Is too much vitamin D bad – possible causes and cures

It is well known that TOO LITTLE vitamin D is associated with health problems
TOO MUCH vitamin D may also be associated with health problems

Possible reasons include:

1. Body is out of balance with too much vitamin D – consider adjusting cofactors
   CURE: Increase Vitamin K2
       - prevents excess Calcium created by lots of vitamin D from going to wrong places in body (arteries, prostate, etc)
   CURE: Increase Magnesium – which is vital for health but is consumed by Vitamin D
   CURE: Reduce Calcium – which may be in excess due to high level of vitamin D
2. Large doses of vitamin D taken very infrequently (quarterly, yearly) is known to cause imbalance and problems
   CURE: Take vitamin more often than than once every 20 days
3. The body might change the Vitamin D Binding Protein so as to increase vitamin D levels when sick
4. Sick people had attempted to heal themselves by adding Vitamin D or visiting a sunny climate
5. Result of excess Vitamin A reducing the benefits of Vitamin D in the blood
   CURE: Don't get your Vitamin D from cod liver oil - which appears to have too much Vitamin A
   It appears that only Nordic studies of mortality have found problems with high levels of vitamin D
6. Drug dosage often assumes low Vitamin D, High vitamin D increases/decreases dose potency
   Example: Vitamin D can greatly amplify various Chemo drugs, making them deadly
   CURE: Have doctors adjust prescribed dosage when a patient is taking lots of vitamin D
7. Some Drugs Deplete Magnesium
   People may increase their vitamin D levels too high so as to feel benefits even with Magnesium limitation
   CURE:Take Magnesium
8. Had been taking Vitamin D2 - which is known to cause problems
   CURE:mTake Vitamin D3 instead of D2
9. J-Shaped does not acutally exist - it was due to old style of Vitamin D tests having too high of readings
   See PubMed item below on this page
10. Statins used in last decade of life decreased the vitamin D levels
    CURE: Do noit take statins or take more vitamin D

See also VitaminDWiki

• Search VitaminDWiki for “U SHAPED” 89 items as of Oct 2018
• Search VitaminDWiki for “J SHAPED” 1070 items as of April 2017
• Does too much Vitamin D cause problems – possible for allergies, maybe for falls – Review June 2016
• Even if a J curve exists, it is 50X better to give vitamin D than not give it – May 2013
  • Article Title: When Is a U-Curve Actually a J-Curve? Is It Really Too Much of a Good Thing?
• 1 in 6 critically ill in India have high levels of vitamin D (100 ng) – March 2015
  Suspect due to taking lots of Vitamin D2 - the commonly prescribed form in various countries
• Increased chance of death if enter hospital with vitamin D greater than 60 ng (u-shaped) – April 2014
• Mortality increased with highest levels of vitamin D – article and 4 letters Aug 2012
• Vitamin D and Pancreatic Cancer Risk - No U-Shaped Curve - Mar 2012 statistical artifact
• Is High Dose Vitamin D Harmful? PDF file, not page Feb 2012
• 2X more complications after heart surgery associated with high level of vitamin D – Jan 2013
• Is 50 ng of vitamin D too high, just right, or not enough has a section on U-Shaped responses
• 45 ng vitamin D may be enough (what about vitamin A)- Aug 2013
• All items in category Vitamin A and Vitamin D69 items
• Is Vitamin D Supplementation Responsible for the Allergy Pandemic – May 2012
     Hypothesis: Low vitamin D as a fetus then lots of vitamin D as an infant confuses the body
• Video by Dr. Coimbra – 95 percent of auto-immune cured with vitamin D in high doses - April 2014
     Vitamin D levels of 150 ng cured MS, etc. - but needed to limit the amount of Calcium, increase Vitamin B2, etc.
• Low testosterone is associated with levels higher than 40 ng of vitamin D (U-shaped)– July 2014
• Fertility in both women and men improves with more vitamin D (but less than 50 ng for men) – Dec 2013
• Hypothesis: Vitamin K will reduce prostate blood vessel problems – Jan 2015
  Lots of vitamin D (without Vitamin K) ==> more Calcium in tiny blood vessels, such as in Prostate
• Overview Kidney Stones and vitamin D Used to believe that high vitamin D==> stones. No longer certain.
• Many more people now have vitamin D levels above 50 ng, especially seniors – May 2015
• Overview Toxicity of vitamin D (short term excess Vitamin D)

