Hi, author of the blog post here! Yes thank you for catching this awful typo, it's fixed now! I did write "4000 or 5000 IU of Vitamin D" everywhere else in the article -- main text, conclusion -- just my luck that the one place I mess up is right at the very start.
(Do not take 5000 mg, that's 200,000,000 IU. You'd have to chug dozens of bottles per day)
More often written as 200,000 IU as 5000mg of D3 is not written as 5,000,000mcg
The author simply (and terrible mistaking) typed [mg] instead of [UI] in the first paragraph: if readed entirely, the author correct this typo in every other sentence
If you don't have an underlying condition it is way better to get the Vitamin D from the sun in 10-30min increments per day after which you are saturated for the day. Overdose is not possible via the sun (excluding sun burns of course).
> A single, optimal sun exposure session might produce the equivalent of 10,000 to 25,000 IU from a supplement, but it will not keep increasing with more time in the sun. That's your max per session.
"In Scotland, we only get enough of the right kind of sunlight for our bodies to make vitamin D between April and September, mostly between 11am and 3pm."
Your suggestion sounds a bit detached from reality of many people.
In many countries it is physically impossible to get enough vitamin D from the sun, even if you go out naked.
Also did you ever notice that the cheap apartments in many places are facing north and do not have a balcony, and of course do not have a private garden? Now you are reduced to going to a park which in the "cheap" areas is also not a good spot to chill for 30 minutes.
In winter, even on a sunny day, only tiny fraction of your skin is exposed to sun. 10-30 min of sun when you are wearing tshirt and shorts is much different from 10-30 min of sun when you are wearing long sleeves, gloves, and a scarf.
Check local/national advice. In many places it is officially advised to take vitamin D supplements, especially in winter or if you have a darker skin tone.
I would argue to do both in the winter, since sunlight has other benefits than just Vitamin D synthesis, like mitochondrial health and better circadian signaling for better sleep quality.
Isn't the oral intake pretty much negligible anyway? I remember getting a vitamin d supplement in a syringe (to be put on bread, from a physician) containing a very large dosis.
I'm not stating the dosage is wrong. Looks like it is anyway.
Oral has felt very effective for me. I take a daily supplement that has roughly 100% of the recommended daily dose of everything. I split it in half.
For D3, it is 25mcg / 1000 IU / 125%
After splitting in half it's 12.5 mcg / 500 IU / 62.5%.
I take with some fat-containing food to allow ir to absorb which is usually breakfast (yogurt, some nuts, some kind of fruit, oats), and it's a night and day difference in my mood (how easily I can control my temper if already agitated, how easily I brush off annoying stuff, takes the intensity off of my reactions and mood during conversations).
I did a blood test before starting, and if normal is between 30 - 70, I was at 10. Dr prescribed megadose of D2, followed by daily D3, but I skipped on the megadose and went straight to D3 -- makes me wonder if a megadose would build up my stores since D is fat-soluble and make it so I could miss a day and not notice.
All of the above is anecdotal from me, a self-professed cave dweller, but it's been a couple of years now, and I still notice the difference. Also, what I heard from people in Boston is that 90% of them are on a vitamin D supplement. My friend from there laughed at me when I was raving about it, saying "yeah, literally everyone here is on it".
That’s a large enough error that it calls the rest of the writing into question, in my opinion.
Also, be careful taking 5000 IU/day of Vitamin D. I did this for a few months and it was enough to send my blood levels over the top of the range, even in winter.
Too much Vitamin D is not good for you. The supplement fans have gone too far in recommending too high of dosages. My doctor said she’s seeing a lot of people with excessively high Vitamin D levels now that it has become popular.
It's usually pretty hard to get to toxic levels though, most people that don't live in a particularly sunny climate won't get anywhere near there on 5000 IU/day.
Just test your blood levels before you start and then after 3 months or so. It's quick and cheap, and the only way to know whether the dose is right.
> A statistical error in the estimation of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin D was recently discovered; in a correct analysis of the data used by the Institute of Medicine, it was found that 8895 IU/d was needed for 97.5% of individuals to achieve values ≥50 nmol/L. Another study confirmed that 6201 IU/d was needed to achieve 75 nmol/L and 9122 IU/d was needed to reach 100 nmol/L.
