This Foolish Cancer "Prevention" May Only Extend Your Life by 2.8 Days Mercola March 13, 2012

Dr. Grant on vitamin D and mortality in VitaminDWiki add 2 years if double vitamin D levels

260X more benefit from vitamin D at less cost and less risk

All items in category Mortality and Vitamin D 58 items March 2012

The Annual Appointment Loses Some Relevance NYT March 19, 2012

Long article in NYT with extensive comments on having pap smear tests every 3 years instead of every year
Pap testing once every three years will lower the cost and probably lower the benefit
Perhaps then 2 DAYS life extension due to pap smear and 2 YEARS life extension due to vitamin D

The New York Times has, over the years, had many articles on Vitamin D
Jane Brody was the most recient: Reasons That Vitamin D May Matter
She allows that 1,000 IU is good, but wants to wait for a clinical trial to finish in 2016 before recommending 2,000 IU
We doubt that the 2016 clinical trial using 2,000 IU will show much benefit for the obese woman who makeup that entire trial.

Here is the comment which VitaminDWiki placed, which NYT did not post (for unknown reason)

35 completed random controlled clinical trials with positive results
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=2303

60 overviews of vitamin D - examples: MS, how much to take, Toxicity, Obesity, seniors,
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-browse_categories.php?parentId=57

700+ intervention clinical trials (take vitamin D and see what happens)
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=2210

26 reasons for vitamin D deficiency - 12 of which are new in the past 40 years
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1586

Published recommendations for vitamin D around the world
http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1293
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Tried again to post a comment - this time without any URLs - in case that was the problem - It worked!!

Actually there already have been more than 35 completed random controlled clinical trials of vitamin D with positive results.

Vitamin D is looking so promising that there are >700 intervention clinical trials (take vitamin D and see what happens), far more than the total for all other supplements ever.

There are more intervention trials for vitamin D than any other medical drug, substance, or device
- - - - - - - - -

A few previous NYT on vitamin D

• NYT on Vitamin D Nov 2009
• NYT Jane Brody March 2011
  Fosamax and other bisphosphonates appear to prevent the constant healing of microfractures, and reduce the “toughness” of bones.
• NYT Jane Brody Oct 2011 Osteoporosis

As of March 2012 doctors can prescribe Vitamin D3 instead of just vitamin D2 (50,000 IU).

• US yes, International?
• Unknown about doses smaller than 50,000 IU
• Vitamin D3 is much better than Vitamin D2
• Prior to this, Drs. could only prescribe vitamin D2 - at a much higher cost and with much lower benefit

This new ability is not a result of any change by the US FDA.

It is just a result of the stocking of the supplement in the pharmaceutical drug supply chains around the world by Biotech Pharmacal

The Vitamin D Council announced this new capability March 2012

Probably more insurance companies will pay for 50,000 IU of vitamin D3

Apparently some people previously were able to get the 50,000 IU vitamin D3 paid by insurance.
VitaminDWiki will make a guess, based on a few clues, that the number of US insurance companies paying for D3 will rise from perhaps 5% to 50%

Veggie form of vitamin D3 too

The company also makes a vegan form of their 50,000 IU of D3, but it has not been put that form into the supply chain.
Several other companies make a vegan D3, but not in such a large dose.

Recommendation: Test for vitamin D allergy first

It appears that 1 in 300 people have an allergic reaction to vitamin D. (Far more people are allergic to Aspirin or NSAID pain relievers)
Simple check for allergy – just take a small amount (for example: a tiny portion of a capsule)
   and see if you have an allergic reaction (hives or itchy skin or diarrhea, etc) within 3 days.

Warning: Do not take 50,000 IU daily for more than a month.

The body stores up extra vitamin D, and toxic levels can be reached in 6 weeks – see graph below
It is perfectly OK to take 50,000 IU dose of vitamin D weekly provided co-factors are taken daily.
The admin of VitaminDWiki happens to take one of these capsules every 4 days during the winter (average =12,500 IU daily).
  It is very easy to mark the calendar as to which day to take it, then cross it off when when done.
   No problem about forgetting to look at the calendar even for several days - can be taken any time - the body averages it nicely
CLICK HERE for Toxicity of Vitamin D, which has the following chart

8 weeks for 50,000 IU DAILY dose of vitamin D to become toxic

Warning Cofactors needed

Whenever you have an average intake of more than 4,000 IU daily you will most likely need to deal with the vitamin D cofactors.
The most important being reducing to Calcium to 500 mg, and increasing Magnesium to 500 mg daily.

