It is good to note that Harvard Medical School is aware of the importance of vitamin D. Consider this from a recent edition of the Harvard Health Letter:
Heart disease. Falls and broken bones. Breast and prostate cancer. Depression and memory loss. These problems seem to have nothing in common, except that they are leading causes of faltering health and death. Exciting research suggests there is a link — too little vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin, can contribute to all of these.
While Harvard is definitely on the right track here, they lack a little steam. Their recommendations and discussion are too conservative. This is understandable considering:
- they are perhaps a little embarrassed that they were not the source of discovering just how dramatic an effect vitamin D actually has on health
- they have themselves been a party to the longstanding assertion of pathetically inadequate recommended levels of vitamin D
- as great a reputation as they have, they cannot afford to make too radical a departure from the medical profession’s status quo or they risk undermining their status
Essentially, Harvard now recommends taking vitamin D supplements of 800 to 1000 IU per day. This is inadequate. A more appropriate level is 4000 IU per day, at least for several weeks to several months to raise chronically low levels. Note however, that people with autoimmune disease would be wise to seek advice from a knowledgeable physician before supplementing with any vitamin D.
I do like their simple explanation of the natural synthesis of vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin, that isn’t even technically a vitamin at all. They put it like this:
Vitamin D isn’t really a vitamin. It is a hormone the body makes in assembly-line fashion. Sunlight striking the skin converts a cousin of cholesterol into pre-vitamin D. As this circulates through the bloodstream, the liver turns it into biologically inactive 25-hydroxyvitamin D. (This is what is measured to determine your vitamin D status.) The kidneys then supply a small chemical tweak, creating the active vitamin D that can affect cells throughout the body.
Then we discover that they feel a little uncomfortable talking about blood levels of “adequacy”:
Experts have defined three categories for vitamin D status: deficient, less than 20 nanograms of 25-hydroxyvitamin D per milliliter of blood (ng/mL); insufficient, from 20 to 30 ng/mL; and sufficient, above 30 ng/mL.
“Experts”? Really? Well, whoever their experts are, they recommend levels that are too low. Their publication does do a pretty good job of citing some of the benefits of vitamin D supplementation though. Consider this list:
Vitamin D is best known for helping the digestive system absorb calcium and phosphorus. That’s one way it helps build and maintain healthy bones. But it does much, much more.
Coronary artery disease. Deposition of calcium in arteries, a process that stiffens arteries, is more likely to happen in people who are low in vitamin D. In the Harvard-based Health Professionals Follow-up Study, men low in vitamin D were twice as likely to develop heart disease as those with plenty of the vitamin in circulation.
High blood pressure. Active vitamin D decreases the kidneys’ production of renin, a hormone that boosts blood pressure. Several studies suggest that low vitamin D contributes to high blood pressure, and that getting more of the vitamin can help control blood pressure.
Heart failure. Most people with heart failure are deficient in vitamin D. Getting more could help strengthen heart contractions.
Statin-related muscle pain. Some people who take a cholesterol-lowering statin stop because of muscle pain. In a study of 128 men and women with statin-related muscle pain, two-thirds of them had 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels under 20 ng/mL. Among those who took a vitamin D supplement while continuing the statin, muscle pain disappeared in 90%.
Infection. Preliminary trials suggest that too little vitamin D can leave the body prone to infection, and having enough in circulation can help the body fight off the flu, tuberculosis, and infections of the upper respiratory tract.
And more. A deficiency in vitamin D has been linked to some types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, falls, asthma, memory loss, and other chronic conditions.
The only thing on their list that I don’t accept relates to the use of statins. Yes, statins certainly cause polymyalgia, but no, you should not be taking them. Stop the statins, for which I can find absolutely no untainted empirical support, and add the 4000 IU of vitamin D and you will be better off.
You can read their whole letter here. It is quite brief and well worth your time.
Tags: vitamin D