To Take or Not to Take, That Is The Question: The Vitamin D Connection

By Dr Catherine W Dunne MSc. D., RGN, Reiki Master (RGMT), M.H.I.T: Master Acupressure, Practitioner of Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Deep Tissue/Myo-fascia Massages, Infrared Treatments, Vibrational Sound and Colour Therapist, Tissue Salt Advisor, Pendulum Healing Dowser, Chakra Practitioner , Tao Cosmic Healing Practitioner, Practitioner of Plant and Herb Medicine and Nurse.

Vitamin D – the right intake

Taking vitamin D is an excellent preventive but also therapeutic measure. Regardless of whether it is an increased susceptibility to infections, autoimmune diseases, degenerative complaints or problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, depression and dementia, a vitamin D deficiency is usually the cause of the action. We explain how you can determine a vitamin D deficiency in the home test, how much vitamin D you need and how you can properly combine vitamin D with calcium, magnesium and vitamin K.

Vitamin D – How to take it correctly?

Vitamin D is particularly known for its bone-strengthening effect. It promotes calcium absorption from the intestine, is involved in calcium incorporation into the bones, inhibits bone loss and also strengthens the immune system.

At the same time, there is hardly a disease that does not develop Vitamin D deficiency would be involved. For example, the vitamin is considered a substance with an anti-inflammatory effect, which alone is reason enough for its positive influence in most chronic complaints – because they all go hand in hand with chronically inflammatory processes.

It is therefore important to pay attention to a healthy vitamin D level. How do you do that? Does the vitamin have to be taken as a dietary supplement? And if so, what is the right income? How to calculate the personally required dose and how to combine the vitamin with calcium, magnesium and Vitamin K?

A deficiency is common

Vitamin D is not a real vitamin. Because real vitamins must be ingested with food. With vitamin D, on the other hand, the body can also supply itself solely through the sun’s rays, since the vitamin is formed in the skin under the influence of UVB radiation.

However, in Central Europe this only works in summer (from around April to September) – and only if you are lightly dressed and do not constantly apply sunscreens with a high sun protection factor. The latter can reduce vitamin D formation in the skin. In Northern Europe you will need to supplement all year round,

The rest of the year, the sun is too low to send enough UVB radiation to Earth. In Central Europe you can only get along well with the help of the sun Vitamin D if you are really in the open air in the warm season to fill up your memories so comprehensively that you can get over the winter well.

However, many people do not succeed in what the modern lifestyle with an hourly stay in closed rooms is not entirely innocent. Therefore, large sections of the population suffer from vitamin D deficiency and should take the vitamin especially in winter.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin

The bone vitamin belongs together with vitamin A, Vitamin E. and Vitamin K to the fat-soluble vitamins. That means two things:

There is always something for the absorption of vitamin D from the intestine fat required (see below under “Correct intake: Always with a little fat”).
The vitamin can be stored in the body (in adipose tissue and in the liver), which is almost never the case with water-soluble vitamins (B, C).

The advantage is that you don’t have to take vitamin D – once the stores are filled – every day. The organism can draw from a filled store for weeks or even months.

The disadvantage is that fat-soluble vitamins can also be overdosed, which you have to pay attention to when taking them. Because while excess water-soluble vitamins are usually simply discharged through the urine, this is not the case with fat-soluble vitamins. Cases of vitamin A overdoses are therefore known from time to time, for example from regions where fish liver is often eaten. This contains a lot of Vitamin A.

What dose leads to overdose?

As far as vitamin D is concerned, there is usually only the risk of an overdose if very high doses in the form of nutritional supplements are taken over a longer period of time.

50 µg or 2,000 IU per day are the recommended maximum dose in Europe and North America. However, clinical studies show that long-term intake of 10,000 IU daily does not pose any risks. An overdose could occur at 50,000 IU per day and at serum values of more than 150 ng / ml. This can then form hypercalcemia (too much calcium in the blood) – such an evaluation by Indian researchers from May 2011 in Oman Medical Journal.

Ideally, the blood values of vitamin D should be below 100 ng / ml, since primitive people rarely reach higher values, even though they are not dressed in the sun every day. The toxic range clearly begins at 300 ng / ml.

