Vitamin D presented by Professor Rebecca Mason
Professor Rebecca Mason provides a comprehensive and clinically relevant update on vitamin D, from physiology and sources through to supplementation, fracture prevention and emerging non-musculoskeletal evidence. She explains the interpretation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, target levels, groups at risk of deficiency, dosing, monitoring and the preference for daily rather than large intermittent doses. Rebecca also talks about vitamin D within the broader context of bone health, highlighting the importance of adequate calcium, protein and resistance exercise. She describes the emerging evidence of vitamin D in relation to autoimmune disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and the possibility of vitamin D production by the gut microbiome.
Learn about:
- How to interpret vitamin D status, identify people at increased risk of deficiency, and understand the contribution of sunlight, skin type, season and dietary sources.
- How to apply vitamin D supplementation in practice, including dosing, monitoring, daily versus intermittent supplementation and the importance of adequate calcium intake.
- How calcifediol differs from cholecalciferol, and when its greater potency and more rapid correction of vitamin D deficiency may make it useful, particularly in people with malabsorption.
Professor Rebecca Mason AM is a medical practitioner and scientist with expertise in vitamin D. Her publications cover basic physiology of vitamin D, work on assays, studies on protection from UV damage as well as epidemiological analyses of determinants of vitamin D status. This expertise has led to her key involvement in the Cancer Council’s first policy statement on Risks and Benefits of Sunlight Exposure and on every subsequent working group on this topic, including the most recent on sun protection for people with various risk of skin cancer. Prof Mason served on the NHMRC working group which developed guidelines for Prevention & Management of Melanoma. Prof Mason contributed to the Vitamin D position statements for 2005 and 2012 (group leader) and the Vitamin D position for pregnancy, infants and children (2013). She has more than 240 research publications, over 12,000 citations, an award from the International Vitamin D Workshops for “career contributions to vitamin D research” as well as the ANZ Bone and Mineral Society Career Achievement Award for 2022. As a board member of Osteoporosis Australia, now Healthy Bones Australia, from 2002 – 2022, Prof Mason helped to craft preventative health messages on healthy bones and vitamin D.
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