Black teens may not have enough vitamin D

AUGUSTA, Ga., July 31 (UPI) -- Black teens deficient in vitamin D, who took vitamin D supplements of 2,000 international units, had less central arterial stiffness, U.S. researchers found.

"While we think of the sun as providing humans with most of our body's requirement of vitamin D, 95 percent of the 44 black teenagers living in sunny Georgia who took part in this study were classified as vitamin D deficient," lead author Dr. Yanbin Dong of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta said in a statement. "Our study shows vitamin D supplementation may improve cardiovascular health in black teens who don't get enough vitamin D from their diet and sun exposure."

The study involves 44 black teenagers -- male and female -- randomly assigned to receive either 400 IU of vitamin D per day as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics or 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day.

The study, accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in October, found those taking 400 IU of vitamin D per day did not achieve vitamin D sufficiency, but those who took 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day on average became vitamin D sufficient.