Overdose: from 50,000 IU per day for several months

Various case reports have also become known from 2011, in which an overdose of vitamin D led to complaints.

In a 70-year-old woman who took 50,000 IU daily, the typical symptoms of hypercalcemia occurred after 3 months of taking it: tiredness, walking difficulties and confusion. After stopping vitamin D, however, it recovered completely over the course of five months. It should be noted here that she also consumed over 3 g of calcium daily.

Another case describes a man in whom accidentally taking 2,000,000 IU of vitamin D a day after 2 months led to confusion, exhaustion, excessive thirst and frequent urination.

And in a third case, after taking 50,000 IU of vitamin D daily for six months, a man also observed the typical symptoms of hypercalcemia:

Excessive thirst and frequent urination
Stomach discomfort, Nausea, vomiting and constipation
Bone pain, muscle weakness
Confusion, lethargy and exhaustion

Overdose from food or sun?

Since vitamin D hardly occurs in food, you can hardly eat an overdose (unless you eat a lot of fish liver).

It is also hardly possible to get an overdose from the sun’s rays. Apparently, the body has protective measures that stop vitamin D formation via the skin as soon as a sufficiently high serum value is reached.

On a sunny summer day, the body rarely absorbs more than 10,000 IU of vitamin D in –, and only if you spent the whole day almost undressed (bath pants / bikini) in the sun.

Only in extreme sunlight (for years in hot regions all day on the beach) could there be unfavourable consequences of an overdose of vitamin D, but only here if there is a vitamin K2 deficiency and possibly too well-intentioned calcium supply at the same time.

So it is rather the over-dosed intake of the vitamin in the form of a dietary supplement that could lead to problems.

Make vitamin D preparation from mushrooms and sun yourself

We have described here how you can produce a natural source of vitamins from mushrooms: Pure vegetable vitamin source: mushrooms

Of course, this method cannot be used specifically to achieve a certain value in the blood or to remedy a deficiency, since one does not know the actual vitamin D content of the fungi, but one can prepare them accordingly Edible mushrooms Install regularly in the diet, so that in the long term you only have to take low-dose supplements or at some point no more.

The right intake

Below we describe all the factors you need to know for a correct intake of vitamin D. First, it is about which four vital substances the vitamin needs to work properly, then how you measure your vitamin D level and finally we present two methods with which you can find out or calculate the dose that suits you can.

1. Take vitamin K2

When taking vitamin D, it is always recommended to pay attention to a healthy vitamin K2 supply at the same time. Vitamin K2 is the vitamin that fulfils two major tasks in the body:

Vitamin K is involved in regulating blood clotting so that no one has to bleed to the smallest wound.
Vitamin K conducts excess calcium in the blood into the bones, thus ensuring that the calcium is not deposited on the blood vessel walls or in the form of kidney stones.

Since vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium, the amount of calcium absorbed also increases when the vitamin is taken. If vitamin K2 is now missing, the problems mentioned above can arise, i.e. a misdistribution of calcium in the body.

A 2015 study showed in kidney patients that the combined administration of vitamin D and vitamin K reduced the progression of arteriosclerosis (compared to the group that only received sun vitamin).

It is not entirely clear how much vitamin K2 you should take. The recommended doses for vitamin D supplementation vary considerably among experts. Information can be found there, such as B.

Taking 100 µg vitamin K2 per 5,000 IU vitamin D
Ingestion of 100 µg vitamin K2 per 10,000 IU
Ingestion of 100 µg vitamin K2 per 1,000 IU
There is also a recommendation depending on body weight: 2 – 3 µg vitamin K2 per kilogram of body weight.

We recommend taking vitamin K2 the following

Ingestion of 100 µg vitamin K2 at up to 2,500 IU vitamin D per day
Ingestion of 200 µg vitamin K2 in vitamin D doses above 2,500 IU per day

However, also note the vitamin K2 content of your food. If you adapt your diet accordingly and now take in enough vitamin K2 from your diet, you may only have to take vitamin K2 in the first weeks of your vitamin D intake until the stores are replenished and your diet then provides the required vitamin.

