Study shows millions of kids lack Vitamin D(link)

[Pajama Mama]

I realize that kids play inside more than when I was a kid but-wow. Lack of Vit D puts kids at risk for Diabetes and other health issues. I'm sure most hsed kids aren't the ones at risk. We have more time to allow our kiddos to play outside. But ps kids are in school all day and then come home and play video games or watch TV the rest of the day. Alot of ds's ps friends do this. Ds had his friend over one day and I kicked them outside to play. I told them to "Go outside and make some Vitamin D." I had to explain to his friend what I was talking about:) I hadn't heard of this study at the time. I was sorta kidding with them.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32265598/ns/health-more_health_news

[keptwoman]

It's one of the reason I don't routinely slather my kids in sunscreen. I only put it on them at times when we are going to be in the sun for hours. Our kids need sun on their skin!!

[Renee in NC]

It's one of the reason I don't routinely slather my kids in sunscreen. I only put it on them at times when we are going to be in the sun for hours. Our kids need sun on their skin!!

 

Same here.

[abbeyej]

I wouldn't assume that because our kids play outside that they're getting plenty of D... I haven't had my kids tested yet, but my D levels are well below half of what they should be -- and yet we live in the south, spend a fair amount of time outside, and I only put sunblock on my face (and then only when we'll be in midday sun for a period of time).

 

From what I've read, many of us would have to be outside in minimal clothing for hours every day. I have home schooling friends who spend hours each day at the pool in summer, and whose school-year weekends are spent on family hikes and bike rides, etc, who have discovered their kids' D levels were very low. (After the kids had several fractures, and their D levels were finally tested.)

 

It's certainly a curious phenomenon...

[PiCO]

Dh's oncologist said lack of vitamin D also increases your risk for blood and bone marrow cancers. He recommended 20 minutes of unprotected sun exposure daily.

 

He was frustrated by the publicity regarding skin cancer, when most skin cancers can just be lopped off and you're done with it. Blood and bone marrow cancers are much more likely to kill.

[TravelingChris]

My daughter has somewhat lower Vitamin D but much more importantly she has osteoporosis. We were living in Florida, with a swimming pool she loved to use, and every morning, a break from schooling to go outside for a while. She ate very well, wasn't fat, had calcium and vit d in her diet, didn't drink colas at all and still she got this. She is also very light skinned so she should get vitamin D easily out in the sun. I am not sure what the answer is since it happens even when you are doing everything right.

[Jumping In Puddles]

My daughter has somewhat lower Vitamin D but much more importantly she has osteoporosis. We were living in Florida, with a swimming pool she loved to use, and every morning, a break from schooling to go outside for a while. She ate very well, wasn't fat, had calcium and vit d in her diet, didn't drink colas at all and still she got this. She is also very light skinned so she should get vitamin D easily out in the sun. I am not sure what the answer is since it happens even when you are doing everything right.

 

I have no idea of how accurate this is, but I think vitamin D washes off the skin easily, so you would need to go out in the sun, then not shower for 48 hours.

[AngelaNYC]

I have no idea of how accurate this is, but I think vitamin D washes off the skin easily, so you would need to go out in the sun, then not shower for 48 hours.

 

 

:001_huh: The sun helps your body produce Vitamin D. It doesn't wash off.

[sbgrace]

I read a study that found that 51% of high sun exposure (28 hours per week average) Hawiians were deficient. And the study made below 30 deficient when in reality you need levels of at least 40 and ideally 50 for health and disease prevention. http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/6/2130

 

Clearly sun exposure alone is not enough for some people.

 

We supplement here and also test 25 (OH) D levels so we know how much we need. My kids take 1500-2000 IU per day depending on the season. My husband takes 3000 IU per day. I take 5000 IU per day and took 9000 per day to get my levels normal.

[Renee in NC]

I read a study that found that 51% of high sun exposure (28 hours per week average) Hawiians were deficient. And the study made below 30 deficient when in reality you need levels of at least 40 and ideally 50 for health and disease prevention. http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/6/2130

 

Clearly sun exposure alone is not enough for some people.

