vitamin d supplements

[katherine107]

I have been taking doctors best vitamin d tablets for over a year now. 5000iu. My gp last week said i should take adcal which only has 400 iu. she said i need calcium with vit d and 5000 iu is way too much. I am confused now . Also should i take k2 with 5000iu vitamin d? I have been very lucky as never caught covid so far or colds or flu. Any advice please. I have medication for thyroid which is liothyronine.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You should test vitamin D twice year when supplementing

vitamindtest.org.uk

It’s trial and error what dose we need

Vitamin D and thyroid disease

grassrootshealth.net/blog/t...

Vitamin D may prevent Autoimmune disease

newscientist.com/article/23...

Web links about taking important cofactors - magnesium and Vit K2-MK7

Magnesium best taken in the afternoon or evening, but must be four hours away from levothyroxine

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

livescience.com/61866-magne...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Great article by Dr Malcolm Kendrick on magnesium

drmalcolmkendrick.org/categ...

Vitamin K2 mk7

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

healthline.com/nutrition/vi...

2 good videos on magnesium

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Vitamin D and Covid

Notice how much vitamin D many of these medics are taking

vitamind4all.org/letter.pdf

Come back with new post once you get vitamin D results

May need to reduce dose vitamin D slightly

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Ask GP to test calcium levels

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Previous post 3 months ago

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Come back with new post once you get vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 results

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

katherine107

I have been taking doctors best vitamin d tablets for over a year now. 5000iu.

They're softgels aren't they, I don't think Doctors Best make D3 tablets.

A year ago you were taking 400iu. Did you test as suggested back then to know that you needed to increase to 5,000iu.

said i should take adcal which only has 400 iu. she said i need calcium with vit d

That's doubtful. Taking D3 aids absorption of calcium from food so will very likely increase your calcium level anyway. GP should test your calcium level before suggesting you take calcium.

How does she know you only need 400iu D3 if she doesn't test?

Also should i take k2 with 5000iu vitamin d?

That's correct -Vit K2-MK7 - as mentioned D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and the Vit K2-MK7 directs calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can become deposited and cause problems like calcification of arteries, kidney stones, etc. You GP wont know this, they're taught little to nothing about nutrients.

Besides K2-MK7 there is another important cofactor when taking D3 - magnesium. This helps the body convert D3 into it's active form, and large doses of D3 can induce depletion of magnesium. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.

D3 and magnesium should be taken 4 hours away from thyroid meds.

Vit K2-MK7 should be taken 2 hours away from thyroid meds.

D3 and Vit K2-MK7 are fat soluble so need some sort of fat to be absorbed. If you are taking Doctor's Best softgels they contain extra virgin olive oil so that's OK. Any form of D3 that doesn't include oil or other fat should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day.

Vit K2-MK7 is also fat soluble and needs fat to be absorbed and will compete with the D3 for fat if taken at the same time, so take them at different times of the day.

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thankyou for this. What dosage of k2 should be taken and also which magnesium and dose.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to katherine107]

katherine107

90-100mcg K2-MK7 is enough for up to 10,000iu D3.

For Vit K2-MK7 I suggest Vitabay, Vegavero or Vitamaze brands which all contain the correct form of K2-MK7 - the "All Trans" form rather than the "Cis" form. The All Trans form is the bioactive form, a bit like methylfolate is the bioactive form of folic acid.

Vitabay and Vegavero are either tablets or capsules.

Vitabay does do an oil based liquid.

Vitamaze is an oil based liquid.

With the oil based liquids the are xx amount of K2-MK7 per drop so you just take the appropriate amount of drops.

They are all imported German brands, you can find them on Amazon although they do go out of stock from time to time. I get what I can when I need to restock. If the tablet or capsule form is only in 200mcg dose at the time I take those on alternate days.

If looking for a combined D3/K2 supplement, this one has 3,000iu D3 and 50mcg K2-MK7. The K2-MK7 is the All-Trans form

natureprovides.com/products...

It may also be available on Amazon.

One member gave excellent feedback on this particular product yesterday here:

Here is what she said (also read the following replies):

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I'm afraid I can't get onto Amazon's website at the moment so I can't give you any links.

As for magnesium, this comes in different forms so it's not possible to suggest what you should take, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds if taking magnesium as tablets/capsules, no necessity if using topical forms of magnesium.

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

drjockers.com/best-magnesiu...

Most magnesium supplements have a dose of around 350-450mg so just take what is suggested on the pack.

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thankyou

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

i have just looked up the ingrediants for k2 and contain soy. I have allergy to it. Is there any other brand please.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to katherine107]

You can do an internet search for K2-MK7 made with chickpeas, whether it will be the All Trans form or the Cis form I don't know. l can't help with brands because I don't use the chickpea K2.

As for magnesium malate again I don't use that form, I use two other forms from different brands, so I can't suggest a brand.