Vitamin K2 is available in various forms, we recommend taking Menachinon-7, which is also abbreviated as MK-7. It is vegan and is considered the best resorbable and usable vitamin K2 form.

If you are on a blood thinner or taking other medications that are not so well compatible with vitamin K, the correct intake of vitamin K must be discussed with the doctor as a precaution.

2nd Vitamin A increases the effect

In the presence of vitamin A, vitamin D works better, and the vitamin D level rises higher if vitamin A is taken at the same time – at least one study from August 2020. Read information about this in our article Vitamin D needs vitamin A.. The correct intake of vitamin D therefore also includes vitamin A (about 1 mg per day).

Vitamin A can be ingested via beta-carotene, which is contained in many types of vegetables, because the organism can produce vitamin A from beta-carotene. To do this, however, you should eat vegetables rich in beta-carotene every day, because to produce 1 mg of vitamin A, the organism needs at least 6 times the amount of beta-carotene, i.e. 6 mg. The following vegetables are among the best sources of beta carotene (quantities always per 100 g):

Carrots raw 9.8 mg beta-carotene (1.6 mg vitamin A)
Spinach raw 4.7 mg beta-carotene (0.8 mg vitamin A)
Kale raw 5.1 mg beta-carotene (0.8 mg vitamin A)
Corn salad raw 3.9 mg beta-carotene (0.65 mg vitamin A)
red peppers raw 2.1 mg beta-carotene (0.35 mg vitamin A)

When cooking, the content does not change noticeably because beta-carotene is not sensitive to heat; bioavailability could even increase due to cooking – see details here: Loss of nutrients when cooking where we explain what you need to look out for when preparing in order to benefit as much as possible from the beta-carotene it contains.

In the study mentioned, the vitamin A level of the participants was originally even normal. Nevertheless, taking vitamin A (together with taking vitamin D) resulted in a higher vitamin D level and also an improved effect of the vitamin.

In particular in the case of acute diseases and at the same time there is a D deficiency or even if the value should not increase satisfactorily despite all efforts, the additional intake of vitamin A or Beta Carotin can be a good help.

3rd Magnesium activates vitamin D.

Since magnesium is required in the body to activate vitamin D and is also consumed in this process, the correct intake of vitamin D also requires an optimized magnesium supply.

The daily requirement for magnesium is about 400 mg for an adult. If you take up this amount of magnesium daily through your diet, you should be well looked after with a vitamin D supplementation of up to 5,000 IU.

However, if you take more vitamin D, you should also take magnesium with this higher dose, between 200 – 300 mg – depending on the magnesium content of the diet. Read details here: Low magnesium levels make Vitamin D ineffective.

Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body after calcium, potassium, and sodium. Foods high in magnesium include almonds, bananas, beans, broccoli, brown rice, cashews, egg yolk, fish oil, flaxseed, green vegetables, milk, mushrooms, other nuts, oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, soybeans, sunflower seeds, sweet corn, tofu, and whole grains.

4th Vitamin D and calcium are only advisable in certain situations

Vitamin D is considered to be THE bone vitamin par excellence, and it is often believed that the correct intake includes calcium in any case. But this only seems to make sense in certain cases:

if e.g. B. the risk of osteoporosis should be reduced in the menopause
if osteoporosis is already present and the risk of bone fracture is to be reduced
when a low-calcium diet is practiced that delivers significantly less than the 1,000 mg calcium recommended daily

However, if you consume sufficient calcium, you should not take any additional calcium when taking vitamin D (especially at very high doses). This could increase the risk of hypercalcemia.

Correct intake: Measure vitamin D levels in advance!

Proper intake of vitamin D can only take place if you know your actual value and can then calculate the dose that suits you individually or get it said by your doctor.

So get your vitamin D level established first. Otherwise, you may take too little and therefore have no effect. Or you take much more than necessary, which in turn would put unnecessary strain on your body.

Your family doctor (GP), or alternative practitioner can take care of the measurement. You can also do a vitamin D home test yourself at home. For safety’s sake, you should also discuss the result with a doctor or Integrated Medical Practitioner/CAM Practitioner.