 

We supplement here and also test 25 (OH) D levels so we know how much we need. My kids take 1500-2000 IU per day depending on the season. My husband takes 3000 IU per day. I take 5000 IU per day and took 9000 per day to get my levels normal.

 

I wonder why Vit. D deficiency is becoming more common - what is causing it? There has to be some other factor - does anyone know of any research being done as to the causes? Consistent sun exposure should be enough unless something is blocking it, reducing production, etc.

[Pajama Mama]

I'm sure there are people who don't produce Vit D for different reasons. But around I am shocked how few kids I see this summer outside. Yes, it's been a wet summer. But even a nice sunny day will produce very few kids outside. My kids play outside with their friends. But my kids and their friends constantly want to play *inside* on a nice day. Ds's friends will complain that "it's too hot" when it's only 72 degrees. Ummm, jump in my pool then. Oh-the pool water is too cold:glare:

[abbeyej]

I wonder why Vit. D deficiency is becoming more common - what is causing it? There has to be some other factor - does anyone know of any research being done as to the causes? Consistent sun exposure should be enough unless something is blocking it, reducing production, etc.

 

Well, for one thing, much lower levels were considered "adequate" in the past. The levels necessary for preventing rickets, for instance, are far lower than the levels now considered necessary for optimal healthy. So ten minutes a day in the sun might be plenty to keep most of us from developing rickets, it's not *truly* enough for our bodies to operate optimally.

[Renee in NC]

Well, for one thing, much lower levels were considered "adequate" in the past. The levels necessary for preventing rickets, for instance, are far lower than the levels now considered necessary for optimal healthy. So ten minutes a day in the sun might be plenty to keep most of us from developing rickets, it's not *truly* enough for our bodies to operate optimally.

 

According to the facts persented by someone else, 4 hours a day is not enough for many people! I know I feel better if I spend large amounts of time in the sun. I know some cultures consider physical labor in the sun a treatment for depression (works for me, too!)

 

It's somewhat frightening to me that adequate levels cannot be attained without supplements. Until reading about it here, I never knew that people had their vitamin levels checked. Is this worldwide or more localized to certain countries?

 

It is just curious!

[dirty ethel rackham]

I heard about this this morning. So, how do you supplement for kids who can't swallow pills? Ds13 has sensory issues which makes it difficult and dd9 hasn't mastered it yet.

[Laurie]

I heard about this this morning. So, how do you supplement for kids who can't swallow pills? Ds13 has sensory issues which makes it difficult and dd9 hasn't mastered it yet.

 

My kids have sensory issues, too. Both of them LOVE these:

Rainbow Light Vitamin D Sunny Gummies (These are D3 which is the best form of vit. D.)

 

There's 400IU in each orange flavored gummy and the label says these are for kids 4 and over. I buy them at Whole Foods and this weekend I bought Rainbow Light's 1000IU lemon flavored gummies to take myself when my bottle of pills is empty!

 

(I've also seen Vitamin D drops at Whole Foods in the children's vitamin section but we haven't used them. I think the brand is called Carlson.)

Edited August 3, 2009 by Laurie

[Nestof3]

According to the facts persented by someone else, 4 hours a day is not enough for many people! I know I feel better if I spend large amounts of time in the sun. I know some cultures consider physical labor in the sun a treatment for depression (works for me, too!)

 

It's somewhat frightening to me that adequate levels cannot be attained without supplements. Until reading about it here, I never knew that people had their vitamin levels checked. Is this worldwide or more localized to certain countries?

 

It is just curious!

 

I spent too many summers with painful sunburns to even consider spending four hours in the sun. It's not just about skin cancer, it's about painful sunburn. Some of us on the board happen to be pale Irish people who probably shouldn't be living in a southern state in the US anyway.

 

My husband, also Irish, has already had skin cancer cells removed from his face. He has a lawn business and works outside 4-9 hours a day.

[6packofun]

Yep, these are the ones we decided on. I like them, too!

