To support this suggestion, McCann and Ames explore three specific topics -- first, the biological functions of vitamin D relevant to human cognition and behavior; second, the effects of vitamin D deficiency on human cognition and behavior, and third, the activity of vitamin D "relative to the pro-inflammatory cytokine theory of cognitive/behavioral dysfunction" (146).
McCann and Ames then conclude that "there is ample biological evidence to suggest an important role for vitamin D in brain development and function;" however, the direct effect of vitamin D deficiency on cognition/behavior in humans "appears to be subtle" and current evidence "does not yet fully satisfy causal criteria" (155).
Taylor, S.N., et al. (Autumn 2006). "Vitamin D Status as Related to Race and Feeding Type in Pre-Term Infants." Breastfeeding Medicine. Vol. 1 no. 3: 156-63. As a leading member of the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, S.N. Taylor examines yet another aspect of vitamin...
Taylor's results showed that "black infants had a significantly lower level" of vitamin D as compared to white infants over a period of almost a month since delivery (157).
Taylor's conclusions are rather interesting, for he declares that the differences between black and white infants "were significant through the first 2 weeks after delivery" and that infants which received breast milk "did not have significantly worse" vitamin D deficiencies than those infants fed formula. Thus, Taylor argues that there does exist some type of correlation between race and feeding method when…
