Sponsored by
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Wednesday, October 22
2-2:50pm
Location: Casanova 603
Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century: An Update
Vitamin D is a unique nutrient because its needs can be met in two
distinct ways: by endogenous production from sun exposure or from foods
and dietary supplements. In addition to calcium metabolism and bone
health, accumulating evidence indicates other roles in human health,
including immune function, reduction of inflammation and effects on cell
proliferation, differentiation and programmed cell death. Even as its
importance to health expands, concerns about the sufficiency of vitamin
D in the population are growing. Reports of rickets (the classic
vitamin-D deficiency disease) and low blood levels of the biomarker of
vitamin D status among various subgroups of the U.S. population raise
concerns about current public health approaches to ensure vitamin D
adequacy. This presentation will address the human requirement for
vitamin D, gaps in knowledge, research needs and areas of controversy.
 Marguerite
Klein, whose academic training is in nutrition, health education and
clinical trials methodology, had a 15-year career primarily in
cardiovascular disease prevention followed by nine years in research of
complementary and alternative medicines. In 2008, she joined the Office of
Dietary Supplements (ODS), National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has
developed and managed national public health education programs; designed
and implemented large clinical trials of diet and dietary supplements for
disease prevention and treatment; and developed a quality control program
for dietary supplements used in research. She has received several NIH
Director’s awards for efforts in clinical trials research and her leadership
in identifying and implementing major opportunities in dietary supplement
research. Currently, she is expanding the ODS Analytical Methods and
Reference Materials Program and is working to address challenging issues
(e.g., soy clinical studies; probiotic safety) in order to improve the
integrity of dietary supplement research.
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