[PeterPan]

Well two things. One, you can find a study for anything. When I was nursing dd ages ago, they told us nursing mothers had no trouble with Vit. D. Now you google and supposedly everyone does, lol. Next, vit. D is a hormone, not a vitamin, and its levels depend on more than just your sun. Your kidneys, parathyroid, and liver have to be working right, and the other minerals it balances with need to be right (phosphorus, etc.). Our diets have changed a lot over the last 100 years, and things high in phosphorus like peas and split pea soup, many people never even eat.

 

Now, as far as supplementation, you can do that, but you want to be careful. http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/otherendo/vitamind.html When you're having to take abnormally large amounts of a supplement to get the desired effect, it may be because your body is not using it correctly, meaning you need to fix something else (diet, kidney function, etc.). In my own little realm of experience, the first few years I was with my nutritionist, she spent every winter telling me my lack of energy and enthusiasm was due to low D. She'd put me on sunflower seeds and things containing D, I'd get sun, but still it was symptomatically low. But we worked on kidney function with beets, got my overall health better, and each year I did better and better through the winter. This seemed, to my novice assessment, to be suprprisingly linked to kideny function. When you eat beets, watch what color your urine and stools turn. The less it changes color, the better your function. At least that's what I was told. Now I take a vitamin D supplement (http://www.foodform.com ) that seems to work well. If I'm in the sun a LOT (vacationing, lots of time outside), I don't seem to need it. Otherwise I do. And she has me eating lots of the foods that provide the other things D needs to balance (split pea soup, peas, vit. C in food and supplements, etc.). It's NOT just one thing and I WOULDN'T just take large amounts of vit. D. As that article points out, you overload your liver when you do that.

[Matryoshka]

I've been wondering about this too, especially with flu season coming up - I've been thinking of asking the ped and my and dh's doctors too to do D level tests - do you think they'll think we're nuts or be resistant with this coming from us and not them?

 

With D being fat soluble, I don't want to just megadose on the assumption that we're low - we drink/eat tons of dairy products, which are all D-fortified (I think increasing soda/decreasing milk consumption has also been pointed at as a reason for the lowering D levels). But I don't know that that's enough, I'd like to supplement at an appropriate level. I had a bone-scan at one of those well-clinics and it came up unusually healthy, but I have no idea if that necessarily correlates to good D levels the way a low density would correlate to low D.

[Supertechmom]

Our ped checked my dd's levels since I was insisting on several things (might as well check this while we are checking that as it went along with the others) and was FLOORED by how low her vit d was. She said she just would have never thought her levels could be that low and not have some kind of obvious deficiency showing. That of course lead to some other test and bone scans to make sure we were not in the start of something. We now supplement with 1,000 a day every day along with whatever is in her multivitamin in addition to sun exposure. One just never knows. It's now a normal test for us to run every year as it takes a long time to build those levels up.

[elise1mds]

I'm loving this discussion. It's so helpful! I just got diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency and put on 2000 IU of vitamin D per day. This is in addition to the amount that I am already getting from other vitamins, gardening outdoors, etc. My mom and grandmother both have horrible osteoporosis, so I know I'm at risk, but I also believe I have massive hormone issues that nobody has diagnosed yet. It's good to know I'm not the only one thinking they're probably linked. Must pin the doctor down about it next time I go in....

[FairProspects]

I heard about this this morning. So, how do you supplement for kids who can't swallow pills? Ds13 has sensory issues which makes it difficult and dd9 hasn't mastered it yet.

 

We use a spray of Vitamin D3 that goes under your tongue. It is really good and tastes like spearmint! I've been ordered to take 4000 IU per day after I had my levels tested and they were under half of what they should be.:tongue_smilie:

[jplain]

Now, as far as supplementation, you can do that, but you want to be careful.

The article mentions "ingestion of milligram quantities" over periods of weeks or months as a cause of vit D toxicity.

For reference, one milligram of D3 is equivalent to 40,000 IU.

 

(I do, however, enthusiastically agree with your other points about how underlying issues with other nutrients and organs can also be major factors in vit D deficiency.)

[Jumping In Puddles]

:001_huh: The sun helps your body produce Vitamin D. It doesn't wash off.

