Are you getting enough Vitamin D from the sun? Think again!
I have been meaning to do a blog post on the topic of Vitamin D for a while now because it is arguably one of the most important health messages people need to hear about these days besides all that we already discuss about carbohydrate restriction. For people who are livin’ la vida low-carb and want to make their health even better than it is now, you’ll want to pay especially close attention to the information I’m about to share because it is crucial for you and your family. And this subject hits close to home with me because of my own personal connection to it as well as a unique circumstance with my wife Christine.
Last July I had a series of blood tests conducted to see how my health was doing after being on a low-carb diet for several years. Aside from the strange 5-hour glucose tolerance test results, everything seemed to be fine. But there was one number among my “normal” readings that was a little bothersome to me and my low-carb physician–25-HYDROXY D3. This is the best measurement of your vitamin D level in your body and my reading of 42 ng/mL was only average. This surprised me because I thought I was getting enough sun and eating the right kinds of healthy and nutritious low-carb foods like salmon and eggs to elevate my levels higher than they were. I was wrong to assume that my Vitamin D levels were okay because the reality is they showed a deficiency.
After conducting this podcast interview with Dr. William Davis from “The Heart Scan” blog in September 2008 where he noted that Vitamin D supplementation may be necessary to complement your healthy food and sun intake, I immediately began taking 10,000 IU per day–and I haven’t stopped doing it since. When I had Dr. Davis back on my show earlier this year, I told him what I was doing and that I didn’t “feel” any different taking the Vitamin D supplementation. He said I’m probably getting more benefits from it than I even realize. And that got me to thinking about my wife Christine who has dealt with some chronic pain issues for most of her life. Could it be something as simple as a Vitamin D deficiency?
As you may or may not know, Christine has been dealing with some nagging pain issues in her joints and muscles, chronic fatigue, and other health issues for most of her life. She’s been to see more doctors in the past year than I have in my entire life and they still don’t know what is wrong with her. She has a bulging disc in her neck that is causing some excruciating pain throughout her back and shoulder area where she’s been experiencing numbness in her right arm (in fact, she had to wear a sling the week of our low-carb cruise to Mexico in January because of this). We’re headed to see a neurologist at the end of the month to deal with that.
In early January, she went to see a rheumatologist about her health issues and he ran a battery of tests on her, including one to check her Vitamin D level. When the tests came back later that month, Christine and I both were SHOCKED by what we saw! Although my reading of 42 ng/mL was pretty low, Christine’s Vitamin D was a paltry 9. Not 39, 29, or even 19–it was in the single digits! The doctor said he had only seen one other patients in the many years of practicing medicine who had a lower Vitamin D level than that. Needless to say, she was placed on a high-dosage (50,000 IU) Vitamin D treatment in a prescription capsule weekly for one month.
But then what will she do? We decided that Christine would join me in taking a large dose of Vitamin D daily once the prescription ones ran out at the end of February. She’s been taking about 7,000 IU daily for the past three weeks and expects to continue on this dosage level indefinitely. Could this lack of Vitamin D be one of the major reasons why she has been dealing with chronic pain and fatigue all these years? Evidence certainly points in that direction and getting her Vitamin D levels up will certainly be a telling sign if she shows improvement.
Interestingly, Christine’s primary care physician is also my doctor and I told him about my 10,000 IU/day Vitamin D supplementation and his eyes bugged out like I had just told him I was taking crack cocaine. He advised that I stop taking so much Vitamin D because of the risk of toxicity, but I just bit my tongue like I did when he advised against me starting on the Atkins diet in 2004. There’s just too much compelling evidence in favor of adding MORE Vitamin D that I HAVE to do this for me–and so does Christine. But I sought out information to confirm I’m doing the right thing and I found PLENTY.
One of the most entertaining scientific lectures I’ve EVER seen in my life was this 20-minute presentation entitled “The Vitamin D Pandemic and its Health Consequences” by Boston University School of Medicine professor Dr. Michael Holick that took place in May 2007 at the 34th European Symposium on Calcified Tissues in Copenhagen. As you will quickly see from that lecture, Dr. Holick gets his point across about this complex issue by infusing humor and evidence from the medical literature to help you understand more about Vitamin D and why it is important better than most medial professionals do. I am currently working on booking Dr. Holick to appear on my podcast show to discuss this important topic.
He brings out some rather startling points in his lecture, including why obese people have more trouble with Vitamin D absorption, why applying sunscreen is actually harmful to your health, and how many cases of fibromyalgia are misdiagnosed. It was on that final point that my ears perked up and I thought about Christine again. She’s been told she has fibromyalgia from several well-meaning doctors, but Dr. Holick seems to think people like her actually have a condition known as osteomalacia which happens as a result of Vitamin D deficiency. And thus my research has continued.
I am very proud of my fellow low-carb bloggers and writers because quite a few of them have addressed this issue of Vitamin D quite thoroughly lately. Check out the following:
- Jackie Eberstein–“Vitamin D: Not Just For Bones Anymore”
- Dr. William Davis–“Unique Vitamin D Observations”
- Scott Kustes–“Just How Important Is Vitamin D?”
- Scott Kustes–“Get Your Vitamin D Checked: Why And How?”
- Robin Plan–“Vitamin D Deficient – 1 in 7 US Teens”
For an excellent primer on Vitamin D, check out this dietary supplement fact sheet from the National Institutes Of Health for the lowdown on Vitamin D deficiency, foods that are rich in Vitamin D, and what levels of Vitamin D lead to toxicity. This web site will arm you with all the information you could ever need to know about Vitamin D. And while I’m working on the interview with Dr. Holick, be sure to check out his “Vitamin D Health” blog to stay up-to-date on all the latest studies of this critical hormone our bodies need so desperately.
So, you might be wondering how much Vitamin D YOU should be taking. That’s really up to you and where your Vitamin D level is. The best thing you can do is get your doctor to order a 25(OH) D level the next time you go in for blood work. You NEED to know this number and respond accordingly. For someone like me who had moderate levels of Vitamin D, I decided to take the action I did to begin taking 10,000 IU daily. If you’re like Christine who had single digit Vitamin D levels, then a more aggressive approach of 50,000 a week followed by high daily dosage may get your levels up there. Or maybe the Vitamin D in your body is perfectly fine. GET TESTED and see!
There’s a great public health organization called GrassrootsHealth that has started an ambitious 5-year project called DAction whose sole purpose is to “solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic.” They’re holding seminars and conducting a long-term study on the impact of Vitamin D deficiency on health. As part of their program, they are offering blood spot test kits for $30 per person. The tests are to be conducted twice a year along with some basic health data. For more information on this affordable Vitamin D test, e-mail DAction Director Carole Baggerly.
