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Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

31–40 of 198 posts

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#31
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

almost no risks or real costs I worry a little about risk compensation, or whatever the equivalent is for diet. That is to say, if I feel like I'm all set on vitamins & minerals via pills, maybe I don't need to try so hard to eat my fruits & vegetables anymore...

Worth noting that the above mostly talks above Vitamin D specifically, not multivitamins. D is the only one you do not naturally get from food (ignoring fortified food), and it also as mentioned above one of the cheaper ones. Multivitamins are far more expensive in general.

Mushrooms? Salmon? Liver? Eggs? All of these have vit D without being fortified (mushrooms being a bit debatable as to if its fortified)

And its a little misleading not to talk about sunlight - technically that's not a food, but you were kind of implying you couldn't get it from the natural environment.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#32
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just get some sunshine! It's likely there are other benefits, besides just the vitamin D.

Well I mean, in Australia, that leads to skin cancer, so I'll just take some tablets thanks!

We're starting to get into some pretty controversial territory here, but I think you're probably better off still getting at least SOME sunshine.

It's speculative, but I believe the skin cancer risk can be dramatically reduced by making sure you're not getting too much linoleic acid in your diet (note: you really have to try at this, tho -- almost every1 is!).

Here's a study in mice:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-1097....

Of course, that's not humans, but I think the fundamental mechanisms at play should be the same.

More broadly, this article is interesting, and makes the case for more sun exposure:

https://www.outsideonline.com/2380751/sunscreen-sun-exposure...

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#33
post #15

FWIW It seems to published in a journal with a company that also publishes studies showing how music can help Alzheimer's etc. Not a particularly reputable source.

Is music helping Alzheimer's patients considered implausible?

Yeah. Naively i would be more surprised if it didn't (why wouldn't stimulating the brain help with a degenerative brain disease?)

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#34
post #5

It's worth noting that vitamin D has a lot of high-confidence but low-effect results going for it, including a lot of strong meta-analysis over many health outcomes. What I mean by this is that it usually seems to conclusively either do something beneficial, but minor, almost nothing in the case of many studies, and in the case of some others, something very beneficial (as we've seen a few of in relation to covid rec…

It is fat soluble. You can develop toxicity, and the effects are not trivial: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h... It seems based on casual reading of research that more people are deficient than not and dosing to toxic levels is unlikely. But it's not a bad idea to do this under the care of a doctor.

For reference: The level of toxicity listed in your link is 60,000IU per day. Fauci said he takes 10,000IU per day. The bottle I purchased recommends 2,000IU per day.

Get your blood work done people.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#35
post #5

It's worth noting that vitamin D has a lot of high-confidence but low-effect results going for it, including a lot of strong meta-analysis over many health outcomes. What I mean by this is that it usually seems to conclusively either do something beneficial, but minor, almost nothing in the case of many studies, and in the case of some others, something very beneficial (as we've seen a few of in relation to covid rec…

It is fat soluble. You can develop toxicity, and the effects are not trivial: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h... It seems based on casual reading of research that more people are deficient than not and dosing to toxic levels is unlikely. But it's not a bad idea to do this under the care of a doctor.

> Taking 60,000 international units (IU) a day of vitamin D for several months has been shown to cause toxicity. This level is many times higher than the U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for most adults of 600 IU of vitamin D a day.

Well of course, drinking 100x times the recommended amount of water would be even worse.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#37
In a recent Swedish study 78% of pregnant non-European migrants had very low Vitamin D levels, vs 31% for white women:

https://vitamindwiki.com/78+percent+of+pregnant+immigrants+i...

Low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy contribute to schizophrenia and learning difficulties, amongst other health impacts.

I wonder if the higher rate of violent crime and terrorism seen amongst Middle Eastern and African migrants in Europe, even after a second generation, is partly caused by insufficient Vitamin D levels.

We should consider whether it is sensible offering refuge in northern European countries to people from these regions when they will need lifelong Vitamin D supplementation.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#39
Imagine if they let older people get more sunshine in nursing homes they would have better health outcomes. Instead they locked them up even more during the pandemic.

Study posted on here earlier showed link between low vitamin D and covid death. Like 60% of people that died from Covid had vitamin D deficiency.

Locking up old people in cramped nursing homes, spreads communicable disease, causes mental health decline, and is just terrible for their well being and shortens their life.

Thats why we need an army of robot nurses in the future, that will treat these people in their homes.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#40
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is fat soluble. You can develop toxicity, and the effects are not trivial: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h... It seems based on casual reading of research that more people are deficient than not and dosing to toxic levels is unlikely. But it's not a bad idea to do this under the care of a doctor.

For reference: The level of toxicity listed in your link is 60,000IU per day. Fauci said he takes 10,000IU per day. The bottle I purchased recommends 2,000IU per day. Get your blood work done people.

There's an expert that specializes in vitamin D toxicity cases and regularly posts here. She sees cases at less than the 10000IU daily dose Fauci takes.

I would be hesitant to go above 4000IU daily without monitoring blood levels every six months or so.

Its winter here in Canada, I'm taking 3000IU per day. I drop that to 1000IU in the summer. I'm not a doctor, not recommending you do the same. Just sharing.

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