Vitamin brands

[Roadrunner]

So with this Covid pandemic, we finally decided its worth taking vitamin D and C as a supplement. Can anybody recommend a brand? I was told quality mattered. 

[Pen]

30 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

So with this Covid pandemic, we finally decided its worth taking vitamin D and C as a supplement. Can anybody recommend a brand? I was told quality mattered. 

 

There are quite a few good brands. Some depends on what form and dosage you want.

Good brands for D imo include Carlson especially if you want non lanolin based drops. Doctor’s Best or Now for 5000 IU lanolin based soft gels.  Bio-Tech for 50,000 IU weekly dry capsules. I don’t need lichen based D so no knowledge on that.  Thorne is a good company and has D with K drops iirc if you need them together (I do them separately).   If you take more than 4000 IU D3 you need to look at also taking balancing vitamins particularly K 1 and K2, but also possibly A and E.  Co-factors like magnesium are also important.   (See VitaminDwiki Website for more understanding, and or read Raimund Von Helden’s Healthy in 7 Days or title like that  , available on Kindle) 

 

C also has lots that are good. I like Doctor’s Best  with qualiC, or Solaray time release or with flavonoids. NOW with rosehips probably also good.  We think my son has been most successful at defeating starting illnesses using Solaray with bioflavonoids, 500 mg quite frequently to tolerance.   Some people would  advise use of liposomal C over regular forms. 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Pen

[Roadrunner]

@Pen wow. I now realize I don’t understand anything. How much should I be taking? 
I saw the mention that Fauci recommended vitamin D, so I thought I could just get the dozing info off the bottle. Do you know what should be dosage for immune system strength?

[Pen]

37 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

@Pen wow. I now realize I don’t understand anything. How much should I be taking? 
I saw the mention that Fauci recommended vitamin D, so I thought I could just get the dozing info off the bottle. Do you know what should be dosage for immune system strength?

 

The best thing would be to check your levels and to aim at a target range for your actual level to be optimized rather than to take a particular amount.    

GrassrootsHealth has home done finger prick testing available if you cannot get it done with a medical provider or want to join the GrassrootsHealth study.  If you know your current level, Grassroots has a calculator to help guide dosage to get into an optimal range.  

Otherwise for dosage I’m going to steer you to VitaminDWiki...    

How much to take: https://vitamindwiki.com/Overview+How+Much+vitamin+D

 

If you are low it can take a long time to get up to optimal unless you take a loading dose:

https://vitamindwiki.com/Loading+Dose+of+Vitamin+D

 

I currently use the D3-50 recommended on VitaminDWiki  (plus my multivitamin contains ~2,000 IU D3) and take it ~ every other week in summer, every week in winter or adjusted by how I am feeling, and whether I actually got any sun (I am on “summer” but considering that I am not out now due to smoke should probably be on my “winter” dose right now.) I checked my own levels on that and they are good.  And plan check again in deep winter. The amount needed can depend on factors like sunshine and age and body fat and metabolism... or even type of D taken.      My levels have responded better to the D3-50 than they did to oil based vitamin D3.   My levels were above deficient but not good on 4000 IU per day which is probably what most people on here (WTMforums) would consider a large dose. On 400IU, the longtime old RDA,  I had a severe deficiency.  

 

 

[gardenmom5]

D3 is fairly inexpensive and whatever costco carries has been ok.  You want a gel tab, not a powder.   (drops with vitamin K are best.)  I take 5,000IUs daily - and it still took me a year to raise my levels 9pts.  Last time I tested I was at 49.  (50 is considered the current 'base' line.)

for vitamin C - I would recommend "Liposomal Vitamin C".  Not a brand, but a very bioavailable form.

[Jentrovert]

In general, I like the NOW and Solaray brands. Thorne and Emerald are excellent brands. They are considerably more expensive, though, so I don't choose them for everything.

[Shellydon]

I use Jarrow, Thorne, Rainbow Lite brands. 

[gardenmom5]

2 hours ago, Jentrovert said:

In general, I like the NOW  . Thorne and Emerald are excellent brands. They are considerably more expensive, though, so I don't choose them for everything.

Jarrow has also been good.

I switched dudeling to one of theirs after pure encapsulations doubled their price and it was the only one I could find that was comparable.

fun fact - I use Thorne MTHF.   when my dosage was high enough for Deplin (rx version), I could feel myself go backwards.  when I dropped the Deplin and did a compounded MTHF (cheaper) that was sourced from the same place as Throne - three days, and things were back where they were when I had been on Thorne.

[MercyA]

Thorne vitamins are good quality.

[Arcadia]

Whole Foods 25% off supplements ends today. Also my local Whole Foods has a limit on Vit C purchase per customer. My fish oil and my calcium supplements both have Vit D included so I didn’t separately supplement.

[gardenmom5]

I am able to get most of what I use off of amazon subscribe and save - even Thorne.  And even thorne has a discount doing it that way.  Otherwise, it's the same price wherever you go.

[Pen]

 

 

Quote

I take 5,000IUs daily - and it still took me a year to raise my levels 9pts.  Last time I tested I was at 49.  (50 is considered the current 'base' line.)

 

There was a study on basketball players with below 50ng/ml levels who were given 10,000 IU per day.  In 5 months only one had gotten up to 50 no/ml blood level.  ng -  having autocorrect troubles 

This is why I gave a link to loading dose information in my post above.  Once loaded with a loading dose and level gotten good, 5000 IU daily seems to sustain most adults at that good level. 

Some people won’t be able to get to a good level if cofactors are missing.

 

I avoid brands I am not confident of with D. 

Doctor’s Best and Now both have reasonably priced 5,000 IU gel caps. But K etc not included in them.  Thorne excellent and can be gotten with K included, but tends to be more  expensive. 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Pen

[gardenmom5]

3 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

 

 

There was a study on basketball players with below 50ng/ml levels who were given 10,000 IU per day.  In 5 months only one had gotten up to 50 no/ml blood level.  

This is why I gave a link to loading dose information in my post above.  Once loaded with a loading dose and level gotten good, 5000 IU daily seems to sustain most adults at that level. 

Some people won’t be able to get to a good level if cofactors are missing.

 

Varies.  I was chatting with my OD, as she is also homozygous for MTHF.  She couldn't get her D3 levels to go up at all, didn't matter what she did.  Then she started being treated for MTHF - and they went up without any extra effort.

[Ellie]

I take Nutrilite's XX, which is an excellent brand. I also take a boatload of calcium because I have the beginning of osteoporosis, and biotin, but I haven't paid much attention to the brand, just to how many units.

[Pen]

 

Not about brand, but related as being about vitamin D dosage and forms. 

https://youtu.be/mg2eBhGB3T8

https://youtu.be/mg2eBhGB3T8

 

 

[dsmith]

I get this vitamin D -   https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019LVGPC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's cheap and they use extra virgin olive oil. I don't supplement C because I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables every day, so I haven't decided if it's necessary yet. Same with Zinc. I've been tracking my nutrients in Sparkpeople to see what I should supplement, if anything. I do 4000 iu of Vitamin D because I'm deficient and have two autoimmune diseases.