Posted by JLx on November 1, 2004, at 17:27:18
I thought others might be interested in this article about Vitamin D and depression: http://www.cholecalciferol-council.com/major_depression.htm and this one too: http://www.cholecalciferol-council.com/vitamin_D_and_mental_illness.htm
It seems there's a seachange going on among Vitamin D specialists where the usual recommended amount of 400 IU per day, or 800 IU for certain problems like osteoporosis is considered very inadequate. From sunlight we get about 10,000-20,000 IU of Vit D in 30 minutes of full body exposure (Caucasian) with our skin automatically preventing overdose with continued exposure. (Darker skinned people need more time.) Dietary and supplemental Vit D in the amounts we've been told (400-800 IU) may not increase measurable Vit D. To be sure it needs to be tested, and under a doctor's supervision daily doses might be administered up to 10,000 IU.
The NIH recommendations http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp are much more conservative than "The Vitamin D Council" which seems to exist of one gadfly doctor (psychiatrist) and 4 unnamed others. This doesn't mean he's wrong; he certainly has the links to back up his assertions.
NIH notes that sunlight and diet is unlikely to cause toxicity and it is "much more likely to occur from high intakes of vitamin D in supplements. The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has set the tolerable upper intake level (UL) for vitamin D at 25 μg (1,000 IU) for infants up to 12 months of age and 50 μg (2,000 IU) for children, adults, pregnant, and lactating women [4]. Long term intakes above the UL increase the risk of adverse health effects."
1,000 for infants but only 2,000 for children AND adults? That seems kind of unusual when you consider there's a big difference between a 30 pound three year old and a 230 pound adult.
This article about treatment says: http://www.cholecalciferol-council.com/Vitamind_and_treatment.htm
"We predict the future recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin D3 (note, an RDA does not exist yet for vitamin D), for otherwise healthy people, will be at least 1000 IU/day (in the new official units for vitamins, this translates to 25 micrograms/day). This amount is already the consensus of nutrition experts in the field of osteoporosis and vitamin D. Such recommendations only apply to healthy people. If you have vitamin D deficiency or the diseases of VDDS, you need to be under the care of a physician.
We predict that treatment with physiological doses of vitamin D (around 75 ug or 3,000 IU/day from all sources, including sun, food and supplements) with periodic monitoring of 25(OH)D and calcium levels will become routine. There is reason to think it will help several VDDS (osteoporosis, heart disease, hyperparathyroidism, and hypertension), and there is reason to be hope it will help others (autoimmune diseases, diabetes, cancer, myopathy, depression, or chronic pain)."
Food sources are quite poor for Vit. D with the exception of cold water fish like salmon. But I read in one of the articles I've been reviewing that that's if you eat the skin and certain areas around the fins and tales. Well, who eats the skin?
Dr. Mercola has been banging this drum for a couple years now and these are some of the more interesting articles on his site:
Milk Not Useful in Raising Your Vitamin D Levels http://www.mercola.com/2002/jul/6/vitamin_d.htm
Valuable Insights Into the Importance of Vitamin D and Sun http://www.mercola.com/2004/apr/3/vitamin_d_grant.htm
Vitamin D Lowers Inflammation http://www.mercola.com/2004/feb/28/vitamin_d.htm
Vitamin D Deficiency is Major Health Risk http://www.mercola.com/2004/jun/12/vitamin_d.htm
Measuring Your Vitamin D Levels: Your Most Important Blood Test? http://www.mercola.com/2004/jul/3/vitamin_d_levels.htm
Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/23/vitamin_d_deficiency.htm
RDAs of Vitamin D Far Too Low http://www.mercola.com/2003/jan/11/vitamin_d.htm
How Much Vitamin D is Too Much? Take This Vitamin D Quiz to Find Out! http://www.mercola.com/2003/dec/27/vitamin_d_quiz.htm
One of the sites he links to is this one, http://sunlightandvitamind.com/ which has the same old advice "don't exceed 800 IU" in supplementation without a doctor's counsel. She warns, "Excess D may not show up in elevated 25(OH)D until as long as 2-3 years after starting an excessive dose." (25 (OH)D is the cumbersome name of the D level test.) She says,
"Every body needs sunlight and vitamin D. Deficiency or insufficiency has been associated with:
adrenal insufficiency
Alzheimer's
allergy
autoimmune disorders
cancers of the colon, breast, skin and prostate
depression
diabetes, Type 1 and 2
gluten intolerance
heart disease
heavy metal toxicity
hypertension
infertility
learning disorders
lectin intolerance
misaligned teeth and cavities
myopia
obesity
osteomalacia
osteoporosis
Parkinson's
PMS
psoriasis
rickets
seasonal affective disorder
Syndrome X
use of corticosteroids and more..."Ditto for the Linus Pauling Institute on the conservative advice: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminD/ Of course, the institute only recommends 400 mg of Vit C these days. Ol' Linus must be rolling in his grave!
One little wrinkle to this debate is that apparently the form of Vit D that the toxicity warning studies are derived from is Vit. D2, ergocalciferol. The preferred form is cholecalciferol, D3 as this is what the body makes through the skin.
Check out the disease correlation with sunlight and geography in these maps: http://www.sunarc.org/
Here's an article by someone who had some success with Vit D for CFS. He said that it along with magnesium cured his sciatica, among other things: http://www.cfs-recovery.org/vitamin_d_recovery.htm#Intro He experimented with fish oil and recommends against it, probably due to the high Vit A content. He also advises a gradual step up.
Mercola notes there's a low Vit A cod liver oil from Carlsons, but I notice, even on the Carlson's site, there's no exact description of how much Vit A and D. http://www.mercola.com/forms/carlsons.htm http://www.carlsonlabs.com/product_detail.phtml?prodid=f1300883&PHPSESSID=df056fb497bbe46b18644ee45f824363
He has another product listed that seems like it would be the better way to go: Bio-D-Mulsion (Emulsified Vitamin D): http://www.mercola.com/forms/vitamind.htm
My understanding is that Vit D can be stored in fat, and used up when we're not getting it directly. But, ok, say we're getting 10,000 - 20,000 IU a day per sunlight for months, as people who work outside or live in equatorial climates do. In fact, they've done studies on lifeguards and they do have more Vit D in their blood. If this day after day exposure isn't toxic, even though it presumably just builds up, then why is supplemental Vit D of concern if it's the same kind the body makes?? Or is it different somehow?
I'm thinking I will try the 2000 IU a day limit that the NIH says is the safe upper limit. But from what I read, it still may be too little to really turn things around if there's a deficiency. I can't afford the doctor visit and test even if I could find a doc who would do it. Mercola, btw, says that 99% of the people in his clinic that he's tested, and he tests everyone who comes in, have been low. This is interesting because he's in a suburb of Chicago that I'm guessing attracts the lounge-by-the-pool, weekends-on-the-boat summer crowd. He didn't give the results of after-summer testing, but this seems to indicate anyway that the summer levels don't last long.
Well, that was certainly longwinded, I hope someone else finds it as interesting! ;)
JL
poster:JLx
thread:410247
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20041022/msgs/410247.html