Vitamin D Cofactors in a nutshell

---

Cofactors need to be adjusted when taking a lot of vitamin D for more than a month

"A lot" is more than 4,000 IU Vitamin D daily (average)
There is virtually no agreement as how much of each cofactor is needed vs vitamin D level
The first three cofactors have, like vitamin D, greatly decreased in the human diet in the past 50 years
The goal is to restore Vitamin D, Magnesium, Omega-3, and Vitamin K back to where they had been
   in a nutshell = summed up = condensed

Supplements categories in VitaminDWiki include

Supplement	# of studies		Increase D to tissue	How Often
Vitamin D	986+	Most people do not have enough anymore	N.A.	daily to 2 weeks
Magnesium	381	Many people need Mg Vit D consumes Mg Muscle pain, Afib	30%	daily
Vitamin K	163	Hard bones, soft arteries	115%	2 days
Omega-3	415	Synergistic with Vit D Independent of Vit D	30? %	daily trying weekly
Calcium	234	Reduce or add Vit K		daily
Zinc	95	immunity	20 ?% if poor VDR	7 day
Boron	36	plants and animals need B	+20%	7 day
Resveratrol	50	antioxidant	>100% if poor VDR	Daily
Glutathione	10+	master antioxidant	Improves activation of 5 Vit D genes	2 days

Also    Vitamin C 55

Iodine 33

Iron 74

Vitamin B12 61

Selenium 25

Folate 31

---

Magnesium

• About 1 in 300 people have a poor reaction to increasing Vitamin D
     but the Vitamin D reaction (muscle pain) is almost always due to lack of Magnesium
• Magnesium increases the benefits of vitamin D by about 30% (Mg and Vit. D are synergistic)
• Magnesium provides a great many health benefits independent of Vitamin D
• Magnesium is used in 8 stages of Vitamin D metabolism
• 100 milligrams of Magnesium supplement (say from Magnesium Chloride) may be enough, even with high levels of Vitamin D
  Some people (not a consensus) believe that only 100 mg of Mg can be taken up by the gut at a time
  Some people get 300+ mg of Magnesium daily from greens
  If possible, take your Magnesium several times during the day - not just once
  • Vitamin D appears to consume Magnesium
  • People with > 100 ng of Vitamin D (and do not consume Mg) are 2.5X more likely to have A-fib
  • Constipation due to low Magnesium after greatly increasing Vitamin D level (personal experience of the founder of VitaminDWiki)
• Overview Magnesium     Magnesium category has 381 items

---

Omega-3

• Omega-3 increases active vitamin D - especially in people with poorly functioning livers or kidneys
• Need >1 gram of Omega-3. Note: different brands have widely different bio-availability
• Need to take with a fatty meal unless you use an emulsified form
• Overview Omega-3     Omega-3 category has 415 items

---

Vitamin K2

• K2 Keeps Calcium in bones and out of arteries
• Calcification due to K2 deficiency may be a reason for increased mortality for some diseases for high vitamin D
• Probably need 100 micrograms per 2,000 IU of vitamin D (i.e. 500 micrograms for 10,000 IU of Vit D)
  • Perhaps Vitamin D consumes Vitamin K, so need more of it
• Vitamin D decreases the uptake of Vitamin K1 by 50%
  • Perhaps should not take K2 concurrently with Vitamin D.
• Overview Vitamin K2     Vitamin K category has 163 items

---

Calcium

• Too much Calcium is associated with cardiovascular problems years later, not stronger bones
• Should have less than 750 milligrams of Calcium supplementation
• Drinking a lot of water helps flush any excess Calcium from the Kidneys
• VegiCalcium appears to be better than rock Calcium, and only costs 10 cents a capsule
• Overview Calcium     Calcium category has 234 items

---

Boron - good, but not as essential

• Boron increases Vitamin D and Magnesium in the body by ~ 20%
• Most people Boron deficient now that commercial fertilizers are used
• Should have an average of 3 -10 milligrams of Boron daily
• Founder of VitaminDWiki takes a 30mg Boron capsule once every 4 days
• Boron category has 36 items

---

Zinc - good, but not as essential

• Extra Zinc does not appear to increase D in the blood. but may increase D in the tissue
• Zinc is, however, essential to make Vitamin D Receptors and utilize Omega-3
• Low zinc is associated with many autoimmune diseases,infections, colds, etc
• Zinc, like Boron, is extremely low-cost and safe
• Zinc category has 95 items

---

Glutathione - the master antioxidant, synergistic with Vitamin D

Glutathione should improve response to Vitamin D - June 2025
Glutathione improves Vitamin D in 9 ways
   it improves activation of 7 Vitamin D genes - far more than anything else
Glutathione can be increased in many ways, perhaps the best is liposomal Glutathione

---

Vitamin C - great anti-oxidant is aided by Vitamin D

• Vitamin C category has 55 items

---

Supplements taken by the founder of VitaminDWiki

As of Dec 2024, my only daily supplement is Calcium. The rest are every 2 to 7 days

---

Perspective of the importance of Vit D and co-factors to health

---

See also VitaminDWiki

• Need to adjust cofactors if take 50,000 IU of vitamin D weekly – Nov 2013
• How you might double your response to vitamin D
  • classically by increasing Magnesium, Boron, Omega-3
  • perhaps by supplementing with Glutathione - which increases the activation of 7 vitamin D genes
• 20 reasons for not taking Vitamin D debunked
• Too much Vitamin D long-term problems if take too much vitamin D without balancing cofactors
• Low cost cofactors for vitamin D - includes a listing of what the founder of VitaminDWiki actually takes
• Supplements category listing has 112 items
  • Includes morality problems with >400 IU of Vitamin E
• Immune system is better fortified by nano forms of Vitamin D, Vit C, Vit B12, Omega-3, resveratrol, etc - March 2021
  • many of the vitamin D cofactors are available in nanoforms
• Dr. Ames triage theory - Vit D, Mg, etc. immediate needs reduce their use for long-term needs such as DNA repair
• Vitamin D Receptor is one of the genes which can block vitamin D from getting to the cells
  • The standard Vitamin D test cannot detect a poor Vitamin D Receptor
  • Adding more Vit D, Mg, Omega-3, Boron, Resveratrol, Zinc, etc. increases Vit D getting into the cells

---

See also - Excellent reviews of supplements at ConsumerLab

---

There have been 106705 visits to this page

short URL = is.gd/Dplus