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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)

#81

Post by ehnto »

arkitaip wrote: post #19
jgrahamc wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like your exposure to other people might have changed dramatically: working in an office full time -> remote work.

Probably. Or maybe a less stressful commute to work, no crazy office politics, a change in diet/exercise (because you now have time to do those things properly)... It's really difficult to accurately establish correlation let alone causality when it comes to changes in one's health.

Definitely! So many things changed when I went remote that I would never suggest it's entirely down to sun exposure. It would be impossible to say definitively.

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

#82

Post by v77 »

kaztal wrote: post #76
thinkingemote wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not possible to get any vitamin D from the sun in the winter in these high latitudes even if you outside in the sun all day with short sleeves. The angle of the sun is too low. We are just beginning march now, so the sun should soon be beginning to be high enough to give some benefit.

Sweden here. My partner is a doctor, she claims with assurance that you can't make a carpet decision like this. People who come from norther latitudes are used to the lack of sun, and their bodies don't need more vitamin D than is provided. Depending on your heritage, ymvm.

Most people in North America are not from northern latitudes genetically unless we are talking about the UK and Germany and even then..

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

#83

Post by elric »

neuronic wrote: post #69

May I mention the following research on NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28768407 I will simply quote from the abstract: > This could lead to a recommendation of 1000 IU for children 1 year of age, and around 8000 IU for young adults and thereafter. Actions are urgently needed to protect the global population from vitamin D deficiency. Essentially, the recommended intake that pharmacists and labels tell you…

I'll counter that with a quick quote from wikipedia:

> Recommendations stemming for a single standard for optimal serum 25(OH)D concentrations ignores the differing genetically mediated determinates of serum 25(OH)D and may result in ethnic minorities in Western countries having the results of studies done with subjects not representative of ethnic diversity applied to them. Vitamin D levels vary for genetically mediated reasons as well as environmental ones.

Basically, rarely is anything simple enough for a "one size fits all" approach.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D

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

#84

Post by lotsofpulp »

leto_ii wrote: post #64
lotsofpulp wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There is science around this though. If you take a vitamin D blood test that shows low levels a doctor will prescribe a certain dose. Vitamin D is scientifically known to be important for humans, it's not just my opinion.

That may be true, but it’s not the same as a broken leg and cast situation, and you need a well controlled randomized trial to say things about cause and effect for non observable phenomena such as the effects of vitamin supplements.

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

#85

Post by lmedinas »

bad_user wrote: post #36

I suffer from allergic asthma and tend to catch colds quite frequently. This year I started supplementing with 2000 UI of vitamin D daily and it's as if my immune system started functioning normally, in the last 10 months I only caught a really light cold that I could barely notice, whereas before this the winter season alone would bring 2 severe cold or flu episodes that would knock me down for several days. I can't…

I suffer from similar issues with allergic asthma, which type of allergy and in which time of the year do you suffer more ?

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

#86

Post by Krasnol »

kbrisso wrote: post #75

Magnesium, vitamin D, zinc and mk-7 vitamin k-2 are my daily vitamins coupled with a lot of exercise. I can't say when the last time I was sick.

I take not vitamin supplements at all, drink my Earl Gray with citron and sugar and spend most days of the year in buildings in front of a computer while travelling between them using public transportation. I don't even get enough sleep.

I don't get sick while people around me do.

There is no one solution fits them all.

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

#87

Post by PaulRobinson »

bad_user wrote: post #36

I suffer from allergic asthma and tend to catch colds quite frequently. This year I started supplementing with 2000 UI of vitamin D daily and it's as if my immune system started functioning normally, in the last 10 months I only caught a really light cold that I could barely notice, whereas before this the winter season alone would bring 2 severe cold or flu episodes that would knock me down for several days. I can't…

I have a really funky immune system. I have psoriasis for starters, and in 2017 I had to have neurosurgery to remove strep B from my spinal column and learn how to walk again because my immune system hadn't been able to fight it off.

I have reduced my alcohol intake, lost weight and have been taken medication that isn't an immunosuppressant (acetretin), for the psoriasis, along with the NHS giving me a free flu jab as I'm in an at-risk group despite being only in my early 40s.

I was taking vitamin D back in 2017 after it was recommended to me by one of the doctors, but slowly got out of the habit, and I'm now wondering if it can help with some of this. I have a jar of 3000 UI knocking around, so I'll start taking it today, and see how this goes - I have an outward looking signal on how well my immune system is behaving based just on my skin condition, which I've lived with for years so should be a good indicator of whether it improves or not.

If you want to know more, just ping me via the channels mentioned in my profile and I'll happily update in a month or two - let's see if I can provide a sense of it!

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

#88

Post by BurningFrog »

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…

This is one reason arctic people eat so much (vitamin D rich) fish. The other is of course that a plant based diet is impractical when plants are only alive half the year.

White skin itself is an evolutionary adaption for getting enough vitamin D outside of tropical Africa. The extreme "melanin-anemic" blond & blue eyes look of Scandinavia is thought to be because it has a uniquely warm weather for the latitude, which make it possible to grow (vitamin D poor) grains there. That supports by far the biggest population density that far north, but also induces extreme whiteness to soak up every possible sun ray.

Conversely, if you have dark skin and live in the non tropics, you absolutely need to monitor and enhance your vitamin D intake. Sadly, doctors don't seem to bring this up with dark skinned patients, at least from what I hear from my (OK, not that many...) black friends.

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

#89

Post by BurningFrog »

kaztal wrote: post #76
thinkingemote wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not possible to get any vitamin D from the sun in the winter in these high latitudes even if you outside in the sun all day with short sleeves. The angle of the sun is too low. We are just beginning march now, so the sun should soon be beginning to be high enough to give some benefit.

Sweden here. My partner is a doctor, she claims with assurance that you can't make a carpet decision like this. People who come from norther latitudes are used to the lack of sun, and their bodies don't need more vitamin D than is provided. Depending on your heritage, ymvm.

Swedes need as much vitamin D as anyone, but usually get it from their diet. Herring is a vitamin D gold mine, for example :)

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

#90

Post by jcampbell1 »

elric wrote: post #66
netheril96 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The body can produce up to 25000 IU/day in very sunny places on very pale skin. 10000IU/day is considered the safe upper limit. Whether or not that's a good idea long term is a different matter.

The body can produce over 250,000 IU in short order delivered as 25,000 IU a day as a controlled release through the skin. If you want this, the best idea is to spend 5 minutes in your underwear in a tanning bed. Dietary supplements can work, but it takes months.
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