Vitamin D bread to make up for deficiency

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- For those who avoid the sun and don't like milk or other dairy products, U.S. researchers say they are working on a vitamin D-fortified bread.

Connie Weaver of Purdue University and colleagues say studies suggest about 7-in-10 people in the United States may not get enough vitamin D -- something necessary for the body to absorb calcium.

In addition, to contributing to healthy bones, vitamin D appears to have body-wide beneficial effects when it comes to heart disease, cancer, allergy in children and other conditions.

Many get their vitamin D from milk, dairy products do not provide enough, Weaver says.

Weaver's team of researchers did experiments with laboratory rats to determine if the yeast produces one form of the vitamin, termed vitamin D2, which has been thought to be not as biologically active as the form produced by sun, vitamin D3.

The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, showed bread made with vitamin D2-rich yeast, fed to the laboratory rats, had effects that seemed just as beneficial as vitamin D3.

"Our results suggest that bread made with high vitamin D yeast could be a valuable new source of vitamin D in the diet," the researchers say in a statement.