kind classics: the deal with vitamin d
I've always assumed that I get all the Vitamin D I need on a daily basis just from being out in the sun. Of course, too much exposure can be harmful, but living in sunny California gives me the chance on most days to soak up the sun while I'm out taking a walk, gardening or getting to and from my car. Sometimes I'll just stop what I'm doing, open my arms, take a deep breath and really feel the sun on my face for a few relaxing minutes.
It wasn't until some of you Kind Lifers inquired about Vitamin D recently, that I decided to dig deeper into this subject and see if what I'd always thought was actually the truth. Do those short bursts of sunlight exposure really supply enough Vitamin D to those of us who live and work indoors in large, polluted urban areas? And, if not, what's the deal with supplements? Are they helpful? And, if they are, what's the proper dosage? For these and other answers, I decided to seek out perspectives from Dr. Neal Barnard and Christina Pirello, both of whom walked me through the whole topic with their usual brilliance and clarity. Here's what I learned:
For starters, let's explain what Vitamin D is. In simple terms, it's a fat-soluble vitamin that our body manufactures when it's exposed to the sun. It has a number of purposes, but Vitamin D's main job is to maintain the right balance of calcium and phosphorus in our blood, help us to absorb enough calcium in our bones and, in general, to work with other vitamins at keeping our bones healthy and strong.
We don't have to roast in the sun all day long to get a healthy daily dose of Vitamin D, but we do have to get a good 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight to even approach our minimum requirements. But before you go thinking that a few trips back and forth to your car will do the trick, keep in mind that this minimum exposure time will generally be higher for those of us who live in cities and areas where pollution, cloud cover and other obstructions can block the vast majority of the sun's UV rays.
If you're getting out and exercising in the sun each day, you're taking a big step towards meeting your daily Vitamin D requirement in addition to all the other health benefits that regular exercise offers. But, the sad truth is that a lot of us live in situations and areas where our exposure to sun is limited. Our access to sunshine can be affected and compromised by everything from latitude to climate to pollution to even our work schedules. In some cases, physical characteristics like old age, darker skin tones or very young breast-feeding infants have more difficulty getting enough Vitamin D as well. Because of any combination of these and other factors, some of us Kind Lifers might not get as much Vitamin D as we should. If you think this might be the case with you, it's easy to have your doctor give you a simple blood test that can screen you for any vitamin and mineral deficiencies, including Vitamin D.
The point is, each of us has different individual needs. For me, a plant-based diet and healthy lifestyle fulfills most of the nutritional requirements that others might use vitamin supplements to meet. Most people should get about 1,000 - 2,000 IU of Vitamin D per day, but, if you belong to one of the more potentially Vitamin D-deficient groups mentioned above, you may benefit from taking supplements.
As always, it's best to figure out your personal supplemental dosage in consultation with your doctor, based on your specific deficiency levels. Or you can skip the blood test and take a small dosage of Vitamin D if you think you might need it, since excess Vitamin D is not likely to do much harm other than making your liver work a little harder than necessary. If you do take supplements, my sources tell me that the plant-based supplement D-2 is far more preferable and just as effective as D-3 which is not vegan.
How do you guys get your vitamin D? Do you have any favorite vitamin D-rich kind foods?
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30 comments
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I have always been told that Vitamin D also needs Calcium to be properly absorbed in the body. I see a naturalist for all my vitamin/supplement needs. There are also studies out there showing that higher doses of vitamin D can prevent the flu, since it is so great for the immune system. When I was pregnant, I took that advice...I was pregnant right smack dab in the middle of the whole swine flu scare thing. I didn't want to get the vaccine...and I didn't want to get a flu shot either. After all, my body is already working so hard growing a life, why tax it more? So, I decided on boosting my immune system naturally...with added vitamin d, calcium (with magnesium and zinc), and vitamin c. I didn't take crazy dose amounts, just a bit extra. I went wherever I wanted, even ended up in the mall where they were giving the live flu nasal spray (where pregnant women are NOT supposed to be near), and I never got sick at all! I am not one of these people that sanitizes the shopping cart when I go into Walmart, or anything like that. So, I think A LOT can be said about vitamin D!
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For some good research on the benifits, mechanics, dosages, and studies: Steve Gibson has done quite a bit of work and you can read his article.
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My wife and I live in northern Idaho at the moment. We buy liquid vitamin D from the natural food store in town during the long, cold, gray, snowy winter months. Even today the lack of sun was just a dampening of spirits sort of deal. My wife was born in Port Hueneme (hope I spelled that correctly), but her family moved west of the Seattle area on the kitsap peninsula when she was 6. To this day she still misses it down there and always misses the sun and revels in it when it does show its orange/yellow self in the blue sky. A few years ago we took a vacation to visit her home town and she showed me where she used to live. We were there for a week and had to extend our vacation because I couldn't get her to leave! :) What does she miss most about southern CA? The sun, that is what she loves and not only is the vitamin D a must for the body, but the sun improves ones mood as well. I compare living in cloud covered areas to that of living in a cave. We eat as vegan/vegetarian as we can and even with all the nutrients it provides along with the liquid vitamin D supplement, often times it just isn't enough to combat the dreary dark days of winter.
