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How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

121–130 of 149 posts

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#121
post #87
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble with Vitamin D is afaik, as with some other vitamins, that it is fat-soluble rather than water-soluble. So the excess of the Vitamin won't be flushed out through the urine - but rather accumulates in the fat. At some point this accumulation may lead to toxicity ("Hypervitaminosis D" [1]). Personally, I dose 4000-5000 IU D3+K2 in the darker seasons and that has been working well for me. Vitamin B12 is wate…

It's my understanding that oral availability is lower than IM, and that people who are deficient get 70,000 IU injections. I'm entirely untrained, but my amateur evaluation of the situation leads me to take 50,000 IU orally once each week or two. I imagine that twice that amount would be fine, too.

> I imagine...

That's not really science.

Given it's your body, the most valuable thing you have, perhaps a more fact-based approach is warranted?

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#122

I’ve had a genetic test done, after being told that I have significantly lower than average vitamin d levels it turned out I’m genetically predisposed to low vitamin d and b12 absorption. So I have to supplement significantly more than what is normal. After doing so, my colds have been far less severe then in the past. What made me go to such lengths testing myself was that I thought I was doing everything right and…

> So aside from testing your blood serum levels you should consider a genetic test to see how well you absorb vitamin d. You may benefit from above average dosage (consult your dr. Ymmv) The only thing that matters is the serum level. Testing your blood levels is like closing the feedback loop. Levels too low? Increase dose. Too high? Back off. Genetic testing isn’t necessary or even really helpful. Just get the basi…

I hate everything about this comment.

first of all, low/high levels have a cause. if it's nutrition, yeah, you're right, just measure and correct.

but you come to the conclusion that's nutrition with zero evidence supporting it, and that's annoying as hell, because it's basically shunning the door for people with real conditions that could live 10x times better if only someone would have used a more rigorous method of inquiry instead of 'just nutrition lol'

it doesn't have to be complicated, but it still have to be rigorous.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#123
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you need so much?

If you do strenuous workouts frequently then this helps you recover faster and workout longer. If you are just couch potato then it’s actually detrimental and you can develop all sorts of problems including peripheral neuropathy.

>If you do strenuous workouts frequently then this helps you recover faster and workout longer.

Is that (and the amounts mentioned) based on science, or just what some gymnast dude said?

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#124
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything you say is subjective (at best) or tautological (at worst) until you put a number to what you are calling a "megadose" or "excessive." "Megadose" is relative and needs to be couched with the emerging (not really, it's a decade old at least I believe) that the current official RDA of vit D is about 4-5x TOO LOW and was based on bad data (or a misinterpretation of the data).

> Everything you say is subjective (at best) or tautological (at worst) until you put a number to what you are calling a "megadose" or "excessive." The Vitamin D blood level range is clearly indicated on the blood test results. That’s why I suggested that people get the blood test. Blood test shows too little Vitamin D? Supplement more. Blood test shows you’re approaching or exceeding the upper limit? Supplement less…

> This claim, however, is unbounded. We can’t just go around telling people “more is better” and that the official recommendations are vaguely “too low” and expect people to just guess at the real range.

I don't understand this sentence at all. 4-5x is an extremely specific amount, with no guessing.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#125
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I thought that was common knowledge since at least when Paracelsus said it 500 years ago: "All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison."

That platitude is not that helpful. What would Paracelsus' advice be on the toxic dose of vitamin B12?

> That platitude is not that helpful.

And neither is a report simply saying it is possible to overdose on vitamin D.

Which was the point of the comment.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#126
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do strenuous workouts frequently then this helps you recover faster and workout longer. If you are just couch potato then it’s actually detrimental and you can develop all sorts of problems including peripheral neuropathy.

> If you do strenuous workouts frequently then this helps you recover faster and workout longer. Is that (and the amounts mentioned) based on science, or just what some gymnast dude said?

>just what some gymnast dude said

The technical term is broscience

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#127
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Megadosing B12 (if your diet isn't already sufficient in it, which is common amongst certain vegan diets) is still a good idea, no? I recognize this might be the only exception.

I sure hope so because I've been taking half a serving of these little suckers for a while now: https://amzn.com/B001LXRWWE Here's a breakdown of the DV for some of the vitamins for a full serving: B1 = 33x (yes, 3333%) B2 = 30x B6 = 40x B12= 83x

I have recently been using the Whole Earth and Sea Bone Structure multivitamin partly because it has much more reasonable doses of almost everything (except B12 for some reason):

https://www.vitacost.com/natural-factors-whole-earth-sea-bon...

