Posted on 11/23/2009 11:14:00 AM PST by decimon
Whomever ping.
i believe there was one awhile back. Although I can’t remember what it was about. Thanks for the post. Now that I live in the California sunshine I get massive amounts of D. However my doctor was concerned I got 95% from D and very little from nutritional sources. So she gave me a D supplement. It is always good to test to make sure one is getting amount D. Especially considering the impact if one does not.
Correction.
I take D-3 twice a day, totaling about 12,000 IUs or whatever. It sure seems to keep the colds and flu away. It’s getting too cold to sun on my deck, or spend a lot of time working outside, so the pills are going to have to do for now.
Yes.
Good luck on getting enough. i take 50,000 units twice a week and it barely creeps up (and is still way below normal). wonder why this massive D deficiency is occurring in both adults and kids (and don’t say lack of sun). my dr said that is not the cause.
Seriously, I am now advocating that patients get sun exposure - enough to get a mild sunburn - for three days prior to a surgical procedure. UVB sunscreens defeat the purpose (and the fun of running around naked outside).
I am now 75% convinced that supplemental (oral ingestion) of Vit D is good only for prevention of Rickets. All these other Vit D benefits are not being appreciated using oral ingested Vit D. Although there does not seem to be a "first pass" effect somehting is happening across the gut wall or in the kidney or liver such that Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is not getting to where it needs to be.
Probably a dozen just from me. ;-)
Now that I live in the California sunshine I get massive amounts of D.
Last year I would have agreed with that but not now.
From the NIH with my comment at the end:
"Sun exposure Most people meet their vitamin D needs through exposure to sunlight [5,31]. Ultraviolet (UV) B radiation with a wavelength of 290-315 nanometers penetrates uncovered skin and converts cutaneous 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3, which in turn becomes vitamin D3 [9,32,33]. Season, geographic latitude, time of day, cloud cover, smog, skin melanin content, and sunscreen are among the factors that affect UV radiation exposure and vitamin D synthesis [33]. The UV energy above 42 degrees north latitude (a line approximately between the northern border of California and Boston) is insufficient for cutaneous vitamin D synthesis from November through February [5]; in far northern latitudes, this reduced intensity lasts for up to 6 months. In the United States, latitudes below 34 degrees north (a line between Los Angeles and Columbia, South Carolina) allow for cutaneous production of vitamin D throughout the year [27]."
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
This requires some thought. Even in the southern states there must be some months when little vitamin D can be made from sunlight.
It’s been my understanding after lots of reading on this subject that it’s specifically D3 that is most advantageous in all these studies, although this article doesn’t seem to zero in on that.
My daughter was diagnosed with very low vitamin D levels last year. I was surprised because we live in California, and she goes outside for sports and for lunch every day it isn’t raining (which is most of the year).
We started supplementing her with 1000 units every day, but that didn’t make it go up much, so I upped it to 2000 units every day. She needs to be tested again.
After she was diagnosed, I tested my levels, and they were low. However, I’ve had an injured hip and I haven’t been outside much.
Please see the NIH info in post #10. According to that info, you can’t get much if any vitamin D from sunlight for much of the year.
Please see the NIH info in post #10.
Best keep a dermatologist on retainer.
“i take 50,000 units twice a week and it barely creeps up (and is still way below normal)”
For what it’s worth - I take 5000 i.u. D3 daily along with a fish oil gelcap and a 200 mg CoQ10 gelcap. I’ve been doing so for about a year and my level (last week) was 74.7 ng/ml (reference range = 32 - 100 ng/ml)
Shoulda gone for the supplements.
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