Vitamin D Cofactors in a nutshell

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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	369	Many people need Mg Vit D consumes Mg Muscle pain, Afib	30%	Several times a day
Vitamin K	157	Hard bones, soft arteries	115%	2 day
Omega-3	409	Synergistic with Vit D Independent of Vit D	30? %	2 day
Calcium	227	Reduce or add Vit K		2 day
Zinc	90	immunity	20 ?% if poor VDR	7 day
Boron	37	plants and animals need B	+20%	7 day
Resveratrol	48	antioxidant	>100% if poor VDR	Daily
Glutathione	10+	master antioxidant	Improves activation of 5 Vit D genes	Daily?

Also    Vitamin C 55

Iodine 32

Iron 68

Vitamin B12 59

Selenium 25

Folate 31

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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 369 items

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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 409 items

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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 157 items

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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 227 items

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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 37 items

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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 90 items

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Glutathione - the master antioxident, synergistic with Vitamin D

Increased Glutathione (the master antioxidant) - increases both cellular and blood levels of vitamin D
Vitamin D also increases Glutathione
Glutathione can be increased in many ways, perhaps the best is liposomal Glutathione

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

• Vitamin C category has 55 items

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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

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

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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
  • primarily by increasing Magnesium, Boron, Vitamin K, Omega-3
• 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 107 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

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See also - Excellent reviews of supplements at ConsumerLab

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