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Vitamin D and Disease Prevention

Hi All,

Just wanted to share this link about a Vitamin D study done at The University of California.

Higher Vitamin D Intake Needed to Reduce Cancer Risk

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha have reported that markedly higher intake of vitamin D is needed to reach blood levels that can prevent or markedly cut the incidence of breast cancer and several other major diseases than had been originally thought. The findings are published February 21 in the journal Anticancer Research.

http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2011/02-22-vitamin-D-cancer-risk.htm

Hope Love Light :thumbsup:

Comments

Sounds like how my CFS doc helped me raise mine to the correct level with Vit D drops. We raised it up from a low level. All doctors need to measure it in the blood.

Thanks Hope.
 
My CFS Doctor tested my Vitamin D3 level which was (29) after I was already taking 3,000 I.U a day. He told me to take 5,000 I.U. twice a day. I buy mine at Rite Aid 100 softegels , 5000 I.U. per soft gel for under Ten Bucks. Thanks Hope Love Light for posting this. Very important for CFS/ Fibromyalgia Folks and everyone. D-3 is the liquid sunshine vitamin.

XMRV positive, Industrial Disease
Chronic Pain (this helps with Chronic Pain!) Cervical Disectomy with Fusion 2005, Cervical Stenosis, Arthritis of the spine etc etc
Assorted Viruses, HHV-6, Mycoplama etc etc etc, Empty Sella Syndrome, HPA Axis Dysfunction, etc etc
 
Sallysblooms, do you think the drops are better assimilated than the capsule form? Xandoff, have you noticed any problems with reactions once you got your levels raised?

I was taking 2-5000 IU/day for over a year and tested at 12, after moving up to 10,000 IU/day, I was able to get up to 23. I am now in the single digits... I did experience an improvement on the 10,000 dose, but it was followed by a crash (not due to activity or a change in lifestyle; I'm guessing it was whatever was changed physiologically when the D level went up). I've been taking cod liver oil, but am not sure where to go next with D...?
 
zoe.a.m.;bt4501 said:
Sallysblooms, do you think the drops are better assimilated than the capsule form? Xandoff, have you noticed any problems with reactions once you got your levels raised?

I was taking 2-5000 IU/day for over a year and tested at 12, after moving up to 10,000 IU/day, I was able to get up to 23. I am now in the single digits... I did experience an improvement on the 10,000 dose, but it was followed by a crash (not due to activity or a change in lifestyle; I'm guessing it was whatever was changed physiologically when the D level went up). I've been taking cod liver oil, but am not sure where to go next with D...?

Hi Sallyblossoms,
I have only taken the soft gels of 5,000 I.U.s and I feel better relative to all things considered. Also since D-3 is liquid sunshine and I live in cloudy Northern Vermont I believe it helps with my witer blahs...approaching cabin fever here in March, kinda wish I did live in a Cabin.
 
Hey Xandoff my doc said I should take 2000iu for my Vit D of 25 but after reading your post I may up that!
Thanks,
Hope Love Light
 
Hi Sallyblossoms,
I have only taken the soft gels of 5,000 I.U.s and I feel better relative to all things considered. Also since D-3 is liquid sunshine and I live in cloudy Northern Vermont I believe it helps with my witer blahs...approaching cabin fever here in March, kinda wish I did live in a Cabin.

Xandoff, I spent the first 23 years in VT and now am in WA and if you want a cloudy winter, try WA! VT is so sunny comparatively speaking... I've wondered if my health worsened as a result of moving to a climate that is so damp and so dark--I think the Pacific Northwest is famous for low D levels though. Somehow I thought you'd taken 50,000 IU/day of D--maybe I'm thinking of another post/blog?!

hope love light, I would definitely take more than 2000 IU. I had no difference at 4000. Sometimes I think we either can't assimilate it or we use it so quickly that not much is left to show up in blood levels; either way, I'd go higher depending on how low your D is.
 
An excellent link hope love light - thank you.

I think it's outrageous that this is so overlooked by the medical profession especially when it's so unnatural for us to be low in vitamin D. Never in our history have we avoided the sun as much as we do now.

Vitamin D has made a huge difference to me and yet none of the doctors I saw checked my level until I requested it. There are no food sources that provide what is now considered enough and the only other way to get any is via unprotected exposure to the sun. And how many of us do that regularly, even given the opportunity?

