Vitamin D Toxicity Fears Unwarranted
Is vitamin D toxic? Not if we take the same amount nature intended when we go out in the sun. Vieth R. Vitamin D supplementation, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration, and safety. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:842-56. Vieth attempted to dispel unwarranted fears in medical community of physiological doses of vitamin D in 1999 with his exhaustive and well-written review.
D-Lite, Renew, & SunSplash UV/Tanning Systems Sunsplash Tanning System Is toxicity a concern for you? If so, then increase your levels the way nature intended, with ultraviolet B light! His conclusions: fear of vitamin D toxicity is unwarranted, and such unwarranted fear, bordering on hysteria, is rampant in the medical profession. Vieth R, Chan PC, MacFarlane GD. Efficacy and safety of vitamin D3 intake exceeding the lowest observed adverse effect level. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Feb;73(2):288-94. Even Ian Monroe, the chair of the relevant IOM committee, wrote to the Journal to compliment Vieth's work and to promise his findings will be considered at the time of a future Institute of Medicine review. Munro I. Derivation of tolerable upper intake levels of nutrients. Letter, Am J Clin Nutr. 2001;74:865. That was more than two years ago.
In his recent essay, Trevor G. Marshall explores how vitamin D supplementation may be contributing to the current epidemics of obesity and chronic disease[1]. Unfortunately, he has overlooked many important papers that disagree with his hypothesis. This letter points out some of the omissions.
The health benefits of vitamin D3 have been reviewed recently[2]. The benefits for bone health have been known for nearly a century. Benefits for cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and metabolic diseases have been identified in the past three decades.
I have been inundated with letters asking about Professor Marshall's recent "discovery." Some have written that to say they have stopped their vitamin D and are going to avoid the sun in order to begin the "Marshall protocol." The immediate cause of this angst is two publications, a press article in Science Daily about Professor Marshall's "study" (which is no study but simply an opinion) in BioEssays. Dr. Trevor Marshall has two degrees, both in electrical engineering
Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements
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Vitamin D appears to boost health from head to toe, according to the September issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. But, so far, there's no consensus on what level of vitamin D is optimal for good health.
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"Despite its dubious beginnings, fad-dieting gained mass appeal in the 19th century. In 1829, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham touted the Graham Diet - centered on caffeine-free drinks and vegetarian cuisine, and supplemented by the eponymous Graham Cracker - as a cure for not just obesity but masturbation (and the subsequent blindness it was thought to cause.) The diet became so popular that the students of Oberlin College were forced onto it for a brief period in the 1830s before they successfully rebelled through mass dissent in 1841. Thirty-five years later, an English casketmaker named William Banting became famous by pioneering the concept of a low-carbohydrate diet, which helped him lose 50 lbs. He published his results in the 1864 "Letter on Corpulance," and the plan became so popular that "banting" became a synonym for dieting across Britain. "
The best way to get enough vitamin D is through food, right? No, according to the latest Harvard Heart Letter, which says supplements are the best way for Americans to raise their body's level of vitamin D, which in most cases too low right this moment.
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Calcium, protein, and fruit and vegetables as dietary determinants of bone health.
New SA, Millward DJ.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 May;77(5):1340-1; author reply 1341.
PMID: 12716695
Statins and vitamin D.
Aloia JF, Li-Ng M, Pollack S.
Am J Cardiol. 2007 Oct 15;100(8):1329. Epub 2007 Jul 5. No abstract available.
