Safety of 4,000 to 10,000 iu a day of vitamin D3....

Today's Post:  Thursday, 9-27-2012

The Vitamin D Council News email for today had a reminder that September is national prostate cancer awareness month.

In our last post, Tues, 9-25-2012, we posted the very good news that men who began taking 4,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 and continued and who had low risk and hopefully slow growing prostate cancer got much improved results by the end of the year, they had less and less risky cancer by several measures for 66% of the men.  For the other 34%, the news was a bit better because they no longer tested as having any prostate cancer.

I emailed that news to a friend who has been trading emails with me about prostate issues.

He said that he would likely try the 4,000 iu and said he would check how much he was already taking to know how much he had to add.

Then he asked if taking 4,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 was safe in other ways.

It’s pretty simple really.

People who get enough sun and don’t wash off the oils in their skin that mediate the conversion to vitamin D too soon and use NO sunscreen, take in between 3,000 iu a day and 10,000 iu a day of vitamin D3.  They tend to have excellent health -- NOT side effects -- at those levels.

As intake of vitamin D3 drops below 3,000 and particularly below 1500 iu day from all sources people are no longer getting enough vitamin D3 for its many health protecting actions.

The evidence from many studies suggests that the lowest level of intake of vitamin D3 consistent with good health is 3,000 iu a day intake.  That means the real minimum daily requirement today for vitamin D is to take 3,000 iu of vitamin D3, the form made by sun exposure.

(4,000 iu a day is just a bit above that and well within the normal intake range that people used to get from sun exposure.)

And, since people today are far less often outside, use sunscreen, and tend take daily showers, only lifeguards who dislike sunscreen tend to get enough vitamin D – and that’s during the summer!

60 years ago before most people drove to work or watched TV, people tended to walk as part or all of their commute to work and evenings and weekends they were often outside walking to visit friends or playing sports instead of watching them on TV.

Today they drive to work and work inside for the most part.  Then they go home and watch TV or do something else inside.  And, when they do go outside in the sun they use sun screen.

In an email last Tuesday, 9-25 the vitamin D Council that tracks the new research on vitamin D had this:

Mean baseline vitamin D level was 13-14 ng/ml in all three groups, so almost all were deficient or insufficient. After 12 months of supplementation, mean serum vitamin D levels were:

400 IU:  25.9 ng/ml

1000 IU:  30.3 ng/ml

Placebo:  13 ng/ml

Using this measure, less than 30 is severely deficient.  30 to 49 is low and not high enough to get many health benefits.  50 to 60 is enough to begin to get significant health benefits.  And, above 60 is either optimal or high enough for decent health plus a safety reserve.

As you can see, people who take no vitamin D3 are horribly deficient.

People who get 400 iu a day of vitamin D3 in their multi are still severely deficient.

And, people who get only 1,000 iu a day are still just barely out of the severely deficient range.

As you can see, to get to the 50 to 60 range, most people will need 3,000 to 4,000 iu a day.

So far from being too high to be safe, 4,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 is the lowest level likely to get the strong health benefits vitamin D3 delivers in people who get enough.

Over two years ago one of the very best doctors for complementary and integrated medicine, Mark Hyman, MD wrote blog post he reposted a few days ago with these quotes:

“Recent research by vitamin D pioneer Dr. Michael Holick, Professor of Medicine, Physiology, and Dermatology at Boston University School of Medicine, recommends intakes of up to 2,000 IU a day — or enough to keep blood levels of 25 hydroxy vitamin D at between 75 to 125 nmol/L (nanomoles per liter). That may sound high, but it’s still safe: Lifeguards have levels of 250 nmol/L without toxicity.”

(To convert these to the ng/ml used in most vitamin D discussions you divide by 2.5.  That means that the healthy lifeguards have about 100 ng/ml)

“In countries where sun exposure provides the equivalent of 10,000 IU a day and people have vitamin D blood levels of 105 to 163 nmol/L, “

(To convert these to the ng/ml used in most vitamin D discussions you divide by 2.5.  So the 105 to 163 listed here =42 to 65 ng/ml)

“….for optimal health. In that case, the range should be 100 to 160 nmol/L or 40 to 65 ng/ml. In the future, we may raise this “optimal” level even higher.”

So in short, far from being close to unsafe, the facts show that 4,000 iu a day is relatively low and that for many people 10,000 iu a day might be better.

To be conservative, given the above, I take a bit less than 10,000 iu a day at 8200 iu a day of vitamin D3.  My blood tests have been 82 & 80 ng/ml both higher than some people might have at my intake and still well below the 100 lifeguards tested with.

Since Wikipedia has that some harmful side effects show up at 100,000 iu a day, I’m not sure it’s totally safe to take 25,000 to 50,000 iu a day of vitamin D3.

But it’s extremely clear that intakes of vitamin D3 in the range of 4,000 iu a day to 10,000 iu a day are not only safe but extremely desirable. And they are consistent with what people used to get from sun exposure except in the winter.

What about the people who suggest far lower intakes of vitamin D3? 

They are ignorant of the facts or extremely timid or deliberately ignoring the facts. The relevant question has been answered: They are completely wrong whatever the reason is.

Listening to them, whatever their apparent credentials might be, is incorrect and will cost you health benefits you could have easily had by ignoring them.

Carlson makes a 100 capsule bottle of capsules with 1,000 iu of vitamin D3 that sells for less than $10 including tax.  So taking 3 a day would cost about $25 a month.

I also found a 5,000 iu capsule that costs me less than that to take once a day at one of the health food stores I go to.

Vitamin D3 is available at your local health food store. Brands like Carlson are OK but I’m not sure grocery store brands are.  I know my 5,000 iu capsule has that much because of my recent blood tests.

By the way, getting enough vitamin D3 gives you many extraordinary health protections.

Taking 4,000 to 8,000 iu a day helps prevent all cancers and Alzheimer’s disease and is more important in preventing osteoporosis than calcium. 

It also multiplies the strength of your immune system against viruses and bacteria.  At the same time it makes your immune system more accurate because it tends to prevent and may even help reverse autoimmune diseases!

There is even evidence that taking as little as 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 will cut your likely future medical care costs in half or more.