Vitamin D

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ShanYin
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Vitamin D

Post by ShanYin »

I am vitamin D deficient. I mean I was about 3 months ago. The solution to this that I have been given is not anything like what I read on a medical website. I was told to take 2000 IU a day of vitamin D supplements.

I will not be able to speak to my doctor probably for another month. What is the best way to get rid of a vitamin D deficiency? Food? Sunlight? Supplements?
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Aloka
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Aloka »

ShanYin wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:16 pm I am vitamin D deficient. I mean I was about 3 months ago. The solution to this that I have been given is not anything like what I read on a medical website. I was told to take 2000 IU a day of vitamin D supplements.

I will not be able to speak to my doctor probably for another month. What is the best way to get rid of a vitamin D deficiency? Food? Sunlight? Supplements?
I have a vitamin D deficiency myself and after having a blood test was told by my doctor to take a daily vitamin D tablet. Most medical and health websites will list any foods containing vitamin D and will also mention sunlight. I think its quite a common problem because I know several people who have been advised to take a vitamin D supplement by their doctor.


:anjali:

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Agnikan
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Agnikan »

Vitamin D might also help against COVID-19.
santa100
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by santa100 »

ShanYin wrote:I will not be able to speak to my doctor probably for another month. What is the best way to get rid of a vitamin D deficiency? Food? Sunlight? Supplements?
Definitely include sunlight in your arsenal for it's totally free! Don't overdo it though for it'd increase risk for skin cancer. As long as you're outdoor in the sun for ~ 15-30 minutes every day, you're covered. Beside high vitamin D food and supplements, don't forget daily physical exercises.
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Kim OHara
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Kim OHara »

Aloka wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:28 pm
ShanYin wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:16 pm I am vitamin D deficient. I mean I was about 3 months ago. The solution to this that I have been given is not anything like what I read on a medical website. I was told to take 2000 IU a day of vitamin D supplements.

I will not be able to speak to my doctor probably for another month. What is the best way to get rid of a vitamin D deficiency? Food? Sunlight? Supplements?
I have a vitamin D deficiency myself and after having a blood test was told by my doctor to take a daily vitamin D tablet. Most medical and health websites will list any foods containing vitamin D and will also mention sunlight. I think its quite a common problem because I know several people who have been advised to take a vitamin D supplement by their doctor.


:anjali:

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It's quite a common problem where people are not getting enough sunshine - i.e., everyone in high-latitude winters, most urbanised people. This photo is one I remembered seeing years ago but when I looked for it just now I found it with an explanation of the physical mechanism.

Screen Shot 2020-08-15.jpg

Remember that UV light can be seriously bad for you - these children are getting controlled doses under medical supervision, but don't try it at home!

:coffee:
Kim
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I am taking 2000IU daily on the advice of one of my supporters (a consultant).

Dr John Campbell (PhD) constantly promotes Vitamin D to boost immunity.
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samseva
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by samseva »

Vitamin D supplementation is an option. If you take other medication, talk to your doctor first, to see if there might be interactions (small chance, but still).

A better and much more effective way, although not practical for people who work full-time, is sunlight. Simply go outside, daily or every few days, with shorts and no shirt—to have the most amount of skin absorbing sunlight—and stay in direct sunlight for about 10-15 minutes. Mornings and evenings aren't good times, as the sunlight is blocked by the atmosphere, since the sun is at an angle. Try to do this around noon.

Your vitamin D levels will sky-rocket back to healthier levels (much faster than oral supplementation). No chance of having too much as well, since your body has natural mechanisms to stop producing it.
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Kim OHara
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Kim OHara »

:goodpost:
except that you don't seem to allow for different latitudes. Where I live (tropics), most of us wear shorts and a short-sleeved shirt most of the year, and stay out of the sun automatically in the middle of the day, and still get plenty of exposure. Visitors from northern Europe following your instructions would get so severely sunburnt on day 1 that they would be peeling on days 2 - 4 and very cautious after that.

:coffee:
Kim
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Dhamma Chameleon
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Dhamma Chameleon »

On most days we'd get very, very cold and wet!
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Kim OHara
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Kim OHara »

:lol:

It's a big place, the world.

