Do Vitamin D Supplements Work

Physiological Actions Of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that acts as a steroid hormone. In humans, the primary source of vitamin D is UVB-induced conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to vitamin D in the skin . Vitamin D influences the bones, intestines, immune and cardiovascular systems, pancreas, muscles, brain, and the control of cell cycles.

Vitamin D synthesis

The Risks Of Very Low Levels

Theres no question that additional vitamin D is helpful if someone is low or deficient, says F. Michael Gloth III, M.D., an associate professor in the division of geriatric medicine at Johns Hopkins Universitys medical school. But no trial has shown any benefit for giving vitamin D in any population thats already getting enough.

In 2018, long-awaited results from a study that looked at the effects of vitamin D and fish oil pills in more than 25,000 people ages 50 and older were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Known as the VITAL trial, it found that taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily didnt cut cancer or cardiovascular risks compared with a placebo. But few of the people in the study had low blood levels of vitamin D.

Still, some research questions how helpful it is to raise low vitamin D levels. For example, doctors commonly recommend that older adults take vitamin D pills to help prevent falls and fractures. But a 2018 analysis of 81 studies, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, failed to support this, although only a few of the trials included people with really low levels.

Moreover, too much vitamin D may actually contribute to fractures. A 2019 study published in JAMA found that people who took 4,000 or 10,000 IU a day saw a reduction in bone density compared with those who took 400 IU.

Vitamin D And Fish Oil Supplements Mostly Disappoint In Long

Indeed, some observational studies have found no significant associations when it comes to key questions around COVID-19 and vitamin D levels.

Researchers in Greece recently concluded that vitamin D deficiency was “not significantly associated with infections, recoveries or mortality rate of COVID-19 among European countries.” And, in December, an agency for the U.K.’s National Health Service reviewed the evidence and advised the public not to take vitamin D solely to prevent or treat COVID-19.

“We haven’t ruled out vitamin D completely, but I’m skeptical, having worked in this field for 15 years,” said Dr. Erin Michos at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who has studied the effect of vitamin D on heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers have spent years tracing the association between low vitamin D and other diseases obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, multiple sclerosis and cancer but have either ended up with inconsistent results, or found no clear benefit from supplementation.

People with low vitamin D levels tend to be less healthy overall: They spend less time outdoors and have less exposure to sunlight, and people who are overweight often have lower levels because fat cells sequester vitamin D.

“So vitamin D deficiency is associated with things like older age, obesity and being a minority ethnicity,” Michos said. “Yet those are the same risk factors that are associated with severe COVID.”

So what should you do?

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Whats The Point Of Measuring Your Vitamin D Levels Then

Checking your levels will tell you how much at risk you are from suffering the side-effects of a vitamin D overdose.

You see, as your levels rise beyond 100 ng/mL, so do your chances of toxicity in the form of hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria.

Thats due to the way vitamin D increases your calcium absorption from food.

In a nutshell, knowing your vitamin D blood levels is useful because theyll let you know how careful you need to go about your calcium intake.

Unfortunately, theyre pretty much useless at telling you how long itll still take you to tame your immune system.

For example, certain patients from Doctor Coimbra need to increase their vitamin D levels to the thousands of ng/mL before theyll feel relief as reported by Ana Claudia Domene, herself a patient of Dr. Coimbra, in her book.

These might be the outliers, but still, they illustrate the point well:

If you have an autoimmune disorder and are taking vitamin D in the hopes of stopping its progression, checking your vitamin D levels shouldnt be your primary focus.

You need a better marker for vitamin D efficiency than 25-hydroxyvitamin-D itself.

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Reasons To Take A Vitamin D Supplement

This article was produced in partnership with d.velop.

Of the 13 vitamins and minerals deemed essential by the National Institute of Health, vitamin D is the only one that your body produces naturally when you stand in the sun. And thats not where its uniqueness ends. Vitamin D is a key ingredient in a healthy immune system and an important building block for muscle and bone, but one that over a billion peoplethats billion with a Bdont get enough of.

If thats not enough to convince you to take a vitamin D supplement on a regular basis, then maybe the 18 reasons below, a mix of reasons you might not be getting enough vitamin D and what adequate vitamin D can do for yourand your kidslong-term health.