> This could lead to a recommendation of 1000 IU for children <1 year on enriched formula and 1500 IU for breastfed children older than 6 months, 3000 IU for children >1 year of age, and around 8000 IU for young adults and thereafter. Actions are urgently needed to protect the global population from vitamin D deficiency.
> ...
> Since 10 000 IU/d is needed to achieve 100 nmol/L [9], except for individuals with vitamin D hypersensitivity, and since there is no evidence of adverse effects associated with serum 25(OH)D levels <140 nmol/L, leaving a considerable margin of safety for efforts to raise the population-wide concentration to around 100 nmol/L, the doses we propose could be used to reach the level of 75 nmol/L or preferably 100 nmol/L.
I was taking 2x2000 IU with almost no sun exposure and then did bloodwork. My level was 77.8 ng/mL. The lab's reference ranges listed 30-50 ng/mL as optimal, 50-100 as high, over 100 as potentially toxic, and over 200 as toxic.
No, it's to make it easier to dose different kind of biologically active substances. They can have significantly different "recommended weight to eat of this per day", IUs make that sort-of comparable and easier to remember.
Only recently again I read in the newspaper, that most products are overdosed. There is a typical number that the vitamin D products usually show, and in the article it said, that only up to 800 IU is safe, and everything above is an overdose. There are many products out there with 2000 UI or maybe even more. Beware.
EDIT: Wow, the HN-local doctors at it again. Imagine getting downvoted for sharing information from newspaper article (and honestly labeling that info as such), that probably was written by someone consulting medical professionals. But hey HN will know better!
It's unbelievable crazy what the author suggests, even say "10,000 IU if you're feeling daring / have darker skin / live in less sunny climates.".
Just a simple look at the side effects of high dosages:
Safety and side effects
Taken in typical doses, vitamin D is thought to be mainly safe.
But taking too much vitamin D in the form of supplements can be harmful and even deadly. Taking more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might cause:
Upset stomach and vomiting.
Weight loss and not wanting to eat.
Muscle weakness.
Not being able to think clearly or quickly.
Heart rhythm issues.
Kidney stones and kidney damage.
Hi, author of the blog post here! Thanks for your concern. I do still stand by my claim, since more recent peer-reviewed studies have shown that up-to-10,000 IU is safe. As written in the post:
> McCullough et al 2019 gave over thousands of patients 5,000 to 10,000 IU/day, for seven years, and there were zero cases of serious side effects. This is in line with Billington et al 2020, a 3-year-long double-blinded randomized controlled trial, where they found "the safety profile of vitamin D supplementation is similar for doses of 400, 4000, and 10,000 IU/day." (though "mild hypercalcemia" increased from 3% to 9%. IMHO, that's a small cost for reducing the risk of major depression & suicide.)
So why then does Mayoclinic, etc, all say 4000 IU is the limit? I think because policy is decades behind science (this happened with trans fats), and also policymakers are much more risk-averse. (this is why in California, thanks to Prop 65, up until ~2018, there used to be a warning in every coffeehouse that coffee causes cancer.)
But thanks to your comment, I will edit the intro to note what the official max safe dose is, and that more recent peer-reviewed research shows it's too low!
To my understanding Vitamin D is regularly underdosed. Several points:
1) There are lots of studies that correlate Vitamin D production with sunlight exposure. For example, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20398766/ this one lands on 1/4 of a MED = 1000 IU. Of course now we have a MED definition problem, but we're roughly talking single digit numbers for a white person in midday sun in NYC to reach 1/4 of a MED.
2) If you also supplement with Magnesium, a lot of your side effects go away. Vitamin D3 depletes Magnesium absorption.
FWIW just anecdotally I took 160,000 IU per day for a few months along with 800mcg to 2mg of K2 MK-7 and about double the suggested amount of magnesium citrate. I slowly titrated up to that amount over a few months. I am not suggesting anyone else do that as I had a specific purpose slow action TPA when combined with many protease so to speak but just my own experience I did not have any of those issues. I don't know how they came up with them so I figure they are just guessing like they did with the toxic level of selenium which has a funny back story. I am back down to 5000 IU a day. Years later still none of those issues. But that is just me.
