Live data from Hacker News

The Big Vitamin D Mistake

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

361–370 of 459 posts

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#361
post #128
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Word of advice: don't take vitamins ADEK without advice from a physician for extended periods or in high doses. These are fat soluble so you can have too much of them.

This should be reiterated: Please consult a professional before drastically altering the chemical composition of your ephemeral body. I know it sounds downright crazy, but it's possible that someone who's studied medicine and practiced it for years, actually knows better than random anonymous forum users.

I had a friend 10 years ago, diagnosed with lupus (living in the NYC/Tri-state area). Her doctor told her, "Don't take supplements. Just eat a balance diet and you will be alright. Supplements interfere with your body's chemical balance." So patients have to read up on and talk with others to avoid quacks like that one.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#362
post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is similar to my lived experience. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's 3 years ago. I was lucky to find a great doctor that specialized in it. He put me on 15000 IU / day for 3 months because I was so severely low in addition to having high antibodies. Within 3 months my levels were so much better. I still take 10000 IU / day along with selenium, iron, fish oil and good diet/exercise and all my levels have been in…

Did you experience any other benefits from that regimen of supplements?

Yes it completely changed my entire well being. Muscle twitching stopped, major back aches and leg cramps went away, headaches went away, brain fog went away, concentration went up, sleep improved, skin improved. To be fair, I made other lifestyle changes too in addition to the regimen of supplements.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#363
post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup - it's a fat soluble vitamin - this is a very good point to bring up. I made the "taking it with my low fat meal of the day" (breakfast) and made a change to correct that.

I've been told I should be taking it in the morning though, because it can affect sleep if you take it in the evening - anyone know differently?

eat bacon.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#364
Interesting admission. There's been recognition of subclinical vitamin D deficiencies for years in the professional athlete community, a segment of the population at higher risk of bone and tissue disorders:

http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Abstract/2010/09000/High... http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/ijsnem.18....

There is no reason not to get tested given how easy it is to order online: https://www.accesalabs.com/Vitamin-D-Test

I've tried out a handful of supplements for Vitamin D but haven't landed on a good one. Has anyone tested, tried specific supplements, and then retested and documented results?

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#365
post #97

I have been taking 5000IU Vitamin D for the past 7 years, with a little more over the winter months. It's stupidly cheap, I get 360 5000IU capsules for $13, so it has cost me less than $100 over that period. Anecdotally, it was a game changer for me personally. I got less sick during the winter, and my overall wellbeing improved greatly. A word of advice, increase Vitamin K intake aswell. Vitamin D helps calcium abso…

Vitamin K is found in very high concentrations in almost any leafy green vegetable or tomatoes and countless other vegetables. You won't have any problem getting enough vitamin K. Just take half a pound of spinach and boil it, when you eat it, it'll be about the size of a medium bowl. That will be about 50 calories and contain 1200% of your daily vitamin K needed!!

>...Just take half a pound of spinach and boil it, when you eat it, it'll be about the size of a medium bowl. That will be about 50 calories and contain 1200% of your daily vitamin K needed!

It really isn't that simple. One issue is that it doesn't matter how much is in spinach if you don't absorb it.

>...Circulating phylloquinone levels after spinach with and without butter were substantially lower (7.5- and 24.3-fold respectively) than those after taking the pharmaceutical concentrate. Moreover, the absorption of phylloquinone from the vegetables was 1.5 times slower than from Konakion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8813897

And while those vegetables will get you some K1, they won't get you K2 which is important for how calcium is handled in the body.

>...We examined whether dietary intake of phylloquinone (vitamin K-1) and menaquinone (vitamin K-2) were related to aortic calcification and coronary heart disease (CHD) in the population-based Rotterdam Study.

>...The relative risk (RR) of CHD mortality was reduced in the mid and upper tertiles of dietary menaquinone compared to the lower tertile [RR = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.45, 1.17) and 0.43 (0.24, 0.77), respectively]. Intake of menaquinone was also inversely related to all-cause mortality [RR = 0.91 (0.75, 1.09) and 0.74 (0.59, 0.92), respectively] and severe aortic calcification [odds ratio of 0.71 (0.50, 1.00) and 0.48 (0.32, 0.71), respectively]. Phylloquinone intake was not related to any of the outcomes. These findings suggest that an adequate intake of menaquinone could be important for CHD prevention.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/11/3100.long

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#366
post #2

what is this saying in plain english? That we all need to take vitamin D supplements?