1. It can be hard to spend enough time outside.

Ninety percent of humans vitamin D should come from sunlight, but there are many aspects of life, from rainy weather to office work to grocery delivery services, that keep people out of sunlight. These factors depend on where you live, obviously, but its not just Seattle-based tech workers, for instance, who arent getting enough vitamin D.

2. Sun protection can block vitamin D production.

When sunlight hits the skin, it provides the energy that converts cholesterol in skin cells into vitamin D. That need for direct contact means that sun protection measures demanded by dermatological realitiesclothing, sunscreen, shade, etc.can also limit the amount of vitamin D being outside can provide.

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The brain is the most complicated organ in the body.

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How Much Vitamin D And Calcium Do You Need

The Endocrine Society and The Institute of Medicine have suggested recommended daily allowances for vitamin D and calcium, as well as maximum daily consumption amounts that you should not exceed for your safety:

The recommendations come with two precautions:

• Some people may need more than the RDA if they are:

• Obese

• Taking anticonvulsant medications, glucocorticoids, antifungals such as ketoconazole or medications for AIDS

• Taking too much of either nutrient appears to be harmful, with:

• Kidney stones associated with too much calcium from supplements

• Very high levels of vitamin D potentially causing kidney and tissue damage

Calcium And Vitamin D: A Partnership

Calcium and vitamin D is the dynamic duo that works together to strengthen and protect your bones. For years, healthcare providers have recommended that postmenopausal women take calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disease that is a major cause of devastating fractures in old age.

Research linking calcium supplements to heart attack and stroke caused many to take vitamin D supplements alone for prevention.

Calcium supplements can increase calcification in the arteries and predispose people, especially women, to heart disease, he says. Thats why we always prefer dietary calcium. However, some people get adequate dietary calcium but are low in vitamin D.

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Vitamin D And Your Body

There’s so much that vitamin D does for the body. It’s linked to improving mood, increasing energy and boosting the immune system.

A March 2014 review in the Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine indicates that Vitamin D has been found to help with:

• Muscle weakness
• Pain

A review and meta-analysis published in 2015 in Obesity Reviews notes the link between obesity and vitamin D deficiency. Don’t go doubling your D intake just yet, though. Taking a dose of vitamin D at 50,000 IU for weight loss has yet to be proven effective.

If You Take Any Group Of Patients With Almost Any Disease Their Vitamin D Levels Will Be Lower Than In A Healthy Individual Ian Reid

Ian Reid, professor in medicine at the University of Auckland, believes that diseases cause low vitamin D levels, as being unwell often leads to spending less time outdoors exposed to sunlight, rather than vice versa. If you take any group of patients with almost any disease, their vitamin D levels will be lower than in a healthy individual. This has led some to hypothesise its low vitamin D developing the disease, but theres no evidence to prove it, he says.

Some experts believe people who are unwell have low vitamin D levels because they spend less time outdoors, not that their low levels cause health problems

Researchers have found that higher vitamin D levels are associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer it plays a role in stemming the formation of new blood vessels and stimulating better communication between cells. Vitamin D also has been found to help maintain normal levels of calcium in the colon, which slows growth of non-cancerous but high-risk cells.

Other studies, including of the link between vitamin D and liver cancer,breast cancer and prostate cancer, suggest there is good reason to think that low vitamin D plays a part in the spread of cancer cells. But taking supplements would then, surely, help stave off cancer and a recent meta-analysis failed to find that supplementation reduced cancer risk.

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Fact: Getting Out In The Sun Helps Your Body Produce Vitamin D

Its called the sunshine vitamin for a reason. When the suns ultraviolet B light hits you, it turns a chemical in your skin into vitamin D3, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Vitamin D3 is transferred from your liver to your kidneys, where it becomes an active form of vitamin D thats usable in your body.

Most people get some of their vitamin D through sun exposure, according to the NIH, but factors like the season, time of day, cloud cover, skin pigment, and sunscreen affect how much vitamin D a person can synthesize via the sun. For example, the NIH notes that people with darker skin arent able to produce as much vitamin D through sunlight.

