Vitamin D a Hot Supplement, But Does it Stack Up?

Posted: November 29, 2011

vitamin d hype

Reading medical news, one might conclude based on recent headlines that supplementing Vitamin D could be beneficial to your health in a not-insignificant way, and that a lack of the essential substance could pose a grave risk to you.

And while its necessity is not disputed, doctors say that data supporting Vitamin D’s role in combating everything from heart disease to eyesight may be somewhat lacking. JoAnn Manson, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston is a principal investigator on a Vitamin D-related study, and she told MedPageToday that some of the benefits of the vitamin may be overstated due to the nature of earlier studies measuring its impact:

“Many of the randomized trials people have heard about were trials designed to look at the effect of vitamin D on fractures and falls,” she said, with other effects as secondary outcomes.

It’s in the nature of statistics, she pointed out, that if researchers look at enough outcomes, some will be significant just on the basis of chance… The vast mass of the evidence for any kind of nonskeletal benefit is observational, and therefore suspect until confirmed by a properly designed, randomized trial, Manson said.

Referring to the old scientific adage that “correlation does not prove causation,” Manson noted that “confounding factors” such as obesity, poor nutrition, or lack of exercise could be contributing to misleading data and stressed that confounding factors cannot be underscored in any such study. MedPageToday also noted similar enthusiasm surrounding hot supplements of their time Beta Carotene and Selenium before randomized trials “demolished observational evidence many times in the past.”

Have you been diagnosed with a Vitamin D deficiency? Have you attempted to up your intake?

Category: Technology
Tags : vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency, vitamin d fad, vitamin d hype, vitamin d studies, vitamin d supplement
Posted: November 29, 2011

By Kim LaCapria

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Comments

7 Archived Responses to “ Vitamin D a Hot Supplement, But Does it Stack Up? ”

Dominique De Cola
Nov 30, 2011

I have lupus sle. the meds they give are steroids, anti malarials (plaquenil, which has a side effect of sudden irreversible blindness and immune system killing chemo type meds) I read a story on vitamin d trials with good results in decreasing the numbers of "bad" anti-bodies( that attack your own tissue) and there helper antibodies. the numbers in this study reduced the bad antibidies and increased the good ones. I am willing to try the vitamin route while I still can. I tried 400iu daily for 2 weeks with a 250 magnesium to help it process and after 4 days I noticed my stamina improve. it is still quite low, but where I was sleeping and in pain almost the entire day I now was able to get up early, cook and prepare Thanksgiving Dinner and serve it as well. clean up and staying awake past turkey was too much for me, but I won't feel so bad as everyone else got a bit nappish as well. the next day I was up early and most of the day. pain was low. the day after that the family went to visit relatives in the adirondacks( too long a trip for me just yet) and they said they wished they had more turkey leftover so I went shopping and roasted them another for there arrival home. before the vitamins I could not even have thought about the first turkey prep.( by the way, I wanted to do this because almost everyday I cannot contribute and they do for me.) I spoke to my neurologist about the vitamin d and she had my levels tested. she said I was a level 22 and should be about 80. she said I could take 50000 once a week or 10000 a day. I went with the daily. I will be starting as soon as they arrive in the mail. for now I have tripled my 400 to 1200 a day. I am going to review all the data I can find to deterime if I need to up my magnesium along with the vit d. I think I must if the mag helps process the d. BTW this is vit D3, very important. this is the kind from sunlight. this is the one to take for this. my neuro also has patients with other diseases taking D and other supplements. the other vit I take are vit E 500 ( need to increase but am careful because I am still on plavix for heart stent I got in january. I have a clotting disorder caused by the lupus. it has been shown that higher doses vit E work as a great blood thinner in higher amounts (1600 about) but this should be monitored by a doctor. I also take 1 325 aspirin a day. the plavix and aspirin with too much E can cause internal bleeding so do it under a doctors testing of your levels! they want to give me cumadin which is warafin, which is made from a compound used for rat poison. internal bleeding is also a risk with the medication. so, I'd rather try the vit E therapy first. lastley I take a VitaminC with rosehips 500. I have a very sensitive physiology and allergies to many meds. I am doing VERY well so far. hopefully that will be the case on the higher dose. I truly believe the pharma guys write articles like this to discourage people from taking the natural route. they don't get rich on vitamins…yet. if you have not crossed into a critical aspect and feel you need the immediate effect of the med pill, maybe you should give the healthier alternative a try first. best of luck to all suffering with strange and scary illnesses.
Toby Lee
Nov 30, 2011

you can see all the data on vitamin D at http://www.vitaminD3world.com so you can make up your own mind.
Toby Lee
Nov 30, 2011

400IUper day is little more than a placebo for adults. The data shows we need between 2000 and 5000IU to bring up levels, you can see all the data at vitaminD3world.com
Dominique De Cola
Nov 30, 2011

Toby Lee thanks, i know i wrote alot but about halfway down my comment i said my doctor told me to up it to 10,000 per day for 8 weeks and then we will recheck the levels. i took 1600 today and will work up until my 10ks show up in the mail. thank you for the feedback and the link!