Unfortunately the body cannot deal with taking a weekly amount of Calcium or Magnesium just once a week.
There are enough problems with just a daily dose of Magnesium and Calcium. versus a 7X large dose

Strong bones also need additional cofactors such as vitamin K2, Boron, Silicon, Strontium, and Zinc.
– – – – – – –

See also VitaminDWiki

• How often should I take 50,000 IU of vitamin D
• Same vitamin D benefit if total dose taken weekly
• Low Cost vitamin D - including liquid and bulk
• All Overviews 46 overviews as of March 2012
• Seniors Vitamin D Workshop Most of vitamin D concerns/issues on a single web page
• Overview Loading of vitamin D Example: 50,000 IU weekly for 8 weeks
• Overview Evidence for vitamin D
• Vitamin D PREVENTS many diseases and TREATS some
• Many kinds of pain relieved by vitamin D
• All items in Vitamin D Blog
• Many reasons why vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic 12 of the reasons are new in past 40 years
• Home Page
• Quick FREE self test of vitamin D deficiency 93% of the people who failed this test has very low vitamin D

Summary of VitaminDWiki webpage on how often to take vitamin D

Annual = Not good *

Quarterly = OK for those low on vitamin D

Monthly = OK unless

Weekly = Great for everyone (unless have poor liver/kidney)

Daily = Fine for everyone

Notional chart of the benefits of vitamin D vs time between doses

Impression from hundreds of vitamin D clinical trials and studies

CLICK HERE for reasons

* Imagine the consequences of taking a years worth of any food, supplement, or drug in a single day:
Examples: salt, water, iodine, aspirin, sugar, wheat, vitamin A, etc, etc.
Vitamin D is perhaps the only item for which taking the annual amount in a single day will not cause a call to 911 or immediate death
Vitamin D is not toxic when annual amount is taken in a single day, but problems of annual dosing outweigh the benefits.

VitaminDWiki on supplementation

• Before starting to take vitamin D you should check to see if you are the 1 in 300 people who appear to be allergic to vitamin D
• A loading dose should be considered if you are very low on vitamin D (less than about 15 nanograms)
• Low cost co-factors for vitamin D
• Low Cost vitamin D - including liquid and bulk

See also VitaminDWiki

• All Overviews 46 overviews as of March 2012
• Seniors Vitamin D Workshop Most of vitamin D concerns/issues on a single web page
• Scottish doctors ignoring vitamin D?
• Overview Evidence for vitamin D
• Vitamin D PREVENTS many diseases and TREATS some
• Many kinds of pain relieved by vitamin D
• All items in Vitamin D Blog
• Many reasons why vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic 12 reassons are new in past 40 years
• Vitamin D test results vary as much as 30 ng between test labs – Jan 2012
• Home Page

Up until now the lowest cost for a commercial vitamin D test through a lab or the mail was about $50.

In March 2012 a British company started selling internationally an at-home vitamin D test for $46 (30 pounds).

They have been providing vitamin D testing since the middle of 2011.
As of March 2012 the company only accepts telephone orders.
Note that the British consider a test result of just 20 ng to be adequate.
Many others consider 30 to be adequate and 40 or 50 to be optimal
That same reference shows differences around the world in the recommended amounts of vitamin D to take.

Vitamin D testing is predicted to increase at 30% per year for the next several years with the price dropping to $20

CLICK HERE for a free non-quantitative vitamin D deficiency test.
The free test will correctly tell you (96% of the time) that you are deficient – which appears to be somewhere between 10 and 20 nanograms of vitamin D

Vitamin D testing is only needed to confirm that you are getting enough vitamin D (from sun/uv/supplements).
The amount of vitamin D from sun/uv/supplements varies almost 4 to 1 between similar individuals (same age, weight, skin color, etc).
It is extremely rare to have too much vitamin D, so testing is not used to check for toxicity.

VitaminDWiki on supplementation

• Before starting to take vitamin D you should check to see if you are the 1 in 300 people who appear to be allergic to vitamin D
• A loading dose should be considered if you are very low on vitamin D (less than about 15 nanograms)
• Low cost co-factors for vitamin D
• Low Cost vitamin D - including liquid and bulk

See also VitaminDWiki

• All Overviews 43 overviews as of Nov 2011
• Seniors Vitamin D Workshop Most of vitamin D concerns/issues on a single web page
• Scottish doctors ignoring vitamin D?
• Overview Evidence for vitamin D
• Vitamin D PREVENTS many diseases and TREATS some
• Many kinds of pain relieved by vitamin D
• All items in Vitamin D Blog
• Many reasons why vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic 12 of which are new in past 40 years
• Vitamin D test results vary as much as 30 ng between test labs – Jan 2012
• Home Page

Yet another study (Feb 2012) has shown weight loss when taking vitamin D.
Many studies in the past few years have shown that some fraction of obese women lose weight when taking vitamin D - without going on any diet
Overview Obesity and Vitamin D has scores of references to vitamin D and Calcium for weight loss and had the following summary March 2012
- FACT: People who are obese have less vitamin D in their blood
- FACT: People who are obese need a higher dose of vitamin D to get to the same level of vitamin D in their blood
- FACT: When obese people lose weight the vitamin D level in their blood increases
- FACT: Adding Calcium, perhaps in the form of fortified milk, often reduces weight
- OBSERVATION: About 30% of obese quickly lose weight when they take >2000 IU of vitamin D and 750 mg Calcium
   Women lose weight, men have not been tested
- SUGGESTION: Probably need much more than 2,000 IU to lose weight if very low on vitamin D (high risk) due to
  risk factors such as age, dark skin, very overweight, live far from equator, etc.

