Vitamin D3 supplement - 1000iu x 250 caps £13

Taking a vitamin D supplement is essential if you live in Northern Europe. There is no practical food alternative to a vitamin D supplement. A vitamin D supplement makes up for the absence of sufficiently strong sunlight from September to April.

Adequate levels of vitamin D, specifically vitamin D3, are essential to many body functions (see Footnotes). This is why, taking all of the latest research into account, for good health ...

Dr. John Cannell of The Vitamin D Council, recommends a daily supplement of 2,000 international units (iu) but takes 3,000iu a day himself between September and April
top vitamin D researcher Dr. Robert Heaney of Creighton University in Omaha (US) warns that around a fifth of the population (see below) may need more

The US Government states that 2,000iu a day is safe for all adults (children - 1,000iu) in normal health to take without a doctor’s supervision.

to prevent ill health ...

even conservative bodies like the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA) now recommend taking 1,000iu a day from October to April, and taking 1,000iu a day all year round for adults susceptible to vitamin D3 deficiency, e.g.:

people who are older
people with dark skin
people who don’t go outside often, and
people who habitually wear clothing that covers most of their skin.

A vegetarian product
Vitamin Research Products’ vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol - 250 x 1,000IU capsules) is extracted from the cholesterol in the lanolin in sheeps wool. The cholesterol is part-converted to D3 via a process similar to how the human body makes D3.

The capsule also contains magnesium stearate (from palm oil), but no added sugar, starch, salt, wheat, gluten, corn, dairy products, colourings or flavourings
No sheep is injured or killed during shearing
The vitamin D3 is not organic and not certified to be pesticide free
The capsules casings are made from microcrystalline cellulose and hydroxypropyl-methyl cellulose, so suitable for vegetarians
Once opened the tub should be kept tightly closed in a cool, dry, dark place out of reach of children

Read Green Health Watch Magazine sample news items about the healing powers of vitamin D

Cautionary notes
Although, given enough direct exposure to sunshine, the body produces 20,000iu a day (see below), and one study suggested that a healthy adult man used 3,000 - 5,000iu a day (ref), until more research has been carried out on the safety of taking in vitamin D3 via the mouth, he Vitamin D Council further cautions that:

people taking more than 2,000iu a day should work with a doctor or nutritional therapist and should check their blood serum vitamin D3 levels several times a year
vitamin D3 supplements should not be taken at the same time as preformed retinol vitamin A supplements. They interfere with D3's functions. (Taking vitamin D3 at the same time as beta-carotene supplements should be fine, but you should check with your GP or nutritional therapist

There is no practical food source
Because the body needs relatively large amounts of vitamin D3, there is no practical food source, whatever the sellers of cod liver oil tell you. The only way to get sufficient vitamin D3 is to expose your skin and eyes to direct sunshine (be it natural or artificial - see Footnotes below) or to take a high quality vitamin D3 supplement.

Exposing your skin and eyes to direct sunshine
Exposing your skin and eyes tto direct sunshine means:

going outside, not sitting by a window
(glass filters out the ultraviolet light in sunlight that the body needs in order to produce vitamin D3)
baring as much of your arms and legs to the sun as you dare (and best not to wear tights)
not using sun lotions, creams, moisturisers, etc. (lotions and creams filter out ultraviolet light)
not wearing sunglasses unless absolutely essential (glass and transparent plastic filter out ultraviolet)
walking rather than going for a drive behind glass (glass filters out ultraviolet)

But it also depends where you live
If you are white-skinned and live in sunny Cyprus, for instance, just 40 minutes a day of the behaviour described above all year round would probably be sufficient for your body to generate as much D3 as it needs, as would ten minutes a side of sunbathing during the four hours the sun is at its highest.

