Raena Morgan: Hello I'm Raena Morgan and I'm visiting with Frank Murray, who is a health writer and an editor and he’s written many books. You have an upcoming Yes. It’s one of the most exciting that I written. I'm very pleased with it. It’s called Sunshine and Vitamin D. And many people are not getting enough vitamin D. It's, there’s very few vitamin D in foods, for example, unless you’re eating salmon, eel—and who eats eel—sardines, but love sardines. That's about the end. Of course, there’s 400 IU’s in milk. Raena Morgan: Okay. Frank Murray: But a lot of people don't drink milk. Teenage girls, in particular, are afraid of the milk sugar, and then people just are lactose intolerant, or for various reasons don’t drink milk. So those are the few sources of vitamin D in the food supply. You get vitamin D from the sun. The cholesterol on your skin converts the sun rays to vitamin D2 and that converts into vitamin D3. And it's a wonderful nutrient, as I found researching the book. First of all, it jump starts the pancreas to produce more insulin, but. I was amazed at the applications that vitamin D can prevent. Arteriosclerosis is one— various cancers, celiac disease. The risk goes on and on— all kinds of skin disorders, like psoriasis. Raena Morgan: That’s all vitamin D? Frank Murray: D, yes. This prevents these various problems. Lou Gehrig's disease, we often hear about. That's a terrible disease named after the baseball player. Raena Morgan: Right. Frank Murray: And they die very young, usually in their 30s. Vitamin D is very important for that situation. Asthma. A lot of children have asthma and vitamin D is very important for defending against asthma. Osteoporosis, did I mention? Raena Morgan: No. Frank Murray: Osteoporosis, any just incredible number of diseases that it's good for, and so. People—oh, the most, one of the most important is, is metabolizing calcium. Raena Morgan: Okay. Frank Murray: They’re sort of the duos that worked together. And the researchers are rather confused as to how much D and how much calcium. And usually it's 1:1, or 2:1. If you're getting 800 milligrams of calcium, you need 400 milligrams of vitamin D. But they’re still debating this, as explained in the book. These discussions are still ongoing but the important thing is to get the vitamin D. As there I report in the book, people in northern climates are usually not getting enough D for that reason I just mentioned—it’s not in food and so forth. In the United States, the parallels above the Texas panhandle, north of there, the sun rays are not as strong, obviously, as if you’re near the equator. So, you need to take a vitamin D supplement. Either because you're not getting it from the sun, or you’re not getting enough in food and so that's very important. Raena Morgan: Well, we look forward to that book, thank you. Frank Murray: Well, thank you.