Saturday, February 6, 2010

Vitamin D3


I must be going supplement daft. First Creatine and now this. (for full discolosure I also take fish oil)

There has been so much coverage in the blogs about the benefits of Vitamin D3 that I bought some today.

Some interesting D3 links:



Vitamin D and Obesity
I believe that micronutrient deficiency also plays a role. Inadequate vitamin and mineral status can contribute to inflammation and weight gain. Obese people typically show deficiencies in several vitamins and minerals. The problem is that we don't know whether the deficiencies caused the obesity or vice versa. Refined carbohydrates and refined oils are the worst offenders because they're almost completely devoid of micronutrients.

Vitamin D in particular plays an important role in immune responses (including inflammation), and also appears to influence body fat mass. Vitamin D status is associated with body fat and insulin sensitivity in humans (14, 15, 16). More convincingly, genetic differences in the vitamin D receptor gene are also associated with body fat mass (17, 18), and vitamin D intake predicts future fat gain (19).

Can vitamin D help to combat depression and enhance mood?
Can vitamin D help keep you infection free?
Vitamin D and blood pressure
Vitamin D dosage - more than you think!

Interesting quote on the need for supplements:

.........food sources of vitamin D, such as fish (300-400 units per serving) and egg yolks (20 units per yolk), are inadequate. This makes sense: Humans are not meant to obtain vitamin D from food, but from sun exposure over a large body surface area. And this is a phenomenon that is meant to occur only in the youthful, ensuring that nature takes its course and us older folks get old and make way for the young (i.e., unless we intervene by taking vitamin D supplements).



“The Miracle of Vitamin D” (and the common cold)

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Humans do acquire Vit D via plant source and uv exposure but both D2 & D3 need to be converted to 25(OH) in the liver to form an inactive usuable form of D. Activation on as needed basis via Kidney. Ergo, without proper liver function the Vit D despite supplement consumption remain inadequete. Non-Alcoholic liver cirrohsis is common in obese. I believe the diet still trumps supplementation in most deficiencies. Being fat soluable and metabolized in Small intestine, bile plays a role in absorption. Liver inadequate, bile sluggish, poor fat metabolism.

Dream said...

Ha, same brand I began using the other week.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

How much are you taking? Is the idea to reduce the amount during summer?

Another Chris

Mark said...

Hi Chris,

I notice from the photo that you bough D3 tablets, and just wanted to point you to a post by Dr. Davis where he advises against D3 tabs and recommends gelcaps:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-vitamin-d-form.html

Thanks for your great blog; I've been following for quite a while.

Best,
Mark

Methuselah said...

Chris - you'll never look back! Do you plan to get tested?

On the creatine, I will be really interested to hear about your experiences. I tried it in 2001 and it worked on strength. No doubt. But since then I have always held back on the basis of unknown health implications, medium and long term. Not that I've read anything specific - have you seen anything research that would indicate any effects to be aware of?

Chris said...

Anon - I'm taking one of those a day at the moment. RE dosage and summer winter - check the link above - http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/getting-vitamin-d-right.html

Chris said...

Mark

thanks. I'd read that after I bought the tablets! The story is that I bought some in Boots - major chainstore pharmacy in the uk - that i think are caplets. I saw these other tablets - quite a bit stronger - when out yesterday and bought them. Then read that gelcaps are best.

Chris said...

Methuselah - thanks. What brand of D do you take?

Creatine - I'll post an update sometime. One thing that appeals at the moment is a reduction in soreness after workouts! I've been feeling it recently.

There is some info on long term usage here:

http://www.jissn.com/content/pdf/1550-2783-4-6.pdf

Hans Hageman said...

It seems that for sunlight to have most of its effect, one needs to be out at peak hours (11-2) or the benefits drop significantly. I was talking with a doctor the other day who had ridiculously low levels and thanked me for the reminder to supplement. We shouldn't wait for randomized trials or our general practitioner before we take fish oil, D, etc.

Steven Low said...

Hey Chris,

Among the other health effects of vitamin D that wasn't listed such as possibly autism, cardiovascular disease, etc....

You may be interested in my analysis of vitamin D post workout given the whole milk vs. non-fat and isocaloric non-fat milk.

Pretty interesting stuff. I think it's one of the side effects of why GOMAD works so well.

Vitamin D receptors are one of the few that are on all tissues of the body.

http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/10/a-closer-look-at-vitamin-d/

Kurt Harris (PaNu) has about 5-10 posts on Vitamin D as well.

Steven Low said...

For reference I've been taking 10k IU of vitamin D3 for 4 months now and feel great.

10,000 IU seems to be the safe upper limit for now. At least 3-4 studies I linked in the above post confirm this.

I'll probably get some bloodwork done soon now that I have insurance, and see what my levels are.

Asclepius said...

D3 is the only supplement I take:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000QBU2EM/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

The only other supplement I would consider is BCAA. If you are in to taking BCAA, Purple Wraath BCAA seem to have a good reputation:

http://www.supplement-warehouse.co.uk/acatalog/Controlled_Labs_Purple_Wraath_2_1lbs__4237.html

Methuselah said...

Chris - this is the brand I order:

http://www.supersupps.com/store_main.asp?prod=509

Thanks for the Creatine link - will check it out.

Asclepius - will check out the BCAA link too.

Anonymous said...

Off topic but happy birthday Chris. Have a great day!

From Anon Chris

Indomitable Spirit said...

Hi Chris

I would certainly recommend BCAAs for post workout recovery. I also take creatine, but in a much smaller dose than perhaps a male would. I also prefer the capsules to the powder, which did unpleasant things to my digestion.

Avril

Nigel Kinbrum said...

I use Healthy Origins, Vitamin D3, 5,000 IU, 360 Softgels. That's a 1 year supply for about £11 + shipping. First-time buyers can use discount code WAB666 to get $5 off the first order. Standard shipping should be $4.

See also Vitamin D.

Cheers, Nige.

Asclepius said...

Nige - reckon I can Top Trump you:

http://www.iherb.com/Healthy-Origins-Vitamin-D3-10-000-IU-360-Softgels/21298?at=0

;)

Aaron Blaisdell said...

I've been using Carlson's 2k IU D3 drops for a year now. The nice thing about the drops is that you can modulate the dosage and I can put it in my families' food, including my toddler's bottle of milk. We've suffered the fewest colds/flus/allergies in any one-year period that I can remember. And this is with a 4 year old in preschool and a 17 month old at home!

I generally dose about 1k IU per 25 lbs. body weight; and up the dosage if we feel a cold coming on.

Chris said...

Thanks for all the useful comments

Nigel Kinbrum said...

@Asclepius
Thanks! They didn't have that dose when I ordered mine.