万物生长靠太阳：维生素D与健康

Vitamin D deficiency rickets are prevalent in China. A tendency for children to stay indoors and watch TV or play on computer games increased prevalence rates of rickets in western country. Meanwhile, vitamin D insufficiency is also prevalent among adults. As adults'' bones are physically matured, vitamin D insufficiencies among adults are more difficult to be diagnosed, which leads to higher morbidity of various chronic diseases. This is resulted from the lack of prevalence of vitamin D science. Recently, nutrition science concerning vitamin D has developed rapidly. Vitamin D researches are reported almost every day in the world. The New York Time has ranked the contribution of vitamin D in health as ten of the greatest medical breakthroughs. Vitamin D not only builds strong bones, but also helps in preventing or controlling diseases such as diabetes, tumor, influenza, asthma, tuberculosis, and even heart disease. However, these scientific studies are reported only by academic researchers, ordinary people are not aware of these achievements yet and are less likely to benefit from these scientific researches. Our research group has studied vitamin D for nearly ten years, and discovered as well as confined a number of new functions of vitamin D in the sponsorship of national natural scientific foundation. We believe that it is of great significance to write a straightaway scientific reading to popularize the knowledge of vitamin D in order to benefit the public.

在我国，维生素D缺乏引起的佝偻病仍是婴幼儿常见病。近年来由于看电视、玩电脑游戏等室内活动增多，一些西方发达国家的佝偻病发病率也开始回升。同时，成年人维生素D缺乏也非常普遍。由于成年人骨发育已成熟，所以成年人维生素D缺乏更加隐匿，不易被发现，导致多种慢性病的发病率升高。这些现象与维生素D的知识没有得到普及有关。近年来，维生素D的营养保健科学飞速发展，全世界几乎每天都有维生素D的报道。《TIME》周刊将“维生素D对健康的贡献”列为2007年十大医学突破之一。维生素D缺乏不但可以引起儿童佝偻病，而且可以增加肿瘤、糖尿病、肺结核、流行性感冒、小儿哮喘等多种慢性病的发病概率。但这些报道多局限于学术研究层面，在普通民众中得不到普及，更不可能从中受益。申请者课题组在国家自然基金资助下进行了近十年的维生素D研究，发现并验证了多项维生素D的新功能。深感有必要写一本普通大众能看懂的科普作品来普及维生素D知识。

近年来，由于人类生活方式的变化，看电视、玩电脑游戏等室内活动增多，人们对阳光的逃避和防晒霜的过度使用以及普通群众不了解维生素D对人类健康的重要性，使维生素D缺乏或不足现象呈现全球流行趋势。维生素D缺乏被称为静悄悄的流行病，正在影响着人类的健康。《万物生长靠太阳：维生素D与健康》科普项目以通俗的语言，简明的事实，以科学为依据向普通民众讲述了什么是维生素D及其生理功能。维生素D 的发现和研究过程中的故事以及维生素D在生物进化过程中的重要作用，使人们认识到维生素D不是真正的维生素，而是一类激素。它不仅具有调节钙磷代谢的作用，而且在免疫调节和慢性病防治等方面的作用更加突出。这也说明维生素D在日常健康保健中的重要地位。在此基础上，本项目还介绍了维生素D不足或缺乏的现状和原因以及如何评估和判断自己的维生素D水平。同时，对我国和欧美等国家制定膳食中维生素D的摄入量进行了解读，以利于大家更好地理解和补充维生素D。书中对一些医学词汇及科学术语以知识点的形式加以注解，对与维生素D相关研究的事实以小故事的形式讲解，对重要的生活行为等健康问题以小贴士的形式加以强调。最后以常见问题及解答的形式更加明确地让读者了解维生素D的相关知识，增强广大民众了解维生素D在人类健康中的作用。