Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia • Hacker News Board

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#61

Post by abecedarius » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 12:28 AM UTC

floxy wrote: post #32

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get your APOE ε4 status, which is a marker for Alzheimer's and dementia, from any DNA test like 23AndMe. To protect your privacy: use a fake name, new email address, and get a temporary UPS Store mailbox address for the kit to be mailed to. Use a Visa gift card for payment. Yes, it can be done and it works.

>To protect your privacy... You can't really expect too much privacy with a DNA type test, right? Since it knows all of your relatives who have also (or will ever) taken the test.

It ought to be enough for the company to make a credible promise to send you the data and delete their copy. Is there really nobody who does that?

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#62

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 12:32 AM UTC

Aldipower wrote: post #33

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #17

Like all studies into Vitamin D supplementation that aren’t randomized controlled trials, it’s very hard to tell apart cause and effect. Vitamin D naturally occurs when people go outside and get exposed to the sun, and going outside is correlated with all sorts of healthy traits. Also, publicity of the association of vitamin D with good health has led people who care about their health or who have access to good medi…

> Vitamin D naturally occurs when people go outside and get exposed to the sun, ... Not sure where you are living? If I go outside in winter (+2 months around) I need gloves, cap, scarf. Literally only a little portion of my face gets some sunlight until 5pm. Then it is dark! I live in Germany! So, this isn't an argument for a lot of people in cold countries or dark countries. Mostly both.. Exposing to the sun is ver…

Even if there is no sunlight for half the year (and this completely equalizes vitamin D levels in winter), various confounders of sun exposure will still affect a study on vitamin D levels, assuming the study collects some samples during the period when there is sunlight and vitamin D levels vary.

Also, the confounders of vitamin D supplementation I mentioned would apply even if you never get exposed to the sun.

I think your comment is assuming the vitamin D supplementation is effective, when that hasn’t really been established. We don’t even know that vitamin D has a direct effect on most of the correlated health measures.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#63

Post by Ezku » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 12:34 AM UTC

underdeserver wrote: post #19

I dove deep into Vitamin D supplementation research during Covid. The tl;dr as I understand it - and bear in mind I'm a layperson in this - is that while Vitamin D deficiency correlates to many bad things, taking Vitamin D doesn't help . It does raise your level as it shows up in blood tests, but the bad things still happen. Except for some very specific issues. I have a mild deficiency and used to take Vitamin D. I…

FWIW, I think the article agrees.

> vitamin D effects were significantly greater in females versus males and in normal cognition versus mild cognitive impairment.

> vitamin D effects were significantly greater in apolipoprotein E ε4 non-carriers versus carriers.

Translation: If you’re already cognitively impaired, vitamin D can do little to fix that. Same goes for if you’re at high risk for Alzheimer’s genetically (ApoEε4), or generally at higher risk for neurovascular diseases (male).

However, as I’m sure others in the comments will point out — supplementing vitamin D will at least ensure you’re not getting cognitive impairment due to vitamin D deficiency, which seems to absolutely be a thing.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#64

Post by krrrh » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 12:35 AM UTC

steelframe wrote: post #27

underdeserver wrote: post #19

I dove deep into Vitamin D supplementation research during Covid. The tl;dr as I understand it - and bear in mind I'm a layperson in this - is that while Vitamin D deficiency correlates to many bad things, taking Vitamin D doesn't help . It does raise your level as it shows up in blood tests, but the bad things still happen. Except for some very specific issues. I have a mild deficiency and used to take Vitamin D. I…

Thank you for this. I've heard that it's not so much the Vitamin D itself that may be beneficial, but rather the process whereby Vitamin D gets produced that results in the benefits. The tapestry of cells in our bodies has evolved over millions of years to function in a way that is most favorable to propagating themselves in the context of the environment in which they underwent natural selection. It seems we've remo…

For those of us with winter to deal with the better approach might turn out to be judicious use of UV tanning beds.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#65

Post by moremetadata » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 12:55 AM UTC

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #17

Like all studies into Vitamin D supplementation that aren’t randomized controlled trials, it’s very hard to tell apart cause and effect. Vitamin D naturally occurs when people go outside and get exposed to the sun, and going outside is correlated with all sorts of healthy traits. Also, publicity of the association of vitamin D with good health has led people who care about their health or who have access to good medi…

>Vitamin D naturally occurs when people go outside and get exposed to the sun, and going outside is correlated with all sorts of healthy traits.

And also increases the risk of skin cancer and Parkinson's!

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#66

Post by navigate8310 » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 1:04 AM UTC

spacephysics wrote: post #24

I’ll try to get 15-30 min of sun exposure without sun screen in the warmer months each day. Feel immensely better during then, to a point where I’ve seriously considered moving somewhere warmer without real winter months.

Is UV the sole reason for the generation of Vitamin D?

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#67

Post by ebisoka » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 1:04 AM UTC

underdeserver wrote: post #19

I dove deep into Vitamin D supplementation research during Covid. The tl;dr as I understand it - and bear in mind I'm a layperson in this - is that while Vitamin D deficiency correlates to many bad things, taking Vitamin D doesn't help . It does raise your level as it shows up in blood tests, but the bad things still happen. Except for some very specific issues. I have a mild deficiency and used to take Vitamin D. I…

[dead]

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#68

Post by crazygringo » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 1:08 AM UTC

tedunangst wrote: post #42

Aldipower wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vitamin D naturally occurs when people go outside and get exposed to the sun, ... Not sure where you are living? If I go outside in winter (+2 months around) I need gloves, cap, scarf. Literally only a little portion of my face gets some sunlight until 5pm. Then it is dark! I live in Germany! So, this isn't an argument for a lot of people in cold countries or dark countries. Mostly both.. Exposing to the sun is ver…

It's hard to find good answers on actual timelines, but vitamin D is fat soluble and you don't become insufficient after just a week of sitting in the dark.

You sure do by February or March though, if the last time you spent an afternoon at the park (or the beach) was late August.

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#69

Post by moffkalast » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 1:10 AM UTC

beardface wrote: post #10

CharlesW wrote: post #3

Hey people who follow the science: As an “indoor human”, how much should I be taking? (TIA!)

I would advise taking a K2 MK7 supplement with D3, or get a supplement that contains both. Personally, I take one capsule a day that contains both 3000IU of D3 and 100μg of K2 MK7. D3 by itself can cause high calcium levels, to the point of toxicity in very high doses. The K2 moves the calcium from the blood to bones.

Can't we just get D3 without calcium?

Re: Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia

#70

Post by GoToRO » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 1:10 AM UTC

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #38

GoToRO wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not science person but I took some and I was too sleepy, all day. Also there are about 4-5 hours until it promotes the production of melatonin and so you have to time it right. Also it is fat soluble, you need to take it with your (fat?) meal.

Easiest to just take it in the form of fish oil capsules. Though you can't take larger doses like this, because fish oil also contains vitamin A which can be toxic in higher doses.

What problem is it solving? curious.

later edit: ahh, oil, fat :)