A new article in The Guardian about vitamin D.
As usual, no recognition of those who, for reasons known or unknown, are intolerant to supplementary vitamin D.
This is neither a recommendation nor a criticism of the article. I leave that up to each reader to make up their own mind.
Does vitamin D combat Covid?
It’s cheap, widely available and might help us fend off the virus. So should we all be dosing up on the sunshine nutrient?
As mentioned in Guardian article
Another study, at Singapore General Hospital, published in the journal Nutrition, found that treating patients with a combination of vitamin D, magnesium and vitamin B12 was associated with a “significant reduction” in the worst outcomes.
Here’s that article
Makes complete sense to me....
As far as I'm concerned we disregard nutrients at our peril....
The words nutrient and nourish both come from the Latin word nutrientem, to feed, nurse, support, preserve.
...and I'm clearly not a Classics scholar!!!
Stay safe everyone.
Thank you - that sounds interesting. I take these all (and more 
) to maximum RDA daily in any event. Just be mindful of the 'do not exceed', yet where so many companies give multiples, up to a 1,000% (why!?), so I haven't bought multi-vits for 12+ years now.
B-vits are fine [expensive pee] but there is an upper limit for magnesium and vit-D. Does anyone actually know how much vit-D is - within weight etc - ranges for adults? Does age make any difference?
Don't just assume B vitamins are fine - there is little doubt excess B6 can be a serious problem.
Thank you - so much! I take B1, B3, B5, B7 + B12... but I'm sure I must get B6 in food. I'll need to re-look lots of this up... again - WHAT did we do with our time when fit n well!? Husband just saying ageing requires more B6 and men require more than women!?
It isn't just the amount, it also appears to be which form of B6!
I have posted what is below a few times:
The taking of B-complexes, and of just B6, has often been discussed here. I, along with several others, have pointed out that high doses of B6 should be avoided as they can cause neuropathy - one of the symptoms that it is sometimes taken to help relieve.
This paper, from 2017 has an explanation for this phenomenon.
What it doesn't do is give information about doses. It appears to say that, while pyridoxine can cause neuropathy, other forms of B6, such as pyridoxal-5'-phosphate, do not cause this issue.
Toxicol In Vitro. 2017 Oct;44:206-212. doi: 10.1016/j.tiv.2017.07.009. Epub 2017 Jul 14.
The vitamin B6 paradox: Supplementation with high concentrations of pyridoxine leads to decreased vitamin B6 function.
Vrolijk MF1, Opperhuizen A2, Jansen EHJM3, Hageman GJ4, Bast A4, Haenen GRMM4.
Author information
1 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.vrolijk@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
3 National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
4 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Abstract
Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that functions as a coenzyme in many reactions involved in amino acid, carbohydrates and lipid metabolism. Since 2014, >50 cases of sensory neuronal pain due to vitamin B6 supplementation were reported. Up to now, the mechanism of this toxicity is enigmatic and the contribution of the various B6 vitamers to this toxicity is largely unknown. In the present study, the neurotoxicity of the different forms of vitamin B6 is tested on SHSY5Y and CaCo-2 cells. Cells were exposed to pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, pyridoxal, pyridoxal-5-phosphate or pyridoxamine-5-phosphate for 24h, after which cell viability was measured using the MTT assay. The expression of Bax and caspase-8 was tested after the 24h exposure. The effect of the vitamers on two pyridoxal-5-phosphate dependent enzymes was also tested. Pyridoxine induced cell death in a concentration-dependent way in SHSY5Y cells. The other vitamers did not affect cell viability. Pyridoxine significantly increased the expression of Bax and caspase-8. Moreover, both pyridoxal-5-phosphate dependent enzymes were inhibited by pyridoxine. In conclusion, the present study indicates that the neuropathy observed after taking a relatively high dose of vitamin B6 supplements is due to pyridoxine. The inactive form pyridoxine competitively inhibits the active pyridoxal-5'-phosphate. Consequently, symptoms of vitamin B6 supplementation are similar to those of vitamin B6 deficiency.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Neuropathy; Neurotoxic; Pyridoxine; Supplements; Vitamin B6
PMID: 28716455
DOI: 10.1016/j.tiv.2017.07.009
bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m38...
Interesting point in the above link about the steroid Dexamethasone ( spelling ? ) and VitD using the same receptors. Very well referenced letter to the BMJ in the above link - how can NICE or anyone else disregard this information ?
Is it because studies are small due to lack of funding ? £€$€£$ ??
I think that money is likely not the most important issue here. After all, there are billions to be recouped by addressing the issues of Covid-19, plenty to appeal to a government and its health service - if not to pharmaceutical companies.
I note:
Thought-provokingly hospital ‘D’ supplementation was standard practice in Daniel Drake Center for Post-Acute Care in Cincinnati for many years.
I have not followed the links. But I suggest, just a guess, that the practice had most likely been started and continued on medical grounds. Even if somewhat poorly researched and analysed. But was abandoned on financial grounds with insufficient counter-argument from the medical staff at the time.
Part of the paper:
In 2009 one author (PM) made it a standard of care to offer hospitalized patients either 5000 (125mcg) IU/day or 10,000 (250 mcg) IU/day after realizing the importance of maintaining vitamin D sufficiency in hospitalized patients who had no access to sunshine or UVB phototherapy, who were receiving very little vitamin D in their diets, and who often had undetectable or extremely low serum 25(OH)D concentrations in their blood [142]. This occurred at the Daniel Drake Center for Post-Acute Care in Cincinnati, Ohio. The protocol established by Dr Heaney in 2003 was adopted, when he showed using these daily intakes to be safe over a 5-month period [129], as discussed earlier. This practice continued as a standard of care after the author moved to Summit Behavioral Healthcare in 2011, where a significant prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was also noted and continues to exist on new admissions to the facility [59].
A PDF of the full paper can be freely downloaded from this link:
preprints.org/manuscript/20...
Think I read on grassrootshealth.net that funding for research is not easy. Dr Heany part of Grassrootshealth .
Cannot help thinking of the TB patients being wheeled outside in their beds for their daily dose of fresh air and sunlight - before meds came along ....
In the last couple of years GP’s in this area (south of England) have been doing VitD blood tests. So it’s been on their radar well before Covid. I always have to supplement all year round as it not something that I can naturally maintain optimal levels. I’ve had my husband and children on the sprays since summer. I think it is something that should have been advertised and encouraged as much as the other recommendations.
The answer is YES YES YES but Governments won't listen as I've stated earlier (duplicate post).
They never listen. It’s not profitable.
I did ask about intolerance of vitamin D on the Vitamin D protocol site but didn’t get a clear answer. Are you able to take any other forms? From BMJ article: In summary, the form of vitamin D of choice for exogenous supplementation should be cholecalciferol, with calcifediol reserved for patients with liver failure or severe intestinal malabsorption syndromes.
Thank you. This is what those who have vitamin D issues find repeatedly - no-one gives a straight answer.
(It isn't me who has this issue, I can knock back D and never notice anything. But there are a few members here who have this issue.)
It is clear that sarcoidosis can be a problem. But simple recognition of the issue would be a major step forward. Preferably accompanied by a list of known or suspected reasons, disorders and medicines or supplements which might be involved, and any advice about what can be done. Even if it ends up with "These people should not take supplementary vitamin D."
It is wholly unacceptable to shout from the rooftops how important vitamin D supplementation is - then totally ignore some of those very people you have told that to.
An excellent video - many studies :
Vitamin D and Covid
Iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin D
Vitamin D and complementing Vitamins
Interesting paper on vitamin D
