ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2008) — Once believed to be important only for bone health, vitamin D is now seen as having a critical function in maintaining the immune system throughout life. The newly recognized disease risks associated with vitamin D deficiency are clearly documented in a new report.

    Vitamin D deficiency is common across populations and particularly among people with darker skin. Nutritional rickets among nursing infants whose mothers have insufficient levels of vitamin D is an increasingly common, yet preventable disorder.

    Carol Wagner, MD, Sarah Taylor, MD, and Bruce Hollis, PhD, from the Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston), emphasize the need for clinical studies to determine the dose of vitamin D needed to achieve adequate vitamin D levels in breastfeeding mothers and their infants without toxicity.

    The authors point out that vitamin D is now viewed not simply as a vitamin with a role in promoting bone health, but as a complex hormone that helps to regulate immune system function. Long-term vitamin D deficiency has been linked to immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, and cancer.

    "Vitamin D is a hormone not a vitamin and it is not just for kids anymore," writes Ruth A. Lawrence, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Breastfeeding Medicine, from the Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, in an accompanying editorial. "Perhaps the most startling information is that adults are commonly deficit in modern society. Vitamin D is now recognized as a pivotal hormone in the human immune system, a role far beyond the prevention of rickets, as pointed out in the article by Wagner et al in this month's issue of Breastfeeding Medicine."

    2008年12月28日，《科學日報》載：維他命D過去被認為只對骨骼健康至關重要，如今已被證實對維持人一生中的免疫系統功能健康也起著重要作用。一個新的報告已經很清楚的論證了缺乏維他命D將會導致的疾病危險。

    缺乏維生素D是很常見的，皮膚顏色深的人尤為常見。由于母親缺乏維生素D而導致母乳哺育的嬰兒患上營養不良導致的佝僂癥正變得越來越常見，不過這一現象可以被預防。

    南卡羅萊納州醫科大學小兒科學院的醫學博士Carol Wagner, Sarah Taylor,和PhD Bruce Hollis都強調有必要進行臨床醫學研究來來使母乳中維生素D含量維持在充足的分量，而不至于危害嬰兒的健康。

    這些發起人指出維他命D不僅維持骨骼健康，還在調節免疫系統方面扮演了一個重要的就像荷爾蒙一樣的角色。長期缺乏維生素可導致免疫紊亂，從而患上多重硬化癥，風濕導致的關節炎，1型糖尿病，癌癥等癥狀。

    羅切斯特大學醫學部的母乳喂養醫學教授Lawrence寫道：“維他命D不僅僅是維生素，還是荷爾蒙，不僅孩子需要它們。Wagner在本月母乳醫學雜志中指出：“讓我們吃驚的是，當今社會上很多成年人都缺乏維生素D。維生素D現在已成為人類免疫系統里一個關鍵的荷爾蒙，它的作用遠遠不止是預防佝僂。”