I did have one issue related to magnesium however. If I did a very high dose of magnesium taurate and a couple of other chelated forms I would have trouble catching my breath after physical exertion similar to chronic high doses of iodine. Not the end of the world but it was unnerving.
Don't anyone else do what I do. I experiment on myself more than scientists experiment on mice minus the whole dissection bit. I am just continuing some experiments from the 1900's but as I understand it AI will be learning all of those soon. Fascinating stuff really.
It depends on the person, as a sample size of one I was on 5,000IU and my levels were still on the low end (almost still deficient), and my calcium levels were still safely on the low side as well. Ultimately people should be getting their levels checked before and after to see exactly what the effect on them is
josalhor|1 month ago
ncasenmare|1 month ago
(Do not take 5000 mg, that's 200,000,000 IU. You'd have to chug dozens of bottles per day)
Aldipower|1 month ago
AdamN|1 month ago
xi_studio|1 month ago
The author simply (and terrible mistaking) typed [mg] instead of [UI] in the first paragraph: if readed entirely, the author correct this typo in every other sentence
amai|1 month ago
sschueller|1 month ago
> A single, optimal sun exposure session might produce the equivalent of 10,000 to 25,000 IU from a supplement, but it will not keep increasing with more time in the sun. That's your max per session.
arethuza|1 month ago
"In Scotland, we only get enough of the right kind of sunlight for our bodies to make vitamin D between April and September, mostly between 11am and 3pm."
https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition...
Personally I found that taking Vitamin D supplements made quite a bit of difference - and I spend a fair amount of time outside (~3 hours each day).
bflesch|1 month ago
In many countries it is physically impossible to get enough vitamin D from the sun, even if you go out naked.
Also did you ever notice that the cheap apartments in many places are facing north and do not have a balcony, and of course do not have a private garden? Now you are reduced to going to a park which in the "cheap" areas is also not a good spot to chill for 30 minutes.
mixedbit|1 month ago
austinjp|1 month ago
RobotToaster|1 month ago
spoken like someone who has never lived in the UK
theptip|1 month ago
For some people even in sunny areas, 5000 IU might be needed to get you in-range. This is highly individual.
theshrike79|1 month ago
It's much cheaper to take a few pills than it is to travel 3000km south to see the sun for 30 minutes :D
We even put Vitamin D in milk by default just so that people would get some extra.
francisofascii|1 month ago
nimonian|1 month ago
INTPenis|1 month ago
During the spring, summer, fall months I barely need it since I'm outside so much with my dog.
Ensorceled|1 month ago
pjc50|1 month ago
It also sucks a lot when it's dark before starting work, dark after leaving work, and during the day rather cold to be exposing skin to the sun.
consp|1 month ago
I'm not stating the dosage is wrong. Looks like it is anyway.
abelitoo|1 month ago
For D3, it is 25mcg / 1000 IU / 125%
After splitting in half it's 12.5 mcg / 500 IU / 62.5%.
I take with some fat-containing food to allow ir to absorb which is usually breakfast (yogurt, some nuts, some kind of fruit, oats), and it's a night and day difference in my mood (how easily I can control my temper if already agitated, how easily I brush off annoying stuff, takes the intensity off of my reactions and mood during conversations).
I did a blood test before starting, and if normal is between 30 - 70, I was at 10. Dr prescribed megadose of D2, followed by daily D3, but I skipped on the megadose and went straight to D3 -- makes me wonder if a megadose would build up my stores since D is fat-soluble and make it so I could miss a day and not notice.
All of the above is anecdotal from me, a self-professed cave dweller, but it's been a couple of years now, and I still notice the difference. Also, what I heard from people in Boston is that 90% of them are on a vitamin D supplement. My friend from there laughed at me when I was raving about it, saying "yeah, literally everyone here is on it".
moritzwarhier|1 month ago
Aurornis|1 month ago
Also, be careful taking 5000 IU/day of Vitamin D. I did this for a few months and it was enough to send my blood levels over the top of the range, even in winter.
