My doc wants me to take vitamin D, which I think is quite in vogue these days. What's the deal with

[raccoon]

vitamin D?

[appleannie1]

1. For one thing, it helps you absorb calcium.

Therefore it helps to keep your bones strong. It is also good for your immune system. Lack of vitamin D from the sun is associated with people getting colds and flu in winter.

[librechik]

2. you need it for your bones and for Cholesterol control.

really important

[SunsetDreams]

3. Please ask your doctor nt

[Marcia Brady]

4. My doc said the same thing

I have to take a pill once a week for 8 weeks, and then take a supplement daily. the little bit of reading about it, it's pretty common among vegetarians, (I'm not.) Also, people who don't get much sun. I guess that is me, since I've never been much of a sun-worshiper.

[shanti]

20. yes, and being middle-aged

good for the bones.

[CBGLuthier]

5. Unless you are a milk drinker or a sun worshipper there is a good chance you are deficient.

Spent a lot of time last week looking into this after Centrum caused me to have a major depressive episode.

There are very few foods that have natural vitamin D. Milk is fortified. Milk products such as cheese and yogurt are not as the process destroys the vitamins.

Salmon and oil packed tuna are fair sources.

Your own skin will make Vitamin D when exposed to the sun's rays. but it needs to be fairly intensive sunlight at leats 20 minutes a day unless you are dark skinned which means even more time.

Low Vitamin D has been linked to depression and has a lot to do with bone heath.

Excessive Vitamin A can possibly destroy Vitamin D. That is what happened to me with the Centrum.

[Marcia Brady]

22. Lots of good info in this thread

I really thought I was OK because I do drink a lot of milk. Maybe I'm getting too much Vitamin A.

[Mojorabbit]

6. Lots of new info out on it

I have MS and there is some research linking a deficiency in Vit D to it. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d-and-ms/AN01894/
Have you had a level done and were you low in Vit D?

[Ganja Ninja]

7. It's good for the skin.

It's one of the few vitamins I've taken that I can actually see the results. I'm almost 60 and have some patches/spots of dry skin from sun damage. If I take vitamin D regularly the smaller one's go away.

[MineralMan]

8. Did your doctor not tell you why?

How strange.

[raccoon]

14. Well, the office called me at work telling me test results. I didn't think to ask. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Also good for assisting with sleep patterns, but I second asking your

doctor why (s)he feels you need it.

[berni_mccoy]

10. Vitamin D helps to absorb Calcium.

You can't properly absorb the 1200mg of calcium / day without it.

[vaberella]

11. Important mainly for those of Diabetes.

Those of African Descent particularly needs to take in a great deal of Vitamin D since we don't produce enough. It's not "en vogue", your body needs it and in many cases people are deficient in it. Helps keep diabetes at bay if you don't have it.

[aquart]

12. Reduces pain.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. Whole buncha things...

http://www.webmd.com/diet/vitamin-d-deficiency

Symptoms and Health Risks of Vitamin D Deficiency

Symptoms of bone pain and muscle weakness can mean you have a vitamin D deficiency. However, for many people, the symptoms are subtle. Yet even without symptoms, too little vitamin D can pose health risks. Low blood levels of the vitamin have been associated with the following:
Increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease
Cognitive impairment in older adults
Severe asthma in children
Cancer

Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of different conditions, including type1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis.

It's easy to get enough D if you hang out in the sun enough, drink or eat dairy with it added, or eat the right kind of fish... but most of us don't so we end up with a slight deficiency. And some end up with a major deficiency.

The stuff is cheap, can't hurt unless you eat it by the pound, and there's no reason for most people not to take the supplements. D3 is the one you want, and the recommended safe upper limit for adults is 4000 units a day, although few people need that. Your doctor might tell you to take more, in which case take more.

For the whole story from the NIH:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-QuickFacts/

[Arugula Latte]

15. Lots of people are deficient. We evolved to spend hours outside ... that often doesn't happen now.

[LeftishBrit]

16. It helps you absorb calcium, and can help to prevent osteoporosis

It also has a number of other health benefits. If your Dr recommends it, I think it's a good idea!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

17. Scientifically, not much...

Anecdotally, every thing under the sun.

The good news is you'd have to work really hard to overdose from Vitamin D. So if you think you're feeling better, knock yourself out.