 

I wasn't sure that was right, but I have read it more than once on this board that if you shower it will wash off. :001_unsure:

 

Glad to know it doesn't wash off. :)

[JudyJudyJudy]

I agree with OhElizabeth's point that vitamin D supplementation may not be the right answer in many cases. In general, by supplementing, only the symptoms of the deficiency are being treated rather than the underlying cause. Finding the underlying cause of the deficiency should be the goal.

 

Besides not getting enough sunlight, some other causes of vitamin D deficency include not eating enough saturated fats (most people act as though saturated fats are evil), conditions like celiac disease that cause malabsorption, hepatic or renal disease, and problems with the parathyroid. In addition to these causes, certain medications and exposure to toxins can cause vitamin D deficiency.

[Mommyof4ks]

I agree with OhElizabeth's point that vitamin D supplementation may not be the right answer in many cases. In general, by supplementing, only the symptoms of the deficiency are being treated rather than the underlying cause. Finding the underlying cause of the deficiency should be the goal.

 

Besides not getting enough sunlight, some other causes of vitamin D deficency include not eating enough saturated fats (most people act as though saturated fats are evil), conditions like celiac disease that cause malabsorption, hepatic or renal disease, and problems with the parathyroid. In addition to these causes, certain medications and exposure to toxins can cause vitamin D deficiency.

 

This is what I have been wondering, but people look at me like I am crazy when I dare ask such a question lol. What is causing it in the first place?! My ds has cancer and now has mild osteopenia so his vit d levels are most likely low. Were they low prior to the cancer, did the cancer make them low, is there something else going on that made him low and allowed the cancer to grow, is any of that even related? Who knows. He was 19 months at diagnosis, so it is not like he had a long time to develop a deficiency. It will be interesting to find out more through studies on why and how these things work together if in fact they really do.

[TravelingChris]

With my daughter, she was tested after she had three fractures. SHe has since had three more. She is now on supplemental Calcium and VIt D plus she takes Fosamax. She has had the first round of testing for the osteoporosis and nothing showed up. Our doctor decided with us that rather than subjecting her to a bone biopsy which would be the next step we would try the fosamax. She will have blood tests again in Sept and Dec along with a DEXA bone scan on Dec too. He is hoping that her osteoporosis disappears with puberty and since she is 12 1/2, that should be within the year. If she keeps breaking bones or the bone scan comes out bad, she will have to have more tests including a bone biopsy.

 

WIth my other daughter who has mildly low vit d, we found that out as a result of trying to find the cause of her sister's problems and some of her own too.

[Blessedfamily]

The article mentions "ingestion of milligram quantities" over periods of weeks or months as a cause of vit D toxicity.

For reference, one milligram of D3 is equivalent to 40,000 IU.

 

(I do, however, enthusiastically agree with your other points about how underlying issues with other nutrients and organs can also be major factors in vit D deficiency.)

 

I was going to ask for an explanation of that sentence from the article. Thanks.

[PiCO]

I wasn't sure that was right, but I have read it more than once on this board that if you shower it will wash off. :001_unsure:

 

Glad to know it doesn't wash off. :)

 

Well, I was in the "Vitamin D doesn't wash off" camp when I first read your post, but then I read the article someone posted. Turns out your skin uses the natural skin oils to make the vitamin D, so if the oils are washed away too quickly (i.e.- chlorinated pool water), the vitamin D is washed away with the oil. But it only takes about an hour for your skin to absorb the vitamin D in the oil.

 

The most interesting part of that article for me was you need the sun between 10 and 2 to get the UV-B rays that stimulate vitamin D production.

 

Here's the link again in case you missed it.

[JudyJudyJudy]

This is what I have been wondering, but people look at me like I am crazy when I dare ask such a question lol. What is causing it in the first place?! My ds has cancer and now has mild osteopenia so his vit d levels are most likely low. Were they low prior to the cancer, did the cancer make them low, is there something else going on that made him low and allowed the cancer to grow, is any of that even related? Who knows. He was 19 months at diagnosis, so it is not like he had a long time to develop a deficiency. It will be interesting to find out more through studies on why and how these things work together if in fact they really do.

