A sucker punch for vitamin D
After enjoying a shining moment as the darling of the mainstream, vitamin D is being kicked around.
That didn't take long, did it?
Maybe you've seen some of the headlines, which made it sound as if vitamin D failed a major new study. But never trust the headline writers--because this study on the sunshine vitamin should have been kept in the dark.
The new research, which you'll find in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found no benefits for women who take vitamin D--and that it might even increase the risk of fractures in some of them.
But that's not even close to the whole story here.
The women in this study were given a lot of vitamin D--but the real problem here isn't how much they took, but how often they took it: Once.
Not once a day... once a week... or even once a month.
Just once a year for up to five years.
Definitely don't try this at home!
Researchers gave 2,256 women 70 years old or older either a placebo or a whole lot of the sunshine vitamin: 500,000 IUs, delivered in 10 tablets taken in a single day. The women, who were all believed to have a high risk of fractures, were given the tablets annually for between three and five years.
By the end of the study, the researchers found no real benefit in the megadose group. Not only that, but the women who took the real vitamins had a slightly higher risk of falls and fractures compared to those who took the placebo.
But you can take those results and throw them out the window on a cloudy day... because you need vitamin D the way you need food and water: daily, not once a year.
Just look at the overwhelming preponderance of evidence, which finds that vitamin D is essential to bone health and can lower your risk for diabetes, cancer and other diseases. Vitamin D has also been shown to boost your immune system, and it may even help you live longer.
Even the researchers behind this study say they're not down on D--and now, they want to see if giving patients smaller doses over longer periods has any effect.
Here's a hint: Of course it will, and you can see the results for yourself. If you're not getting enough quality sunlight (and you're probably not), be sure to add a natural vitamin D3 supplement to your routine.
Just be sure to take it every day--not once a year.
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Edward Martin writes House Calls, a daily letter chronicling the most cutting-edge alternative methods for beating diabetes and cancer, to the latest FDA foul-ups and Big Pharma conspiracies.
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Comments
RICHARD N. KEENE
Your article didn't mention what kind of vitamin D either! Was it one of those artificial mega doses (manufactured) or a natural vitamin?
tony d
Based on the info provided here they most likely used the medically provided prescription that contains the D2 form of vitamin D. Using this form of vitamin D in that quantity was irresponsible and placed those in the study in a position of extreme risk of hypercalcification of soft tissue throughout the body including the heart. No wonder they were at increased risk of falls and, ultimately, fractures. I also wonder what the differences in death rates were between the two groups!
DH
this is abuse of the elderly... makes one wonder if they were properly educated about what they were getting themselves into? Not only is this bad science, this is simply not science at all.
K.G. Rao
Sounds weird, a study based on a a once-a-year mega-dose. equally weird is the how and why of it, what kind of pseudo-scientific minds cranked out such an idea and study, and why? Biggest question of all for a 3rd world reader like me, just how the journal of the AMA accept and publish such tripe? doesn't thier credibility in the US get affected?
AFL
Perhaps this study was sponsored by a supplier of prescriptions drugs and the shill magazine for Pharma (AMA Journal) had a financial responsibility to print the article. AMA should be censured for conflict of interest.
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