Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

acubabe — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:14:35 GMT

Most doctors are very willing to test your levels of Vitamin D. I was surprised that my levels were below normal. I live in Southern California and thought I was getting enough sun on the weekends. I do work long hours during the week. It is so vital to supplement with this not so much vitamin, but hormone. Vitamin D behaves more like a hormone than a vitamin. Perhaps we should campaign for a name change? Humans need vital nutrients like air, water and light. Perhaps we underestimate how important natural light is for well-being.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

magicvent — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:35:35 GMT

Dr. Mercola, thank you for yor recommendation on the dosage of Vitamin D needed to bring up my levels to optimal range, but you didn't address my issue concerning kidney stones. I can't seem to find the right information on this. I am prone to kidney stones (currently have 3 in lower pole of left kidney) and read the supplementation with Vitamin D can cause stone formation. I would love to know if this is true, since I really need to bring up my Vitamin D level. When my levels were over 60 I felt fantastic with absolutely no allergy or asthma symptoms at all. No colds of flu either. Unfortunately they have dropped again. Thank you.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

Musica — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:41:54 GMT

I want so much to purchase a safe tanning bed. My problem though is that i have a fair skin and lots of moles (brown, and red - the red ones i created myself over the years, by squeezing some pimples, one on my back is even raised. I also have tiny red ones on my arms, i think that's due to prolonged sun exposure). My folks are afraid i might get skin cancer if i use a tanning bed. Ummmm... i have no clue, how could i safely use a tanning bed, or is there a safe way at all in my case (i sure hope there's one)? Maybe i could cover my moles with goggles to block completely their exposure, or maybe a simple scarf would do the trick? But how much skin surface would i have to expose to tanning?

I'd be very grateful to get some advice on this, thanks in advance.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

SJA — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:15:03 GMT

Hi - This question is to Liz Smith, you mentioend you have "found your own Dr mercola in the UK", I'm also based in the UK. Can you please provide the Dr's contact details and a brief summary of his/area of expertise

Thanks

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

Dillsman — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:38:39 GMT

This question is for Dr. Mercola. Living in S.C., I attended a lecture on Vit D at the prestigious MUSC. The host speaker stated that while lying in the sun you must expose your thighs & torso, as Vit D is ONLY made by the body this way. He stated that getting sun or your face, arms, lower legs, etc., will do your body no good. Dr. Mercola, do you concur?

Thank you.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

Massage_in_Maine — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:47:32 GMT

Hi all.

I understand all this talk about D deficiency, and t makes good sense to me, but what are the symptoms of too much vit d?

Thanks!

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

rsyverts — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:18:29 GMT

Back in the early 1900's our government came out with what were called the "Minimum Daily Requirements" for vitamins and minerals, or MDR. With the on-coming war the government decided to change that to the amount of vitamins and minerals one would get, if in a war shortage situation. This was called the "Recommended Daily Allowance" or RDA that exists today. It had NOTHING to do with what a body needed for proper nutrition.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

ernestduke — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:28:04 GMT

Perhaps I should put issues of my last comment in a more simplified way.

Here are my questions for Dr. Mercola.

1)Because Vitamin D is converted to usable from in the Kidneys, would a kidney functioning at less than an optimal level also cause vitamin d3 levels to be lower than optimal?

2) Because Vitamin D3 has an affect on increasing calcium levels, some suggest that excess calcium could dam age the kidneys, what is your opinion?

3) if the kidneys are not operating at 100 percent, would that mean more vitamin D3 is needed, and again would that possibly affect the Kdneys negatively.

4) I have a GFR of 62 ml/min/1.73m2

Kreatinin at 1.2

I am 58, male, weigh 97 kilograms and am tall and very muscular, and do weight and cardio training regularly as well as eat healthy and

take supplements. In all other blood tests and health measures the doctor says I test like a 35 year old not someone approaching 60.

So how would you interpret my seemingly low glomerular Filtration score (62) and my relatively high kreatinin score, 1.2 As I don't think the laboratory calculated weight or muscle mass?

If my kidneys are not working well, I am concerned about the effects of Vitamin D3 supplementation. So I really would like your advice. This could apply to many people.

5) after taking vit d3 over 100,000 units for two days in a row and two weeks of Vit D3 supplemtation of over 10,000 units a day and right before the test, my vit d3 levels were 43.9 (well below optimal) which would suggest they were very low before and the supplements are not being converted well, could slightly impaired kidneyscause my former levels to be low and still having less than optimal after 2 weeks of fairly heavy d3 supplementation?

Thanks for your time,

Dr. Ernest Duke, an American professor in Europe who respects you very much and who has recommended your site at least a hundred times over the last year.

Best to you!

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

wapato — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:13:06 GMT

I appreciate your information on Vitamin D3. Last spring I had my blood levels tested and the results were 34 ng/ml. I also received a urine test for calcium loss, and my loss levels were too high. At the advise of my Doctor I increased my vitamin D to about 1500 IU’s per day.

Since I spent my last summer on Vancouver Island, BC, there wasn’t much sun.

After doing more research about vitamin D this winter, I took, what I thought was large doses of Vitamin D3 for 4 weeks (about 4,500 a day). When I had my blood level tested, I still had only gone up to 44 ng/ml. Now what you are telling me is that my blood levels are still too low.

Since my last test I’ve been taking 4,000 IU’s a day and plan on getting another blood test in about a month. Maybe I should increase my amount again. There are no tanning beds nearby.

