The Vitamin D Solution: Holick’s 3-Step Strategy to Cure the Most Common Health Care Problem

What do obesity, heart disease, depression, diabetes, and fibromyalgia have in common? The answer is vitamin D deficiency. Over 200 million Americans lack this essential vitamin and as a result suffer from a host of daily annoyances, chronic conditions, and even life-threatening illnesses. In The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problem (Penguin/Hudson Street Press; April 1, 2010), Dr. Michael F. Holick, BUSM professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics, identifies the causes of vitamin D deficiency, outlines why it is essential to our health, and provides a 3-step program to attain optimal levels of Vitamin D in our bodies.

An expert worldwide, Dr. Holick has studied Vitamin D for more than 30 years. Through his research, we now know that every body cell has a receptor for vitamin D and it goes much further beyond bone health. Increasing the amount of vitamin D can treat, prevent, and even reverse a remarkable number of daily ailments, from high blood pressure to back pain; lessen the symptoms of chronic conditions such as diabetes and arthritis; and actually prevent infectious diseases, including H1N1 and cancer. Dr. Holick also credits vitamin D with improving infertility, weight control, memory and mood.

The Vitamin D Solution speaks to the misconceptions of sun exposure. The data is clear: just as people require some fat and salt for survival, we also need the health benefits of the sun in moderation. Americans have been taught that any unprotected exposure to the sun is bad. However, Dr. Holick specifies that only 10-minutes of unprotected sun exposure a day is not only safe but needed.