Honest Health
Did you know that taking enough Vitamin D3 each day can help lower your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, breast, colon and other cancers, along with autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia?
Taking enough of this magic supplement also seems to help reduce chronic pain, increase cognitive function and increase muscle strength.
I can't talk enough about the recent research on this wonder vitamin (see "Vitamin D an under-reported resource," Honest Health, Times, Oct. 16, 2009).
But how much Vitamin D3, also called the "sunshine vitamin," should you take everyday? What is enough? What is too much?
Apparently, 50 ng/ml-to 80 ng/ml in your blood serum is the measurement that the newest research shows helps to prevent or mitigate these diseases, that many physicians are now following.
Key West dive instructors and San Diego surfers already enjoy these healthy D3 levels all year round given their daily exposure to full sun. But those of us living in the Northeast, with low amounts of sunshine, especially now in the middle of winter, need to add significant amounts of Vitamin D3 supplements to our diet if we hope to move anywhere closer to that optimal 50 to 80 ng/ml. Even drinking gallons of vitamin D fortified orange juice or milk, by itself, won't raise our levels close to that mark.
To see how your current blood levels compare to this magic 50 to 80 ng/ml range, get a Vitamin D3 blood test at your local hospital or medical lab. In the meantime, go buy a bottle of 2,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 today. It will cost you maybe $12 or less for 180 capsules; about 6 cents a day. You have nothing to lose and only good health to gain.
After taking 1,000 to 2,000 IUs of vitamin D3 a day for the previous year, my own Vitamin D3 levels were only 35 ng/ml; so I have now upped my intake to 5,000 IUs each day until I finally reach the magic number.
My friend Dola, who lives in Newton, found she had a vitamin D3 level of only 7 ng/ml! Being African-American and living in New England puts Dola at an especially high risk for vitamin D3 deficiency, since darker skin absorbs less sun per minute than lighter skin. Dola's doctor has now given her a prescription for 50,000 IUs of vitamin D3 two times a week, until her blood levels reach 25 ng/ml; at that point she can begin taking over-the-counter 5,000-10,000 IU of Vitamin D3 a day.
Are vitamin D3 supplements at all dangerous?
People who suffer some type of granular sarcoma — a rare disease that affects less than 1 percent of the U.S. population — should avoid Vitamin D3 supplementation. For the other 99 percent of us, however, there seems little reason to believe that 2,000 IUs of vitamin D3 a day can be harmful unless your local dairy happens to poison their milk with toxic doses of Vitamin D3.
Back in 1995, a Boston dairy, by mistake, dumped massive amounts of vitamin D3 into their milk for a few weeks, delivering hyped-up Vitamin D milk to their 11,000 households, which resulted in 56 customers being treated at nearby hospitals for hyper calcification.
These folks had 375 to 500 ng/ml of Vitamin D in their blood, blocking their body's ability to absorb calcium!
So if you don't have any type of granular sarcomas and if the milk in your fridge has not been contaminated by toxic quantities of vitamin D, consider buying a bottle of 2,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 and set yourself up for a blood test now and once again in six months.
Fewer expensive drugs and more vitamin D3 should help make each of us healthier and wealthier folks.
Susan Wadia-Ells PhD, a wellness advocate, with graduate degrees in politics, energy economics and women studies, is founding director of the national nonprofit organization, Know Breast Cancer, www.knowbreastcancer.net. She also writes the blog www.thetruthaboutbreastcancer.com. She lives in Manchester.
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