People would get sufficient vitamin D with daily sun exposure, but with large cities blocking light, an increase in indoor activities, clothing covering much of our bodies, or daily use of sunscreen, we dont get that natural source of vitamin D, says Dr. McTiernan. Many of us can benefit from supplementation.

Experts suggest that about 5 to 30 minutes of daily sun exposure, particularly between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., or at least twice a week, on the arms, face, legs, and hands without sunscreen usually leads to a sufficient amount of vitamin D.

Is It Best To Get Your Vitamin D From The Sun Definitely Not

David J. Leffell, MD, Yale Medicine dermatologist and chief of Dermatologic Surgery

One of the biggest challenges weve faced in dermatology and in the world of skin cancer prevention has been a lot of misinformation about vitamin D metabolism.

There are claims that one needs to get a certain amount of sun exposure every day in order to produce enough vitamin D to be healthy. Its just not true. The majority of people can get their vitamin D from nutritional supplements and from vitamin D-fortified foods.

There are some people who have advocated for tanning to get vitamin D. But we know that UVB light causes skin cancer and that protecting yourself against it makes sense. As a doctor who treats patients who have melanomas, I want the general public to be advised that under no circumstances can use of a tanning bed or tanning in general be justified on the basis of vitamin D. Take a supplement instead.

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Brain Health Supplements: Do They Work

Many of the ingredients in brain health supplements have been tied to brain health in some way. But much of the evidence comes from research on food and diet, not supplements, Smith says.

There are more than 25,000 bioactive substances in food, which work together to protect your body including your brain and processes that affect your brain, Smith says. Taking just one or two of those vitamins or chemicals isnt going to be a cure-all.

Still, you might be wondering about the link between common brain booster ingredients and brain health. Heres what the science says.

The Next Step For Getting Relief

The whole process of balancing your calcium intake, correctly interpreting all the blood tests and adjusting your vitamin D dosage, not to mention the need to follow all the safety guidelines, take the essential co-factors, and knowing how to deal with the sudden flair-ups can be overwhelming.

I and my wife have an idea of how that feels, as weve gone through that same process ourselves.

For this reason, if you are feeling lost be sure to check our book on how not to die with true high-dose vitamin D therapy where youll find a step-by-step guide teaching everything you need to know on safe high-dose vitamin D and vitamin K2 supplementation.

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Better Ways To Boost Brain Health

Someday researchers might identify a blend of ingredients that does wonders for your gray matter. But in the meantime, there are more effective ways to keep your brain healthy:

• Diet. Nutrition is one of the best ways to protect your brain, Smith says. She recommends a diet rich in produce with healthy oils from olive oil, nuts and seeds and fatty cold-water fish. Aim for a colorful diet, with dark leafy greens, as well as orange and red fruits and veggies, she says. Colorful foods contain antioxidants that may protect the brain.
• Limit alcohol. Too much alcohol can increase the risk of cognitive decline, she says.
• Physical activity. Regular exercise has a strong association with the prevention of cognitive problems, Smith says. Try to get at least 150 minutes of activity a week.
• Sleep. Being sleep-deprived is linked to cognitive decline, so prioritize your slumber.
• Socialize. Social interaction is closely tied with maintaining cognitive function as we get older. Try to spend time with others and limit isolation, Smith advises. Whenever you can, share meals with friends and family.
• Treat health problems. Chronic health problems like Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure can increase the chances of cognitive decline and dementia. To lower your risk, work with your doctor to manage any illnesses.

Does Potato Really Work For Dark Circles

Potato contains natural bleaching agents that will help lighten the skin under your eyes. Potatoes are rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, starch, and enzymes, which aid in nourishing your skin around the eyes and prevent those dark circles. … Potatoes contains catecholase that helps in reducing puffiness under the eyes.

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How Long Does It Take For Supplementation To Raise Your Vitamin D Blood Levels

Most people take vitamin D with the goal of correcting a deficiency.

How can long does this take?

After you begin supplementing with vitamin D, it may take up to a week for your blood levels to rise significantly.

How much theyll raise, however, will be dependent on at least 2 factors:

• 1
• Your dosage how much vitamin D you take and how frequently you take it.