So now that you know my opinion on the two (references 1&2 below) articles that #Tim Spector uses as the proof for his attack on vitamin D in his articles (3&4 below) now let’s examine what he goes on to write. First, he stated, “Patients with very high levels (over 100nmol (I assume he means nmol/l)) (my emphasis) are becoming routine in my clinic and elsewhere, and toxic overdoses are increasingly being reported.” Also writing that “A normal level can vary from 50 to 80 nanomole per liter of blood, but recent studies suggest 30nmol is quite enough.”
Where these, “more frequent toxic doses are being reported,” came from, I don’t know, nor does he even hint. What I found was that there are extremely few cases of overdose where people were receiving hundreds of thousands or more units over short time periods, and all recovered once the high dosage stopped with no long-term detrimental effects. But 30 nmol/liter is equal to 12 ng/ml. This blood level is according to him quite enough. I know of no article, report or government standard that would consider this even close to an adequate blood level.
He then seems to imply levels that are above 100nmol/l which is equal to 40ng/ml are, as he writes, “very high” and associates these higher levels with toxicity. Again, I know of no article, report or government standard that would consider 40ng/ml as a high level, much less, close to toxic. As I noted previously, in another study, researchers appeared to use, to determine safe levels, recognized levels up to 300ng/ml or 750ng/ml, that is seven and a half times higher than he quotes are safe. Again, if you read my blog on toxicity you know how silly this is.
He goes on to write, “Instead of this imposter (meaning vitamin supplementation), healthy people should get #vitamin D from small doses of sunshine everyday as well as from food, such as fish, oil, mushrooms and dairy products.” Vitamin D3 from sunshine. He lives in London, England! Not a sunny place at any time of the year as even in the summer at 51.5074 degrees north latitude, very low ultraviolet light B(UV-b) levels are available to produce vitamin D in the skin, much less with 0 UV-b in the winter.
Then he suggests mushrooms and dairy products. Surely he is aware that both mushrooms and usually dairy contain only vitamin D2 and that studies show that individuals on D2’s have increased fracture rates compared to those on D3. Then, suggesting dairy products is a laugher, as 68% of world’s population has a reduced ability to digest lactose. Receiving supplementation of optimal doses of vitamin D3 is so important! 5 As far as his recommending oil I am at a loss, unless he is referring to cod liver oil and its high vitamin A content and its risks, which I referenced in my last blog post.
He obviously has an emotional thing against vitamin D based on no reliable facts. This is perhaps best shown by how he summed up his article, “It can no longer be recommended for use in other conditions;” he appears to be writing that vitamin D supplements are useless. In his article he does give one exception as to when it is ok to use them, and that is if you are dying in bed. Extremely unimaginative stuff. At least we can see that more study is needed. My fear is that more emotional misinformation, ponying off useless studies like he uses will result in more people suffering unnecessarily.
- Trajanoska K, Morris J, Oei L, et al. Assessment of genetic and clinical determinants of fractures risk: genome wide association and mendelian randomization. BMJ 2018;362:K:3225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjk3225
- Durup D, Jorgensen HL, Christensen J, et al. A reverse J-shaped association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and cardiovascular disease mortality: The CopD study. Journal Clin Endocrinology Metabolism, volume 100, issue 6, 1 June 2015, pages 2339-2346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2014-4551.
- Spector T. Science Alerts, published on August 29, 2018.
- 3 was modified for The Conversation, which was published on September 9, 2018.
- Storhaug CL, Fosse SK, Fadnes LT, et al. Country, regional and Global estimates for lactose malabsorption in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet. Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 2017;2(10):737-746.
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