:grouphug:

 

With my daughter, she was tested after she had three fractures. SHe has since had three more. She is now on supplemental Calcium and VIt D plus she takes Fosamax. She has had the first round of testing for the osteoporosis and nothing showed up. Our doctor decided with us that rather than subjecting her to a bone biopsy which would be the next step we would try the fosamax. She will have blood tests again in Sept and Dec along with a DEXA bone scan on Dec too. He is hoping that her osteoporosis disappears with puberty and since she is 12 1/2, that should be within the year. If she keeps breaking bones or the bone scan comes out bad, she will have to have more tests including a bone biopsy.

 

WIth my other daughter who has mildly low vit d, we found that out as a result of trying to find the cause of her sister's problems and some of her own too.

:grouphug:

[Blessedfamily]

This is what I have been wondering, but people look at me like I am crazy when I dare ask such a question lol. What is causing it in the first place?! My ds has cancer and now has mild osteopenia so his vit d levels are most likely low. Were they low prior to the cancer, did the cancer make them low, is there something else going on that made him low and allowed the cancer to grow, is any of that even related? Who knows. He was 19 months at diagnosis, so it is not like he had a long time to develop a deficiency. It will be interesting to find out more through studies on why and how these things work together if in fact they really do.

 

 

:grouphug:

 

 

With my daughter, she was tested after she had three fractures. SHe has since had three more. She is now on supplemental Calcium and VIt D plus she takes Fosamax. She has had the first round of testing for the osteoporosis and nothing showed up. Our doctor decided with us that rather than subjecting her to a bone biopsy which would be the next step we would try the fosamax. She will have blood tests again in Sept and Dec along with a DEXA bone scan on Dec too. He is hoping that her osteoporosis disappears with puberty and since she is 12 1/2, that should be within the year. If she keeps breaking bones or the bone scan comes out bad, she will have to have more tests including a bone biopsy.

 

WIth my other daughter who has mildly low vit d, we found that out as a result of trying to find the cause of her sister's problems and some of her own too.

 

:grouphug:

 

From me too.

[cillakat]

I have home schooling friends who spend hours each day at the pool in summer, and whose school-year weekends are spent on family hikes and bike rides, etc, who have discovered their kids' D levels were very low. (After the kids had several fractures, and their D levels were finally tested.)

 

It's certainly a curious phenomenon...

 

I'm so glad someone is posting about this besides me!! :)

 

I'm one of the friends Abbey mentions above......my kids didn't have the multiple fracture issues, but rather the asthma (asthma is very possibly nothing more than a symptom of vitamin D deficiency), sinus infections, frequent upper respiratory infections etc etc.

 

I also had very low D levels - and I tested mine

1)while living in Atlanta

2)in August

3)never ever ever having used sunscreen routinely

 

Ever. I'd worn sunscreen only on ski or tropical vacations *period*. I had two small children and was outside all of the time. I did seek shade when possible but was constantly out at the park, the pool, running errands, going for walks etc.

 

For us to get an appropriate amount of D, we'd need to be

1)outside midday

2)with most skin exposed (ie bikini bathingsuit)

3)to the point just prior to a burn occuring (ie don't burn or get pink....come in right before that happens)

4)it has to be at a latitude where it's possible for our skintone to produce D from the sun

5)it has to be at a time of year that UVB intensity is sufficient.

 

FE, an person descended from equatorial populations now living in Canada or Denmark or Sweden or Minnesota (etc) cannot ever get sufficient D from sun. even naked in the summer.

 

A person of western/northern european descent who now lives in Australia or Phoenix, AZ can get sufficient D much of the year if they go out for a few minutes, midday, with no protection, every day. AM sun doesn't do it. Late afternoon sun doesn't do it. Sunscreen completely blocks D production. So does glass. So do clothes. (none of those things block all sun though....just the part of the sun that's good for us:))

 

The rest of us can get some sun, sometimes depending on the above numbered variables. It won't be enough though.

 

A Danish study of veiled muslim women indicated that they needed about 6,000 IU of D on average to both reach optimal levels of D in their blood and in their breastmilk.

