Five Element Healthcare

Classical and Contemporary Healthcare

A closer look: “Vitamin D no match for common cold”

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Many readers report a reduction (not absence) of colds and flu with 5,000 IU daily doses of vitamin D. However, hundreds of media outlets are reporting on a well-conducted JAMA study that showed no benefit for vitamin D in preventing the common cold.

The randomized controlled trial, led by Dr David R Murdock of the University of Otago in New Zealand, found that 200, 000 IU per month for two months followed by 100,000 IU per month of vitamin D for 16 months in 161 patients did not prevent either the diagnosis or complaint of the common cold. The study included viral cultures, rigorous efforts to capture all infections, vitamin D given during monthly doctor visits, and initial and follow up vitamin D levels. The average initial level in the treatment group was 29 ng/ml and 18 months later, the mean level was approximately 50 ng/ml, with no side effects.

However, only 13 of the 161 placebo patients had levels below 20 ng/ml and only 5 of the 322 total patients had levels less than 10 ng/ml to begin the study. That is, the placebo group had relatively high levels (mean of 28 ng/ml initially), compared to most populations, and all but 13 patients had levels above 20 ng/ml for most of the study, apparently from sun exposure.

Compare Dr. Murdock’s results to the result of another study, one in the Lancet by Dr Adrain Martineau and colleagues, who, as a secondary end-point, assessed upper respiratory tract infections over two months in patients given 2.5 mg (100,000 IU every two weeks for eight weeks for ancillary treatment of TB.

Martineau AR, et al. High-dose vitamin D(3) during intensive-phase antimicrobial treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis: a double-blind randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2011 Jan 15;377(9761):242-50.

They found a six-fold reduction in upper respiratory infections, but their English popu- lation was severely vitamin D deficient to begin with.

In addition, two randomized controlled trials in children, one in Japan and one in Mon- golia, both given daily vitamin D, showed a reduction in upper respiratory tract infections. Both studies had placebo arms. In the Mongolian study, the investigators measured vitamin D deficiency in the placebo arm, and it was much worse than in the JAMA study, a point the JAMA authors note.

In yet another secondary end point in a randomized controlled trial, 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D in African Americans with initial low levels reported a dramatic reduction in respiratory infections. Both the report and our group’s reply are free to read and download in its entirety.

Aloia JF, Li-Ng M. Re: epidemic influenza and vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect. 2007 Oct;135(7):1095-6; author reply 1097-8

Thus, the JAMA study leaves us with a number of possibilities:

  1. Vitamin D does not help prevent the common cold.
  2. Monthly doses of vitamin D do not help prevent the common cold while daily or weekly dosing does.
  3. Levels above 20 ng/ml (92 % of the placebo group) are all that is required to lower the infection rate.

I am unaware of any study that used significant daily doses for an entire winter that was negative. What is your experience with daily doses of vitamin D and infections?

posted via John Cannell, MD on Vitamindcouncil.org

If You Take Oral Vitamin D You MUST Avoid Making This Serious Mistake

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Here is an article from Dr. Mercola on some of the latest studies on Vitamin D.

If You Take Oral Vitamin D You MUST Avoid Making This
Serious Mistake

By Dr. Mercola
Did you know there are two types of vitamin D, and they are NOT
interchangeable?

In fact, taking the wrong one could do you more harm than good… Drisdol is a synthetic form of vitamin D2—made by irradiating fungus and plant matter—and is the form of vitamin D typically prescribed by doctors. This is not the type produced by your body in response to sun or safe tanning bed exposure, which is vitamin D3.

A recent meta-analysis by the Cochrane Database looked at mortality rates
for people who supplemented their diets with D2 versus those who did so with D3, the form naturally produced by your body, highlighting the significant differences between the two.

Read the entire article here (PDF)

Understanding Vitamin D

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Many people living in the Portland area are deficient in Vitamin D. I have been surprised how many patients tested had very low levels of this important vitamin. The following is the information from vitamin D council. This website is very informative and all claims are substantiated with links to supporting research. I suggest you visit their website at vitamindcouncil.org and become informed of this problem affecting many of us here in Portland.

With proper testing we can determine the correct amount of supplementation you may need. We have a home test kit available.

“The high rate of natural production of vitamin D3, cholecalciferol, in the skin is the single most important fact every person should know about vitamin D — a fact that has profound implications for the natural human condition. Technically not a “vitamin,” vitamin D is in a class by itself.

Its metabolic product,calcitriol, is actually a secosteroid hormone that targets over 2000 genes (about 10% of the human genome) in the human body. Current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, and more.

Vitamin D’s influence on key biological functions vital to one’s health and well-being mandates that vitamin D no longer be ignored by the health care industry nor by individuals striving to achieve and maintain a greater state of health.”