Vitamin D3 - higher doses

[Polaris]

Really interesting video on vitamin D3. Apparently, most of us are now deficient and we are not taking enough. Gives advice on safe higher doses.

youtube.com/watch?v=HH1rB-Y...(Not working as expected?)

I'd also recommend the book, "The Miraculous Effects of High Doses of Vit D3 and K2..."

By Jeff Bowles.

Really interesting video on vitamin D3. Apparently, most of us are now deficient and we are not taking enough. Gives advice on safe higher doses.

youtube.com/watch?v=HH1rB-Y...(Not working as expected?)

I'd also recommend the book, "The Miraculous Effects of High Doses of Vit D3 and K2..."

By Jeff Bowles.

Also "Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox - How a Little Known Vitamin Could Save your Life" , by Katie Rheame.

Also the following, which seems to indicate why it is so important to take K2 with higher doses of D3:

"Laura Jones, a global food science analyst at Mintel, says recent research has revealed Vitamin K2 has much broader health benefits than previously thought, and is increasingly being seen as a bone health ingredient.

"Vitamin K1 has a relatively short half-life and is rapidly cleared from the blood and is cleared by the liver within eight hours. In comparison vitamin K2 has a longer half-life of up to 72 hours, meaning it remains biologically active in the body for longer.

"Vitamin K2 is also absorbed better by the body, and is linked to cardiovascular health. It directs calcium to the bones, and prevents it from being deposited where it shouldn't be, for example arteries and organs, where it can cause harm," she says. "

Vitamin K2 contributes to maintenance of normal bone and Vitamin K1 contributes to normal blood coagulation.

K2 found in high amounts in fish, seafood, cod liver oil, milk and dairy, cooked veg - especially soups, legumes - especially lentils.

[Marz]

..I sometimes think I will be excluded from the Thyroid site for banging on about VitD and B12 If you type VitD into the Search Box on the Green Bar at the top of the page - there are so many threads about this subject. We just love VitD here ............. x

[Polaris in reply to Marz]

Keep banging on Marz. The more I've looked into it all, the more it all seems to be linked - I wished I'd learned sooner how important it is - not a vitamin but a hormone. I'm boring my family and friends to death - well...Dr Holick does advise us to tell everybody !

[Spareribs in reply to Polaris]

Yes I had that 'Hallelujah moment' 3 years ago now - how the family mocked... now they ask...

[Marz in reply to Polaris]

grassrootshealth.net/media/...

....am sure you will have seen this chart

[Else75 in reply to Marz]

Hi Marz, can you please clarify for me that the chart is referring to Serum Total Vit D levels? My current level from a recent test is showing 59 nmol/L which I assume is very low in preventing disease.

Many thanks

[Marz in reply to Else75]

I think you will find the measurement is different - yours is in nmol/L whereas the chart indicates ng/L. So divide your result by 2.5 to arrive at a comparable measurement..... I make yours around 23.6 It's an American site....

[Marz in reply to Marz]

...ooops - sorry just looked at the chart and it is the same as yours - nmol/L. The chart on the same website indicating dosage required based on results is in ng/L - hence my confusion. Yes they are serum levels....

[Else75 in reply to Marz]

So does that mean that I should increase my levels to prevent disease? I may be missing something but I have been feeling unwell for a couple of months, I am hypo although doc has said that I'm fine according to bloods.

Last week I read about D3/K2 supplements for increasing energy etc and took my first one yesterday Vit D3 5000iu/ Vit K2 100mcg...I'm getting desperate to feel better and I have my 40th birthday in two weeks, I was really hoping that I'd feel better by then.

Thank you for getting back to me..I appreciate your advice x

[Marz in reply to Else75]

5000 IU's sounds good and with the K2 to ensure the calcium is correctly directed How are your B12 levels - I find my weekly injections give me energy. Apparently Margaret Thatcher had them daily !! But then I will be 70 next year so need all the help I can get !! I live in Crete so I can buy B12 over the counter complete with syringes.....