PMID: 17920383
A total of 208 women were randomized to receive vitamin D3 (n=104) or placebo (n=104). 51 women were on statins. At baseline, the subjects on statins had a significantly higher 25-OHD level than the subjects who were not on statins (51.2 ± 20.1 nmol/L versus 43.2 ± 18.0 nmol/L respectively, p=0.008). This was also true when averaging 25-OHD levels across the 3-year study period and looking at active and placebo patients separately. 185 subjects had follow-up 25-OHD levels drawn every 6 months during the study. Higher levels were seen in the statin use subgroup whether they were on placebo or active vitamin D (Figure 1Figure 1). There was no interaction seen between vitamin D use and statin use, i.e. the impacts are additive (p=0.5502). This significant difference is comparable to the increase in 25-OHD levels seen in Pérez-Castrillón's study (41 ± 19 versus 47 ± 19 nmol/L, p=0.003) [1]. Although Pérez-Castrillón et al found a statistically significant relation between total cholesterol and 25-OHD (r=0.277, p=0.002), we did not find a significant relation between total cholesterol and 25-OHD in our study population.
Enzyme kinetics hypothesis to explain the U-shaped risk curve for prostate cancer vs. 25-hydroxyvitamin D in nordic countries.
Vieth R.
Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;111(3):468; author reply 469.
PMID: 15221979
DOI: 10.1002/ijc.20218
Geographic variation of prostate cancer mortality rates in the United States: Implications for prostate cancer risk related to vitamin D.
Grant WB.
Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;111(3):470-1; author reply 472. No abstract available.
PMID: 15221981
10.1002/ijc.20220
The implications of our results and those of Tuohimaa et al.[1] include the following. Vitamin D supplementation should be undertaken in wintertime, a period when it is impossible to produce vitamin D by solar UVB exposure in northeastern states.[13] Given these new results, the optimal vitamin D intake and production and serum 25(OH)-vitamin D3 levels for prostate cancer appear to be lower than for other cancers. However, when developing guidelines for vitamin D fortification, many factors should be included in the analysis, including all of the potential health benefits and possible risks of vitamin D, as well as age, sex, residence, child-bearing status, etc.[14] Also, the suggestion that daily vitamin D3 supplement doses of 100 g (4,000 IU)/day are safe[15] should be reexamined. Finally, in terms of preventing prostate cancer, more attention should be given to diet, which has the greatest environmental impact on risk of prostate cancer, with animal products being important risk factors and vegetable products, especially onions and other allium family members, being important risk-reduction factors.[16]
Vitamin D supplementation.
Eveleigh B.
Can Fam Physician. 2007 Sep;53(9):1435; author reply 1435.
PMID: 17872869
My concern regarding vitamin D2 is that it is a synthetic analogue and might interact with the vitamin D receptor differently in various cell systems. It has been reported that vitamin D3 might improve glycemic control.7 Vitamin D2 has been reported to cause worsening of glycemic control in people of East Indian descent.8 Is this because of vitamin D receptor polymorphism, or because of enhanced 24-hydroxylase enzyme activation, or is it due to how vitamin D2 interacts with the receptor? Until this has been sorted out, I feel safest using vitamin D3. There are about 2000 synthetic analogues of vitamin D. The search is on for one that can cross the blood-brain barrier to treat certain types of brain cancers without causing hypercalcemia.9 But then again, what other effects would this compound have? There are still so many unknowns
Vitamin D may suppress infections which lead to development of Multiple Sclerosis
Steven R Brenner, None (16 August 2007)
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2008
I read the article with reference to the inverse relationship between multiple sclerosis clinical activity and deficiency of vitamin D by Soilu-Hannienen (1) with interest, and was considering what mechanism could be in play to cause such a relationship.
25-hydroxylated metabolites of vitamin D act as intracellular regulators of the synthesis and action of defensin (2) molecules against bacterial antigens, defensin being an endogenously synthesized antimicrobial substance (2).
Human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide gene is a target of vitamin D receptor and is strongly up-regulated by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, indicating vitamin D receptor and the 1,25-dihydroxyvitaminD3 regulate primate innate immunity (3)
Together, the earlier data and the data of Heaney et al indicate that an oral dose of vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 would lead to a comparable increase in circulating 25(OH)D concentrations in children and adults when the initial 25(OH)D3 concentrations in the groups are similar and when equivalent oral vitamin D doses expressed per kilogram body weight/d are given.
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D response to oral vitamin D intake in children.
Zittermann A.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Sep;78(3):496-7.
PMID: 12936937