all things vitamin D
Correction to my original post
Please note the correction I have made to my original post. I posted the wrong abstract although the results from both trials are similar. Sorry for the mistake.
Nick
Nick
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TwistedHelix
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Some members of the medical community are ultra cautious if you mention taking vitamin D above the pitifully low amount of 400 IU. They are concerned about hypercalcemia and hypercalcinuria, (excess calcium in the blood and urine), but it seems that most people would have to take enough tablets to sink a battleship for that to happen. Even if it does, somebody, (could have been me), posted a little while ago about research which shows that levels quickly drop as soon as you cut your intake so it's a problem that's easily rectified,I think vitamin D is beginning to look like a panacea that might just live up to the hype .
Punchy, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend: my dad died of skin cancer and although I was too young to know him, I feel for your loss,
Punchy, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend: my dad died of skin cancer and although I was too young to know him, I feel for your loss,
Dom
From what I have read, being in the sun for about 15 minutes 3x a week is all it takes to keep your body making adequate Vit D. If a person is out longer than those time frames, a good sunscreen should probably be used.
We have spent a lot of time around pools in Arizona and the number of older people that now look like tooled leather belts is amazing. I sure don't want to end up looking like them and do not lay out in the sun.
A nurse at the dermatologist's office I went to in Hawaii told me that after working for a plastic surgeon for years and seeing so much skin cancer, she avoided long exposure in the sun whenever possible.
Taking supplements makes a lot of sense for most of us.
gwa
We have spent a lot of time around pools in Arizona and the number of older people that now look like tooled leather belts is amazing. I sure don't want to end up looking like them and do not lay out in the sun.
A nurse at the dermatologist's office I went to in Hawaii told me that after working for a plastic surgeon for years and seeing so much skin cancer, she avoided long exposure in the sun whenever possible.
Taking supplements makes a lot of sense for most of us.
gwa
Vit D - Australian MS Society advice
This one is for the beautiful Jimmylegs, but I don't mind if others read it.
Ian
http://www.msra.org.au/news/documents/M ... ebsite.pdf
Ian
http://www.msra.org.au/news/documents/M ... ebsite.pdf
Vitamin D and Type 1 diabetes
It seems that as with MS, high vitamin D levels do correlate with low disease incidence in type 1 diabetes:
Link
--Frank
Link
--Frank
Treatment: Gilenya since 01/2011, CCSVI both IJV ballooned 09/2010, Tysabri stopped after 24 Infusions and positive JCV antibody test, after LDN, ABX Wheldon Regime for 1 year.
Vitamin D News
Not MS related but still interesting nonetheless...
Low vitamin D seen more in patient deaths
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/ ... ins24.html
Research backs importance of dose of 'sunshine'
Last updated June 23, 2008 9:13 p.m. PT
By Lindsey Tanner, The New York Times
CHICAGO -- New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and other causes bolsters mounting evidence about the "sunshine" vitamin's role in good health.
Patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about two times more likely to die from any cause during the next eight years than those with the highest levels, the study found. The link with heart-related deaths was particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels.
Experts say the results shouldn't be seen as a reason to start popping vitamin D pills or to spend hours in the sun, which is the main source for vitamin D.
For one thing, megadoses of vitamin D pills can be dangerous and skin cancer risks from too much sunshine are well-known. But also, it can't be determined from this type of study whether lack of vitamin D caused the deaths, or whether increasing vitamin D intake would make any difference.
Low vitamin D levels could reflect age, lack of physical activity and other lifestyle factors that also affect health, said American Heart Association spokeswoman Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University.
Still, she said the study is an important addition to an emerging area of research.
"This is something that should not be ignored," Lichtenstein said.
The study led by Austrian researchers involved 3,258 men and women in southwest Germany. Participants were aged 62 on average, most with heart disease, whose vitamin D levels were checked in weekly blood tests. During roughly eight years of follow-up, 737 died, including 463 from heart-related problems.
According to one of the vitamin tests they used, there were 307 deaths in patients with the lowest levels, versus 103 deaths in those with the highest levels. Counting age, physical activity and other factors, the researchers calculated that deaths from all causes were about twice as common in patients in the lowest-level group.
Results appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study's lead author, Dr. Harald Dobnig of the Medical University of Graz in Austria, said the results don't prove that low levels of vitamin D are harmful "but the evidence is just becoming overwhelming at this point."
Scientists used to think that the only role of vitamin D was to prevent rickets and strengthen bones, Dobnig said.
"Now we are beginning to realize that there is much more (to) it," he said.
Exactly how low vitamin D levels might contribute to heart problems and deaths from other illnesses is uncertain, although it is has been shown to help regulate the body's disease-fighting immune system, he said.
It has been estimated that at least 50 percent of older adults worldwide have low vitamin D levels, and the problem is also thought to affect substantial numbers of younger people. Possible reasons include decreased outdoor activities, air pollution and, as people age, a decline in the skin's ability to produce vitamin D.
Some doctors believe overuse of sunscreen lotions has contributed, and say just 10 to 15 minutes daily in the sun without sunscreen is safe and enough to ensure adequate vitamin D, although there's no consensus on that.
Diet sources include fortified milk, which generally contains 100 international units of vitamin D per cup, and fatty fish -- 3 ounces of canned tuna has 200 units.
The Institute of Medicine's vitamin D recommendations are 200 units daily for children and adults up to 50, and 400 to 600 units for older adults.
