Re: Re: Is 5000 IU of Vitamin D Daily a Large Amount?

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The benefits of vit D from sunlight have been known for far longer than 1999, but it has been tangled up in a cost benefit trade off between "will skin exposure to sun light be worse than the Vit D benefit gained?". Ingesting vit D seems to be the best of both worlds. Kime, who wrote a book on the benefits of sun exposure, suggests there are different variants of vit D generated by sunlight hitting different parts of our body. I haven't taken to jogging au natural, but I don't avoid all sunlight. I do use some sun block on heavily exposed areas.Vit D is fat soluble so it is possible to supplement too much. It's always a good idea to measure (blood tests) when taking large supplemental doses. Since there are commercial interests who benefit from the sales of sun blocks, I suspect the message may be a little distorted by profit motive with no competing interest.JR On Sep 25, 2009, at 12:46 AM, RJB112 wrote: I too take 5000 IU Vitamin D daily. I plan to test my blood levels of 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D----- 25(OH)D-------within the next few weeks. I do not consider 5000 IU Vitamin D daily to be an excessive amount, especially for those that do not get much sun exposure directly on their bare skin. "Vitamin" D is not a vitamin.......it's a prehormone. It is found in very few foods naturally (unsupplemented).....and the few foods it is found in naturally generally have very low levels of Vitamin D. Fish livers have a lot of Vitamin D......I'll pass on that. Fish livers and fish liver oils also give you preformed retinols (Vitamin A), which is harmful to bone. "Vitamin" D is produced in the skin from exposure to UVB from the sun. But now a days we are all told to stay out of the sun, or to use sun block, which also blocks the production of this prehormone. This prehormone, Vitamin D, affects 2000 genes......and affects almost every cell in the body. There has been a "Vitamin D Revolution" that started in 1999, when a scientific paper showed that raising Vitamin D levels can drastically reduce one's risk of cancer. One's Vitamin D status has a big influence on the immune system. Now might be a very good time to test one's Vitamin D status (only test 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D, not the other test which is available), and correct it if it is off. 25-OH-D should be at least 40 ng/ml, according to many experts. Many experts recommend a level of 50-70 ng/ml. Believe it or not, the "RDA" is 400 IU/day, and the "safe upper limit" is listed as 2,000 IU/day. The Vitamin D scientists say this is all hogwash......no one raises their Vitamin D status much by taking 400 IU/day, and very few people taking 2000 IU/day will get their Vit D blood levels to 50-70 ng/ml, unless they are getting bare skin sun exposure. But you have to get the blood test to know where you stand.....there is no other way. The best lab in the U.S. to measure your Vitamin D levels is LabCorp. If you get it done at Quest, divide the result by 1.3 to make it accurate. There is an incredible resource on Vitamin D called The Vitamin D Council. They have a free newsletter. http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/ Is 5000 IU of Vitamin D Daily a Large Amount? Consider the statement below, from the Vitamin D Council's Home page: "The skin produces approximately 10,000 IU vitamin D in response 20–30 minutes summer sun exposure" Bob > > > > Rodney, > > It's a "hormone". > > How's your serum D doing? > > > > Regards > > [ ] Is 5000 IU of Vitamin D Daily a Large Amount? > > > > > > Hi folks: > > > > When I was first prescribed 50,000 IU of vitamin D weekly by my GP a couple of years ago I nearly fell off the chair. Of course since then we have all become much more knowledgeable about the amounts required to maintain a good blood level of this vitamin. > > > > But yesterday I checked the conversion factor for vitamin D from IUs to grams. It turns out that taking 5000 IU daily - as I do now - is a mere one eight-thousandths of a gram of vitamin D a day. > > > > Doesn't seem excessive, does it? > > > > :^))) > > > > Rodney. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________ NOD32 4389 (20090902) Information __________ > > > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > > http://www.eset.com > > >