They liquify plants and then ferment them in some proprietary process that they don't go into detail about (I wouldn't be surprised if they use some GMO bacteria that goes against the non-GMO advertising, since many commercial vitamins are produced by GMO bacteria). I just use two pills a day (what the chart shows data for, most vitamins from 1/3 to 2/3 of recommended daily amount). Eating a healthy diet, there should be no need for 100% or more of nutrients in a supplement, but it is frustratingly difficult to find reasonably dosed multivitamins.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#128

Can you OD on vitamin D from getting too much sun? Or does your body have a way to turn off the production? Same question but say you take a high supplement and then have a day in the sun?

Can you overdose on vit D from being in the sun? No.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-...

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#129

Another concern with Vit D supplementation is magnesium. As calcium and magnesium compete for absorption, Vit D’s effect of increasing calcium absorption can reduce magnesium absorption and lead to symptoms related to magnesium deficiency. I gather the toxic effects described in the article are partly due to extreme magnesium deficiency along with other effects - though magnesium or other effects aren’t mentioned in…

Unfortunately, magnesium has become another common target of megadosing pseudoscience on the Internet. It is possible to overdose on magnesium, despite popular belief. Excess magnesium is eliminated very slowly, meaning overdose can happen after months of steady supplementation. Anecdotally, gwern tracked some results after consistent magnesium supplementation and found a trend toward worsening after an initial boost…

There's some validity to what you've written, but some of it is patronising and seems to attribute positions to me that I didn't convey, or indeed conveyed an opposing position.

Note that I specifically wrote "Of course one should work with a health professional when considering taking dietary supplements".

That's what I do - I have multiple practitioners, and have my levels tested periodically (blood testing is of limited value with magnesium, whilst hair testing can give a better indication, though it has its own pitfalls regarding the testing procedure and the interpretation of the data, which need to be well understood by the practitioner).

You've also focused on the risk of "megadosing", which I don't practice or advocate for any nutrient.

Indeed, the real point of my comment is that supplementing any single nutrient by itself is likely to have consequences that you'll be unaware of without really doing your research. This article focuses on the risks of "megadosing" vitamin D. I'm not sure how you interpreted my pointing out that vitamin D supplementation can lead to magnesium deficiency as a recommendation to "megadose" magnesium. I've certainly never taken magnesium in any quantity that gets close to toxicity and I'd never advocate anyone else do that.

(Incidentally, I've felt before that Gwern's approach of experimenting with supplementation of a single nutrient and looking for a single change is of limited value, as it doesn't take into account the complexity effects of that supplementation. His list of self-experiments includes a magnesium/sleep trial and a vitamin D/sleep trial, with negative results in both cases. But for the reasons discussed above, a trial involving both magnesium and vit D, and perhaps other nutrients as well would likely yield very different results, and probably ones that are far more useful).

Your comments about the efficacy/cost of higher bioavailability supplements are worthy of consideration. Though it seems contradictory to warn against "megadosing" in one paragraph but then recommending increasing the dose in another.

The particular benefit I'm interested in is passing the blood brain barrier, as the biggest issues for me are mental - e.g., anxiety and memory, for which magnesium l-threonate is said to be particularly beneficial. I would expect that increasing the dosage of a different form, which doesn't cross the BBB so effectively, would potentially lead to an excess elsewhere in the body.

To be clear, I'm not primarily focusing on magnesium; the main target of my approach to healing is currently the thyroid, and I'm cautiously taking tyrosine and iodine for that, as well as working on gut/microbiome health to improve uptake so that ultimately all nutrients can be attained from the diet so and no supplementation is needed, which is ideal as you point out. But I'm not there yet; several years of testing and work has confirmed that.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#130

Can you OD on vitamin D from getting too much sun? Or does your body have a way to turn off the production? Same question but say you take a high supplement and then have a day in the sun?

Based on my understanding, the main problem surrounding too much Vitamin D is with high levels of calcium that develop. Vitamin D plays a big role as a calcium-regulatory hormone, and too much of it can lead to elevated levels of calcium in the blood. However, in a normal, healthy adult, the body's own feedback-inhibitory mechanisms will just downregulate synthesis of the hormone when too much calcium is detected in…

Yes that's true, and it's the reason that K2 pops up every time D/D3 is discussed. K2 regulates the calcium flows in the body, so that it ends up where it should be (e.g. bones) and not where it should not be (e.g. soft tissue). I take ~40mcg of K2 M7 all-trans per 1000IU of D3.
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