Getting Enough Vitamin D: More Than Milk And Sunshine

Celeste Headlee | NPR | April 14, 2014

New research finds that people with low levels of vitamin D are more likely to die from cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Nutrition professor and author Marion Nestle explains.

CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

I'm Celeste Headlee and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Michel Martin is away. Some surprising news now about vitamin D. According to two major reviews in the British Medical Journal published last week, people with low levels of vitamin D could be more likely to die from cancer, heart disease and a number of other illnesses.

Now, you may think of vitamin D as the sunshine nutrient, and we do produce it when we're exposed to the sun. But getting a healthy level of vitamin D is actually a lot more complicated than just going outside or swallowing a few supplements.