In a nutshell: Dr. Hollis claimed that DAILY vitamin D while nursing.
One RCT found that monthly Vitamin D was just as good while nursing
Another RCT found that monthly Vitamin D was BETTER while nursing
Randomized Controlled Trials found that Vitamin D every two weeks prevented or treated 22 health problems
The survivors of evolutionary pressure have adapted to temporary deficiencies, such as:
- Calories – famine, winter, . .
- Vitamin D - weeks of cloudy weather, winter
Survivors typically store necessities such as calories and Vitamin D in fatty tissue.
It seems very unlikely that breastmilk would require daily summer sunshine (or daily suppliments) to have healthy infants
GrassrootsHealth Webinar with Dr. Hollis - Aug 2014
The above image - without red ellipses = Hollis 1 - is at the bottom of this webpage
GrassrootsHealth Facebook page has a place for comments
The GrassrootsHealth website does not have a place for comments
See also VitaminDWiki
- Proof that Vitamin D Works Majorty of the proofs used non-daily dosing
- Far more Vitamin D in breast milk from a 150,000 IU dose than from daily 5,000 IU – RCT May 2018
- Breastfeeding with daily or monthly doses of vitamin D virtually the same – RCT Dec 2013
daily dosing is NOT needed while breastfeeding
| Dose to mother | Infant @ 30 days |
| 5,000 IU daily | 39.2 ng |
| 150,000 IU monthly | 38.7 ng |
- breastfed OR breastfeeding 1920 items as of July 2019
- How often might 50,000 IU vitamin D be taken - results of clinical trials max time between doses was chosen to be 18 days.
- Take vitamin D3 daily, weekly, or bi-weekly has the following notional chart for > 50 ng
The notional chart is based on scores of studies
The Role of the Parent Compound Vitamin D with Respect to Metabolism and Function: Why Clinical Dose Intervals can affect Clinical Outcomes.
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Oct 8.
Hollis BW, Wagner CL.
Division of Neonatology, Medical University of S Carolina Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Charleston, SC.
Context: There is no doubt that vitamin D must be activated to the hormonal form 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D [1,25(OH)2D] to achieve full biological activity or that many tissues participate in this activation process-be it endocrine or autocrine. We believe that not only is 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] important to tissue delivery for this activation process, but that intact vitamin D also has a pivotal role in this process.
Objective: In this review, evidence on the vitamin D endocrine/autocrine system is presented and discussed in relation to vitamin D-binding protein (VDBP) affinity, circulating half-lives and enzymatic transformations of vitamin D metabolites, and how these affect biological action in any given tissue.
Conclusions: Circulating vitamin D, the parent compound, likely plays an important physiological role with respect to the vitamin D endocrine/autocrine system, as a substrate in many tissues, not originally thought to be important.
Based on emerging data from the laboratory, clinical trials, and data on circulating 25(OH)D amassed during many decades, it is likely that for the optimal functioning of these systems, significant vitamin D should be available, on a daily basis, to ensure stable circulating concentrations, implying that variation in vitamin D dosing schedules could have profound effects on the outcomes of clinical trials because of the short circulating half-life of intact vitamin D.
Dr. Hollis
PMID: 24106283
Comments on this paper are on VitaminDWiki at Vitamin D needed on a daily basis (other reseach shows infrequent doses are OK) – Oct 2013