Comments on: Vitamin D’s Flawed Recommended Daily Allowance

By: Vin

Vin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:35:23 +0000

Hi Wes, thanks for sharing your experience! I think it’s common for people to take that amount of vitamin D without adverse effects, but it’s important to realize that everyone is different and reactions to supplements can vary greatly from person to person.

By: Vin

Vin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:29:32 +0000

Hi Sherry, thanks for sharing your experience! Salmon is an excellent recommendation for vitamin D as long as it's not farm raised. If you're not already aware where to get high quality salmon with minimal contamination from water pollutants, check out VitalChoice.

By: Vin

Vin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:26:05 +0000

Hi Lori, I hope you meant 50,000 IU instead of milligrams! Even if it’s IU, that’s still fairly high even if taken once per week. I’d encourage you to do some research if you haven’t already. What’s the logic behind taking it once per week instead of taking a smaller dose on a daily basis?

In regard to sun exposure, if you’ve rebuilt excellent health after overcoming your cancer, I think your skin should be healthy enough to handle brief periods of sun exposure. Obviously, that has to be your choice, but I think it’s worth consideration.

By: Vin

Vin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:19:40 +0000

Hi Todd, thanks for sharing the story about your friend.

Vitamin D is proving to be a tricky subject, primarily because there’s still a lot to be learned. There is plenty of evidence supporting it’s importance and the fact that many people are deficient, especially for those who avoid the sun or always use sunblock. It’s great that doctors are starting to embrace the importance of vitamin D, but I think it’s unfortunate that supplementation is the focus more so than natural sources such as responsible sun exposure and diet.

Vitamin D toxicity is certainly a reality, and it’s probably accurate that it’s quite difficult to get to this point. However, I think there’s a lot of uncertainty in regard to what an optimal dosage is for supplementation and what the negative effects can be if this is exceeded. For example, while the RDA is quite low compared to recent recommendations, it’s also possible that excessive supplementation can cause calcification of arterial tissue before a clinical state of toxicity is reached. For anyone who supplements, it’s probably best to stick with modest recommendations.

Either way, it’s definitely a fascinating topic that is likely to lead to some exciting scientific breakthroughs.

By: wes

wes — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:54:09 +0000

I take 3000-5000 IU’s of D3 a day and never have any of your symptoms

By: Sherry in Washington

Sherry in Washington — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:14:42 +0000

Hi to Denise in Phoenix. Sorry you’re having trouble with D supplement. Perhaps you could try taking just D3 alone without vit. A. The combination may be bothering you. Also, you could try taking D3 with your biggest meal of the day. That really helps me. My skin is seriously allergic to the sun, so I have to take D3 daily. I always have to protect myself from the sun, even on the many cloudy days we have in the Pacific Northwest. Up here we get delicious ocean salmon, which is the best food source of D3. I don’t eat tuna because of its heavy metal contamination. Even my veterinarian told me not to feed tuna to my dog. Hope this helps you. Sherry in the great Pacific Northwest

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:00:45 +0000

I had a friend that a doctor told him that he was getting too much Vitamin D (didnt even check levels) and about toxicity. There is such a thing as toxic levels of Vitamin D but most sites say you would have to consume up to 100,000 IU’s a day which I have never heard any one doing so. Almost impossible to do. The thing about most Medical doctors that they shun natural health and have no training in the area. I can guarantee they could find a drug to give someone though.

By: Lori In Maryland

Lori In Maryland — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:24:36 +0000

Hi Denise, Wow reading your message sounds a lot like me. I had an orthopedic doctor test me for my vitamin D level and said mine was extremely low. Something like 35. He put me on a prescription strenth level of 50,000mg. I only take it once a week. I haven’t noticed any kind of side affect yet. Hopefully I won’t. I’m 50 and do not take any kind of vitamins because they all upset my stomach. As for getting it from the sun, needless to say I have skin damage from all the tanning wheather it was from all the times laying out in the sun with baby oil or using the tanning beds everyday I have had skin cancer. Oh, whats a person to do? Thanks for writing and all of you. It is good to see I am not the only one.

By: Vin

Vin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:41:39 +0000

Hi Denise, I'm sorry to hear about your difficulty with vitamin D. The most obvious thing to do would be to ask your doctor for an alternative. It sounds like you've already considered natural dietary sources for vitamin D which I think is great. Although not a popular option, organ meat is a good source of vitamin D that you didn't mention trying. You could also try to get more sun. As long as you don't burn, sun exposure may be less of a cancer risk than you've been led to believe. I suggest reading more on the issue and making an informed decision for yourself. Dark Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola might be a good place to start. In regard to the safety of tanning beds, the cancer risk may be a result of the electromagnetic radiation from the magnetic ballasts that run the bulbs more so than the UV radiation.

By: Denise in Phoenix

Denise in Phoenix — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:22:43 +0000

hi, new to this site and stumbled upon it as I was searching info on Vitamin D. Lots of good advice on here, thanks!
I recently was told by my doctor (whom I’d just met) that I was lacking in the “D” after my yearly physical with blood work. I’d never been checked for that before that I’m aware of and not sure why she had me do it. She’s totally into organic thinking and wanted me to take a prescription for D. I didn’t have her write one knowing I can simply buy it OTC and did so a couple of weeks later.
Here’s my issue/concern: After 3 weeks of pretty much faithfully taking a D400 iu with A on a daily basis, I have become sleepy, lacking in concentration, had diarrhea, loss of appetite, dry mouth/extreme thirst…and for a bus driver the diarrhea is most unacceptable, lol.
I talked to a school nurse about the diarrhea as I had no other “flu symptoms” and it hits rather quickly and she looked up Vitamin D (which was new in my diet) in a large pill book she owns. I hadn’t associated all these “symptoms” together and hadn’t thought too too much about any of them but they all were listed under “Over-dose/Toxicity” in the book!!!
Now, needless to say, I’m cutting back to taking ONE pill on Friday evening (in case it “hits” me again), and no more. I get intermittent times of direct sunlight and 4-5 hours a day of indirect (on the bus) daily and maybe that’s enough. I’m 48 and will most certainly have skin damage/problems as I grew up and tanned wildly BEFORE the dangers of skin cancer were an issue– now I try to limit my time but use no sunblock at all.
I’ll incorporate more tuna sandwiches into my diet (Thanks Subway!), and I eat butter and eggs. Not into seafood at all, but would be interested in anything else I should be eating/drinking more of to keep my D levels up. Any advice? Other than oil pills, lol….now pills scare me! ugh…it’s been a LONG couple of weeks.
SORRY THIS GOT SO LONG….