conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a book titled Vitamin D For Dummies about with the genre: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Nutrition.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Your plain-English guide to the many benefits of vitamin D
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first four paragraphs for this book.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Vitamin D For Dummies
  Contributing Technical Editors: James C. Fleet, PhD., Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University; Christopher S. Kovacs, MD, FRCPC, FACP; Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology), Obstetrics and Gynecology, and BioMedical Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland
  You should also know vitamin D comes in two forms. Chole-calciferol, the form of vitamin D that comes from the sun acting on your skin, is also called vitamin D3. This is also the form you get from foods that come from animals. Ergocalciferol, a form of vitamin D contained in many supplements and which is also found in some plants like irradiated mushrooms, is also called vitamin D2. I try not to use those long names again, but you should be aware of them.
  From time to time, I explain some complicated subjects or include some information that's interesting but not essential to your understanding of vitamin D. I've shaded this text in gray. This means that you can skip this information, but if you have a deep, questioning mind, you might want to read it. The information in gray is for the person who really wants to know the nuances of vitamin D.
  Part I is an introduction to vitamin D. It tells you what this so-called vitamin actually is and does, and how it performs its actions. It also tells you how to find out if you have enough in your body. You can find out which populations often lack sufficient vitamin D and how to overcome this. You will discover how vitamin D is measured and the problems associated with testing for vitamin D. Vitamin D also has an important sidekick, calcium, and you'll read about that substance here as well.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me two more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: But here's what we don't know. Does even higher serum 25- hydroxyvitamin D (say greater than 30 ng/ml or 75 nmol/L) give even greater protection against heart disease or hypertension? Is vitamin D better than other prevention strategies like controlling your weight, eating right, and exercising? If you have a heart condition does more vitamin D help everyone or just people with very low vitamin D status? Researchers are actively working on these and other questions, so keep your eyes peeled for new research in the future. But in the meantime, be cautious that "more" is not necessarily "better." Some of the associational studies that suggest low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of cardiovascular disease have also suggested that higher levels increase the risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. So we won't know what the optimum vitamin D levels are until randomized trials are done with long-term (of more than five years) followup.
  Diabetes, especially the form called type 2 diabetes, is spreading throughout the United States and the world at an epidemic pace. By 2010, 26 million Americans were affected. By 2007, 17.4 million American were affected. The percent of the population with diabetes rose from 2.5 to 8.6. Most of this increase can be attributed to increasing rates of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, but deficiency of vitamin D may be playing a role, too.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: With its capability to decrease immune reactions and fight bacteria, vitamin D could be a natural substance for preventing and treating chronic sinusitis.
  Scientists are testing the utility of vitamin D by giving the vitamin or a placebo to a group of patients with chronic sinusitis. They will study whether the subjects show improvement in symptoms and in quality of life. Don't be surprised if the outcome is positive for improvement with vitamin D.
  Nocturnal cramps are painful muscle contractions that usually involve the calves but can also affect the soles of the feet and other muscles. They may last up to a few minutes and occur when the person is at rest at night. The cramp can usually be stopped by putting pressure on the affected muscle.
  The cause of nocturnal cramps isn't clear. It may be anything from dehydration, to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), to electrolyte (sodium, potassium, calcium) imbalance, to poor blood flow through the affected muscles. Nocturnal cramps tend to occur more often in older people. If lower levels of calcium are responsible, increasing the blood calcium by providing sufficient vitamin D should reduce or eliminate the cramps.
  Nocturnal cramps are a common occurrence in the late stages of pregnancy and can be very painful. It would be nice if these cramps were caused by something as simple as low vitamin D levels; however you have to have an extremely low 25-hydroxyvitamin D level (well under 10 ng/ml or 25 nmol/L) in order for your serum calcium levels to be low. When your vitamin D levels are over 10 ng/ml, taking more vitamin D doesn't alter your serum calcium levels until you develop the opposite problem of high serum calcium (hypercalcemia) from vitamin D toxicity (generally with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels greater than 100 ng/ml or 250 nmol/L). Although some small studies are being conducted to test whether vitamin D supplements can prevent nocturnal muscle cramps, I think this one is unlikely to pan out. Time will tell if I'm right.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: With its capability to decrease immune reactions and fight bacteria, vitamin D could be a natural substance for preventing and treating chronic sinusitis.
  Scientists are testing the utility of vitamin D by giving the vitamin or a placebo to a group of patients with chronic sinusitis. They will study whether the subjects show improvement in symptoms and in quality of life. Don't be surprised if the outcome is positive for improvement with vitamin D.
  Nocturnal cramps are painful muscle contractions that usually involve the calves but can also affect the soles of the feet and other muscles. They may last up to a few minutes and occur when the person is at rest at night. The cramp can usually be stopped by putting pressure on the affected muscle.
  The cause of nocturnal cramps isn't clear. It may be anything from dehydration, to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), to electrolyte (sodium, potassium, calcium) imbalance, to poor blood flow through the affected muscles. Nocturnal cramps tend to occur more often in older people. If lower levels of calcium are responsible, increasing the blood calcium by providing sufficient vitamin D should reduce or eliminate the cramps.
  Nocturnal cramps are a common occurrence in the late stages of pregnancy and can be very painful. It would be nice if these cramps were caused by something as simple as low vitamin D levels; however you have to have an extremely low 25-hydroxyvitamin D level (well under 10 ng/ml or 25 nmol/L) in order for your serum calcium levels to be low. When your vitamin D levels are over 10 ng/ml, taking more vitamin D doesn't alter your serum calcium levels until you develop the opposite problem of high serum calcium (hypercalcemia) from vitamin D toxicity (generally with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels greater than 100 ng/ml or 250 nmol/L). Although some small studies are being conducted to test whether vitamin D supplements can prevent nocturnal muscle cramps, I think this one is unlikely to pan out.