Too much Vitamin D is not good for you. The supplement fans have gone too far in recommending too high of dosages. My doctor said she’s seeing a lot of people with excessively high Vitamin D levels now that it has become popular.
seba_dos1|1 month ago
Just test your blood levels before you start and then after 3 months or so. It's quick and cheap, and the only way to know whether the dose is right.
globular-toast|1 month ago
cloudhead|1 month ago
neRok|1 month ago
> A statistical error in the estimation of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin D was recently discovered; in a correct analysis of the data used by the Institute of Medicine, it was found that 8895 IU/d was needed for 97.5% of individuals to achieve values ≥50 nmol/L. Another study confirmed that 6201 IU/d was needed to achieve 75 nmol/L and 9122 IU/d was needed to reach 100 nmol/L.
> This could lead to a recommendation of 1000 IU for children <1 year on enriched formula and 1500 IU for breastfed children older than 6 months, 3000 IU for children >1 year of age, and around 8000 IU for young adults and thereafter. Actions are urgently needed to protect the global population from vitamin D deficiency.
> ...
> Since 10 000 IU/d is needed to achieve 100 nmol/L [9], except for individuals with vitamin D hypersensitivity, and since there is no evidence of adverse effects associated with serum 25(OH)D levels <140 nmol/L, leaving a considerable margin of safety for efforts to raise the population-wide concentration to around 100 nmol/L, the doses we propose could be used to reach the level of 75 nmol/L or preferably 100 nmol/L.
johnisgood|1 month ago
zelphirkalt|1 month ago
lossolo|1 month ago
maximedupre|1 month ago
Liquix|1 month ago
nialv7|1 month ago
RandomTeaParty|1 month ago
grumbelbart2|1 month ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_unit
koakuma-chan|1 month ago
phoronixrly|1 month ago
zelphirkalt|1 month ago
EDIT: Wow, the HN-local doctors at it again. Imagine getting downvoted for sharing information from newspaper article (and honestly labeling that info as such), that probably was written by someone consulting medical professionals. But hey HN will know better!
lynx97|1 month ago
krona|1 month ago
See: Vitamin D and health: evolution, biologic functions, and recommended dietary intakes for vitamin D (293 citations)
turtlesdown11|1 month ago
Ensorceled|1 month ago
unknown|1 month ago
[deleted]
weird-eye-issue|1 month ago
Xunjin|1 month ago
Just a simple look at the side effects of high dosages:
Safety and side effects
Taken in typical doses, vitamin D is thought to be mainly safe.
But taking too much vitamin D in the form of supplements can be harmful and even deadly. Taking more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might cause:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-d/art-2...ncasenmare|1 month ago
> McCullough et al 2019 gave over thousands of patients 5,000 to 10,000 IU/day, for seven years, and there were zero cases of serious side effects. This is in line with Billington et al 2020, a 3-year-long double-blinded randomized controlled trial, where they found "the safety profile of vitamin D supplementation is similar for doses of 400, 4000, and 10,000 IU/day." (though "mild hypercalcemia" increased from 3% to 9%. IMHO, that's a small cost for reducing the risk of major depression & suicide.)
So why then does Mayoclinic, etc, all say 4000 IU is the limit? I think because policy is decades behind science (this happened with trans fats), and also policymakers are much more risk-averse. (this is why in California, thanks to Prop 65, up until ~2018, there used to be a warning in every coffeehouse that coffee causes cancer.)
But thanks to your comment, I will edit the intro to note what the official max safe dose is, and that more recent peer-reviewed research shows it's too low!
smallerfish|1 month ago
1) There are lots of studies that correlate Vitamin D production with sunlight exposure. For example, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20398766/ this one lands on 1/4 of a MED = 1000 IU. Of course now we have a MED definition problem, but we're roughly talking single digit numbers for a white person in midday sun in NYC to reach 1/4 of a MED.
2) If you also supplement with Magnesium, a lot of your side effects go away. Vitamin D3 depletes Magnesium absorption.
gavinray|1 month ago
Regularly have my Vit D levels checked and they are always within the upper bounds of healthy reference range
Bender|1 month ago
I did have one issue related to magnesium however. If I did a very high dose of magnesium taurate and a couple of other chelated forms I would have trouble catching my breath after physical exertion similar to chronic high doses of iodine. Not the end of the world but it was unnerving.
Don't anyone else do what I do. I experiment on myself more than scientists experiment on mice minus the whole dissection bit. I am just continuing some experiments from the 1900's but as I understand it AI will be learning all of those soon. Fascinating stuff really.
mezzode|1 month ago
unknown|1 month ago
[deleted]