See also PubMed

• Letter to the Editor: The J-shaped 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration-cardiovascular disease mortality relation is very likely due to starting vitamin D supplementation late in life. Grant June 2015
• Vitamin D supplementation as a potential cause of U-shaped associations between vitamin D levels and negative health outcomes: a decision tree analysis for risk of frailty Oct 2017 free PDF
• The Reverse J-Shaped Association Between Serum Total 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration and All-Cause Mortality: The Impact of Assay Standardization April 2017 free PDF
• Cord blood vitamin D and neurocognitive development are nonlinearly related in toddlers June 2015
• A Reverse J-Shaped Association Between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The CopD Study June 2015
• 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and postoperative outcome in cardiac surgery. Jan 2015
• The role of vitamin D for cardiovascular disease and overall mortality Fall 2014
• Is there a reverse J-shaped association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and all-cause mortality?
  Results from the U.S. nationally representative NHANES July 2013
• U-Shaped Association Between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Fracture Risk in Older Men:
  Results from the Prospective Population Based CHAMP Study March 2014, more fractures if > 30 ng
• Cross-sectional study of vitamin D levels, immunologic and virologic outcomes in HIV-infected adults. April 2013
  U-shaped relationship between 1,25(OH)2D and viral load, Full free text on-line
• Vitamin D insufficiency and chronic diseases: hype and reality Aug 2012
• Positive association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and prostate cancer risk:
  new findings from an updated meta-analysis May 2014, 17% higher
• Association of vitamin D with respiratory outcomes in Canadian children July 2014
  For ever having had asthma: 20-30 ng odds ratio = 1, 30 ng odds ratio = 2.1

No increase of mortality with high vitamin D levels (j-shaped) when tests are standardized – April 2017

The Reverse J-Shaped Association Between Serum Total 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration and All-Cause Mortality: The Impact of Assay Standardization.
Am J Epidemiol. 2017 Apr 15;185(8):720-726. doi: 10.1093/aje/kww244.
Durazo-Arvizu RA, Dawson-Hughes B, Kramer H, Cao G, Merkel J, Coates PM, Sempos CT.

We evaluated the impact of standardizing the originally measured serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) values from Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988-1994) on the association between 25(OH)D and rate of all-cause mortality. Values were standardized to the gold-standard laboratory method. Follow-up from 1990-2006 consisted of 15,099 participants aged at least 20 years at baseline, among whom there were 3,784 deaths. Relative risk of death was adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and season using Poisson regression.

Results were obtained for eight 25(OH)D (nmol/L) categories: <20 nmol/L, 20-29 nmol/L, 30-39 nmol/L, 40-49 nmol/L, 50-59 nmol/L, 60-74 nmol/L, 75-99 nmol/L (reference), and ≥100 nmol/L. Assay standardization dramatically shifted original 25(OH)D values toward zero. Accordingly, risk ≥120 nmol/L could not be evaluated (i.e., n = 7 and ndeaths = 2). Relative risk (95% confidence interval (CI)) <40 nmol/L remained significant (30-39 nmol/L: relative risk (RR) = 1.4 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.6); 20-29 nmol/L: RR = 1.6 (95% CI: 1.3, 1.9), and <20 nmol/L: RR = 2.1 (95% CI: 1.6, 2.7).
However, adjusted relative risk estimates for 25(OH)D levels ≥40 nmol/L were no longer significant (40-49 nmol/L: RR = 1.2 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.4); 50-59 nmol/L: RR = 1.2 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.4); 60-74 nmol/L: RR = 1.1 (95% CI: 0.94, 1.2); 75-99 nmol/L: RR = 1.0 (referent), and ≥100 nmol/L: RR = 1.1 (95% CI: 0.6, 2.1).

In summary, after standardization, risk of death from all causes increased with decreasing 25(OH)D <40 nmol/L, while there was no association with values in categories between 40 nmol/L and 120 nmol/L.

PMID: 28338905 DOI: 10.1093/aje/kww244 Publisher wants $42 for the PDF

10 most-visited pages in category Too Much D