Am hoping you will be fine for your Birthday. if you take B12 you also need a GOOD B Complex to keep all the B's in balance

[Spareribs in reply to Marz]

Me too!

We should set up a 'VIT D Vikings', 'D busters', 'Be D-aware' or something.... At least there IS a B12 (PA) site - so it's a recognised condition at least.

So why do folk feel better in the summertime & need more Levo wintertime?

Thinking about getting a UVB lamp - cost £300+ but what price is health? To use whilst in my Epsom bath eating pate, brie & a brazil nut for good measure (Vit A, Mg, K2 & selenium) J

[Polaris in reply to Spareribs]

Ah - now I get your sun drawing ! I'm not only deficient but a bit dim too - hopefully, it will improve on more D3 and B12 !

[Spareribs in reply to Polaris]

You have seen the light - you're a bright star! hallelujah!

Sadly, no-one makes any money out of Sunshine = no research...

(apart from holiday and sun-block companies - I don't use the latter- don't know what's in them)

I am simply solar powered, the sun's not just for plants (also Morlocks).

I know someone on very high levels and she is darn clever!

(Toxicity is only possible over 250 nmol/l) without MG/K2 etc)

I know others with PA/B12D but underlying low Vit D stops B12 absorption

I know new mums with jaundiced babes - cure? light therapy!

My mum put me out in the sun naked! (horror - no sun-cream in 1961!)

Interesting that Germans have no translation for a holistic doc (the Danish upstairs do).

Enjoying the video - but strangely expecting a song - I think it's the hat....

[Marz in reply to Spareribs]

....good idea ! It is from your profile that I extracted the letter on VitD testing from the CMO. I love the way you kept reminding us all about D - thank you

[Spareribs in reply to Marz]

We must keep reminding folk! - brilliant graph,

I do envy you in Greece. x

[Marz in reply to Spareribs]

...don't it's snowing ! We have had non-stop thunderstorms for days ! Now the temps have dropped and its falling as snow but not settling ! Rib clinging soup on the woodburner !

[BeansMummy in reply to Marz]

Nooooo, Marz, you keep banging on!! If it wasn't for you and others doing so, I would never have nagged my endo to get my vitamin D and B12 tested, and I would never have known I had a problem and would still be suffering.

<passes large drum over to enable louder banging>

[Marz in reply to BeansMummy]

...do hope you are feeling better

[Spareribs]

I didn't really twig until my granddaughter couldn't toddle round the furniture, couldn't hold her weight - just bum-shuffled like my son years before... (tic) she (his niece) was also jaundiced & had light therapy - but out the day of my son's wedding....

IMHO - Vit D underpins most chronic disease - but don't knock the Viking or even the Ginger gene (is there one?) - we'd be dead without some adaptation to absorb more sun - a lot of Vit D is also absorbed through eyes - so blue is good up north!

Conversely - down south e.g. Iran - there's loads of studies as they're now wearing all-over black = deficient.

just my take.... J

PS I took 4000iu for 3 months to increase from 40 to 50 mnol/L - now over 100 & feel so much better - if doc won't do a Vit D test - here's an NHS lab set up for prone darker skinned folk in B'ham (home test £28).

vitamindtest.org.uk/

[Clutter]

Thanks for posting, Polaris. I think Gabrielle is right that European recommendations for 200/400/600iu are risible and I fully agree with her that supplementing high doses should only be done for 4/5 months before rechecking levels and if someone can't have a blood test they would be best supplementing the 'safe low level' 2,000iu daily.

I was severely deficient <10 in Nov 2013 and prescribed 40,000iu x 7 days loading dose followed by 2,000iu daily for 8 weeks then retested at 107 (75-200). Stopped supplementing for 6 weeks and resumed 5,000iu daily in March until December when I tested 384. No symptoms of toxicity ie thirst or constipation but I've been advised to cut supplementation to 5,000iu per week and retest in May. I doubt this is sufficient during the winter months but as I'm very topped up will comply.

