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Vieth R, Fraser D. Vitamin D insufficiency: no recommended dietary allowance exists for this nutrient. CMAJ. 2002 Jun 11;166(12):1541-2. PMID: 12074121 In fact, current recommendations for vitamin D are not designed to ensure anything. They are simply based on the old, default strategy for setting a nutritional guideline, which is to recommend an amount of nutrient similar to what healthy people are eating. This approach underlies the circular logic behind a familiar refrain about nutrition: "If you eat a good diet, you won't need supplements." By this logic, the answer to the question, "How much nutrient do you need?" is, "Whatever healthy people happen to be eating." The essential point, lost in the confusing terminology of modern nutrient recommendations, is that a recommended daily allowance (RDA) does not yet exist for vitamin D. Instead, the recommendations for it are referred to as "adequate intake" (AI).12,13 The AI for young adults (5 µg or 200 IU) was chosen to approximate twice the average vitamin D intake reported by 52 young women in a questionnaire-based study reported from Omaha, Neb., in 1997.13,14 Because the available evidence was acknowledged as weak, the Food and Nutrition Board of the US Institute of Medicine called its recommendation an AI.

Commonly recommended daily intake of vitamin D is not sufficient if sunlight exposure is limited. Glerup H, Mikkelsen K, Poulsen L, Hass E, Overbeck S, Thomsen J, Charles P, Eriksen EF. J Intern Med. 2000 Feb;247(2):260-8. PMID: 10692090 Conclusions. Severe vitamin D deficiency is prevalent amongst sunlight-deprived individuals living in Denmark. In veiled Arab women, vitamin D deficiency is the result of a combination of limitations in sunlight exposure and a low oral intake of vitamin D. The oral intake of vitamin D amongst veiled ethnic Danish Moslems was, however, very high, at 13.53 µg (approximately 600 IU), but they were still vitamin D-deficient. Our results suggest that the daily oral intake of vitamin D in sunlight-deprived individuals should exceed 600 IU; most probably it should be 1000 IU day-1 to secure a normal level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This finding is in contrast with the commonly used RDA (recommended daily allowance) for adults in Europe: 200 IU day-1.

Assessment of dietary vitamin D requirements during pregnancy and lactation. Hollis BW, Wagner CL. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 May;79(5):717-26. Review. PMID: 15113709 We found that high-dose maternal vitamin D supplementation not only improves the nutritional vitamin D status of breastfeeding infants but also elevates the maternal concentrations into the mid-normal range. Thus, a dual benefit is achieved from high-dose maternal supplementation. It is noteworthy that in the Finnish study, the authors added a disclaimer, "A sufficient supply of vitamin D to the breastfed infant is achieved only by increasing the maternal supplementation up to 2000 IU/d. Such a dose is far higher than the RDA [DRI] for lactating mothers [and therefore] its safety over prolonged periods is not known and should be examined by further study." This point of concern was valid when this study was conducted in 1986 (92); however, on the basis of the current findings of Vieth et al (2) and of Heaney et al (3)-which showed that vitamin D intakes <= 10 000 IU/d (250 µg) are safe for prolonged periods (up to 5 mo)-we believe that it is time to reexamine the understated DRI of vitamin D for lactating mothers. This work is now being conducted in our clinics and laboratory.

Vitamin A - a fat soluble vitamin with an RDA of 3000 IUs for men and 2,333 IUs for women. The upper suggested limit for daily intake is 10,000 IUs. Vitamin A is used in the body for white blood cell production, white blood cell health, cell division and growth. Common food sources of the vitamin include carrots, liver, broccoli, sweet potatoes and kale.

Prevention of rickets and vitamin D deficiency in infants, children, and adolescents.\nWagner CL, Greer FR; American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition.\nPediatrics. 2008 Nov;122(5):1142-52. Erratum in: Pediatrics. 2009 Jan;123(1):197.\nPMID: 18977996

Environmental factors that influence the cutaneous production of vitamin D. Holick MF. Am J Clin Nutr. 1995 Mar;61(3 Suppl):638S-645S. Review. PMID: 7879731

McCollum Award Lecture, 1994: vitamin D--new horizons for the 21st century. Holick MF. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 Oct;60(4):619-30. Review. PMID: 8092101

Glerup H, Mikkelsen K, Poulsen L, Hass E, Overbeck S, Thomsen J, Charles P, Eriksen EF. Commonly recommended daily intake of vitamin D is not sufficient if sunlight exposure is limited.J Intern Med. 2000 Feb;247(2):260-8.PMID: 10692090 [PubMed - indexed f

For many years, vitamin D was boring--even to doctors. Because it was considered good for bones and not much else, multitaskers like vitamin A, B vitamins and vitamin E hogged all the press. But recent studies have thrust this long-neglected nutrient into the spotlight. Scientists now think vitamin D may affect everything from diabetes to cancer. They're also finding that many people don't have enough of it.

Current micronutrient recommendations in Europe: towards understanding their differences and similarities. Doets EL, de Wit LS, Dhonukshe-Rutten RA, Cavelaars AE, Raats MM, Timotijevic L, Brzozowska A, Wijnhoven TM, Pavlovic M, Totland TH, Andersen LF, Ruprich J, Pijls LT, Ashwell M, Lambert JP, van 't Veer P, de Groot LC. Eur J Nutr. 2008 Apr;47 Suppl 1:17-40. PMID: 18427858 DOI: 10.1007/s00394-008-1003-5 Full text: http://www.eurreca.org/downloadattachment/3199/1535/ejn%201003ov.pdf