 

When I was only moderately sun protective, in summer, I needed 2,000 IU per day to maintain good levels. Now that I'm more sun protective, I need 6,000 IU D per day year round.....though if I get my midday sun without protection (occasionally I do), then I don't take my D that day.

 

In the summer, I now let my kids play midday with no sunscren on body (face gets s/s) for a chunk of time, then apply to protect from further damage.

 

When they're inside midday, I give them 1,000 IU per 25 lbs body weight. From september till may, they get 1,000 Iu per 25 lbs body weight per day regardless of sun or time outside.......

 

vitamindcouncil.org has great articles discussing D as a likely causative factor in

autism

learning disabilities

type I diabetes

type II diabetes

multiple sclerosis

all other autoimmune disorders

 

low D levels are definitely involved in the disease process of:

asthma

lower respiratory infections

tuberculosis

ear infections

colds

influenza

lung cancer

osteoporosis

osteopenia

breast cancer

prostate cancer

pancreatic cancer

colon cancer

melanoma (!!!)

 

increasing vitamin D is known to:

increase survival time in pts with advanced lung cancer

increase survival time in pts with advanced pancreatic cancer

 

elderly pts with higher vitamin d levels fall less and have better muscle mass.

 

Good stuff. Take it.

[TrixieB]

(I've also seen Vitamin D drops at Whole Foods in the children's vitamin section but we haven't used them. I think the brand is called Carlson.)

This is what I give my kids -- one drop a day. The kids say it tastes like a drop of water.

[whitestavern]

My kiddles take Cod Liver Oil to get vit D. They have a few different flavors. My son likes the lemon; still working on dd...she needs a chaser of something afterwards!

[cillakat]

400 IU won't be enough for most kids....and 1000 IU won't be enough for most adults.

 

A few years ago, that's exactly what we took b/c it seemed like huge amounts compared to what we'd been getting. After continuing to test at different times of the year, and follwoing the scientific D literature carefully, a different picture emerged.

 

It takes the 'lay' press and the average practitioner to catch up with the science which has painted a very clear consistent picture over the recent years.

 

It's really not curious. It's not a mystery. Humans were meant to be out of doors most of the time. Our current lives and recent history are very different than the life we were 'meant' to lead (whether by evolution or by creation).

 

We came inside. Our vitamin D levels plummeted. Science responded by essentially guessing that we needed a little. B/c a little was enough to stave off the most obvious and immediate effect: rickets. But 'a little' isn't enough for health over the long term. 'a little' isn't enough for our babies optimal brain development in utero.

 

'a little' isn't enough. if you're not sure how much to take, get your D levels tested.

 

For the person who asked about getting 'vitamin' levels tested, that's really a whole different issue. D is a steroid hormone precursor, not technically a vitamin. Most vitamin levels are difficult to measure accurately......it requires expensive intracellular testing.

 

D is pretty easy and the test has come down dramatically in price.

[silvermine]

Yep. I only put on sunscreen when I think we'll actually get a sunburn if I don't.

 

(Though I foolishly did not when we went up to san francisco last week -- it was 60 and cloudy! I wasn't thinking about the sun. :D And of course, I got a sunburn on my neck. Oops.)

[cillakat]

Well, I was in the "Vitamin D doesn't wash off" camp when I first read your post, but then I read the article someone posted. Turns out your skin uses the natural skin oils to make the vitamin D, so if the oils are washed away too quickly (i.e.- chlorinated pool water), the vitamin D is washed away with the oil. But it only takes about an hour for your skin to absorb the vitamin D in the oil.

 

 

Actually it absorbs over 24 hours.....though majority of it absorbs in the first hour.

 

:)

K

[cillakat]

Yep. I only put on sunscreen when I think we'll actually get a sunburn if I don't.

 

(Though I foolishly did not when we went up to san francisco last week -- it was 60 and cloudy! I wasn't thinking about the sun. :D And of course, I got a sunburn on my neck. Oops.)

 

One of the many things that makes getting D tricky.

 

In SF, you most assuredly, on a cloudy day, were not getting sufficient D from sun......but getting plenty of damaging deeply penetrating UVA rays to burn and cause photodamage.