I think there's one rule of thumb that recommends taking 1,000 IU per 25lbs of bodyweight once levels are in the normal range. Considerably more may be needed to get to normal levels and this is where testing comes in. It does take a while, weeks to months, to build levels and I'm pretty sure I've read that if you've been deficient then vitamin D receptors take a while to reactivate/rebuild/repair, or something like that. So while you may get some benefit quickly you may get even more over time.

zoe.a.m. - a gelcap should be similar to drops as long as it's an oil based form of vitamin D. As a fat soluble vitamin it is better absorbed in that medium. There are some dry capsule versions which are theoretically not as well absorbed unless they are taken with a fatty meal. May I suggest that it is better to take D away from the cod liver oil though as the vitamin A may compete with the D in the digestive system. Also is it possible that the crash wasn't actually related to the vitamin D and was just a connection that wasn't, if you see what I mean?

I was listening to a Dr on the radio last week who was talking about a trial with MS patients who were given 50,000 IU per day (tapered down over a year) and they had considerably better outcomes in terms of fewer flares than the placebo group. I wouldn't suggest anything that high unless you are being monitored closely by a physician with very regular blood tests. Toxicity is possible, just as it is with anything including water.

A short story here - my 80 year old mother had a series of cystitis infections - each time being given a course of antibiotics by her GP. The next time it flared up was on a weekend so she couldn't get a prescription without going to the emergency clinic. When I spoke to her I suggested she take a large dose of D (20,000 morning and night for 2 days). The problem started to clear up within hours of the first dose and was gone by the third. She now takes 5,000 IU daily (10,000 every now and then) and has not had a problem since. Coincidence? Maybe. Probably not when you look at what "D" does.

For those interested, there's a whole lot of information on this website http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

One last thing, before anybody starts taking "D" it is important to consider their own situation. There are very few contraindications but, for example, those with sarcoidosis are advised not to take it.
 
zoe.a.m. - a gelcap should be similar to drops as long as it's an oil based form of vitamin D. As a fat soluble vitamin it is better absorbed in that medium. There are some dry capsule versions which are theoretically not as well absorbed unless they are taken with a fatty meal. May I suggest that it is better to take D away from the cod liver oil though as the vitamin A may compete with the D in the digestive system. Also is it possible that the crash wasn't actually related to the vitamin D and was just a connection that wasn't, if you see what I mean?

I was listening to a Dr on the radio last week who was talking about a trial with MS patients who were given 50,000 IU per day (tapered down over a year) and they had considerably better outcomes in terms of fewer flares than the placebo group. I wouldn't suggest anything that high unless you are being monitored closely by a physician with very regular blood tests. Toxicity is possible, just as it is with anything including water.

Thanks pken. I have been using a fat-based D gelcap(s). I have heard the concern about A and D in cod liver oil and don't remember to take the c.l.o. often enough to worry about it. I have stopped taking D for the past few months to prep for my next blood test--I want to see what the level looks like without recent supplementation. It should be interesting.... I do think it's possible that the crash wasn't D related; let's face it: one never clearly knows what is causing what!!! I absolutely see what you mean. My nutritionist has cautioned me about about large amounts of any single vitamin/supplement because, as she puts it, the body has to borrow from something/somewhere else in order to take in the D (or whatever the substance) and that the serum level found in blood doesn't necessarily correlate to how your body is using it or what is readily available. It is a situation where you can only really use trial-and-error and do your best.

I do think we'll start seeing D as a more regular test, something to be ordered along with a CBC perhaps--it's just too important and I think the info will trickle down. I don't know if most doc's/med. professionals regard it as a hormone rather than a
"vitamin" though, and I think it's important to look at it as that since hormones affect hormones affect hormones...
 
Here's another interesting article - http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=another-reason-vitamin-d-is-importa-2010-03-07

Maybe if we all had been vitamin D sufficient none of us would have become as sick. I know that there's no way I can have had normal levels when I got sick as I hardly ever went in the sun (and when I did it was with sunscreen which virtually removes the effect) and I almost never ate fish or eggs. (which are the better dietary sources of D - though they still aren't very good) Sun is arguably the best way with supplementation being the most convenient).

Zoe.a.m - I understand it's interesting to see how your levels are but I hope the test isn't too far off because being intentionally low in D probably isn't a good thing - and may actually be a terribly bad thing!
 

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