Summary is adults need at least 8000 IU of Vitamin D per day. This confirm what I have suspected since almost a decade. I have been taking 5k Vitamin D per day since one of my cousin had serious health issues because of low vitamin D for 3 years and as soon as she started having 5k IU per day, they disappeared within a month.

Has it had any effect on you?

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#367
post #261
post #156

Related to this topic, if you have IBS/IBD, some interesting research been coming out in the last couple of years indicating that low vitamin D may play a role in this issue as well. This [1] 2015 study found 82% of people with IBS had low vitamin D levels relative to 31% in the control group. This [2] 2016 one proved causation of vitamin D supplementation improving symptoms, by randomly splitting into two groups and…

Anecdotal: nothing helped my IBS. Dietary changes, exercise, nothing. Drs said nothing looked wrong. By the time I was 26, it was so bad I would stay home and not socialize often. I would need immodium like candy just to get through a social function. It was truly a nightmare. I was ready to give up. 4000 UI vitamin D a day, and about four weeks in it magically goes away 90%. I've gotten thanks from other people I pa…

A common type of IBS is actually caused by an autoimmune condition whereby the body begins to attack the protein vinculin instead of attacking camplobacter cdtb. There's a blood test you can now get which tell you if this is going on in your system.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NIH guys also did a study that said that even in tropical countries, Vitamin D absorption has fallen dramatically because of lifestyle changes. One of the probable factors is the lust for fair skin. I routinely see people covered from head to toe to help them stay fair skinned, even kids are sent to play covered in full sleeve clothing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3897581/

When the burn time is less than 10 minutes, you need to cover them up or have them play in the shade. The UV index for tomorrow is just shy of 14 and we are a month or two from the time of year when it’s highest, you would need medical treatment for a child who played in that and was uncovered all day. Related: I found the old measure (burn time) much easier to use than the new UV index, and while having it standard…

That UV index stuff is no joke. My girlfriend spent an hour "sunbathing" in the canary islands and came back with the most incredible sunburn I've ever seen. I'm mega paranoid (SPF 50 all the time in hot countries) and didn't notice anything damaging but she had to be covered in aloe vera creams to numb the pain.. it affected her sleep, it must have been unbearable.

Not sure what the health qualms are with lack of Vitamin D bit I'm certain I don't want to advocate in favour of potentially harming people as much as my girlfriend experienced.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#369
post #23

This supports my lived experience. Found to be incredibly low in vitamin D, and diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis. Doctor said to supplement with 2000 IU being the max per day. After seeing no improvement whatsoever in vitamin D levels, and after talking with others with the same issue, I self medicated to 10000 IU / day. Lo and behold my vitamin D levels went back up and my auto-antibodies went back down.

This is similar to my lived experience. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's 3 years ago. I was lucky to find a great doctor that specialized in it. He put me on 15000 IU / day for 3 months because I was so severely low in addition to having high antibodies. Within 3 months my levels were so much better. I still take 10000 IU / day along with selenium, iron, fish oil and good diet/exercise and all my levels have been in…

Selenium has done wonders for me too. It's sad that so many patients have to find this information on their own. Glad to hear your doc is on top of it.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#370
post #156

Related to this topic, if you have IBS/IBD, some interesting research been coming out in the last couple of years indicating that low vitamin D may play a role in this issue as well. This [1] 2015 study found 82% of people with IBS had low vitamin D levels relative to 31% in the control group. This [2] 2016 one proved causation of vitamin D supplementation improving symptoms, by randomly splitting into two groups and…

Anecdotal: I have Chrohns and take 2000 UI Vitamin D everyday. I've been prescribed the lowest dosage anti-inflammatory (Mesalamine) for years and rarely had a flare up. My Vitamin D blood tests always come back in the normal level.

What's 'normal' at your lab? My lab says 50 ng/ml is normal, but my experience with antibodies says it should be between 70 and 100 to see an effect.
Post reply on HN