There has been lots of speculation as to why vitamin D reduces weight in some obese women

Vitamin D ==> reduce pain ==> get up and about ==> reduce weight paraphrased from the Vitamin D Council
Weight reduction review – Vitamin D and Calcium may help has the following chart
{IMG(attId="632" max=600")}{IMG}

Summary by VitaminDWiki for obese women (no data about men) who are overweight/obese

Try taking enough vitamin D for several months to see if you are the 1 in 3 women who can lose weight with vitamin D
There is extremely little risk and cost in your seeing if vitamin D acts as a diet pill for you.
To learn how much to take, click on the references above. (range: 1,000 to 15,000 IU per day)

PAIN has been found to be associated with low vitamin D for decades

People have been using vitamin D to relieve pain for hundreds of years

Double blind clinical trials are now proving that Vitamin D reduces many kinds of pains

• Menstural Cramps Feb 2012 Random Controlled Clinical Trial of 40 women
  Women getting vitamin D did not need any pain relievers, vs 40% of the women without vitamin D had to use pain relievers
• Dental Pain ' since the 1930's
• Back pain reduced for 95 percent of those who took vitamin D - 2003 file, not web page
  "only" 95% of the people with back pain were helped with vitamin D 5000 IU or 10,000 IU daily
• pain 'linked with low vitamin D' BBC Aug 2008
• Discover the pain of Vitamin D Deficiency
• More likely to have Chronic Widespread pain when have less than 15 ng – May 2010
• Vitamin D and chronic widespread pain for women - who have less vitamin D than men
• Leg pain 7X more prevalent when vitamin D lower than 20 ng – Oct 2010
• More Arab leg pain when less than 20 ng of vitamin D – Aug 2010
• Overview Rheumatoid Arthritis and vitamin D RA pain reduction for over 300 years (cod-liver oil)
• Patients like me survey found vitamin D to be number one supplement - across ALL problems for pain reduction
• All items in category Chronic Pain and vitamin D 26 items as of Feb 2012
• All items in category Headache and vitamin D 6 items as of Feb 2012
• 100 Million Americans Have Chronic pain – IoM June 2011 Good overview of both acute and chronic pain
  VitaminDWiki notices that the majority of the types of pain listed are reduced by adding vitamin D
• Vitammin D before, during, and after pregnancy
  Vitamin D provided 4X fewer C-sections, 2X fewer pregnancy complications
• Vitamin D relieves pain – 2008 2010 - which has the following graphic showing that more people have pain (big circles) at high latitudes

See also VitaminDWiki

• All Overviews 43 overviews as of Nov 2011
• Overview Pain and Vitamin D which will have updates to this post
• Seniors Vitamin D Workshop Most of vitamin D concerns/issues on a single web page
• Low cost co-factors for vitamin D
• What is the best Calcium supplement
• Overview Magnesium and vitamin D
• Vitamin D Recommendations
• Overview Rare Allergic reaction to vitamin D
  test yourself with low dose first, to be sure you are not the 1 in 300 who get an allergic reaction to vitamin D
• Low Cost vitamin D - including liquid and bulk
• Testing your bone pain provides a free vitamin D test
  Press with about 10 lbs (4 kg) of force at the bottom of your sternum and your tibia

First publication Vitamin D Wiki has seen on the subject
CLICK HERE for PDF, Published by Chief Health Officer Victoria Australia – May 2010
This publication is a good first start, includes many good points

Hopefully future versions of papers like this one will point out that:

• Differences between UVA (suntan) and UVB (make vitamin D)
• UVB is about 3X less in shade, and UVA is reduced even more
• Windows do not transmit any UVB to generate vitamin D
  And that it may be that the UVA transmitted by windows uses up some of the vitamin D
• UVB lighting is possible from special lamps inside of offices (truly full spectrum)
• UVB reflects poorly from buildings – so not as much vitamin D at the bottom of an urban canyon
• There is less UVB in large cities due to pollution/ozone

See also VitaminDWiki

• Overview UV and vitamin D
• UV produces more than vitamin D – Aug 2011
• UV - not too little and not too much
• UVA through window glass decreases vitamin D
• Overview Skin and vitamin D
• Ways to increase the amount of vitamin D you get from UV or the sun: suntan oil, reflectors
• Do UVA and UVB affect the body in different ways Yes: UVA tan, UVB ==> Vitamin D
• When your shadow is as long as you are, you get about 50% of UVB
• No – 10 minutes per day of sun-UVB is NOT enough which includes the following
  WRONG most of the time
  5-10 minutes is enough IF you are near the equator
  AND young
    AND not obese
       AND have light skin
        AND it is summer
          AND it is the middle of the day
            AND you have lots of skin exposed to the sun
              AND you are lying down
                AND you are not wearing sunscreen.