Low vitamin D seen more in patient deaths
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/ ... ins24.html
Research backs importance of dose of 'sunshine'
Last updated June 23, 2008 9:13 p.m. PT
By Lindsey Tanner, The New York Times
CHICAGO -- New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and other causes bolsters mounting evidence about the "sunshine" vitamin's role in good health.
Patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about two times more likely to die from any cause during the next eight years than those with the highest levels, the study found. The link with heart-related deaths was particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels.
Experts say the results shouldn't be seen as a reason to start popping vitamin D pills or to spend hours in the sun, which is the main source for vitamin D.
For one thing, megadoses of vitamin D pills can be dangerous and skin cancer risks from too much sunshine are well-known. But also, it can't be determined from this type of study whether lack of vitamin D caused the deaths, or whether increasing vitamin D intake would make any difference.
Low vitamin D levels could reflect age, lack of physical activity and other lifestyle factors that also affect health, said American Heart Association spokeswoman Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University.
Still, she said the study is an important addition to an emerging area of research.
"This is something that should not be ignored," Lichtenstein said.
The study led by Austrian researchers involved 3,258 men and women in southwest Germany. Participants were aged 62 on average, most with heart disease, whose vitamin D levels were checked in weekly blood tests. During roughly eight years of follow-up, 737 died, including 463 from heart-related problems.
According to one of the vitamin tests they used, there were 307 deaths in patients with the lowest levels, versus 103 deaths in those with the highest levels. Counting age, physical activity and other factors, the researchers calculated that deaths from all causes were about twice as common in patients in the lowest-level group.
Results appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study's lead author, Dr. Harald Dobnig of the Medical University of Graz in Austria, said the results don't prove that low levels of vitamin D are harmful "but the evidence is just becoming overwhelming at this point."
Scientists used to think that the only role of vitamin D was to prevent rickets and strengthen bones, Dobnig said.
"Now we are beginning to realize that there is much more (to) it," he said.
Exactly how low vitamin D levels might contribute to heart problems and deaths from other illnesses is uncertain, although it is has been shown to help regulate the body's disease-fighting immune system, he said.
It has been estimated that at least 50 percent of older adults worldwide have low vitamin D levels, and the problem is also thought to affect substantial numbers of younger people. Possible reasons include decreased outdoor activities, air pollution and, as people age, a decline in the skin's ability to produce vitamin D.
Some doctors believe overuse of sunscreen lotions has contributed, and say just 10 to 15 minutes daily in the sun without sunscreen is safe and enough to ensure adequate vitamin D, although there's no consensus on that.
Diet sources include fortified milk, which generally contains 100 international units of vitamin D per cup, and fatty fish -- 3 ounces of canned tuna has 200 units.
The Institute of Medicine's vitamin D recommendations are 200 units daily for children and adults up to 50, and 400 to 600 units for older adults.
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GeoGuy
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Low Vitamin D
Hi Gang,
I don't normally haunt this board but I was recently diagnosed with low Vitamin D levels. My Primary Care Doc had me start on 2000 IU of Vit D . After 8 weeks, my blood work last week showed my D levels had increased, but were stilll below normal. She wants me to take 3000 IU and go back for a check in 8 weeks. What have you guys done to up your vitiamn D levels?
Thanks,
Jack.
I don't normally haunt this board but I was recently diagnosed with low Vitamin D levels. My Primary Care Doc had me start on 2000 IU of Vit D . After 8 weeks, my blood work last week showed my D levels had increased, but were stilll below normal. She wants me to take 3000 IU and go back for a check in 8 weeks. What have you guys done to up your vitiamn D levels?
Thanks,
Jack.
RRMS since 01/07.
half an hour unprotected white young skin in summer sun can supposedly generate 10000 IU. i'd go 15 minutes if it was during peak hours midsummer. haze, cloud cover, pigment, age, and clothing impair cutaneous d3 production. of course the time of year and latitude are also relevant.
when i wanted to whack my level up 50 nmol/L fast, i got a liquid, a drop in the morning and a drop at night. total, 50000 IU per day for 10 days. it worked my followup test had levels of 149. i kept on taking a daily maintenance dose of d3 but i was not taking enough calcium, magnesium, zinc, and potassium with it and i got myself out of balance. if you can, consider intensifying your consumption of mineral-intense foods to go with your sunshine. you still might need some supplements. from the number of ppl on here that they help, our routine daily food intakes generally just don't cut it. good luck getting it straightened out fast!
curious: what number is defined as "low" by your lab?
when i wanted to whack my level up 50 nmol/L fast, i got a liquid, a drop in the morning and a drop at night. total, 50000 IU per day for 10 days. it worked my followup test had levels of 149. i kept on taking a daily maintenance dose of d3 but i was not taking enough calcium, magnesium, zinc, and potassium with it and i got myself out of balance. if you can, consider intensifying your consumption of mineral-intense foods to go with your sunshine. you still might need some supplements. from the number of ppl on here that they help, our routine daily food intakes generally just don't cut it. good luck getting it straightened out fast!
curious: what number is defined as "low" by your lab?
Last edited by jimmylegs on Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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daverestonvirginia
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GeoGuy
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Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. I get more than 15 minutes of sun a day while I wait outside for the bus every weekday, so I don't think just exposure to the sun will be enough. During summers here in North Carolina it can be tough to balance sun exposure and staying out of the heat and humidity.
I'm not sure what level is considered low. I should have asked for specifics and will when I go back mid-August for more testing. I'll let you know.
Jack
I'm not sure what level is considered low. I should have asked for specifics and will when I go back mid-August for more testing. I'll let you know.
Jack
RRMS since 01/07.