Viatamin D deficiency in African Americans.

This petition addresses the epidemic of chronic/severe vitamin D deficiency among African Americans in the United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43711-2004May20.html

Recent scientific studies have revealed that nearly 100% of African Americans are mildly to severely vitamin D deficient.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2009-04-19-your-health_N.htm

Chronic vitamin D deficiency leads to a wide range of serious and even deadly ill health effects/diseases which are listed below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D

These vitamin D deficiency disease rates are much higher in African Americans than Caucasian Americans.

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2009/07/scope-of-vitamin-d-deficiency-in.html

African Americans children and adults need 10-30 times the sun exposure in northern climates to produce the same amount of vitamin D as Caucasian Americans because of their darker skin pigmentation which was/is an evolutionary trait evolved in tropical climates where the sun is more intense.

If African Americans were move to tropical regions where they would be exposed to intense tropical sun they would need far less sunlight exposure to get adequate vitamin D production.

Human skin produces vitamin D only when exposed to sunlight.

The only other significant source of vitamin D in the human diet is fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D 

Many Americans spend very little if any time in the sun anymore because our lives are centered around computers, television, working inside and driving in cars.

This lack of sunlight as well as lack of fish in our diet is causing an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency in all Americans.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-13-vitamin-d-tests_N.htm

African Americans and their children are being hit especially hard by this epidemic because of their darker skin pigmentation.

Vitamin D deficiency, especially chronic vitamin D deficiency causes or increases the incidence of the following diseases:

high blood pressure,
heart disease,
arterial blood vessel clots and strokes,
cancer,
gum disease,
poor brain function,
multiple sclerosis,
Seasonal Affective Disorder (winter depression from lack of vitamin D from sunlight),
rickets (bone deformity and long bone growth stunting in children),
osteomalacia (bone thinning and weakness)
osteoporosis (reduced bone density which increases bone fractures,
diabetes,
autoimmune diseases,
less immunity to tuberculosis,
chronic pain disorders.

African Americans suffer and die from all these diseases at a much higher rate than Caucasian Americans, newly completed studies are revealing that this is primarily caused by vitamin D deficiency.

We the undersigned appeal to the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services, the World Health Organization and other worldwide public and private health organizations that advise on, monitor and regulate human health issues to address this epidemic, not only in the United States but also in Europe and worldwide where reduction of fish in the diet and lack of exposure to sunlight has increased with modernization/industrialization creating an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency.

Contact the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) on this issue at below links:

NAACP National Field Directors:

Stephanie Brown:

sbrown@naacpnet.org

Reverend Charles White:

cwhite@naacpnet.org

NAACP Bureaus:

hollywoodbureau@naacpnet.org

washingtonbureau@naacpnet.org