Vitamin D3 question #1

[AlaskaAngel]

The recommended vitamin D level has been 400 IU for years. Now, 1,000 mg supplements are available over the counter. For those who are severely deficient, sometimes a prescription as high as 50,000 IU is given for a short period of time as a boost.

Exposure to sunlight on a single day can apparently result in getting a dose of 20,000 or more IU and it is somewhat transient, so there is a reason to try to use a test that measures what I guess might be thought of as the residual level. This likely would be why Steph had some variation in her test results.

It is still all under study. Given that some of the effect of sunshine also happens by way of the light entering the eyes and passing to the pineal gland, where it stimulates the production of melatonin (and perhaps other hormones), and given that we still really don't know for sure exactly what other beneficial effects are achieved with the absorption through the skin, I am personally hesitant to depend heavily upon supplements as the complete approach. It would be interesting to see a trial comparing those who get no exposure to sunlight but adequate vitamin D supplementation, and those who get some brief but daily sunshine (without sunscreen protection) along with supplementation.

But this is one avenue that in the meantime I continue to seriously pursue.

A.A.