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Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

91–100 of 198 posts

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

#91

Funny -- I was just digesting a competing study released recently[0] which showed little-to-no benefit from vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acids, and exercise (either alone or in combinations). That study used 5X the daily vitamin D as this one. So I guess the jury's still out and I may choose to continue to err on the side of supplementing vitamin D. [0] https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/11/10/Study-Little-bene...

I have not looked at the underlying study, but that article definitely does a terrible job of being clear on the caveats of the study. E.g. this nugget was left for the last paragraph of the article:

"Our exercise intervention was a simple home strength exercise program, which likely was not challenging enough in our unexpectedly active study population, where over 80% already engaged moderate to high intensity exercise," she said.

I would take anything from this study with a pinch of salt. I doubt if it was a well controlled study.

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

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only relevant math I need is that humans have done fine with animal fats for thousands of years. The value I need is what I can get naturally. And BTW, I have dark skin, I live in one of the Northest parts of the world humans live, haven't taken vitamin D supplements in years and my vitamin D levels have been great (upper middle of whatever acceptable range they use) when I got tested several times over the past…

Perhaps you’re eating some food that has been supplemented with vitamin D. For example, one cup of milk fortified with vitamin D might have 100 UI (as much as six steaks).

I don't drink milk, lactose intolerant.

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

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could fortify beer and Coca Cola with it. While it’ll be on the label, I bet 9/10 people can’t rhyme off what is fortified. (Around here, it’s salt, milk, flour and cereals that get fortified). Dunno where fluoride fits, but that too.

I'll add that even many non-dairy milks are fortified with Vitamin D - check the label.

The way I understand it is that drinks fortified with Vit D are nearly always fortified with D2, whereas the consensus seems to be that D3 is the way to go. Not sure whether that's because D3 is less stable in drinks, or maybe there's another reason to prefer D2 there?

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

#94
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.

I always see Americans (apologies for making assumptions if you're not) throw around blood testing like it's something trivial and casually done. Here in the Netherlands, it takes a real medical indication and some pushing of a doctor to get any testing done. Alternatively, you use a private testing company that costs 200 to 400 euros for a comprehensive screening. Question to the public in various countries - how easy is it to get preventative tests done where you live, and what does it cost?

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

#95
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.

The fear of Vit D overdose is funny if it wasn't tragic and possibly a factor in Covid mortality

- In Winter (especially USA/Canada/Europe) most people are deficient. Even more so the older and less active you are

- Read the labels and do basic math. A lethal dose of common OTC medicine is not that hard to obtain as well, are you going to ask a doctor how many Tylenols to take or are you going to read the label?

- Sure, if you're insecure go to the doctor and get it checked. But don't be surprised if consultations and lab exams are backed up at the moment.

- Vit D is fat soluble. Yeah you don't need to keep cranking high doses every day, the buffer lasts long. In fact for some people 10kIU should be good for a week. Review your dose, test your levels if you're taking a high dose for a long time.

In all those "Vit D overdose" stories there's someone doing something blatantly stupid for a long time OR (for the benefit of the doubt) they might have some other unknown problem or contributing factor.

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

#97
post #94
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I always see Americans (apologies for making assumptions if you're not) throw around blood testing like it's something trivial and casually done. Here in the Netherlands, it takes a real medical indication and some pushing of a doctor to get any testing done. Alternatively, you use a private testing company that costs 200 to 400 euros for a comprehensive screening. Question to the public in various countries - how ea…

"A real medical indication." This is anecdotal, but I just told my doctor (GP) my symptoms, that I am vegan and hence don't eat milk products. I was also on quitting smoking. Got a reference for blood test and smoking cessation (Zyban). I don't remember if smoking cessation was insured, but the rest all was. Going to your GP is free (via mandatory insurance) in The Netherlands. I got my vitamin D and B12 checked among other things.

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

#98
post #94
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I always see Americans (apologies for making assumptions if you're not) throw around blood testing like it's something trivial and casually done. Here in the Netherlands, it takes a real medical indication and some pushing of a doctor to get any testing done. Alternatively, you use a private testing company that costs 200 to 400 euros for a comprehensive screening. Question to the public in various countries - how ea…

If you are taking vitamin D supplementation, your physician will surely prescribe you periodic testing, at the very least if you ask for it. But since I have a private testing point just beside my office, I go there without doctor prescription; last time it cost me 17€ to get my vitamin D checked. This is in Italy.

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

#99
post #94
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I always see Americans (apologies for making assumptions if you're not) throw around blood testing like it's something trivial and casually done. Here in the Netherlands, it takes a real medical indication and some pushing of a doctor to get any testing done. Alternatively, you use a private testing company that costs 200 to 400 euros for a comprehensive screening. Question to the public in various countries - how ea…

I understand why this is the way it is (cost-savings), but this needs to change. It has been shown that preventative screening can be very cost effective as opposed to reactive treatment.

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

#100
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

using a multivitamin daily is considered 'expensive' ?

Trying for a rough estimate of the yearly cost of taking a multivitamin daily, I get about $10 USD a year. For the 15% of the global population that live on less than $2 a day, that's around a week's wages. For the 56% that live on $2 - $10 a day, it's slightly more affordable, but still a significant cost.

Now, that's a cheap multivitamin, so it's got about 300IU of vitamin D, which is a pretty small dose. At a guess it's probably cheaping out on some of the other ingredients as well. On the other hand, ingredients bought in bulk and distributed through outlets in the developing world with very low overhead might be more affordable.

EDIT: the numbers for global poverty are probably out of date, but you get the point

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