This is a great thread and thank very much Alicia for starting it!
Craig
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Vitashine and Nature's Plus both make vegan vitamin D3 now. You can find them at vegan essentials.
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Mrs. Fletcher, I can't comment on any offical research on the matter of Vitamin D absorption, however I can write about my own experience. Two year ago I started losing the hair on my chin. I was misdiagnosed with Alopecia Barbae, and was given cortisone injections. The shots didn't help, in fact the patch got bigger. Finally my doctor had some blood draw and it came back that I was Vitamin D deficient. I was given 50,000 IU of vitamin D a week (gelcap form). Soon after my patch grew hair and my Vitamin D levels returned to normal. I asked my doctor if I could get the same results if I spent more time outside, he claimed the time I'd have to spend outside to get the levels of Vitamin D my body needed was very unrealistic.
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The more melanin you have in your skin (the darker you are) the less likely you will be to absorp it from the sun. I found this out the hard way. I thought I was getting plenty out in the morning sun every day. But I was racked with terrible fatigue for a couple of years. When I had my blood tested I was extremely low in D3. I started supplementing with Vitamin Code's D3 capsules and Natural Source's drops - 10,000mg/day (both vegan) and it changed my life. I've never experienced such a drastic change in my energy levels before! No more naps (seldom anyway) and way more sustainable energy. I am now just taking the daily recommended dose for maintenance. I am in my 40s, so perhaps this has something to do with it. But I am grateful I found out the cause and the easy solution!
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After just getting a full blood work-up to go with my physical, my Dr. told me I was at the low end, almost vitamin D deficient!!? I take a multi-vitamin daily and add D suppliments so I was surprised. She explained that most people (like me) take it all at once and forget about it. Vitamin D should be taken in smaller amounts throughout the day totaling no more than 2000mg. The body does not absorb it all at once so it must be received in smaller doses best with meals for it to be absorbed. Now I've switched to 400 mg. chewables (flavored and yummy) that I take thru the day. I get plenty of sun being outdoors as part of my job, so this, as everything in life, is a reminder to stay mindfully in the moment always!
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There's a lot of substitutes available like special lamps and pills, but I'm better say right now that personally I really believe it's a extremely good practice to do everything possible to avoid spending more than a few days without sunshine...
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there actually is a certified and vegan approved version of Vitamin D3 available on the market now, it's made by Vitashine http://www.vitashine-d3.com/ -
Daniel there are no vegan D3 unless you call scraping the sweat off of sheep vegan. I also was D deficient and took the Pharmaceutical grade D3 then took supposed Vegan D3 and developed the worse allergic reaction from it. I was oozing from my skin excess oil and felt extremely gross. Had skin allergies ,eyes itching all the time and was lethargic. My liver could not handle the overload of oil. It took at least 6 months to discharge all that. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia and osteoporosis. I now take Vegan biotin, Veglife D2 and Veglife Cal-Mag Citrate D and last but not least Natural Calm magnesium which is a powder you mix with water. Between all of these my D levels went up and my bone density improved. I am also 53 and work all week cleaning houses. You cannot get D3 from a non animal source- like I said it is taken from the secretion from the wool from sheep which to me is gross and disgusting.
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Some of us live in cold, northern climes with lots of cloud cover, so there's a long period of time that there's no way I can go out with my skin exposed for 10-15 minutes a day. And even in the summer, we have cloud cover here akin to Seattle. We joke about "that strange yellow ball in the sky, what is it?" Sadly, it sounds like this issue is far, far from resolved.
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Living in Washington state and spending a good deal of my time behind a computer screen I take a 1000 IU of Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) daily.
I get this from Dr Fuhrman's vegan multivitamin - he believes in a plant based diet, so I trust him to carefully tune his multivitamins for vegans based on the available science.
I don't see a need to switch to D3 if you supplement daily - the studies where D3 performed better were based on large weekly supplementation. For more details look at this VeganHealth.org D2/D3 summary.
Mark Osborne - www.veganhealthandfitness.com
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From most of the research my partner studied in her biomedical degree I've been led to believe the body can't actually absorb vitamin D through a supliment or from food very well. It's highly ineffective, which I would believe after months on pills with very little change. You really need to make time to get out side, whether its on you're lunch break or some other time, and expose your skin. It's also harder on your body to have it try to processes the suppliments so they should only ever be short term. There is pleanty of rice milk at my local super market without D2 in it.
