Vitamin D

In Vitamin D: Physiology, Molecular Biology, and Clinical Applications, Second Edition, leading researchers provide a comprehensive, highly readable overview of the biological functions and clinical applications of vitamin D and its metabolites. Topics range from the most recent recommendations for vitamin D intake to new approaches for the treatment and prevention of vitamin D deficiency and the development of active vitamin D drugs to treat psoriasis and cancer. The book demonstrates the significant role that vitamin D has in maintaining good bone health and the prevention of osteoporosis, an important health problem for adults over the age of fifty. In addition, it authoritatively reviews the relationship between sunlight exposure, vitamin D, and increased risk of colon and breast cancer; how vitamin D is made in the skin; and the sequence of events that leads to its activation by the kidney. Also examined are the biological functions of 1,25-dihydrovitamin D3 on the intestine and bone, as well as other tissues, such as skin, the immune system, prostate, and breast, and vitamin D's molecular mechanism of action on the cell membrane and nucleus.

The first edition of Vitamin D: Physiology, Molecular Biology and Clinical Applications was the benchmark in the field when published in 1999. This new and expanded volume continues to include extensive, in-depth chapters covering the most important aspects of the complex interactions between vitamin D and other dietary components, the ongoing debate concerning the best indicator of optimal vitamin D status and its nutrient requirements, and the impact of less than optimal status on disease risk. Vitamin D: Physiology, Molecular Biology, and Clinical Applications, Second Edition is designed and organized not only to be an up-to-date review on the subject, but also to provide medical students, graduate students, health care professionals and even the lay public with a reference source for the most up-to-date information about the vitamin D deficiency pandemic and its clinical implications for health and disease.

From the reviews of the second edition:

“This comprehensive book covers everything that is currently known about Vitamin D. It discusses topics ranging from the molecular biology of vitamin D and its role in human physiology to its role in health and disease. … an extremely wide audience would find it useful: graduate students, medical students, healthcare professionals, nutritionists, and the lay public. … The book reads consistently and easily from cover to cover, making it accessible to both scientists and nonscientists.” (Heather Huang, Doody’s Review Service, August, 2010)

“This valuable and comprehensive monograph is divided in seven parts dealing with introduction and basic biology … . This monograph contains numerous instructive figures, schemes and microphotos which help to understand sophisticated biological and technical processes representing the contemporaneous armament being used in this newly and rapidly development field of diabetology.” (Endocrine Regulations, Fall, 2010)