By Jonathan Evans
Herbal Information Specialist for the Herbarium
By this point in the summer you have probably been out in the summer sun, soaking up the rays and getting plenty of vitamin D.
Or are you?
We know you need vitamin D to help build strong bones, but according to WebMD, a D deficiency has also been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, depression, weight gain, and other maladies.
Despite evidence of its importance, the question of vitamin D’s optimum level for health – and the best way to achieve it – continues to loom large among medical groups and government agencies.
The D conundrum
Vitamin D supplementation has interested me for several years. Most people have figured they got enough vitamin D from their daily milk intake. 400 IUs (international units, a measurement used for fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E) of D was the suggested amount for as long as I can remember. Several years ago, however the government was about to lower the recommendation for vitamin D to 200 IUs
Then all of a sudden, customers were coming into the Herbarium with prescriptions calling for 50,000 IUs of vitamin D.
At first I thought they had misread their prescriptions, but after seeing several, I tried to find where this figure came from.
I mean, really, going from 200 to 400 recommended IUs and jumping to 50,000 is a bit extreme. To this day, I still cannot find why the major jump appeared for these customers.
Adding to the confusion, people would take the 50K dose of vitamin D for three months and still be deficient in the vitamin.
Something was obviously wrong somewhere.
A broader look at vitamin D
Some years ago I came across a series of interviews with Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, who had done extensive research into the importance of vitamin D. (For a full discussion on D, go to www.vitaminDcouncil.org.)
Cannel’s research was amazing. He showed a direct correlation between the rise in autoimmune diseases in children, allergies, asthma, ADD (attention deficit disorder) and more conditions and the retreat from being in the sun and playing outside.
Think about it. For many generations sick patients were put out in the sun, hospitals had solariums, because it was understood there was healing power in the sun’s rays.
Then in the 1970s, people were warned about too much sun exposure, skin cancer, and more. Add to the fact that in the 1980s kids were playing more indoors as video games became popular, sunscreen lotions were being slathered on in copious amounts, and UV/UA sunglasses were the rage. Studies even showed the ubiquitous sun bunnies in Southern California were vitamin D deficient, mostly because of the use of sunglasses and sunscreen.
Why are we deficient?
The way most people got sufficient vitamin D in the past was from being outdoors in the morning sun with face, hands and arms exposed. Twenty to 30 minutes a day was sufficient for most, with little chance of skin cancer. It still is. If you want to up your vitamin D levels naturally, try to get sun exposure without sunglasses for the same amount of time in the same manner – and forego the sunglasses. Full spectrum sunlight stimulates the rods and cones in your eyes and that helps you produce vitamin D.
Another reason people are deficient in vitamin D – even with taking a mega-dose as a supplement – is probably because vitamin D is fat-soluble and it needs fat to be absorbed properly. The people I talked to would take their vitamin D pill once a week with a glass of water and go on their merry way. And they got a not very good result.
Add to this observation the fact that magnesium helps activate vitamin D, and most Americans are also magnesium deficient, and you can see the problems.
Getting the right amount
So who do you listen to? The new government levels for vitamin D are listed at 600 IUs, which still seems rather low. The Vitamin D Council calls for 5,000 or more IUs, which seems high. I think a reasonable level is in the 2-3,000 IU range, also depending on your daily or regular sun exposure sans sunscreen.
Vitamin D is very important for so many health reasons. D helps immune response, bone building and it has anti cancer activity, to name a few. In all the years we have been selling vitamin D supplements at Herbarium, I have not seen anyone who has too much vitamin D.
Lastly, TIME magazine recently had an article about mushrooms and their health benefits. One interesting thing the article noted was that the little white button mushrooms you find available just about everywhere can actually produce vitamin D if you put them out in the sun for about half an hour. If you cut them up and expose more surfaces they will produce your daily requirement of 600 IUs. Pretty remarkable don’t you think?
— Jonathan
Send questions on botanical remedies to: Natures Rx: Jonathan Evans at herbarium258@gmail.com, or by regular mail to: The Herbarium, 264 Exchange St., Chicopee, MA. 01013. If requesting additional info, include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
