D as in Don’t!

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Now, there’s even more evidence to bolster what I’ve been telling you. Only some of you- VERY FEW- need to take all those vitamins for which you’ve been wasting your money.

Sure, if you are pregnant, you probably will need Vitamin B12 (folic acid) to ensure the health of your baby. And, if you live in the northern lattitudes, where there is insufficient solar contact (with your body), you probably need to take vitamin D. Otherwise, taking those vitamin pills may even be dangerous .

A new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, dealt with postmenopausal women and their potential need for Vitamin D supplements. The authors, Dr. Karen Hansen (U Wisconsin) and her colleagues RE Johnson, KR Chambers, MG Johnson, CC Lemon, S Marvdashti, and TN Thuy Vo, described their results in Treatment of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

A total of 230 women, all postmenopausal, with a blood Vitamin D level ranging from 14 to 27 mg/dL. [no osteoporosis, average D level of 20 mg/dL] were divided into three groups. (By the way, normal Vitamin D levels are 30 mg/dL; but folks are considered deficient when their levels are below 21 mg/dL. As such, you can see that these women in the test were just barely deficient.) One group was provided low dose vitamin D, 800 units daily (white pills); another group high dose vitamin D (50,000 units, yellow pills twice a month); and the control group, which were provided either daily white placebos or twice monthly yellow placebos.

Vitamin D levels, with low and high doses

After the one year trial, the patients’ blood Vitamin D levels were 42 mg/dL (receiving the high dose pills), 27 mg/dL (receiving the low dose pills), and 18 mg/dL (the control group). So, only the high vitamin dose was able to raise the vitamin D levels to normalcy or above.

But, that’s not the whole story. Because other bone-related parameters were examined in this study. And, those results show that calcium absorption only increased 1% for the high dose contingent, but dropped 2% for the low dose group, with the placebo “treated” group had lowered absorption by 1.3%. And, there were no changes to the bone mineral density, trabecular bone score (predictor of the ability of bones to break), or in the number of falls or the ability to exercise among the subjects.

So, the real conclusions? If your vitamin D levels are 20 mg/Dl or higher- don’t mess with vitamin D supplements. But, if you have severely low levels of Vitamin D, the daily dose of 600 to 800 units a day may be useful.

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