Healthy Start website
Amazingly UK continues to claim that 10ng vitamin D is enough
Many regulatory agencies around the world consider 30 ng to be the minimum
VitaminDWiki is very conservative and recommends 40 ng
Many groups and studies believe that 50 ng is optimum
A doctor who got all of his patients to 80 ng found that they were FAR healthier
They needed medical care only 1/4 as often as before
People have to qualify to get the Healthy Start vouchers.
They claim that there are 3 qualifications - but only #1 is on the website
1) low income, 2) dark skin, 3) low access to light
NIH does not define how dark is dark
NIH does not define exactly how little light (# of hours?)
Example groups at high risk for vitamin D deficiency (not considered by NIH) include
Obese, patients (Cancer, etc), gut problems, liver problems, kidney problems, red hair, extensive burn, shift worker, smoker (-9 ng), live far North (Scotland), gall bladder removed, live a long ways from a public park, heavy clothing, , . . . .
A packet of vouchers is sent every 4 weeks (page 34)
I could find no indication in the PDF as to how often one must apply to re-qualify to get the vouchers.
Monthly?, Quarterly?, Annually?
What they provide can be Vitamin D2 instead of Vitamin D3 (page 36)
Over 15 years ago veterinarians decided to never use Vitamin D2 on any mammal
Also - veterinarians give about 5X more vitamin D3 to mammals than Healthy Start provides
Also -veterinarians give vitamin D based on body weight,
Healthy Start gives 400 IU if weigh 100 lbs or 400 lbs
0 IU vitamin D from age 0-1 month (page 32)
Too little vitamin D for infants to even prevent rickets
340 IU ==> age 6 months
280 IU 6 months to age 5
Note: one country GAVE 400 IU of vitamin D to EVERY child and got a 60X reduction in rickets
Note:could not figure out difference in vitamin D with Health start for breast feeding vs bottle feeding
Too little vitamin D during pregnancy and lactation
400 IU for women during pregnancy and lactation
2000 IU is an absolute minimum some organizations recommend 6,000 IU during pregnancy and lactation
ZERO vitamin D for ages 5-65 unless pregnant or lactating or one of only 2 high risk categories
Many regulatory agencies are arguing about 600 vs 800 IU
Most research studies find that >3,000 IU is needed by normal weight adults
They suggest 400 IU if dark skin or away from the sun - but do not provide it
No place on the website for those few high risk conditions
They suggest 400 IU for seniors - which is far too little
Note: Half of seniors got ZERO response to 1600 IU daily for a year
I will guess that 80% of UK seniors will get ZERO response to 400 IU
Summary of hassele
You must fill out a form online or be interviewed to qualify
You must prove that you have low income or dark skin or stay out of the sun
Voucher is sent to you monthly
You have to physically go to a limited number of places to exchange the voucher for the month's supply of vitamin D
not available at grocery store, pharmacy, etc.
Far far easier to just buy a bottle of vitamin D which can be used for many years
Bio-Tech 50,000 IU capsule is the lowest cost vitamin D available (Nov 2014)
A $17 bottle has 100 capsules which have a total of 5,000,000 IU
This bottle would provide 12,500 person days if you assumed that a generous UK amount (400 IU) was acceptable
Most people can get to an optimal level of vitamin D (40 ng) with 3,700 IU
Then a Bio-Tech bottle would last only 1300 person days = 3.5 person years
PDF is difficult to read - the internal hyperlinks do not appear to work
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki.
See also VitaminDWiki
- Healthy Start vitamin D supplementation in UK is a farce - Nov 2010
- UK people and doctors still clueless about vitamin D – Survey Oct 2014
- Post-mortem analysis of children in London Hospital – only 1 child had adequate level of vitamin D – July 2014 > 30 ng
- 30 to 50 ng of vitamin D is optimal – Central Europe consensus Sept 2013
- Third study found that Infants needed 1600 IU of vitamin D – JAMA RCT May 2013
- 3X more kids were vitamin D deficient when entering UK hospitals than 4 years before – Oct 2014
- Perhaps half of Russian children have rickets, 500 IU vitamin D was not enough – June 2013
- Rickets: Less costly to prevent than to treat SE Asians in UK – 2006 yet 10 years later the UK still does not provide vitamin D