it.
I used to be a training manager for IKEA in Philly way back when, so I knew the Swedish stats for suicide, but it never really sunk in until I moved to northern Europe and lived in the dark myself.
I also lived in So. Cal, a few miles from you, Love Italy, in CDM. I don't even want to think about the amount of sun exposure I allowed there. THere, where you are, it is the other extreme. Sun hats, soft gauzy long sleeved shirts over UV protected skin are called for.
Like I said, I am no big fan of tanning beds. But nine years in Hamburg (nine very long, grey, dark, rainy, windy, stormy winters they were - not to mention depressing) showed me they do have a purpose, even it if it is very limited.
Diana, thanks for so accurately articulating the need in some parts of the world for the limited use of tanning devices. My husband's daughter lives in Sweden and, like you, was raised in Southern California. She has been there for 18 long years and can't wait for the day she can leave which, hopefully, will be soon. She has told us about the suicide and depression problems in that country and how difficult it has been for her to cope even after all this time.
I spent most of my life in NJ and can't imagine leaving sunny California expect for sunny Italy. As you know we are blessed with beautiful, happy sunshine most days of the year but, most good things do have a price. My life-threatening malignant melanoma has made me especially cautious on this subject although there are times when even I have foolishly thrown caution to the wind and have hit the sand.
In the near future we are planning a fall trip to Italy for those wonderful truffles we keep hearing about and look forward to a stay at Baur B&B and those heavenly breakfasts we got to drool over in Palma's photos.
Carole
Posts: 1122 | Location: Laguna Beach, CA | Registered: 09 February 2006
Even itlay is not all that sunny, not everywhere. Despite not having the extreme shortage of sunlight that norhern (or southern-near-the-south-pole) countries experience, winers in northern italy can still be quite dark and gloomy. personally I have never done any sunbed tanning, but I am considering a couple of sits face and hands only) to keep my spirits up this winter, 'cause last year, working below the grond level which cuts me off the few sunny days, has been quite drab. I am fair skinned and tend to burn easily, so they will be short sits. Could this trigger a skin cancer? There is a limited risk, but since I am already in a quite gloomy period of my life I have a much highier risk of feeling depressed (there is a thin line between feeling depressed and being depressed, I am trying not to cross it AGAIN). In summer I allow myself between one week and ten days of holidays, part o which I try to spend on a beach. I use sunscreen and allow sun exposure only in the morning and late evening, avoiding the central hours of the day. This does not only boost permanently my spirist for several months, but also gives me a nice amount of D vitamin to keep osteopososis at bay, that the bitch runs in my family. Now, I have a vague risk of getting a melanoma opposed to the fact that I need to fight off depression (of which I suffered in the past) and osteoporois (which runs in my family and is also very probable on women past menopause). I know quite well where the most likely risks sit in my case. In excesses on both sides.
I just saw this article on Yahoo somewhat related to the items discussed on this thread. This Italian village is reflecting sun into the town because it receives very little sunlight in the winter due to being in a deep valley. Here are the news photos that go with the story.
Living in the north, I'm also aware of the effects of darkness. That's why I'm celebrating the solstice this Friday.
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