[frazzled]

18. National Institutes of Health says it may be unnecessary (even harmful)

If your Vitamin D is less than 20 nanograms per millileter, you should probably take it to get your levels back up to normal. Mine was very low (13 I think), and so I took the 50,000 mg/week for two months, and then again a year later after it was low again. After reading the following front-page article in the New York Times, however (see link below), I told my doctor I preferred not to do continue with the megadoses of D, and to switch instead to a 1,000 mg a day D-3 vitamin pill. After 6 months, my levels were fine on this more moderate regimen. So this is what I would recommend. Please read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/30vitamin.html

Also read this NYT article explaining how too much Vitamin D can backfire with respect to cardiovascular risks. Taken at high levels, it increases CRP, which leads to heart disease. Recommendation here is same as mine: "“Vitamin D is good to a certain level,” said the lead author, Dr. Muhammad Amer, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. “But don’t just keep on taking it. Have your blood drawn and your levels checked.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/health/research/risks-when-too-much-vitamin-d-is-too-much.html

A good friend of mine is a medical dietician/nutritionist, with advanced degrees, and she has told me the entire Vitamin D craze is bullshit. I made the compromise to simply take a normal, rational dose of D in vitamin form each day. (Mine levels are probably low because I live in a cold climate where I don't get outside much in the winter, and I have had skin cancer, and so don't spend much unprotected time in the sun in summer either.)

[shanti]

19. mine did too

during my twice-yearly A1C (diabetes) blood test, it showed i was low on vitamin d3, so doc put me on a high dosage for a few weeks. i now take a couple of chewables daily (800 iu total). it's good for teeth, bone, and immune health. a former coworker also was big on it. i think it must be the supplement du jour.

can't hurt!

[rox63]

21. I was shown to have vitamin D deficiency in some pre-op blood tests

The doc said almost everyone in the northeastern US is vitamin D deficient.

[MoonRiver]

23. I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in October, 2011.

One of the first things my oncologist checked was my Vitamin D level. Vitamin D3 actually protects against cancer. You also need it to prevent osteoporosis. It is a very important vitamin.

[blogslut]

24. Take some 5 minute sun baths throughout your week

The sun (in small doses) is good for you.

Go outside, sit on your porch and let the big yellow ball warm your face.

[FarCenter]

25. It's not a new thing. People used to take cod liver oil. It prevents rickets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_liver_oil

Pills taste better.

[Cleita]

26. Mine too after she took me off Fosamax.

I guess it promotes strong bones among other things.

[byeya]

27. If you live north of Baltimore, your body can't make vitamin D for 4 or 5 months of the year; and

if you use sunscreen - as we are urged to do - making D in the summer is harder.
MDs have good reasons for prescribing D much of the time.

[hedgehog]

28. I googled Vitamin D a few years back looking for info on a chronic disease -

it turned out that several people had noticed significant benefits as a result of natural experiments - for example, one group of prisoners who received a Vitamin D supplement did not catch the flu, although another group and and the entire staff did. Then there were clues like the association of some autoimmune diseases and cancers with latitude.

What I came across where articles from science journals showing the benefits from Vitamin D for controlling blood sugar, preventing depression , preventing cancer, preventing MS, controlling some autoimmune disorders, even preventing leg pain in young adolescents (what we used to call growing pains!) It sounds like a come-on from a quack, but Vitamin D is a hormone which signals multiple systems in the body. The reason no one realized the benefits before is that the original blood serum level was set at the point sufficient to prevent rickets.

[southernyankeebelle]

29. Well I sure can tell you about Vit D. I take B-12 shots once a month. I take another

Vit D pill that is call EZF something or other. I take that 3 times every other day and the days I don't take 3, I have to take 2. I have high doses I have to take. I also take Magnesium and Calcium. I take so many pills every day. Besides all those I have heart pills on top of it all. I also take 2 and a half pills for my thyroid problem. But Vit D I sure take enough. I still have to watch my chronic iron problem. I once had to have a blood transfusion. That is one I was so tire I didn't even want tog get up to eat or fix dinner. All I did was drink constantly. I will be on these doses for the rest of my life. I had surgery to lose weight in 1975. I was young. Then I hit 50 and everything went down hill. When you are so tired it takes a hugh toll. I would tell everyone take a Vit. once a day. It won't kill you.