Re: Vitamin D supplementation ?'s - KATIE/others

[Guest guest]

Thank you for the helpful links regarding CLO and vitamin D in

response to my post on calcium supplementation. I realize that my son

gets about 3000 iu of vitamin A from his children's DHA liquid by NN

(the only CLO he will take) but only about 40 iu of vitamin D.

Otherwise the vitamin D he is getting in his fortified rice milk is

the synthetic kind vitamin D2 as you mention which is not really good,

and then it is only about 100 iu of this. So if the ratio of A to D

is 10 to 1, I need to be giving my son 250 - 300 iu approximately of

D3. I have a supplement on hand. But I am still not clear on when to

give it, do I give it away from the CLO? I seem to recall reading

this somewhere. Yet, if vitamins A & D are synergistic, then don't

they need to be given simultaneously? I am confused on this.

Also, on a related note, you mention that I should beware of

supplementing with too much magnesium, because it can lower blood

calcium. How much is too much? My son needs it for the absorption of

various supplements, B6 and biotin to name a few, and of course for

the calcium, when I return to supplementing it, so he gets a fair amount.

Thanks. Irene

[Guest guest]

This is just my assumption, so don't take it to heart. ;-) Since vitamins A

and D are both found naturally in CLO, I would give the D together with the

CLO. I'm pretty sure that NN extracts A and possibly D from CLO and add them

back, so adding extra D shouldn't cause any problems.

As for how much magnesium, sorry if you knew this, but too much leads to

diarrhea, so there's a good indication there. I should note that I didn't

have diarrhea when my calcium level was low and magnesium was high. I didn't

have my magnesium level checked as it was not part of the standard blood

tests, so I was going by how much extra magnesium I was taking.

I think the best indicator is to watch for the rate your son's nails grow to

make sure he's utilizing enough calcium. I don't keep a log of when I cut my

son's nails, but I can tell if it's been too long since I cut his. Or mine.

I think I might've went a few months without cutting mine without realizing

it, and my nails grow pretty fast. You can always have his blood tested for

calcium levels after a few months too.

What I normally do is to look at the recommended minimum for the age group

and start from there, or I make sure to get plenty of foods into my son that

contain certain vitamins/minerals (this is hard a lot of times as I'm sure

you know!).

I like this site for nutritional info:

Magnesium

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient & dbid=75

Calcium

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient & dbid=45

It's interesting that under calcium's nutrient interactions section, it says

" Magnesium and calcium compete with each other for intestinal absorption.

Consequently, calcium supplements should not be taken at the same time as

magnesium supplements. " Yet a lot of calcium supplements contain magnesium.

I know this is true with zinc also (and other minerals). My chiropractor

actually said that the amount not absorbed due to competition is small

enough that I don't need to be too concerned about it.

You might want to consult a clinical nutritionist also. I've seen mine a few

times and has been very helpful. They can have you fill out a symptoms

survey and determine what you need (tests to confirm diagnosis, supplements,

etc).

HTH!

On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 2:33 PM, iflow97 <iflow97@...> wrote:

> Thank you for the helpful links regarding CLO and vitamin D in

> response to my post on calcium supplementation. I realize that my son

> gets about 3000 iu of vitamin A from his children's DHA liquid by NN

> (the only CLO he will take) but only about 40 iu of vitamin D.

> Otherwise the vitamin D he is getting in his fortified rice milk is

> the synthetic kind vitamin D2 as you mention which is not really good,

> and then it is only about 100 iu of this. So if the ratio of A to D

> is 10 to 1, I need to be giving my son 250 - 300 iu approximately of

> D3. I have a supplement on hand. But I am still not clear on when to

> give it, do I give it away from the CLO? I seem to recall reading

> this somewhere. Yet, if vitamins A & D are synergistic, then don't

> they need to be given simultaneously? I am confused on this.

>

> Also, on a related note, you mention that I should beware of

> supplementing with too much magnesium, because it can lower blood

> calcium. How much is too much? My son needs it for the absorption of

> various supplements, B6 and biotin to name a few, and of course for

> the calcium, when I return to supplementing it, so he gets a fair amount.

>

> Thanks. Irene

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> if vitamins A & D are synergistic, then don't

> they need to be given simultaneously?

I am not sure if they are, but synergistic things only need to be in the body at

the same

time, they don't have to be swallowed at the same time.

Both A and D are relatively long lived in the body.

Andy