Your qualified Integrated Medical Practitioner/CAM Practitioner can also perform a simple test. But do ask your GP/Family Doctor if he/she can request the laboratory test.

However, the blood drawn itself can have influences on the blood that falsify the result. It is therefore safer to have the test done by the doctor or alternative practitioner.

Correct intake: what dose?

The goal should be a blood value of at least 30 ng / ml, better about 40 to 50 ng / ml vitamin D3 (25 (OH) vitamin D3). The dose that suits you is now calculated from your current value and your desired value –, taking into account the body weight.

In the event of a massive deficiency, the procedure described in the article linked above could not lead to a healthy vitamin D level quickly enough. Therefore we provide you with the method according to Dr. med. Raimund von Helden, author of the recommended booklet Healthy in seven days – Success with vitamin D therapy.

Dr. von Helden divides the intake of vitamin D into two therapeutic parts: into the initial therapy and the permanent or Maintenance therapy.

After a deficiency, the initial therapy serves to fill up the vitamin D stores, which should happen as quickly as possible so that the mostly existing deficiency symptoms can be remedied as quickly as possible. It is a single dose. The dose of continuous therapy is then switched over.
The continuous therapy provides the amount of vitamin D that is required to compensate for the daily losses and to maintain a healthy vitamin D level in the long term.

Calculation of the dose for the initial therapy

In order to raise the vitamin D level by 1 ng / ml, 10,000 IU are required with a body weight of 70 kilograms. If the body weight is different, recalculate the value proportionally. 7,000 IU per kilogram of body weight should not be exceeded.

For example, if you weigh 70 kg, have an instantaneous value of 15 ng / ml and want to reach a value of 35 ng / ml, then choose a single dose of 200,000 IU as the initial therapy. Weigh only 60 kg, then take about 170,000 IU.

The starting dose is very high. We recommend that you discuss this type of intake with the doctor or alternative practitioner in advance.

Calculation of the dose for continuous therapy

With an assumed body weight of 70 kilograms in turn, 3,333 IU of vitamin D per day or 23,000 IU required per week. Here, too, the dose is calculated proportionally with a different body weight. For the average person in Ireland we can say 5000IU vitamin D per day

If you are in the sun a lot in summer, you can pause with vitamin D during this time. But probably no alarmingly high value would develop if you continued to take it despite sunbathing.

Correct intake: Always with a little fat

If you have vitamin D preparations that are available as powder in capsules if taken with black coffee, water or juice, this leads to absorption of the vitamin, but to a rather low absorption. As a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin D should always be taken with a little fat. Like a glass of milk or Cholesterol lowering milk drinks or yoghurt.

Too much fat is not a good idea either. So if you take the vitamin preparation with a thick lard bread or fatty cheese, you cannot take the ideal dose of it either. Because excessive amounts of fat seem to inhibit absorption.

A 2013 study found that taking vitamin D with 11 grams of fat resulted in absorption 16 percent higher than taking with 35 grams of fat and 20 percent higher absorption than taking with 0 grams of fat.

It doesn’t matter whether you get fat out polyunsaturated fatty acids (Hemp oil, Linseed oil, Sunflower oil), one made from monounsaturated fatty acids (olive oil, Avocados, Almonds) or one made of saturated (coconut oil).

Correct intake: Topical via the skin

If you cannot tolerate vitamin D preparations or whose vitamin D level simply does not want to rise despite the correct intake of vitamin D preparations, the vitamin can also be applied to the skin, since it can also be absorbed through the skin.

To do this, choose a liquid preparation without unfavourable additives, e.g. Vitamin D3 drops, which only come from vitamin D3 and MCT fats (medium-chain fats from e.g. Coconut oil) exist. Apply to the forearm, where the skin is particularly receptive.

Important note

Disclaimer: This article was based on (at the time of publication) current studies written and checked by doctors, but may not be used for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, replaced so not to visit your doctor. So, discuss each one Measure (whether from this or another of our articles) always first with your doctor.

Vitamin D – the right intake

Important note

I hope you feel inspired. Look after your body, and it will keep you healthy.

CatherineCWD 21 December 2024/Ireland