Too much vitamin D

I actually saw this in the Times yesterday but now have found it free in another paper - independent.co.uk/news/uk/h...

Please can you make sure you test your vitamin D levels BEFORE supplementing and retest as directed when you get a reply to your query on how much to supplement.

Also remember the advice given is for the individual poster asking the question and you may need a complete different amount.

11 Replies

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  • Bluebug,

    Agreed, high dose D3 may be needed initially to build up levels but having achieved optimal levels dose should be reduced to a low maintenance dose and VitD should be tested at least annually when supplementing D3 regularly.

  • Very sobering reading.

  • I think it pays to keep up to date with good websites - sign up for their Newsletters. My two favourites are ....

    grassrootshealth.net and vitamindcouncil.org

    Lots of good information on both to help you decide ;-)

  • I'm more worried that due to stories like this of people who don't realise it can be toxic they will restrict the sale of vitamin D supplements in the UK to 1,000IU from all sources.

    According to the professor in the article I'm poisoning myself on my maintenance dose of 2,000IU per day, which my current GP practice fully endorses to keep my level over 75nmol/L.

    A lot of others on here are in the same boat though unfortunately not all of them have doctors who are aware that they need to get their vitamin D optimal first then maintain their level.

  • Yes I have read that whenever there is positive press about something natural - Big Pharma have their well rewarded folk ready to take the opposing point of view. We have to read and decide ....

  • Tactics of the tobacco industry which the food industry was going to use until journalists called them out on it.

  • orthomolecular.org/resource...

    A VitD website with the best research papers of 2015/2016 - of course there must be others.

    grassrootshealth.net/media/...

    The above link discusses dosing .....

    fearlessparent.org/suppleme...

    The above link discusses the other side of the coin and the reason for both types of VitD to be tested.

    exeter.ac.uk/news/featuredn...

    The above link is a research paper about VitD and Alzheimers.

    Lots of information and ideas to ponder :-)

  • Quotes from the article are in italics.

    Pills containing up to 2,250 times the recommended dose of the “sunshine vitamin” are putting people at risk of heart and kidney problems, according to the NHS lab, which said it sees two to three overdose cases every week.

    That kind of information is not very useful alone. It would be good to put it into context. For example, I wonder how many paracetamol overdoses they deal with every week, either deliberate or unintentional?

    But taking too much of the vitamin can cause the body to absorb dangerously high levels of calcium, leading to other serious health problems including high blood pressure and nausea.

    We see lots of people coming here who tell us that, because they have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis, they have been prescribed vitamin D and calcium. I wonder how many cases of excessive calcium are caused by doctors prescribing both vitamin D and calcium, when just vitamin D was needed.

    And another point... Doctors never tell patients to take vitamin K2 or magnesium because they have no idea that they are needed. Excessive calcium in the blood could mean that there is a shortage of K2 and/or magnesium. My calcium levels used to be very high in range although I didn't supplement calcium. When I started taking K2 and magnesium my calcium level dropped.

    Oh, and another quibble... I've seen research papers in which postmenopausal women were dosed with a single dose of 150,000 iU vitamin D every three months :

    onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

    And any volunteers for a single dose of 600,000 iU vitamin D?

    academic.oup.com/jcem/artic...

    So, if such ridiculous research is done and apparently gets funding then doctors can hardly blame patients when they get it wrong.

  • 2,250 times 400 (IU) = 900,000 - and 400 is low even by GP dosing standards with 800 not being uncommon. So where can you get a pill with 900,000 in it?

  • I think Big Pharma is scaremongering, personally. I don't doubt there are people who overdose wildly on vitamin D, but I hate to think that such people might eventually have an effect on what I can do for myself.

  • Funnily enough I read another article today about osteoporosis in the Guardian which mentions vitamin D - theguardian.com/lifeandstyl...

    I noticed they give a maximum to the calcium you need as an adult per day unlike loads of other sources.

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