Vitamin D

[HeronNS]

Just saw this on a Facebook page. Very interesting. What do you think:

courses.washington.edu/bone...

[Bev53-SB]

Interesting article and interesting website. Technical but thorough. Thanks for the link.

[ovenglove]

Very interesting read herons thanks

[LynneH-19]

I agree with you it’s very interesting. I had never considered that some D3 supplements made from cod liver oil, would fail to mention the presence of vit A. I assumed they had to mention all the ingredients in the assay list. The Drs Best brand I buy is made from lanolin ie sheeps wool.

There’s some good information in it, but allow for the fact that it appears to have been compiled in 2010 and was using lots of old references, one of them was 1984.

This isn’t to say that the information is wrong, but some of it has probably been questioned and updated by now in more recent articles. That’s often the problem, the more we read the more conflicting the information becomes.

Thanks for posting.

[Nanaedake]

I think this information is a little out of date and there is more known about vitamin D now than there was when the article was written, drawing on older research or thinking.

I believe that it is now thought there is a law of dimishing returns with vitamin D so as we become sufficient we absorb, store and utilise less. If you think about it this must be true or we could overdose on sunshine! It seems to be a very individual thing, some people absorb or utilise vitamin D easily and some people need a lot more than others to achieve similar good levels.

The vitamin D council website has good information on vitamin D. The importance in adults, not just for preventing rickets in children, is emerging.

[HeronNS in reply to Nanaedake]

I posted as of interest. The page had been updated in 2016. I certainly don't plan to change anything for me. I have a bit of a confounding factor as I have (otherwise non-symptomatic) sarcoidosis and my levels did get high when I took more Vitamin D supplement on advice of doctor.

[Nanaedake in reply to HeronNS]

I just looked up sarcoidosis. It sounds like a condition that's not easy to diagnose in some people.

[HeronNS in reply to Nanaedake]

In my 30s I developed an enlarged lymph node in my neck. Of course this was promptly biopsied and the diagnosis was sarcoidosis. I think I may have had it much longer as in my late teens I had a couple of tiny lumps removed from my back and I remember the doctor saying something to my parents something about the findings but of course I was never told anything and it wasn't considered of any importance. More recently, when all my aches and pains, which resulted in my current diagnosis of and treatment for polymyalgia, were being investigated I had x-rays of parts of my spine and the report made "incidental note" of evidence of "old" granulomatous disease. It was my reading up on vitamin D and learning about the possibility of Vitamin D metabolism being abnormal with sarcoidosis which got me to convince my doctor to run the initial Vitamin D test.

[Hidden]

Very interesting and I also have read somewhere along the line that Vit D is a good vitamin to take to fight Cancer, hopefully we got enough of it this summer as the weather has been truly amazing

[Jessie1234]

I read somewhere that the Vitamin D we gain from the sun only lasts about 6 weeks in our body. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Met00 in reply to Jessie1234]

I've read that Vit D stays longer in your body if absorbed through the skin than from taking a supplement, but I think you're right that it will still all have gone within 6-8 weeks, if not sooner. That's why we're told to take a supplement in the winter months. Where I live you can't get Vit D from the sun from late August to late April, and apart from mid-summer you need to be outside without sunscreen when the sun is highest in the sky. I discovered this summer that I absorb very little from the sun, so have realised I need to take a high dose supplement all year round!

[Jessie1234 in reply to Met00]

Thank you. I'm the same, very little sun where I live from Halloween until the following April. This year in early Winter I really must get my vitamin D levels tested. And maybe be more diligent about letting mushrooms soak up the winter sun on a window ledge.

[Jessie1234 in reply to Jessie1234]

Curiosity, how did you discover that you don't absorb much Vitamin D from the sun ever? Or is it just that with getting older few of us absorb vitamins as well as we used to!

[Met00 in reply to Jessie1234]

Had Vit D blood test in April, again in August, level dropped be 19 points despite masses of sunbathing and 800 iu daily supplement!

[Met00 in reply to Jessie1234]

I don't think mushrooms will absorb Vit D on a windowledge as it doesn't pass through glass

[LynneH-19 in reply to Jessie1234]

I copied and pasted the following from one of the NOF Forum experts, who volunteers as a moderator on the Forum. Not answering your question, but perhaps food for thought.

“One misunderstood point on vitamin D.

“You shouldn't take calcium without the D3 as it helps absorb it in the body. ” This statement is misleading.

Vitamin D2 and D3, that you swallow are inactive forms of the vitamin and have zero effect on the absorption of calcium in the same pill. It isn’t even the same form of vitamin D that's measured in blood tests.

Active vitamin D is created in the kidney, from a second form that was made in your liver, from the form you swallowed in a pill it can take up to six weeks before the vitamin D in the calcium supplement has gone through the liver and kidneys and becomes active. You need vitamin D, but it can be taken anytime of day. It’s best absorbed however, with the largest meal of the day.”

[Jessie1234]

That's a shock. You wonder why it happens. Good luck

[Berylholley]

Hi Heron I am having a blood test done on Tuesday because I have managed to get the doc to give me some new bone drug called Evita please can you tell me what my blood should be. Beryl

[HeronNS]

Evista? It is a brand of raloxifene. webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-5334...

I'm sorry, I'm not a medical professional so am not qualified to tell you what your blood level of Vitamin D should be - all I can do is share my experiences and what I've read. There are so many variations in what is now considered optimum, plus two different kinds of measurements are used in different countries, so I think your best option, if your doctor is unhelpful, is to check with some place like the Vitamin D Council: vitamindcouncil.org/