Having read up there are differing opinions on toxicity possibility with some suggesting it is rare when supplementing <4,000iu daily and others <10,000iu daily.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Clutter]

It is perfectly possible for people to suffer from taking vitamin D as a supplement despite a) needing it; b) being very tolerant of sunlight-produced vitamin D. And that despite it being D3 and from several different sources. And in fairly modest doses (way less than 10,000 IU). Maybe it is rare. Maybe it indicates something else. But I cannot find out what.

[Clutter in reply to helvella]

Rod, yes there is a lot of info on vitD deficiency but not so much on toxicity or the difference between being over range and toxic. Toxic side effects include hypocalcaemia and kidney/gall/bladder stones so I'm now erring on the side of caution.

[Marz in reply to Clutter]

grassrootshealth.net/media/...

Just a piece about kidney stone research and the mention of 4000 IU's a day. I think this has been recently discussed in the US and mentioned in a Grassroots Health Newsletter. Can I find it ? - sorry no

[Jackie]

Hi This is only safe if calcium is still in range. My calcium too high so no matter what I cannot take D which is below 10.

Jackie

[Polaris in reply to Jackie]

I don't know if this will help but Jeff Bowles, in his book, recommends K2 to be taken with high doses of D3.

He also recommends reading another book "Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little Known Vitamin Could Save your Life", ' after which you will know more than almost any doctor on the subject' and from which he quotes:

"Modern diets cause widespread K2 deficiency and K2 is required to keep calcium in your bones and out of your soft tissues"......and blood.

[Jackie in reply to Polaris]

Thank you but I cannot take any K either!

Jackie

[Jackie in reply to Jackie]

Thanks but i must not take any vit K either.

Jackie

[helvella Administrator in reply to Jackie]

Vitamin K2 is completely different to K1 which is often simply called K.

[Polaris in reply to helvella]

Yes, Just found this Rod, which seems to indicate why it is so important to take K2 with higher doses of D3.

"Laura Jones, a global food science analyst at Mintel, says recent research has revealed Vitamin K2 has much broader health benefits than previously thought, and is increasingly being seen as a bone health ingredient.

"Vitamin K1 has a relatively short half-life and is rapidly cleared from the blood and is cleared by the liver within eight hours. In comparison vitamin K2 has a longer half-life of up to 72 hours, meaning it remains biologically active in the body for longer.

"Vitamin K2 is also absorbed better by the body, and is linked to cardiovascular health. It directs calcium to the bones, and prevents it from being deposited where it shouldn't be, for example arteries and organs, where it can cause harm," she says. "

Vitamin K2 contributes to maintenance of normal bone and Vitamin K1 contributes to normal blood coagulation.

K2 found in high amounts in fish, seafood, cod liver oil, milk and dairy, cooked veg - especially soups, legumes - especially lentils

[Flower3]

I love vitamin D, because of this I don't get the flu anymore (even when people around me are sick!). I take 3000IU every day, this should be safe I believe. Today I was asked how it is possible that I don't get the flu, I told them it's becasue of the vit. D. So now they want to take it too, I think everybody should take it, nobody sits 15 minutes in the sun every day.

[Polaris in reply to Flower3]

Hi Flower3. That's great. When I realised I was deficient I started on 10,000 iu D3 daily. New batch arrived today with added 200 mcg K2. I'm reading up on K2 now. It seems to be very important for directing calcium to your bones and away from arteries, etc.

Find I have no need for a flu jab and can't remember when I last had a cold, but will get levels tested soon and, hopefully, lower the dose come Spring.

[Flower3 in reply to Polaris]

Interesting, I take a good multivitamin twice a day, just checked and it has vitamin K in it.

I read that a good dose (and good level) of vitamin D is as effective as the flu shot. Really interesting.