APHA Lists Vitamin D Deficiency as Top Public Health Issue

The American Public Health Association (APHA) recently adopted 12 new polices associated with public health issues, with vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency as a leading concern. APHA's new policies, approved during their 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego, seek to support the major public health concerns for both children and adults in the United States.

Researchers have estimated that nearly half (40-50 percent) of adults and more than 30 percent of children in the United States are at risk of vitamin D deficiency.(1) And, according to APHA, black Americans are at the highest risk for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiencies are also more common in those who are over the age of 50, get very little sun exposure, have lactose intolerance, are vegan, or infants who are fed only breast milk.

APHA's focus on vitamin D deficiency as a top public health issue is supported by other leading health care organizations. In the past year, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Dermatology have all issued position statements or communication efforts stressing the need for increased intake of vitamin D.

Bonnie - as a Master of Public Health and former member of the APHA, I have been critical about how they were so late to make major public health issues priorities. In this case, it is nice to see they are only a few years behind and not ten!