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Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

bmj.com

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Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#51

Post by ucha »

mherdeg wrote: post #38

As a layperson it feels to me like research in the "megadose on vitamins to prevent illness" area is kind of tainted by the legacy of Linus Pauling, who was no doubt a genius in his fields and whose published literature advocated the position that vitamin C megadose would reduce cancer deaths by 75% ( https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-vitam... ). I guess we know how to avoid the trouble -- make h…

You can't really megadose on Vitamin D because like most liposoluble vitamins, they are hepatotoxic at large doses.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#52

Post by leto_ii »

hannob wrote: post #44
leto_ii wrote: post #21

I can say from my own experience that the lack of vitamin D can have a significant impact on both mind and body. I suspect that essentially all people living at relatively northern latitudes have some sort of vitamin D deficiency. From what I know you need to have your face and arms exposed to direct sunshine for at least 15 minutes/day to keep healthy vitamin D levels in the body. Good luck with that in the European…

> I can say from my own experience that the lack of vitamin D can have a significant impact on both mind and body. No you can't. That's not how this works.

> No you can't.

Yes I can :D

While my experience is obviously not definitive scientific proof it can still bring some value.

To give you a more simple example: when I broke my leg I went to the doctor's and put it in a cast. That helped me tremendously. Is that a well designed randomized controlled trial? No. Is it good advice to anybody with a broken leg? I would say so.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#53

Post by darkerside »

dtjohnnyb wrote: post #16
darkerside wrote: post #12

I've been wondering why it is that virus infections are supposed to "disappear" in the summer. Obviously the viruses don't actually go anywhere, so I would expect people to get sick year round. Maybe immunity boosting from Vitamin D could be part of the answer.

That is one hypothesis, though there are a lot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flu_season#Cause

Thanks, this one actually sounds plausible

Research done by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in 2008 found that the influenza virus has a "butter-like coating". The coating melts when it enters the respiratory tract. In the winter, the coating becomes a hardened shell; therefore, it can survive in the cold weather similar to a spore. In the summer, the coating melts before the virus reaches the respiratory tract.[8]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#54

Post by hannob »

Please note that this is a bit older (2017).

As I personally have a cold quite often I was curious to look into this a bit. Around the same time another metaanalysis was published with a similar question [1], but quite different results (i.e. Vitamin D is unlikely to help).

Here's [2] an (unfortunately only german) article by an austrian webpage associated with the cochrane collaboration (i.e. that should be considered a relatively trustworthy source) that explains this difference due to the fact that the BMJ metaanalysis included many low quality studies that were excluded in the other metaanalysis. This is an indication that this is might be not a real effect, but an artifact of the low quality evidence this analysis is based on.

tl;dr I won't buy Vitamin D supplements.

[1] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

[2] https://www.medizin-transparent.at/vitamin-d-und-das-immunsy...

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#55

Post by leto_ii »

_d03 wrote: post #49
leto_ii wrote: post #21

I can say from my own experience that the lack of vitamin D can have a significant impact on both mind and body. I suspect that essentially all people living at relatively northern latitudes have some sort of vitamin D deficiency. From what I know you need to have your face and arms exposed to direct sunshine for at least 15 minutes/day to keep healthy vitamin D levels in the body. Good luck with that in the European…

What about DHA/EPA? Iodine and vitamin B1? Our modern diets could cause further nutritional deficiencies. I doubt that many people in the West eat fish regularly or supplement with algae oil due to the conveniences of processed food. Same with iodine. Wheat germs have the highest concentrations in vitamin B1, but whole grains in general (rolled oats etc.) are good so you should probably cut the processed food out as…

It can be that there are other hidden deficiencies. Vitamin D was the most surprising for me though because I wasn't aware that you can't really find it in food and that it's only synthesized in the skin in the presence of UV rays.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#56

Post by netheril96 »

TacoToni wrote: post #41
leto_ii wrote: post #21

I can say from my own experience that the lack of vitamin D can have a significant impact on both mind and body. I suspect that essentially all people living at relatively northern latitudes have some sort of vitamin D deficiency. From what I know you need to have your face and arms exposed to direct sunshine for at least 15 minutes/day to keep healthy vitamin D levels in the body. Good luck with that in the European…

getting my blood panel ran and finding out i was deficient in Vitamin D changed my life for the better once i start daily supplementation of Vitamin D3 (5000 IU). I even live in Florida, but working in an office all day doesn't help. Now that my levels are good, i feel as if my memory is far better and i dont feel tired all the time.

The FDA's recommendation for Vitamin D daily value is 400 IU. 5000 IU seems extremely and poisonous.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#57

Post by speakeron »

leto_ii wrote: post #47
TacoToni wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

getting my blood panel ran and finding out i was deficient in Vitamin D changed my life for the better once i start daily supplementation of Vitamin D3 (5000 IU). I even live in Florida, but working in an office all day doesn't help. Now that my levels are good, i feel as if my memory is far better and i dont feel tired all the time.

> i feel as if my memory is far better and i dont feel tired all the time. I agree. Don't overdo it though, 5000 IU daily seems a bit much :) I live in Amsterdam and take 2000.

I take about 5000 IU daily (with one or two days off every 10 days or so). I get tested regularly and measure at the top of the lab's 'normal range' (200 nmol/l). I also take vitamin K (especially K2).

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#58

Post by anamexis »

netheril96 wrote: post #56
TacoToni wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

getting my blood panel ran and finding out i was deficient in Vitamin D changed my life for the better once i start daily supplementation of Vitamin D3 (5000 IU). I even live in Florida, but working in an office all day doesn't help. Now that my levels are good, i feel as if my memory is far better and i dont feel tired all the time.

The FDA's recommendation for Vitamin D daily value is 400 IU. 5000 IU seems extremely and poisonous.

My MD prescribed me 5000 IU / day after a blood panel came back with me on the low end of healthy.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#59

Post by dr_coffee »

_d03 wrote: post #49
leto_ii wrote: post #21

I can say from my own experience that the lack of vitamin D can have a significant impact on both mind and body. I suspect that essentially all people living at relatively northern latitudes have some sort of vitamin D deficiency. From what I know you need to have your face and arms exposed to direct sunshine for at least 15 minutes/day to keep healthy vitamin D levels in the body. Good luck with that in the European…

What about DHA/EPA? Iodine and vitamin B1? Our modern diets could cause further nutritional deficiencies. I doubt that many people in the West eat fish regularly or supplement with algae oil due to the conveniences of processed food. Same with iodine. Wheat germs have the highest concentrations in vitamin B1, but whole grains in general (rolled oats etc.) are good so you should probably cut the processed food out as…

True iodine deficiency is quite rare in the west as many table salts are fortified with iodine. It is extremely uncommon to see people with Goiter in the US. The same goes for thiamine/B1 deficiency which used to cause cardiovascular and neurological disease in alcoholics, but is now very rare becuse many pastas/breads/cereals are fortified with B1.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections (2017)

#60

Post by lotsofpulp »

leto_ii wrote: post #52
hannob wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can say from my own experience that the lack of vitamin D can have a significant impact on both mind and body. No you can't. That's not how this works.

> No you can't. Yes I can :D While my experience is obviously not definitive scientific proof it can still bring some value. To give you a more simple example: when I broke my leg I went to the doctor's and put it in a cast. That helped me tremendously. Is that a well designed randomized controlled trial? No. Is it good advice to anybody with a broken leg? I would say so.

A cast for a broken leg is not comparable to concluding cause and effect with a vitamin supplement. Vitamin supplement quality, absorption rate, measurement accuracy, etc are all difficult to pin down.
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