VITAMIN D: SAFETY AND THERAPEUTIC USES

[Guest guest]

VITAMIN D: SAFETY AND THERAPEUTIC USES

 

by John Cannell, M.D.

 

Atascadero, CA

 

I recently swallowed an entire bottle (100 capsules) of vitamin D

(40,000 units) in front of a skeptical audience to convince them that

vitamin D is safer than water. Here's why. Eight glasses of water a

day is fine for healthy adults. Ten times that amount, eighty glasses

of water, will make you sick from water intoxication. Humans need

about 4,000 units of vitamin D a day (from all sources).(J Steroid

Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Jul 15; Epub ahead of print) Ten times that

amount, 40,000 units, is very safe in a single dose, as I demonstrated

to the audience. Therefore, vitamin D has a safer therapeutic index

than water.

 

Taking the entire bottle certainly got the audience's attention. I

think they were paying close attention to see if I would drop dead. By

the way, if you were to take 40,000 units every day for months you

would get vitamin D toxicity, after years of such doses you would

probably die. After taking 40,000 units at one time - equivalent to

two days at the beach - I simply stayed out of the sun for several

days.

 

Why do we need vitamin D? Within the last several months, scientists

published impressive new evidence that vitamin D is involved in a

staggering array of diseases: age related cognitive decline, heart

disease, breast cancer, tuberculosis, Parkinson's disease, prostate

cancer, chronic pain, fractured hips, premenstrual syndrome and

diabetes.

 

Good time for a quiz.

 

1. Vitamin D reverses inflammatory changes associated with age-related

memory impairment.

 

True. Researchers from Ireland were the first to demonstrate that

vitamin D3 acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and turns old brains

into young brains - at least as far as inflammatory cytokines are

concerned. This research suggests vitamin D may prevent, or even

treat, age-related cognitive decline. (Biochem Soc Trans. 2005

Aug;33(Pt 4):573-7.)

 

2. Your blood sugar is closely associated with your vitamin D level.

 

True. Researchers in Australia added to the growing evidence that sun

avoidance may have caused the epidemic of type 2 diabetes. The

Australians' findings were straightforward and powerful. The higher

your vitamin D level, the lower your blood glucose. (Clin Endocrinol

(Oxf). 2005 Jun;62(6):738-41.)

 

3. In July, a group from Minnesota found that 100% of elderly patients

admitted for fragility fractures were vitamin D deficient despite the

fact that half of them were taking vitamin D supplements.

 

True. The authors found that women taking supplemental vitamin D had

average levels of 16.4 ng/ml while women not taking supplements had

levels of 11.9.ng/ml, both dangerously low. None of the 82 women got

enough sun or took enough vitamin D to obtain a level of 40 ng/ml.

These were fragility fractures, not fractures caused by unusual

trauma. That is, their bones just sort of fell apart. (Curr Med Res

Opin. 2005 Jul;21(7):1069-74.)

 

4. Women with the lowest vitamin D levels had five times higher risk

for breast cancer.

 

True. Women with 25(OH)-vitamin D blood levels less than 20 ng/ml were

more than five times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer

than were women with levels above 60 ng/ml. That is five, repeat five,

times less likely! (Eur J Cancer. 2005 May;41(8):1164-9. Epub 2005 Apr

14.)

 

5. Avoiding the sun doubles the risk of prostate cancer.

 

True. Again, the risk of avoiding the sun is clear, this time in

another study with prostate cancer. However, the authors pointed out

that sun exposure increases the risk of skin cancer and believed that

proper vitamin D supplementation " may be the safest solution to

achieve an adequate vitamin D status. " (Cancer Res. 2005 Jun

15;65(12):5470-9.)

 

I also believe supplementation is the only way to go for many people.

African Americans are simply unable spend adequate time in the sun. In

addition, the sun ages the skin and that fact alone will keep many

Americans out of the sun. That said, I go into the sun whenever I can

 

6. South Korean researchers associated vitamin D deficiency with

Parkinson's Disease.

 

True. Actually, they showed that certain genetic malformations (VDR

polymorphisms) are more likely in-patients with Parkinson's Disease,

implying an association with vitamin D and Parkinsonism. (J Korean Med

Sci. 2005 Jun;20(3):495-8).

 

7. Researchers in England discovered that patients with chronic pain

have phenomenally low vitamin D levels.

 

True. The authors added to the evidence that severe vitamin D

deficiency is associated with chronic pain. They found that 88% of

their patients with chronic pain had levels less than 10 ng/ml. If

they treated their patients, they did not report it. However, Swiss

researchers recently treated chronic pain patients with vitamin D and

reported the pain " disappeared " within one to three months in most of

their patients. This is the second open study that showed adequate

doses of vitamin D dramatically improve chronic pain. (Ann Rheum Dis.

2005 Aug;64(8):1217-9. Also: BMJ. 2004 Jul 17;329(7458):156-7. Also:

 

Spine. 2003 Jan 15;28(2):177-9.)

 

8. Severe vitamin D deficiency is common in TB patients.

 

True. (J Infect. 2005 Jun;50(5):432-7.) First, the authors reviewed

the impressive animal evidence that vitamin D can help treat TB. Then

they reported that most of their immigrant TB patients had

undetectable vitamin D levels. Then they reported the normal range for

their lab was between 5 to 47 ng/ml but " normal " was any level greater

than 9 ng/ml. Finally, the researchers reported they treated their

patients with " normal daily doses " of vitamin D, without reporting how

much they gave. Apparently, they gave just enough to get patients

above 9 ng/ml. The doctors should have treated their patients with

4,000 units a day. They should also watch for evidence of vitamin D

hypersensitivity, which can occur when treating tuberculosis patients

for vitamin D deficiency.

 

9. a.) Virtually all nephrologists give renal failure patients a

vitamin D-like drug. b) Virtually all renal failure patients are

severely vitamin D deficient.

 

Both are true. Finally, the truth about renal failure patients: most

of them are vitamin D deficient despite taking vitamin D analogs! Most

nephrologists prescribe activated vitamin D (calcitriol) or vitamin D

analogs but not vitamin D. Calcitriol and vitamin D analogs do nothing

to prevent vitamin D deficiency. Renal failure patients need both

vitamin D and a calcitriol-like drug. Moreover, 400 units a day of

vitamin D will not correct their deficiencies. They need up to 4,000.

 

(Am J Kidney Dis. 2005 Jun;45(6):1026-33.)

 

Some of us, especially African Americans, will need to take 3,000 to

4,000 units every day to maintain healthy 25(OH)-vitamin D blood

levels. (Heaney R. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Jul 15.)

 

Professor Reinhold Vieth came up with dozens of overlooked studies.

These studies conclusively showed 2,000 units a day could not be

toxic. Furthermore, Vieth found the literature published before 1997

clearly showed 10,000 units a day was unlikely to be toxic. Vitamin D

toxicity probably starts around 20,000 units a day, and then only if

taken for months or even years. (Am J Clin Nutr. 1999

May;69(5):842-56.)

 

(Editor's note: Our thanks to Dr. Cannell and the Vitamin D Council

for this excellent article, excerpted from The Vitamin D Newsletter,

Aug 20, 2005. I most highly recommend Dr. Cannell's work. TO SUBSCRIBE

to his newsletter FOR FREE, go to http://cholecalciferol-council.com/

--

Diana Gonzalez

 

 

 

 

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying - the longer a problem is

carried, the heavier it gets. Don't take things too seriously - live a

life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

-Unknown