It appears that about 1 person in 300 will have an allergic reaction vitamin D
   (Have no specific reference for that ratio - it is just an impression from reading 3,000 articles on vitamin D)
The reaction may include itchy skin, hives, intestinal upset.
Reactions occur within 3 days of taking vitamin D - sometimes within a day
The reaction is real but for unknown reasons, and there are many possible solutions
Hope by the end of 2012 to have narrowed the solutions down to just a few.

Possible reasons and some potential solutions

• Reaction is due to lack of Magnesium - which is brought out by vitamin D
  Take Magnesium supplement
• Similar to reaction to being in the sun
• Perhaps need to start with a smaller dose
  Some doctors start the patient on 50,000 IU of vitamin D approximately weekly
  Might try having daily instead of weekly doses
• Might be a reaction to Vitamin D2 - which is still the only form allowed to be prescribed in the US
• Might be a reaction by the gut to Vitamin D
  Try a sublingual form or one which is easier to digest (see below)
• Reaction to a prescription drug
• Some speculation that the reaction is the the oil or the gelatin capsule

Solutions which might apply to many of the above

• Make sure that you are taking D3 and not D2
• Try a smaller amount
• Try a different form of vitamin D: bioemulsified
• Try sun or UV instead of vitamin D (but not if have an allergic reaction to the sun)

VitaminDWiki recommended way to try vitamin D (virtually no doctor is so cautious)

1. Take a small amount of vitamin D ( say 1,000 IU or a portion of a capsule)
2. Wait for 3 days to see it there is any allergic reaction
3. If no reaction, proceed with the maintenance dose (2,000 - 10,000 IU daily) or loading dose (50,000 IU 1 to 10 times per month)

See also VitaminDWiki

• All items in category Interactions 39 items as of Dec 2011 (virtually all interactions = Drug reduces the vitamin D effectivity, no reaction
• Vitamin D interactions with drugs – Oct 2011 Abstract says which drugs, but not amount of interaction
• NLM Vitamin D recommendations and interactions – Jan 2011
• Side Effects and Warning for vitamin D
  Excessive thirst, Metal taste in mouth, Poor appetite, Weight loss, Bone pain, Tiredness, Sore eyes, Itchy skin,
  Vomiting, Diarrhea, Constipation, A frequent need to urinate, Muscle problems
• On-line survey of drug uses and side effects – including vitamin D

Which contains the following chart:

Note the following are not the % of people taking vitamin D who got reactions

but rather the % who had a any reaction which had a particular reaction

Reaction to Aspirin is about 3X more likely than allergic reaction to vitamin D

• How Do I Know if I Am Allergic To Aspirin? 1%
• Aspirin - Not just for pain relief anymore 1%
• An Aspirin Allergy and its Relationship to a Salicylate Allergy 1%?

Summary of a study in Scotland Feb 2012

• 282 people had vitamin D test results less than 10 nanograms
• Only 61% were getting any vitamin D replacement therapy after 3-15 months
• Mean dose was an inadequate 800 IU of vitamin D
• Maximum dose with 2000 IU
• Only 1.4 % got a loading dose of vitamin D

See also VitaminDWiki

• Problems with low UV and vitamin D in Scotland Jan 2012 Oliver Gillie excellent
• Vitamin D - Experts' Forum – presentations April 2011 including one by Oliver Gillie : PDF and Video
• Three free vitamin D books - focus on Scotland 2004-2008 All by Oliver Gillie
• UK summers are not long enough to re-stock vitamin D – Aug 2010
• Vitamin D in the UK = Vitamin D Association
• Vitamin D UK 45 year olds by Hyppönen
• Scotland and Vitamin D Multiple Sclerosis
• UK survey of vitamin D knowledge of midwives - 2011
• No – 10 minutes per day of sun-UVB is NOT enough
• Many reasons why vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic in past 30-40 years
• Vitamin D Recommendations around the world: IU and nanograms
• OBGYN College in UK still recommends only 400 IU during pregnancy – Jan 2012
  “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary is dependent upon his not understanding it” Upton Sinclar
• World Wide Vitamin D levels - Aug 2011 note how low the UK is on the following graph

Map of solar radiation in UK - including clouds

from the following global map