For years we’ve been told too much sun was dangerous. And too much can be.
Unfortunately, the over-emphasis on the dangers of excessive sun have caused a swing in the opposite direction. Excessive use of sun blockers, people always wearing long sleeves and a hat, as well as staying indoors more are all common responses. As a result, more and more people are testing deficient in Vitamin D.
This is a shame since the right amount of sun exposure is the absolute best way to get Vitamin D in the body. But because of this ‘sun phobia’ concept, many people are being told to supplement with Vitamin D3 by their medical doctor.
Some doctors routinely recommend 4,000 to 5,000 IUs of D3 to patients testing low. Compare this to the previous RDA of 400 IUs a day. That’s at least 10 times higher!
Of course D3 is the very best form of supplemental Vitamin D, but in this case there is definitely the possibility of too much of a good thing.
Pros & Cons of Vitamin D
We’ll go over the dangers of too much Vitamin D in a moment, but first, here are the reasons people who test for low levels ought to consider taking Vitamin D supplements:
- Experiencing poor memory related to aging
- Dealing with blood sugar problems, including type II diabetes and Syndrome X
- Diagnosed with breast, prostate and several other types of cancer
- Experiencing chronic pain, particularly pain such as fibromyalgia
- Dealing with chronic depression, especially in the winter (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
- Diagnosed with osteoporosis, osteomalacia, or osteopenia
- Experiencing lowered immunity, frequent colds, etc.
All of these are valid reasons to consider increasing Vitamin D, assuming blood work shows low levels.
The problem comes when people take it indiscriminately. A case in point is a recent patient who, after hearing all the hoopla about deficiencies decided to take 4,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 every day.
He hadn’t done any blood work to determine his natural levels, nor did he consult me or his medical doctor about taking it. What he didn’t know was that too much Vitamin D can be as bad or worse than taking too little.
Unfortunately, it turns out that he didn’t need it. The way he found out was because of a severely painful, 3-day long attack of kidney stones.
In his case the kidney stones resulted from excessive Vitamin D causing calcium deposits in the soft tissue of his kidneys. Excessive amounts in the body can cause calcium to deposit in any type of soft tissue, including the heart and blood vessels (otherwise known as atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries).
Other Factors
In addition, this patient’s Metabolic Type® is Fast Oxidizer. Vitamin D shoves Fast Oxidizers further out of metabolic balance. That also contributed to the problem.
In other words, in this instance Vitamin D not only didn’t help anything, it actually contributed to a very distressing health crisis.
Fortunately, once the kidney stone episode was over, the solution to fix it was to simply stop taking the supplement along with drinking more water. After a while the body cleared the excess and returned to normal.
In addition to the hardening of soft tissues in the body, other possible negative effects of too much Vitamin D can include:
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Fatigue
- Muscle Weakness
- Loss of Appetite
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Excessive Thirst
While we normally think of vitamins as more or less innocuous, this instance illustrates that it pays to know what you need and how much. I encourage my patients to take supplements, but only when we know which supplements will support their health and well being.
Obviously this short article can’t identify your specific needs, which is why it makes sense to consult with someone who is knowledgeable about nutritional supplements and who can test for blood levels of vitamins like Vitamin D as well as determine your Metabolic Type so that the supplements you take are fine-tuned to match your exact requirements.
References:
Metabolic Typing® Advisors privately circulated document, “Nutrients As Per Systems,” 1987, 2000 Healthexcel, Inc.
Hyperhealth Pro Database, In-Tele-Health, Hansville, WA, 2008.
What are your thoughts on the subject? (click on 'comments' below)
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there,
I’ve been taking vitamin D3 since around about Christmas 2007 with no major side effects at all. At first I would sunbathe since I was living in the tropics and since returning to England I’ve been on about 5,000 iu per day.
Hi Ross,
Many people do fine on higher doses of vitamin D. I’m happy you’re one of them! It’s especially good since you’re in a less sunny climate now.
At the same time, unlike most water soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin D, can be over done. Generally it’s a good idea to periodically test blood levels of vitamin D to make sure you’re not getting too much.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
As a wellness professional, I don’t feel we have enough information yet on Vitamin D to determine the correct dosage or what longterm effects are to be had for supplementing. I’ve had clients test low and need 10,000 per day and others need only 400 per day to raise their levels. We are all unique individuals and should treat ourselves as such.
I completely concur with the information that vitamin d doesn’t go out in the urine. In fact, vitamin d is really a hormone so it can do a lot of good, and not so good, if used improperly.
There is also a big difference between types of vitamin D. Vitamin e, k and iron all build up in the system so people should be conscious of all of these.
I recently listened to a radio program put on by a doctor and a pharmacist about the pros & cons of Vitamin D3 and the taking of 50,000 units per day.
They were saying that if your blood test for Vitamin D is 32 nanograms or less, that people should ingest this amount of Vitamin D3 to increase their blood level to 50 to 52 nanograms of Vitamin D3.
Were they giving bad advice or what???
Thank you.
Robert Wheeler.
Hi Robert,
Jen’s comments above remind us of how different each person is when it comes to supplements. I would certainly never take an amount over 400 to 1000 IUs without doing a blood test.
Even then, I’d re-test periodically to make sure that:
1) The blood levels were rising, and
2) They aren’t going too high
The advice you heard on the radio is generally good. There are a couple of things I’d add to this.
First, the test that most closely reflects healthy levels of vitamin D in the body is the test for 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D. There is another test commonly used, but it isn’t nearly as relevant.
Second, the numbers you mention are accurate, but on the conservative side. I like the following values for the 25(OH)D test:
Deficiency = less than 50 ng/ml
Optimal = 50-65 ng/ml
Excess = greater than 100 ng/ml
Even though the excess number is higher, I’d still aim for the optimal level of 50 to 65 ng/ml.