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My understanding is that D2 is potentially toxic. I only take D3. Sadly, D2 is what is put in rice milk, almond milk, etc. I was very disappointed to learn this. I personally have been taking a liquid D3---6,000-8,000 IU's daily and it has really helped my depression and seasonal affective disorder. I just had my level checked at my physical in December and it was right where it needs to be. It has made a huge difference in my life!
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It is my understanding that Vit. D is really a hormone, not a vitamin (whatever that means). I went to Kaiser for skin treatments, nitrogen blasts and creme, pre-cancer stuff; I live in Hawaii and get lots of sun. The doctor told me that because my Vit. D test showed a level of 46, I had enough. He thought the Vit D scare was dangerous as it is putting more people in the sun for longer periods of time.
I don't really know about the Vit. D thing. I'm glad to see that there are vegan options for D3 since I hear conflicting arguments about which is better.
I believe that aside from Vit. B12, Dr. McDougall says most vitamins turn out to be toxic.
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I checked my supplement, and it is calcium carbonate with D3, so I will have to find something a little different. Thanks for the heads up.
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One error in the article - MOST vitamin D3 is non-vegan, but there are some vegan options out there (there are ways to derive D3 in vegan source from some types of mushrooms as well as lichen plant). I get mine from VeganEssentials.com, they sell the few vegan D3 products that exist as well as a lot of vegan D2 supplements as well. There's one by Garden of Life that CLAIMS to be vegan, but it isn't as it uses non-vegan D3 to "convert" to supposedly vegan D3, and should be avoided at all costs because of the unethical practices of the manufacturer's claims that are false.
Personally, I recommend the D3 due to the science supporting that it has a much better absorption rate than D2. I used to think I was getting enough from the 400mg of D2 in my multi-vitamin, but came down with a nasty deficiency last year and felt like I was losing my mind and my health. Took a prescription formula for 6 months (not vegan unfortunately, but one tiny tablet per week isn't undoing everything else I do for the sake of the animals), felt better, and now I take the D3 and my levels keep testing at normal now when I get blood work done. D3 seems like something most don't worry about, but it can be REALLY bad if you get a deficiency, I have never felt so miserable in all my life!!!
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There is a new Vitamin D3 that is vegan! It is called Vitashine. Vegan Essentials carries it!
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I, unfortunately, consistently have low vitamin D levels. So, my doctor has been giving me prescription strength vit D to get my levels up. But, ironically, today I got some Deva vegan multivitamins that have vitamin D in them and am going to start taking those. It can be VERY serious to have a vitamin D deficiency. I ended up in the hospital with addisons disease and a very severe vitamin D deficiency a few years ago. Luckily, my doc sent me to the Cleveland Clinic (after months of my docs here not even checking my levels) and they found it. In combination with the addison's disease I literally could hardly get off the sofa... even to shower! But, now that we know I'm prone to it, my new doc keeps a close eye on it and I'm hoping the vegan vitamins help!
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Vitamin D is really important for immunity. I was continually getting sick with sinus infections and ear issues and my doctor decided to check my vit. d--it was 15 ng/ml. After 8 weeks on a prescribed 50,000iu (1 pill weekly), I went up to 22 ng/ml, which is still deficient. So I am trying to boost it some more.
This is the first time I have heard anyone say that D2 is superior to D3. My reading has always said that d3 is naturally occuring and more bioavailable whereas D2 is synthetic and potentially toxic.
I think acquiring the vegan d3 is way worth it :-)
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Patrick, I don't have them with me, but on the web it's looks like the generic ERGOCALCIFEROL. I will verify that though. I take 1 pill/week for 12 weeks...then will get rechecked...but had amazing results almost immediately. Two biggest for me was my muscles and joints stopped hurting, almost like someone took a can of WD40 to them! and i am no longer falling asleep at work, even after 8 hours of sleep and massive amounts of coffee, chia and Maca!
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I have been *mostly* vegan for a year now, about 8 mos into the vegan diet my Dr. took some blood tests and I was fabulous on everything except vitamin D, which was way way WAY low. She prescribed a supplement which was not vegan and I had to do some hunting to find one that was.
If you haven't had your blood checked recently, or at all since going vegan, I definitely recomment just to get a handle on your bodies specific needs! A balanced plant based diet provides all the nutritional resources you need, but it takes a while to get a handle on the balanced part!
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Wow, thanks for posting! We don't see the sun much here in Pittsburgh during the winter. I try to take walks outside a few times per week, but my skin is pretty much completely covered from the cold. Now I'm a bit concerned that I'm not getting enough Vitamin D. I know it's added to some soy milks, along with other vitamins like B12, so I think I'll try to drink more soy milk.
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I'm on a supplement, too. 2,000 a day. I don't think it's doing enough, my follow up bloodwork wasn't GREATLY improved (though it was somewhat). Tracey - what pill are you taking??
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