Your attention to Vitamin D is very relevant these months, also to the huge discussion about the use of Vitamin D supplementation in Tuberculosis in developing countries.
filippodibari / Originally posted on Evolutionary argument for optimal vitamin D level
Answer:
Vitamin D is thought to be why the TB sanatoriums of old proved effective. They used so-called “heliotherapy,” which just meant exposing people to sunlight, 62 years before vitamin D was even discovered. Once vitamin D was identified and purified, it was used therapeutically both before and after antibiotics were introduced.
There is evidence that vitamin D supplementation may help prevent other respiratory diseases as well. For example, one study found that those randomized to 2000 IU of vitamin D a day (the amount I recommend) appeared to reduce their incidence of colds and the flu by 90%. I would not recommend tanning beds, though. See my video Vitamin D Pills vs. Tanning Beds.
The official vitamin D recommendation recently tripled to 600 IU (see Vitamin D Recommendations Changed), though the Endocrine Society just released guidelines suggesting 1,500-2,000 IU a day is better. To offer some insight into the behind-the-scenes wrangling on this issue, I’m in the process of rolling out a 9-day series of videos on the topic that will finish up this coming week with Resolving the Vitamin D-Bate. I’m always conflicted about the level of depth I should go into on individual topics. I’d love everyone’s feedback on whether they prefer the one-off 2-minute highlight-type videos, or these longer series where I delve deeper into the backstory.
Image Credit: f_shields / Flickr
