Now a new and controversial book by an American doctor suggests that taking even higher levels of the vitamin - 10 to 15 times the recommended amounts - can work wonders.
Dr James Dowd, who works at the Arthritis Institute of Michigan, has been prescribing vitamin D to people suffering from chronic disorders such as arthritis, back pain and headaches and the result, he claims, is a huge improvement in their symptoms.
In his book, The Vitamin D Cure, Dr Dowd describes a number of success stories using this approach. One of his patients, Barbara, for instance, was obese, and suffered from arthritis in one leg as well as high blood pressure.
As Dowd explains: "In the past I would have given her anti-inflammatory drugs, pain medication, a pill to lose weight and drug treatment for hypertension."
The Vitamin D Cure (Paperback)
by James Dowd MD (Author), Diane Stafford
Diane Stafford (Author)
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"A recent article in the New York Times highlighted an ongoing problem with the accuracy of vitamin D testing at the largest commercial clinical laboratory, Quest Diagnostics. It has become clear from shared experience among vitamin D experts, including myself, that Quest Diagnostics has a problem with seemingly random over-estimation of vitamin D levels."