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 | Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 13:22:25 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Chris W
I don't (yet) understand the need for Vit D testing. As far as I understand things at this point, it's quite difficult to achieve toxic doses of D, and the dose you'll get just by being out in the sun could easily dwarf what you'd get in a 5000 IU pill (1250% of RDA!).
So my strategy at the moment is to episodically (not every day, and not when I expect to be outdoors a lot) supplement with 5000 IU, and sometimes with 1000 IU.
I subscribe to Dr De Vany's thesis that chronic supplementation of any kind is probably a bad idea, since there may be a crowding out effect as different nutrients compete for metabolic resources, and relatively little is presently known about optimal nutrition, and its various tradeoffs,. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 13:38:52 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog
Chris -- From what I've read, some people can spend lots of time out in the sun, yet be deficient in Vitamin D. So in another post, Dr. Davis writes: "[Vitamin D] is the only hormone that is meant to be activated by sun exposure of the skin, not obtained through diet. But the ability to activate D is lost by the majority of us by age 40 and even a dark tan is no assurance that sufficient skin prohormone D activation has taken place."
More generally, the problem is that you can't tell just based on your sun exposure or supplemented D whether you're deficient or not. You have to do the blood test. (In other words, people's D values are too individual to give anything other than very loose recommendations absent a blood test.)
See:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-much-vitamin-d-should ...
And: http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-basic-vitamin-d-issu ...
Plus, lots of people don't get adequate sun -- particularly in the winter up north -- if they work regular jobs. So supplements might be their best option. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 14:13:58 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Chris W
I see the point, and it might be a good idea to have a blood test to get an indication of where things stand. To account for the impact of sun exposure one should probably test once in the winter, and once in the summer to see what range one falls within given the skin's inherent ability to activate D.
In any case, I'm sceptical towards spending much time/money/brain-power trying to narrowly manage specific nutrients given the uncertainties involved. Rather than filling my fridge with all sorts of supplements and blood testing for each, I think that I get the most bang for the buck by restricting carbs, eating healthy fats, meats, a variety of non starchy veggies...well, you already know the drill!
Perhaps guarding against Vit D deficiency is a special case that should be of extra concern. I'm not entirely convinced yet (having seen one vitamin after the other become hyped over the years), but evidence seems to be piling up. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 14:57:03 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: Richard Nikoley
E-mail: rnikoley(at)gmail.com
URL: http://www.freetheanimal.com
Chris:
You might find these epidemiological summaries I put up the other day interesting (I provide links to the full presentations which are quite extensive).
Vitamin D Deficiency and Type 1 Diabetes
http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/12/vitamin-d-deficiency-and- ...
Melanoma, Sun, and Its Synthetic Defeat (Sunscreen)
http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/12/melanoma-sun-and-its-synt ...
Vitamin D Deficiency and All Cancer
http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/12/vitamin-d-deficiency-and- ...
Thanks for the shout, Diana. I just compiled the numbers and Noodle Food was number five for referrals to Free the Animal for December. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 17:22:22 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Chris W
Thank you Richard and Diana,
Since I have already begun taking 5000 IU as of Jan 1st, I'm going to order the blood test from ZRT Laboratory to check what my levels are after a couple of weeks of supplementation. It can't hurt to know, and I'm Scandinavian, live in front of a computer, and have cancer in the family. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 19:16:32 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Ashley
E-mail: atking(at)mtaonline.net
Thanks for the health links. I live in Alaska and we often have clouds and ice fog in the winter. In fact, Fairbanks is going to -55 F tonight (we're only -20F). I am going to try increasing my D intake from 400 IU to 5000 IU. If getting rid of the winter blues is this easy I will be very pleased. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 22:44:42 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: Jim May
E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com
As heart disease and diabetes go hand in hand in *my* history, I'll be picking up that test also -- thanks for the tip Diana! |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 23:00:16 mst
Comment ID: #8
Name: Jim May
E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com
Hey Diana, what is the consistency of your homemade raw butter, when it's straight out of the fridge? I'm curious to compare it to the raw butter I can buy at Whole Foods. |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 23:20:01 mst
Comment ID: #9
Name: Chris W
I just discovered that I can't order the kit to NYC, which is where I live:
"New York State health law prohibits the testing of specimens collected in or mailed from New York and prohibits the transmission of data from our laboratory to NY physicians or residents. Therefore, we are unable to process such orders at this time."
So here I bump into another instance of the absurd evil of socialized medicine. (I won't broadcast here what I think should be done to the subhumans who wrote this law.) |
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| Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 23:21:13 mst
Comment ID: #10
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog
My homemade butter seems pretty much like regular butter in consistency. The only major difference is taste and color. (It's yellow, due to its vitamins. And it tastes more like butter.) I've not had store-bought raw butter, so I don't have any basis for comparison to that. |
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| Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 1:32:28 mst
Comment ID: #11
Name: Jim May
E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com
The store-bought butter is almost crumbly, at least the last batch we had was like that. I'll be picking up some more tomorrow, so I'll see if that was an oddball perhaps.
Cris W: yup, same thing here in California. I might just go ahead and supplement to 6000 IU based on the info in posts Diana linked, until I can find an MD who's willing to think outside the government box. That, and begin my cod-liver and butter oil experiment.
Speaking of which, I ran across an interesting tidbit of information on Friday; researchers have developed a nanotechnological coating for teeth that seems to make the tooth enamel too *slippery* for bacteria to stick to it. This sounds like the observed effect of the oil supplements. I wonder if that's what they do -- interfere with the bacterial adhesion necessary to form biofilm (plaque)? |
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| Monday, January 5, 2009 at 9:17:34 mst
Comment ID: #12
Name: KPO'M
E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net
Steve Jobs has come forth with some additional information about his health:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a1e37a6-db34-11dd-be53-000077b07658.html
I'm curious as to whether that vegan diet is contributing at all, although perhaps it's a residual effect of the pancreatic cancern or treatment. |
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