Hope that helps!
Dr. Bruce
Yours is a voice of reason on this issue. I have a terrible reaction to too much vitamin D, and I find this one-size-fits-all insistence by so many to be the height of ignorance.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your comments. From your reaction to Vitamin D you’re likely a fast oxidizer. They seem to do the very worst on excessive amounts.
And yes, if one size is supposed to fit all, then we’d all better hope it’s our size!
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
dear dr eichelberger.
from a holistic point of view listening to ones body (internal pharmacy) re what whole/natural foods does it need/desire ?, should give the indication of vitamin excess or deficiency.
test out how accurate bodies message is via blood tests if they prove positive one gains more confidence in our own self referral intelligence.
of course cravings can be misleading which is where initially
standard medical blood tests can help.
kind regards
will
Hi Will,
I am a big advocate of listening to one’s body. After all, body’s learned to survive long before we were smart enough to be able to run lab tests.
At the same time, there are advantages to knowing more about what’s going on from a lab test point of view. The problem is that even the best information from a lab can’t tell us what our individual, unique optimal levels are of a particular substance. Lab tests by their nature are standardized for a specific range of responses.
That’s why learning to listen to how you feel and respond to any changes in diet, supplements, activities, etc. is crucial to success. If you are paying close attention to your body’s responses when you make such changes, you’re likely going to know whether the changes you make are helping or not.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
I’m 76 yrs old & recently diagnosed with diabetes. My latest blood work was good with an Ac1 of 6.0. Was told by doctor to start taking Vit D3 1000 IU’s. Am already getting Vit D in daily supplement, and in daily calcium with Vit D3. This would total to 2800 IU’s daily. Is this too much? My 25 OHD #’s were 33; 33; and -4.
Hi Claire,
Your test results are on the low side, which says for whatever reason you may not be absorbing the D3 you’re taking.
Since I don’t know about your detailed specifics (Metabolic Type, symptom patterns, history, etc.), I can’t make specific recommendations. I can, however, make general comments. Please take that into account when reading the following:
The effect of any nutrient on the body depends on many factors. Digestive efficiency, autonomic nervous system balance, cellular oxidation rate, etc. Because of that one person’s response to a nutrient can be radically different than another person’s.
For example, Vitamin D3 pushes a Fast Oxidizer faster, which can make them more imbalanced. Slow Oxidizers, by contrast, do very well with Vitamin D3.
That being said, the modern consensus is that most people don’t have enough Vitamin D. This is possibly because of increased use of sunscreens, more inside activities and dietary deficiencies.
The old RDA standards seem low in general, so more D3 in the diet & supplements is usually okay. There are MDs who recommend 5,000 IUs daily. I think that’s too high for a general recommendation, although there are people who can benefit from this much.
My own approach is to increase Vitamin D when indicated in the following ways:
1) Get more sunshine. Obviously the usual caveats apply, particularly not to over-do this. In other words, don’t get sunburned. The best time for sun is between 11 am and 2 pm.
2) Supplement with D3. Because there are differences in how people process supplements (see above), I typically recommend starting at a lower dose and very gradually increasing. For Vitamin D, that is a very slow process. I might start with an additional 400 to 500 IUs and do that for six months. Then I’d re-test. If still low I would increase to 1,000 IUs and follow the same procedure.
Sunlight is my preferred source of D3 because the body will naturally regulate the amount made. If necessary, supplements can be a useful secondary choice.
NOTE: If someone has a history of kidney stones or atherosclerosis, I’d be extra cautious with the supplements.
Hope that’s helpful.
Dr. Bruce
Does anyone consider a calcium level? I was recently diagnosed with sarcoidosis…prior to that I had a vitamin D level drawn and I was on the low end of normal…30 I believe..so my doctor recomended adding 2000IU a day..which I did…I started having symptoms like really bad headaches…frequent urination..large amounts…and thirst..dizziness…facial numbness…a stiff neck…night sweats…didn’t attribute ANY of this to having too much vitamin d…my doctor thought I was crazy and wrote it all off to my thyroid…she said it was being over treated…was upset I was taking more of my thyroid medicine then she prescribed…turns out my tsh was high I was being UNDER treated…but not high enough to warrant all those symptoms…in my opinion….she did a cbc…lymphocytes were low…I also had other symptoms…swollen lymph nodes everywhere…tingling….felt off balance…severe fatigue though that COULD be my thyroid..I’ve had the fatigue for two years now nothing helps…I switched doctors…and it all ended up being Sarcoidosis…which though I had most likely had for years (looking back it makes sense) -the D triggered it…my calcium level was HIGH with a LOW D level…so I was getting plenty of D…my body was trying to protect itself from absorbing anymore calcium….I have a long way to go but I quit the D supps right away…very scary though….too much calcium is dangerous…..
Hi Andrea,
You make a good point about the calcium. There are more variables than just vitamin D to consider.
In addition to supplements, there is also our own individual response to taking them. As you’ve seen, that can be dramatically different, as in your situation.
The key to Sarcoidosis in my experience is the inflammatory nature of the problem. Any time there is an inflammatory response in the body it’s an alert that the body is responding to something it considers abnormal.
What most Western MDs don’t consider is that the denatured quality of our modern diet. When you think about it, we aren’t getting the nutrition that our ancestors did even 100 years ago.
Add to that the fact that each of us has an ideal ‘fuel mix’ when it comes to food, and the kind of response you describe to a general recommendation isn’t all that surprising.
I’m delighted you listened to your body’s signals and not the medical advice you originally received.
All the best for turning your health back around.
Dr. Bruce