ABC World News Tonight (6/20, story 13, 0:15, Muir) reported on a new study “finding millions of Americans are taking too much vitamin D now.”
Reuters (6/20, Rapaport) reports almost 20 percent of adults in the US “are taking supplemental vitamin D, and a growing number are taking excessively high doses linked to an increased risk of fractures, falls, kidney stones and certain cancers,” according to the research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Vox (6/20, Belluz) reports Barry Kramer, MD, the director of the National Cancer Institute’s cancer prevention division, says that the debate over vitamin D supplements reflects how the science surrounding it has evolved.
Blogfinger medical report: Paul Goldfinger MD, FACC
A few years ago my doctor ordered a Vitamin D level. Medicare refused to pay. That’s when I got the idea that something was up with Vitamin D. It turns out that a big trial was going on involving 39,000 adults. They found that too many people are taking too much Vit D, and Medicare decided that it was wasting its money. I took Vitamin D for awhile then stopped–I didn’t believe there was any value in it.
If you read the notes above, you will see that a great deal has been learned recently on this subject, but as so often happens in medicine, we get more questions after we get more answers.
“No high-quality study has found a benefit to screening asymptomatic adults; and putting people on treatment with supplements has also failed to demonstrably improve health outcomes.”
Here are a few useful pointers:
Vitamin D is essential for bone metabolism as it helps calcium get absorbed. So for selected individuals, Vit. D with calcium supplements are necessary, as in post menopausal women. Another example is in patients who have under-active or absent thyroid glands. They need calcium. Ask your doctor to help you decide what and how much to take.
But don’t miss the point that too much Vit, D can be harmful and can cause a variety of diseases.
You can get Vit. D from sunshine and in foods such as liver, milk, cheese, canned sardines and egg yolks, for example. The recommended daily intake of vitamin D for most adults is 600 IU (international units), or 800 IU after age 70.
For healthy adults, 98% get enough Vit. D from sunshine and diet. But just because you get enough Vit. D doesn’t mean you get enough calcium. And remember that sunblock will prevent skin absorption of Vit D.
Talk to your doctor and count up the mg. of calcium that you eat every day for example from leafy green vegetables, dairy products, food fortified with calcium, and canned salmon. A calcium blood test is not a good way to tell if you are calcium deficient.
The recommended amount of calcium is 1000 mg per day (1200 mg if over 71 years old). It’s best to get calcium from food rather than from supplements.
You can take in too much calcium and you can take in too much Vit. D, and although you may have been charmed by snake oil salesmen on the radio, low levels are not the only hazard—high levels are too and can cause heart and kidney disease, certain cancers and depression as examples.
This is from the National Cancer Institute:
“For healthy individuals, if you’re tired and weak, but it’s nondescript, this is a really tempting thing to do: measure vitamin D and then treat,” Dr. Rosen, who is based at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute, warned. “But there just isn’t enough evidence it does anything.”
“So, for example, if you were feeling a little low this winter and you ask for a vitamin D test, then find out your levels are hovering around 20 or 30 ng/ml, you can go on supplements. And there’s no doubt that those supplements will raise your vitamin D levels, since researchers have found they are absorbed by the body very efficiently.”
“Doctors just don’t know whether that change actually has any health benefit.”
For more information, read the links within the AMA summary above. You will especially like the second one from VOX. And know that the NIH will be pursung another trial to answer more questions on this subject
Barbara: Thank you for that clarification. I like those Season skinless and boneless sardines in olive oil, but the company does not list either Vit D or calcium.
Nevertheless, it is a good healthy food item which the NY Times called one of the healthiest foods that nobody eats.
By the way, Skim Plus milk, which we drink, has 405 mg of calcium per 8 oz cup. That’s better than whole milk due to the milk solids.
Paul
You mention sardines as being a good source for Vitamin D. A lot of people prefer and buy skinless and boneless sardines which have little or no vitamin D.
If you are eating sardines for the vitamin D benefit make sure you get the kind that is not skinless and boneless. We get the vitamin D from the bones of the sardines.
A huge increase in consumption has occurred in recent years, independent of science (there is none) and independent of big pharm. The push stems from the Internet, the vitamin/supplement manufacturers, and marketing by the alternative medicine charlatans. It is a multi-billion dollar industry. In the US, the FDA has no control over these products, their risks, and their claims of efficacy.
Although I do take Vitamin D I wonder about it . Always thought it was like Vitamin C . That you can’t take too much as excess would pass out of your system . Thus too much was harmless .
Always wondered too about low Vitamin D due to lack of sunshine . Folks in high sunshine occupations(construction) & states(Florida) also are found to be low in Vitamin D .
Vitamin D is pretty cheap . So didn’t think it is a drug company push to sell product . However then again an awful lot of it is used/sold .