Low Vitamin D in Southern Europe – 1 in 3 had less than 20 ng (630,000 Europeans)

Created December 2018

A systematic review of vitamin D status in southern European countries.

Eur J Nutr. 2018 Sep;57(6):2001-2036. doi: 10.1007/s00394-017-1564-2. Epub 2017 Oct 31.

Manios Y1, Moschonis G2, Lambrinou CP3, Tsoutsoulopoulou K3, Binou P3, Karachaliou A3, Breidenassel C4, Gonzalez-Gross M4, Kiely M5,6, Cashman KD5,7.

Many maps and tables in the PDF ~ 10% < 10 ng * [40% < 20 ng if include Northerm Europe](/pages/vitamin-d-is-low-in-europe-40-percent-have-less-than-20-ng-oden/) * * Deficiency of Vitamin D category listing has items along with related searches** Items in both categories Europe and Deficiency are listed here: {category} --- Vast majority of Europeans have less than 30 ng of Vitamin D – Aug 2016 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | Study | Countries | < 30 ng | | HELENA | 9 EU | 97% | | OPUS | Denmark | 87% | | Tromsø Study: Fit Futures | Norway | 96% | | HGS | Greece | 97% | | INNS | Greece | 90% | | Cork BASELINE Birth | Ireland | 84% | | NDNS 1–18 y | United Kingdom | 90% | | NDNS >18 y | United Kingdom | 91% | | DEG4 | Germany | 91% | | Tromsø Study–6th Survey | Norway | 75% | | NHS | Netherlands | 78% | | LASA | Netherlands | 68% | | AGES–Reykjavik | Iceland | 86% | | Finnish Migrant Health . . | Finland | 89% | | NANS | Ireland | 81% | | Health 2011 | Finland | 76% | | HUBRO | Norway | 66% | | Health 2006 | Denmark | 68% | Optimum * Is 50 ng of vitamin D too high, just right, or not enough * Vitamin D is needed for human fertility – goal is 50 ng – Sept 2018 * Guide for patients on high doses of Vitamin D – Coimbra 2017 * Vitamin D - at least 4,000 IU to achieve 40-60 ng and reduce risk of early death – Holick June 2018 * Vitamin D Consensus, Brazil – Many people need 30 – 60 ng – Nov 2017 4,000 IU daily (or 50,000 IU twice a month) would get most > 30 ng * 4,000 IU of Vitamin D is OK - 19 organizations agree - 2018 * Seniors need at least 4,000 IU vitamin D, no test needed – Consensus Jan 2014 * Vitamin D - at least 4,000 IU to achieve 40-60 ng and reduce risk of early death – Holick June 2018 * One pill every two weeks gives you all the vitamin D most adults need * 50,000 IU every two weeks is ~3,700 IU daily average

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PURPOSE:

Despite an acknowledged dearth of data on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations from Southern European countries, inter-country comparison is hampered by inconsistent data reporting. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic literature review of available data on serum 25(OH)D concentrations and estimate vitamin D status in Southern European and Eastern Mediterranean countries, both at a population level and within key population subgroups, stratified by age, sex, season and country.

METHODS:

A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify and retrieve scientific articles reporting data on serum 25(OH)D concentration and/or vitamin D status following standard procedures.

RESULTS:

Data were extracted from 107 studies, stratified by sex and age group, representing 630,093 individuals. More than one-third of the studies reported mean 25(OH)D concentrations below 50 nmol/L and ~ 10% reported mean serum 25(OH)D concentrations below 25 nmol/L. Overall, females, neonates/ infants and adolescents had the higher prevalence of poor vitamin D status. As expected, there was considerable variability between studies. Specifically, mean 25(OH)D ranged from 6.0 (in Italian centenarians) to 158 nmol/L (in elderly Turkish men); the prevalence of serum 25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L ranged from 6.8 to 97.9% (in Italian neonates).

CONCLUSIONS:

Contrary to expectations, there was a high prevalence of low vitamin D status in the Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, despite abundant sunshine. These data further emphasize the need for strategies, such as fortification of foods with vitamin D and/or vitamin D supplementation, which will be tailored to the needs of specific population groups with higher risk of insufficiency or deficiency, to efficiently tackle the pandemic of hypovitaminosis D in Europe.

Tags: Deficiency Europe