The Vitamin Supplement You Should be Taking… Especially Now!

Photo by NASA

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to so many health conditions it’s mind boggling. And virtually none of us get enough, especially today.

When we first recognized Vitamin D’s significance about a century ago, all we knew is that a deficiency caused soft bones (rickets). Rickets causes children’s bones to become so flimsy, skeletal abnormalities flourish. For example, they literally can’t hold up their own bodies – causing extremely bowed legs. Adults acquire brittle bones (osteomalacia) which break easily.

Today, a growing body of research suggests that, beyond brittle bones, a Vitamin D deficiency influences a vast array of illnesses. It seems to increase your risk of hormone abnormalities, inflammation, oxidation and immune system suppression, all of which underly the development of numerous health conditions, including COVID-19.

Just to give you an idea about Vitamin D’s significance, it may promote the prevention and treatment of our most prevalent and destructive lifestyle disease, such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, infectious diseases, glucose intolerance, even multiple sclerosis, and other medical conditions.

Vitamin D may decrease cancer risk, especially colon cancer, as well as breast, prostate, thyroid, liver, lung, prostate cancer, and even melanoma, a type of skin cancer. In fact, “Improvement in the quality of life of cancer patients receiving vitamin D supplementation has been documented in several studies,” according to a review of Vitamin D studies in the journal, Trends in Cancer Research.

Based on recent research, these conditions are more likely to be prevented and improved by having enough vitamin D in your system.

Why don’t we get enough Vitamin D? It is one of the rare essential vitamins we basically can’t get from food. It comes from sunshine, and our modern lives prevent us from getting an adequate supply – especially in isolation. Now, just imagine what the elderly are experiencing in isolation – for several months to date – as well as infants, children, or anyone who can’t venture outside. These are the most vulnerable population groups for not getting enough Vitamin D and that are susceptible to the consequences of Vitamin D deficiency. People of color are particularly at risk. Darker skin does not absorb sunshine as easily as lighter skin.

Back in the 1930’s, we practically eliminated rickets by adding 100 IU to eight ounces of milk. That gave us adequate Vitamin D. But that was then. This is now: Today’s limited sunshine exposure and milk intake, is allowing rickets to return with a vengeance, not only in children, but in adults, too.

Moreover, we’re now discovering the multitude of life-threatening illnesses its deficiency may be generating.

That’s because we spend most of our time indoors on our computers, working, watching TV, or in our cars. When we venture outside we’re covered in sunscreen, which blocks the ultraviolet (UV) rays necessary for producing Vitamin D in our bodies. While too much UV rays is strongly linked to skin cancer, careful skin exposure is recommended.

“It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually leads to sufficient vitamin D synthesis,” according to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements.

The old, yet still prevailing recommendation for vitamin D is 400 IUs daily. Today, it’s unclear how much vitamin D each person needs to take because of variable sun exposure. But there seems to be a consensus among vitamin D scientists that blood values should be at least 50 ng/mL and there seems to be no benefit of going higher than 75 ng/mL, according to the National Academy of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board, the “gold standard” institution for state-of-the-art nutrition recommendations (though most medical labs consider 30 as adequate).

My clients and I take anywhere from 1,000 IUs (the lowest amount to take, I believe) to 4,000 IUs (the safe upper limit – UL) daily to achieve at least 50 ng/mL.

That said, be careful. Talk to your own physician about what you should do, considering your individual medical needs. That’s because, while natural sources in food and from the sun cannot cause overdoses, Vitamin D can be toxic when too much supplement is taken (4,000 IUs daily is the upper limit). In Europe in the 1950s, cases of soft tissue calcification, including in the heart and brain, led to mental retardation and other birth defects. It was caused by excessive vitamin D incorrectly added to the food supply. Ergo, supplementation has since been removed or scaled back in Europe.

Just like all nutrients, it’s important not to get too little – or too much. I call it the “Goldilocks effect,” because it needs to be just right!