vitamin D deficiency and your health

[anthroprof]

Some of your readers do not seem to be current with the best information about the effects of vitamin D deficiency on human health. For example, one poster thinks that a 30 ng/ml of blood serum level of vitamin D is sufficient. It isn't. The Vitamin D Council website and all of the research shows that everyone, whether living in the tropics or at higher latitudes, should be between 50 and 80 ng/ml. On my website, leonardogreenfield.com is a research article on Vitamin D and Your Health - it is written in plain English so that the knowledge will be accessible to the general public. Please visit my free website - my photo is there as well.

[shrisamarth Volunteer]

Many people are ignorant till they fall to D vitamin deficiency related problems. As it is costly test, it is mostly done only after doctor's recommendation.

[hazari in reply to shrisamarth]

Doctor reference in not necessary but it is included in the one of the package of Thoycare or any lab test.and cost is around Rs.1500/- which include sugar etc.

[shrisamarth Volunteer in reply to hazari]

Thyrocare' s Arogyam 1.3 onwards they include vit. D and B12. Independently they charge 600 plus 200 visit charges. Other labs mostly charge around 1500.

[anthroprof in reply to shrisamarth]

These sound like good alternatives for those who can afford it. Fortunately, most Indians are living at latitudes where one can allow nature (tropical levels of UVB year round) to completely place even those with the darkest skin within sufficient levels of 50 - 80 ng/ml. Unfortunately, Indians and other darker skinned populations who have emigrated and are now living in the higher latitudes of the US are also unaware of the dangerous consequences of their chronic extreme vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/ml year round) and the "high latitude sickness" it causes, one of whose manifestations is type II diabetes.

[anthroprof]

Although the Vitamin D Council recommends taking a blood test to determine your D level 3 months after starting supplementation with 5000 IU it is not necessary to take a blood test to start supplementation. Fortunately, diabetes takes a long time to develop and symptoms appear long before the disease state develops. Thus, prediabetics in India, where most live below the 35th latitude, can either be advised to change their behavior to include a 10-15 minute skin exposure midday on sunny days or to take a supplement. This will slow, stop or reverse these unhealthy trends.

The Vitamin D Council has stated that the lowest level of vitamin D toxicity after long-term usage, reported thus far, was 40,000 IU/day. This is 8 times their recommended dosage of 5000 IU/day for healthy people. Type II diabetics that are overweight or obese are likely to need more because the additional fat they carry results in a volumetric dilution of vitamin D throughout the body. Long term markers of prediabetes in these indivduals can be used after supplemenation with 5000 IUs begins to determine whether additional supplementation is necessary. All of this can be done without an expensive blood test.

[Vaidyanathan]

Thanks for a very informative article. I am a diabetic for the past 40years and only recently I checked my Vitamin D and found it to be 9. Have started to take supplement.

Unfortunately, many doctors are not aware of connection between Vitamin D deficiency and diabetic.

Thanks once again

[shrisamarth Volunteer in reply to Vaidyanathan]

Mouth dissolving tablets are more effective than regular oral dose.( My personal experience) I take both B12 and D vitamin in OD form.

[anthroprof in reply to Vaidyanathan]

Your welcome. Please pass on the website address leonardogreenfield.com to others.

[atma]

Thanks for your information antroprof. Can anybody suggest some good Indian brand vitamin D?

[dvashistha in reply to atma]

Nutrilite CalMag D is the best supplement as per my experience

[shrisamarth Volunteer]

I am taking Tayo (60K) MD tabs manufactured by ERIS LIFE SCIENCES PVT LTD. This dose is recommended for D vit. deficiency and normally its once aweekly tab. I take 1/4 tab after 4-5 days. Two years back my level was 9.5. In Sept. 2013 it was 19 and in March 2014 40.

Vit. d and B12 deficiency is very common all over the world.

[anthroprof in reply to shrisamarth]

If you are currently healthy, to raise your blood serum level from about 10 to 40 it takes about 3000 IU/day to get you there

If you are currently not healthy, the daily dosage you are taking is more than 3000 IU/day because people who are ill or severely injured require more daily. The body's response to this is mediated by the immune system which includes hundreds of genes that can only be activated optimally with blood serum levels of vitamin D in the 50-80 ng/ml range.Being deficient It is like fighting a fire with water coming out of garden hoses rather than fire hoses.

If you are obese from improper glucose metabolism your supplement may be too low because of volumetric dilution.

In either case, this means that you have been supplementing insufficiently which leaves you still slightly deficient. Sitting in the sun at midday for 15 minutes twice a week should be enough. Relax and smell the flowers.

[burma]

Brush n exercise in sunliit.Eat coconut as prasad in Temple ?

[anthroprof]

The best time to expose the skin to UVB radiation is when the sun is directly overhead. This would not be in the morning. At my latitude, the 40th North, this is between the hours of 11:00 to 2:00 PM. There is an article by Jablonski and Chaplin (Jablonski, N., and Chaplin, G. (2000) The evolution of human skin coloration J.Hum. Evol 39: 57–106) that explains the global availability of sufficient and insufficient UVB radiation.

[anthroprof]

I have never heard this but it sounds about right.