If, however, you live north of Athens (Greece) or Malaga (Spain), or south of Melbourne (Australia) or Buenos Aires (Argentina) - i.e. further than roughly 37+ degrees latitude from the equator ...

not only would you have to expose your skin for a longer time - at least an hour walking in the sun or fifteen minutes a side sunbathing
the sun’s rays are simply too weak from October to April to trigger much vitamin D3 production. Although vitamin D3 produced from May to September is stored in the body’s fat, two thirds of Britons, for instance, are D3-deficient by the end of the Spring, and most babies in the UK are born D3-deficient and therefore at risk of rickets

But perhaps our body knows best
Given enough direct sunlight on the skin and eyes, it actually produces 20,000iu a day for itself! Even more amazingly, it limits the amount of new vitamin D3 produced to 20,000iu a day. After that, if any more is produced, the same direct sunlight works to destroy it! Again, no-one knows why yet, but zoologists do know that Nature never designs systems as complex as the vitamin D3 system for no good reason. The massive amount made so quickly underlines the importance of vitamin D3 to good health.

Read Green Health Watch Magazine sample news items about the healing powers of vitamin D

Contra-indications
There are several instances where taking high levels of vitamin D3 may be inadvisable, e.g.:

anyone with kidney stones, hypercalcaemia (a disturbance of the body’s calcium equilibrium leading to excessive blood calcium levels and the calcification of soft tissue, like artery walls), or hyperparathyroidism
anyone taking dyazide diuretics
anyone with sarcoidosis, any granulomatous malignancy such as lymphoma, oat-cell lung cancer, or when cancer has spread to the bone

There are other instances where high levels of vitamin D3 may be inadvisable, so Green Health Watch strongly advises anyone considering a high daily dosage of vitamin D3 to first consult their doctor. S/he can also prescribe a test to check for vitamin D3 deficiency.

The most reliable test for vitamin D3 deficiency
Dr John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council recommends that people wishing to test their levels of vitamin D3 request a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D blood test. He warns that many doctors will automatically order a test for activated vitamin D (1,25-di-hydroxy-vitamin D or calcitriol) levels, but that calcitriol levels should never be used to determine adequate vitamin D3 levels because calcitriol is often elevated in cases of vitamin D3 deficiency. If your doctor insists on ordering an activated vitamin D test, find another doctor.

One of the more reliable testing facilities is the Endocrine Laboratory in the Clinical Chemistry Department of Charing Cross Hospital (Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8RF Tel.: 0208 383 3645), but this service may only be accessed via your GP. The laboratory considers blood serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels below 25 nanomoles per litre (umol/L) to be vitamin D3 deficient, levels between 25 and 50umol/L to be insufficient, and levels between 50 and 75umol/L to be sufficient. Levels above 75umol/L are rare unless the patient is taking high quality vitamin D3 supplements.

FOOTNOTES

Vitamin D3 has been shown to protect against many illnesses ...

from the soft bone condition osteomalacia (rickets), high blood pressure, respiratory problems and depression to colon, breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, multiple sclerosis and types 1 and 2 diabetes ...

and from osteoporosis, tuberculosis, congestive heart failure and diminishing cognitive performance to muscle weakness, immune system dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis and lung cancer.

People with dark skins
People with dark skins appear to need around six times more exposure.

Recommended dietary allowances
The US Department of Health (for instance) recommends a daily allowance (RDA) of ...

Birth to 50 years: 200IU
Breastfeeding mothers: 200IU
51 to 70 years: 400IU
70+ years: 600IU

So why are there such big differences between Government RDAs for D3, the advice from medical experts (see above) and specialist medical associations and what the body does?

RDAs were first set during World War II by the US National Academy of Sciences as guidelines for keeping soldiers alive, rather than for the best possible health
RDAs are usually way behind the latest research findings as to what is needed to reduce the risks of developing a particular disease

Read Green Health Watch Magazine sample news items about the healing powers of vitamin D

And finally, what about sun beds?
The ultraviolet light produced by sunbeds triggers vitamin D production but, on balance we recommend against their use. The ultraviolet light they radiate is usually three times stronger than in sunlight and a half hour’s use is often the equivalent of a whole day baking on the beach. Because the temptation to up that tan is still very strong despite the anti-sunbathing propaganda of national health services and sun cream manufacturers, users tend to lie there a bit too long. This explains why several studies have found links between sun bed use and an increased risk of several different cancers (as well as with wrinkled and sagging skin)

* Heaney,R et al.
Am. Jnl. Clin. Nutr. 2003;77:204-10

Vitamin D3 1,000iu - 250 caps.
£13 + £3 UK p&p
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