:coffee:
Kim
Ronald768
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by Ronald768 »

The best way to take vitamin D from nature is to take sunlight for the specific time period. Its a natural process in which our skin produces vitamin D when contacted with the sunlight. Vitamin D helps in absorption of calcium in the body, which deficiency can cause many problems of bones, muscles and psycological issues.
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greenjuice
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by greenjuice »

People usually get vitamin D through sunshine, fortified milk, and fortified margarine. The only significant, natural sources of vitamin D in foods are fatty fish (e.g. cod liver oil, mackerel, salmon, sardines), eggs (if chickens have been fed vitamin D), and mushrooms (if treated with UV rays).

Sun is a bad source because one needs to spend time outside exposing skin to it without using sunscreen, which is not safe (because skin cancer).

We get a bit of vitamin D during the summer when we go outside, but in the winter this is less. Which actually contributes to the existence of "seasonal depression".

Everyone should take vitamin D supplements. Conveniently, the usually go together with calcium, also a nutrient most people need to supplement, being that the only sensible sources for it are to eat 70-100g of sesame seeds / poppy seeds every day, or drink a liter of milk every day. I buy vitamin D + calcium fizzy pills and drink them every day.
denise
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by denise »

hello all....a long time ago had heard that too much vit. d might not be so good for a person in that it stores up in your liver? more is not necessarily better....before you self prescribe be careful... :hug:
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samseva
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by samseva »

greenjuice wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:41 am People usually get vitamin D through sunshine, fortified milk, and fortified margarine.
Vitamin D in milk is in D2 form—which isn't bioavailable at all. You'd likely get more vitamin D by standing in the sun for 5 minutes, than drinking 10 litres of Vitamin D2-fortified milk.
greenjuice wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:41 am The only significant, natural sources of vitamin D in foods are fatty fish (e.g. cod liver oil, mackerel, salmon, sardines), eggs (if chickens have been fed vitamin D), and mushrooms (if treated with UV rays).
Only significant source of vitamin D in food? There is barely any vitamin D in food. In 100g of salmon/mackerel/mushrooms, there is around 11μg of vitamin D. When you supplement vitamin D3, you take 1000-4000μg daily. You would need to consume 4000kg of salmon/mackerel (4 tonnes) daily to get that amount of vitamin D in food.
greenjuice wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:41 am Sun is a bad source because one needs to spend time outside exposing skin to it without using sunscreen, which is not safe (because skin cancer).
What? Sun exposure, and supplementation, are the only two realistic ways to get vitamin D. And fear and demonization of sunlight is a ridiculous trend. We've been living in sunlight for millions of years, BTW...

And sunscreen works by blocking the very mechanism that makes the skin burn—it blocks UVA rays, but not UVB rays, which is what causes skin cancer. What ends up happening is people stay the whole day in the sun, because they can thanks to sunscreen, when they should instead seek shade or cover up after 1-2 hours in the sun.

Going outside—best in a swimsuit, and obviously without sunscreen—for 10-20 minutes daily, is a perfectly healthy (and most effiecient) way to get one's needed amount of vitamin D.

That, or oral supplementation of vitamin D3 (has to be in D3).
greenjuice wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:41 am Everyone should take vitamin D supplements. Conveniently, the usually go together with calcium, also a nutrient most people need to supplement, being that the only sensible sources for it are to eat 70-100g of sesame seeds / poppy seeds every day, or drink a liter of milk every day. I buy vitamin D + calcium fizzy pills and drink them every day.
Calcium is one of the supplements that has been proven, in large comprehensive and modern studies, to be inefficient, as well as having negative health effects.

And calcium is easily available dietaraly (leafy greens, dairy, eggs). The thing is that the RDA for calcium, established over 70 years ago, is based on individuals who were highly deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D is a co-nutrient with calcium—meaning that calcium can't be processed by the body without vitamin D. Have enough vitamin D, either by supplementation with vitamin D3, or through sunlight, and your calcium requirement becomes much lower.
Last edited by samseva on Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:58 am, edited 9 times in total.
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samseva
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Re: Vitamin D

Post by samseva »

denise wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:43 am hello all....a long time ago had heard that too much vit. d might not be so good for a person in that it stores up in your liver? more is not necessarily better....before you self prescribe be careful... :hug:
This is the downside of oral supplementation (although you would need to be consuming very large amounts every day, or getting lots of sunlight and still taking oral vitamin D). On the days you get vit. D through sunlight, don't take it as a supplement that day!

For sunlight, however, this isn't an issue, since the body automatically stops its production of vitamin D once it has done so enough.
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