I live way up north near the Canadian border. Today the weather is cloudy, cold and grey. Nice.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

ernestduke — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:56:08 GMT

Dear Dr. Mercola,

I am a 60 year old American professor teaching in Europe, and I have been following your site and writings for a few years now.

I have been supplementing vitamin D3 at 20,000 i.u. per day for a chronic sinus condition, and I have had some improvement.

I had a local wellness doctor took a blood sample and sent it to a testing laboratory.

My blood test, after supplementing vitamin D 20,000 units a day for about 14 days, showed a level of 43.9 ng/ml.

My doctor who was aware of my vitamin D supplementation cautioned me that too much D3 could cause crystals, perhaps with the language barrier, she meant stones in the Kidneys.

In regard to my Kidneys, my test showed that Kreatinin came in at 1.20 mg/dl above the high normal range of 1.10

glomerulare came in at 62 ml/min/1.73m2 below the 70 or above it should be.

uric acid was in the middle at 5.6 mg/dl.

So it seems my kidneys are probably not functioning at 100 percent.

Since Kidneys are key in the transformation of Vitamin D3 I have some important questions that apply to vitamin D3 supplementation that you advocate.

1) Would a kidney functioning at less than an optimal level also cause vitamin d3 levels to be lower than optimal?

2) Because Vitamin D3 has an affect on increasing calcium levels, could it have a possible effect of damaging the Kidneys?

3) if the kidneys are not at 100 percent, would that mean more vitamin D3 is needed, and again would that possibly affect the Kdneys negatively.

4) In the GFR estimate, although I am 60 I am muscular, excercise regularly, take supplements and athletic with a weight of 98 kilograms.

I know GFR comes from samples of men and women at certain ages, weights, etc. Is it possible for someone like me to show up as too low a GFR when if one calculates my Kreatinin level to a younger bio age with exc tests as well as more muscle mass and protein consumption, could my GFR be higher?

Thanks for the info for me and for others!

Dr. E. Duk

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

Liz Smith — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:44:28 GMT

I located a testing service in USA and I have today received my pack. I need to get it completed and sent back asap. Here in UK anyone going into their doctor and asking for certain tests will be received with blank looks. I asked for thyroid tests, having every symptom in the book, (obviously hypocondriac of course) - had the tests, then told there was nothing wrong with me so no further action would be taken. I then found my own 'Dr Mercola' in Uk and I never looked back, going on to a natural thyroid and not synthetic. It took me a good year to start feeling better and looking and sounding better.

Now having read all the information about Vit D I'm sure the problems can be taken back to this. Being of white pale skin I never went out into the sun, and I never wear sunscreen as most of them seem to have wheat germ oil in and I am intolerant of wheat. To cure the sunburn I take blue green algae and something in that stops me burning, even tho I still cant spend all day in the sun like lots of folks. Since testing with my pendulum and muscle testing it tells me my body would accept Vit D up to 4000 units a day. Our weather here in UK has been getting worse the last three years and that will make a difference to us.

I also have a friend in USA who seems to be crippled with Fybromyalgia and I constantly look for solutions to her pain, and I bet she hasnt been walking in the sun for a long time now. WellnessMom, I'm sending your comment to her - lets hope I've found help at last.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

robert77 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:18:33 GMT

whats the latest news on Vitamine D2 actually able to convert to D3.......is this just hype?

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

Zweita — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:06:52 GMT

Greetings to All...

I am a 49 y/o African-American female who resides in So. California and just recently had my Vitamin D levels checked (through Labcorp: 25OHD) and it returned at < 4ng/mL. Besides having the dark skin pigmentation, I am also about 30lbs over my ideal weight and do not get out in the sun much at all, due to symptoms of depression and the nature of my job. Needless to say, I have just begun the Vit. D supplemenation that is provided her on this site and am also considering purchasing the D Lite 12 to eventually eliminate or reduce the amount of oral supplemenation. It's too early to see if getting my levels into the proposed therapeutic/optimal range will have a positive effect - but with my complicated health conditions I think it is well worth a try. My hope is that having the adequate levels of Vitamin D will assist me in combating my depression and augment my weight loss efforts.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experiences thus far and I will try to update all interested in my progress. I will continue to get my levels checked at least every 6 months to monitor my plan most effectively.

Cheers to Good Health and Living!

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

helpothers — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:03:26 GMT

I live in the southwest - you'd think we'd get enough vitamin d here, but 3 relatives have had skin cancer about 8 years ago and so until the last few years I had been avoiding the sun. I have been taking 2000 iu for almost a year based on Dr. Ms recommendation. My level came back as 44. But I also had the quest labs do my test(the LC/MS/MS one) and so the levels are not in line with the testing done that mercola recommended. I read on the vitamin d council website that if you get the quest test that you need to divide by 1.3 to get the equivalent of the other test that mercola recommends. That makes my level even lower. My doc said to double my dose but maybe it should be even higher. She also commented that my vitamin d2 was low at 4 but I haven't been able to figure out the significance of that yet. Anyway, like the good doc said, get your levels tested - it is the only way to know. I have been getting out in the sun more regularly and I have fair skin so I had hoped that the levels would be higher. But alas.

re: Four Times the Recommended Vitamin D Dose Needed for Winter

moopies1 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:02:41 GMT

I am 48 and live in Memphis, TN. From Nov-Feb I supplement w/ 4,000 IU Vit. D. Do I still need to supplement from Mar-Oct w/ even w/ regular, safe sun exposure. Need advice! Thank you.