All I can suggest is don't go for high street or supermarket brands, and look for a brand with the least additives. If you want me to have a look at whatever you're considering I'm happy to do so.

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Yes please if you could look

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to katherine107]

OK but you need to find a brand first then I'll have a look at it.

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Best immune magnesium malate seems ok. Looked at lots of different brands.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to katherine107]

I don't know the brand but I've had a look, seems like a clean supplement with no nasty added ingredients.

However, the recommended amount of elemental magnesium is around 300-400mg per day. In the Q & A's on Amazon Best Immune (the seller) has given this information:

Question:

What is the amount of "elemental" magnesium in each tablet since each tablet has 500mg of Magnesium "Malate"?

Answer:

Thank you for your interest in our pure, natural supplements.

Each capsule contains 70mg of elemental magnesium.

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

pure encapsulations magnesium citrate malate . not sure if this is enough dosage. I cant seem to find anymore . I have fatigue and muscle pains .

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to katherine107]

katherine107

pure encapsulations magnesium citrate malate

planetorganic.com/products/...

This one?

It's a decent brand. It doesn't state the amount of elemental magnesium (but most don't). It does say 1 capsue = 32% NRV so that would suggest that 3 capsules daily would be needed to give the average amount of magnesium suggested. The only other thing is to contact them asking for the amount of elemental magnesium.

You will probably have noticed from reading the links about what each form of magnesium is suitable for, magnesium citrate helps with constipation so can cause diarrhoea if too much taken or not needed for that purpose.

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

so confused about what to take for energy levels and muscle pain. I have bowel problems anyway so maybe stay away from this magnesium

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to katherine107]

Muscle pain is often low Vit D, so just concentrate on the fatigue and see which form of magnesium is suggested for that. But don't forget that there are other reasons for fatigue -

undermedication - 3 months ago your FT3 was dire: 3.8 (ref 3.1 - 6.8)

low iron

low ferritin

[katherine107 in reply to SeasideSusie]

i have looked at magnesium malate as i have bad muscle pain and fatigue. this seems to be better for this. there are so many to chose from. can you recommend one please

[Sneedle in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi SeasideSusie,

Although an old post, this is extremely helpful to me as I'm trying to figure out Vit D and K supplements.

I have a question - I understand the two should be taken separately so they don't compete, but I see they are included together in some brands, eg. the Nature Provides one you listed in your post

natureprovides.com/products...

which I don't understand. How big an issue is this? I haven't been taking k2 but have been taking 12 000 IU vit d daily to raise level to 80. So I'm wanting to add in K2, but not sure if separate or combined is right.

Thanks!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Sneedle]

Sneedle

Both D3 and K2 require fat for absorption. This can be by either buying a supplement with fat included (eg olive oil, or other oil) or taking it with some dietary fat (eg cheese, full fat yogurt, fattiest meal of the day, etc).

If there is no fat in the supplement then if you have separate D3 and K2 supplements they should be taken at different times of the day with some fat otherwise taking them together they would compete for the available fat for absorption.

One assumes that in a combined supplement the manufacturer has included enough fat for them both to be absorbed, so check the label to see if/what fat is included. If in any doubt contact the manufacturer.

I currently take Doctor's Best D3 which is just D3 and extra virgin olive oil. I take a separate K2-MK7 made by Vegavero which has linseed flour and linseeds contain fat. I do take them at different times of the day - D3 with breakfast and K2 with evening meal - but that's because I take a lot of supplements and don't want to take too many at once so I take some in the morning and some in the evening.

When I have finished my current supply I may very well try Nature Provides. If you have any questions about their product they are very helpful if you contact them.

Now your Vit D level is 80 you could reduce your dose. You can work out how much y you need by going to the Vit D Council's website here

web.archive.org/web/2019070...

and scroll down to

My level is between 30-40 ng/ml

80nmol = 32ng/ml

They recommend a level of 40-60ng/ml (100-150nmol/L). I would aim for a level of 50ng/ml (125nmol/L) and to achieve that level from your current level you'll see that they suggest a daily dose of 2,500iu. If you change to Nature Provides 5 drops = 3,000iu so that would do fine.

I made a comprehensive post about supplementing with Vit D here which you might be interested in:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Sneedle in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks for such a clear explanation! I'm going to reduce my daily d mega dose down a bit- I do want to get to 125 as fast as is healthy so I'll probably drop it to 5000 daily or thereabouts and see when I test again in a couple of months.👍 Cheers

[redted]

Hi yes I take 5000 out but only one every other day and I have been fine on this dose for the last few yrs,I have never managed to find anyone that has a specific dosage mine was low so Dr said take D3 for at least 3 months and get tested again I got tested and result was better so have continued without problems but as we know not everyone is the same I take “the capsule called Now” D3 5000iu but best to get advice from other uses too hope you get one that’s right for you,