October 15, 2014 Dr. Ron Ledoux DC, CCN

Everyone Needs Vitamin D!

Western medicine is finally catching up on what Natural Medicine has known for a very long time; that Vitamin D3 plays an invaluable role in maintaining your health. For years it was thought that it was only good for helping maintain calcium levels in the body and that just a little bit of sunlight per day was sufficient to make as much as you need. However, it has come to light that there are numerous other health benefits derived from Vitamin D3. Also, people are not getting enough sunlight on bare skin (without sunscreen) to allow your body to make what it actually need, particularly people in northern regions that have long winters and where the sun isn’t strong enough to have much if any effect from October through May.

So, what are the benefits of taking Vitamin D3?

While taking Vitamin D3 daily helps symptoms of S.A.D. (seasonal effective disorder) and is being studied for it’s benefits in protecting against cancer, auto immune disorders and diabetes, the main reason we recommend Vitamin D3 for boosting your immune system. Health officials say that every winter 5–20 percent of the population catches the flu. Several studies in U.S. and Canada, have found that using higher doses of vitamin D3 lowers the incidence and severity of influenza. Vitamin D3 protects the body by releasing antibiotics (antimicrobial peptides) affecting the immune system by: promoting phagocytosis (the consumption and destruction of particulate matter; such as, viruses), anti-tumor activity, and immunomodulatory functions; In other words, fine-tuning the immune system. The Vitamin D3 Council has reported that 5,000 IU should be taken daily. One rule-of-thumb states that 1,000 IU per 25 pounds of your weight should be taken daily. For example, take a person weighing 150 pounds. Divide the 150 by 25 which would equal 6. So six times 1,000 IU is 6,000 IU for a 150 pound person’s daily intake. This is significantly higher than the traditional Western Medicine recommendation although they have started to publish information recommending higher doses as well.

Can there be too much vitamin D3?

Both in this country and abroad, there has been a lot of misinformation. Hypocalcemia (low levels of calcium) is probably the only problem with excessive use of vitamin D3 to worry about. However, to get to that point, in healthy adults, it would take 40,000 IU a day. The upper limit for the intake of vitamin D is roughly equal to what an adult lifeguard’s body will naturally produce in the middle of summer and that is 10,000 IU daily. So, 2,000-5,000 IU on a daily basis is well within the limits of safety for adults as well as for children. You can get your blood tested for Vitamin D levels. Optimal levels of Vitamin D3 are 50 and above.

Vitamin D3 comes in capsules, chewable tablets and liquids (recommended for children and people who don’t like swallowing pills.)

Filed in: Vitamin D

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Everyone Needs Vitamin D!

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