This was a report on a new study of vitamin D levels in children.
It fell short because it:
There was no discussion about the costs of multivitamins or that nearly all milk sold is vitamin D fortified. However, since we can assume that many people know these ballpark costs, we’ll rule this as not applicable.
The story did not detail the benefits associated with increased vitamin D intake or sunshine exposure. The segment could have included a brief statement about the health benefits of treating low vitamin D levels to decrease the incidence of rickets and osteomalacia.
There was no mention of the fact that excessive intake of vitamin D can result in harms (including death).
There was no evaluation of the evidence. It is important to be aware that this information is from observational studies and therefore further study is needed to clarify the cause(s) of the low levels of vitamin D observed and to determine what – if any – link exists between the diseases mentioned and levels of circulating vitamin D.
Low vitamin D level is not a disease. The list of conditions which the stoory linked to lower vitamin D status are common and can be caused by many other things as well. Subtle though this may have been (and we didn’t think it was very subtle), people don’t constantly need to be hounded that they are deficient in this and should be taking pills or supplements for that. That is disease mongering.
The segment only includes the perspective of one of the study authors. Vitamin D experts are not difficult to find, nor are pediatricians who know something about vitamin D needs. A single source story is not a good idea in health stories.
The segment briefly mentioned multivitamins, fortified foods, and sunlight exposure. Not much detail, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this one.
This segment makes it sound so simple – Dr. Synderman say ‘It means getting out in the sunshine for about 10 to 15 minutes a day without sunscreen.’ This statement is unfortunately woefully incomplete, rendering it inaccurate. The capacity to derive vitamin D from sunlight depends on the amount of skin exposed, race, latitude, and time of year. 10 minutes at the equator in June is very different than 10 minutes in Boston in November.
The piece also contained a recommendation about use of a multivitamin and the availability of vitamin D in fortified milk, so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
No claims were made about sun exposure or supplementation being novel to prevent inadequate vitamin D levels.
Does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.
Systematic, Criteria-Driven
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
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