 

it's very very easy to tan and be D deficient.

 

K

[cillakat]

My kiddles take Cod Liver Oil to get vit D. They have a few different flavors. My son likes the lemon; still working on dd...she needs a chaser of something afterwards!

 

That's also turning out to be a problem b/c of the amounts of vitamin A. No one knows the ideal ratio of A to D and it does look like there is one. It's looking like a lower ratio than was considered a couple of years ago.

 

Some cod liver oils have A to D ratios of 10 to 1....Definitely too high. It might be as low as 1:1.

 

Higher A blood levels are correlated with increased lower respiratory infections, increases in fracture rates etc etc.

 

It's not that A is the problem persay but that the amount of A in relation to D is too high.

 

At this point, until more is known, it's reasonable to

1)stick with a 1:1 or slightly lower ratio of A to D

 

or

 

2)avoid preformed A from supplements and get lots of beta carotene so that the body can convert as needed.

 

I take about 25,000 IU A once a week and a total of about 42,000 IU vitamin d per week.

 

All the best,

K

[JudyJudyJudy]

I got plenty of vitamin D but I was low. The nutritionist with whom I have been working found out that I could not process the vitD I was getting, so it didn't matter if I drank a bottle of it...no help at all. We had to fix that process before I could do anything else as vitamin D is obviously a requirement for health. She told me that the medical world generally agrees that three things have to be in place before you can attack any health problem: you can't be anemic, you have to have your blood sugar at the right levels, and you have to be able to process vitD.

 

Ohwell. Two out of three ain't bad. (But now, 8 months later, I am 3 for 3! Yay! And it shows.)

How did you fix that process?

[JudyJudyJudy]

Thanks, Patty.

[cillakat]

How did you fix that process?

 

I'm not that original poster, but someone with a fairly extensive body of knowledge wrt clinical nutrition....and a former client of Krispin Sullivan, CNC (krispin.com)

 

There are a couple of things that can interfere with proper D processing in the body.

 

the most common is gut damage affecting how it absorbs in the intestines.....this can be from celiac disease, poor diet, irritable bowel syndrome, chrohn's, colitis....poor absorption can also be because gall bladder function is compromised or the gall bladder has been removed (the lack of bile reduces fat absorption/assimilation), liver issues (the first hydroxylation of D occurs in the liver.....kidney issues (the second hydroxylation occurs in the kidneys).

 

Most are pretty easy to fix.

 

If there is gut damage, keep taking biologically physiologically appropriate doses of D while working on the diet (often getting off grains, dairy and other problematic foods) and taking enzymes and lecithin with the D doses.

 

If gall bladder issues....take with digestive enzymes and lecithin (appropriate enzymes will 'digest' it.....lecithin mixes with the oil to emulsify it so it absorbs properly in teh gut)

 

If liver issues, keep taking the d and work with your hcps to get off the drugs or herbs causing the issue......and/or search for other causes (hep a, b, c etc). Milk Thistle Extract/Silymarin and SAM-e are both highly effictive, evidence based treatments for some liver function issues.

 

If kidney issues? Take more D. D receptors in the kidneys will essentialy wake up and start responding to higher doses of D, then start hydroxylating properly to convert the 25(OH)D into 1,25(OH)D.

 

 

That's it in a nutshell. The most common issue is poor absorption b/c of gut damage or gall bladder issues.

 

The reality is though that most take far far to little D. 1000 IU isn't enough unless one is of european skintone AND getting a fair amount of sun with skin exposed and no sunscreen. 2000 IU isn't enough unless european skinton, getting incidental exposure regularly and wearing no sunscreen.

 

and if it's sept-may in the northern hemisphere and 30º or more latitude you're not getting enough no matter how much you're outside.

 

Testing levels 4x a year really is the best way to know......if Quest does the test, then it's too high....they use a test that's no longer considered accurate for assessing D levels. To arrive at the accepted 25(OH)D value if your lab is Quest or your lab uses Quest, divide by 1.3

 

labCorp's values are fine. ZRT (the new home finger prick test) is fine too. They're both using the right process.

 

:)

k