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So far as I can tell, the only reasonably common deficiencies are vitamin D and magnesium, and among women anemia. Every other deficiency is in the tenths of a
by jaggederest 9y ago
So far as I can tell, the only reasonably common deficiencies are vitamin D and magnesium, and among women anemia.
Every other deficiency is in the tenths of a percent range, well outside of the level at which people in the general population would be treated if it were e.g. antibiotics or other non dietary drugs.
- smt88 9y agoVitamin D supplementation is also still controversial, so there isn't even good consensus on that.
- s4vi0r 9y agoCan you elaborate? I've never heard anything about that before. Your body can handle massive amounts of vitamin C and D, so its a bit surprising to hear that supplementing the (generally) small amount you'd find in a vit D pill could be harmful.
- rowyourboat 9y agoWhile it is basically impossible to overdose on Vitamin C, you can overdose on Vitamin D. It is fat-soluble, thus overdosing has a cumulative and delayed effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D However, that does not mean that vitamin D supplements are suspect in principle, just that before starting on a course of supplements, it might make sense to have your Vitamin D levels checked and the right dosage determined.
- im3w1l 9y agoFrom your page: > The recommended dietary allowance is 15 µg/d (600 IU per day; 800 IU for those over 70 years). Overdose has been observed at 1,925 µg/d (77,000 IU per day). So it seems you could even take 10x the recommendation and be fine. The risk of a reasonable supplement pushing you into overdose territory seems negligible.
- AstralStorm 9y agoAnd according to EPIC series epidemiology somewhere between 2000 and 3000 IU seems best at total mortality. It is a very flat J curve though.
- astrange 9y agoBTW, rumor has it the RDA was miscalculated and should be about twice as high. https://examine.com/nutrition/should-1000-iu-be-the-new-rda-for-vitamin-d/ https://examine.com/nutrition/should-1000-iu-be-the-new-rda-...
- mtgx 9y agoAs far as I've heard 10,000 IU is regarded as almost definitely non-toxic, and toxicity seems to have been noticed around 40,000 IU per day. However, in the summer you may want to drop that below 5,000 or even stop supplementing completely, depending how much you're in the sun. Vitamin K2 also seems to be necessary in combination with D3. But it's not clear to me if 100 mcg MK-7 is enough or if you need to supplement Mk-4 more often or eat more MK-4 foods (the latter is probably preferable).
- logfromblammo 9y agoThe largest-dose individual, non-prescription vitamin D supplement pill I have ever seen is 5000 IU, so you'd have to take 10 of those every day, for months, to develop a toxicity symptom. At that point, the per-pill cost of the supplement and the sheer number of pills combine to discourage overdose. If you have a confirmed deficiency, a doctor can prescribe a limited course of higher-dose pills to get your serum levels back up quickly. I take cholecalciferol (D3) and menatetrenone (K2-MK4) daily, along with a multivitamin that was essentially a gratis 2.7-year supply, thanks to a fortuitous coupon + sale price interaction, so it isn't actually just making my pee more expensive. I'd feel wasteful throwing it away after someone paid me to take it home, and it'd be great if it activated a placebo effect. Also, I can't bring myself to like natto.
- vixen99 9y agoYes, indeed! http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(15)00244-X/pdf http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(15)0... "The evidence is clear that vitamin D toxicity is one of the rarest medical conditions and is typically due to intentional or inadvertent intake of extremely high doses of vitamin D (usually in the range of >50,000-100,000 IU/d for months to years)". The significant advantages of D3 supplementation for sun-starved people are evident in the literature.
- Angostura 9y agoVitamin D is the only supplement that the NHS recommends for the general population, particularly over winter. I’m happy to take it.
- nabla9 9y agoVitamin D supplementation for vitamin D deficiency that is quite common is not controversial at all. If you mean taking more D than is needed, your are correct. You can measure the D vitamin levels from blood serum. < 30 nmol/L is vitamin D deficiency 30 - 50 nmol/L is considered inadequate 50 - 125 nmol/L is adequate > 150 nmol/L evidence of potential adverse effects Adequate level has increased over the years.
- cJ0th 9y agobut shouldn't you always complement vitamin d intake with vitamin k? If I recall correctly (I am not sure!) then vitamin d without vitamin k can be harmful.
- astrange 9y agoVitamin K is found in vegetables, so you don't need to supplement it. I think the worry is that too much Vitamin D contributes to buildup in arteries over the long term, and K helps to clean it.
- literallycancer 9y ago>Vitamin K is found in vegetables "Vegetables" is a category that's about as useful in this context as "food".
- Cthulhu_ 9y ago
- newnewpdro 9y agoB12 is another deficiency that is definitely more common than tenths of a percent in the United States. [1] [1] https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2000/b12-deficiency-may-be-more-widespread-than-thought https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2000...
- cs02rm0 9y agoYep, though I'd imagine tablets won't address the deficiency for most of those.
- 52-6F-62 9y agoThough you’re referring to those who require regular or semi regular injections— As an aside to the larger topic I’ve a B12/iron and D deficiency. A combination of diet and tablet form supplement has been life changing.
- belltaco 9y agoWhy? It has been accepted that oral supplementation is as good as injectable for a while now.
- goldenkey 9y agoMost people who have B12 deficiency like my mother, are unable to absorb the oral form due to some type of malignancy. Injections are the only way to increase serum levels for her.
- newnewpdro 9y agoThere are varying forms of oral B12 supplementation. The sublingual kind does not involve the digestive system, it's absorbed diffusely at the mouth/throat. Jarrows makes them in methylcobalamin form. Note however in my experience it caused painful neck stiffness after a week of use. But there were other positive effects observed, so it was definitely doing something. The lucid dreaming on the first couple days was quite interesting.
- ipunchghosts 9y agoZinc as well.
- AstralStorm 9y agoStory with zinc is much less than certain actually... likewise with boron.
- ipunchghosts 9y agoI would disagree. https://examine.com/supplements/zinc/#summary1-3 https://examine.com/supplements/zinc/#summary1-3
- AstralStorm 9y agoRead the page again about 10% estimated below RDA in the US. Then the RDA is not exactly very well validated and being below it does not mean being deficient.
- gilleain 9y agoBoron? What on earth would you do with that? Is it used in some metabolic process somewhere? edit: Ok, according to "Devirian, T.A. and Volpe, S.L., 2003. The physiological effects of dietary boron." > Boron is known to influence a variety of metabolic actions. It interacts with calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium, which are all important in bone metabolism. Boron accumulates in bone in concentrations dependent on the amount of boron consumed. Boron has also been found to increase steroid hormone concentrations in postmenopausal women and to have antioxidant properties, which could make it beneficial in preventing atherosclerosis
- mtgx 9y agoYou can tell if you have zinc deficiency if you have those white dots on your fingernails. Although that's more in the range of "severe deficiency" so if you ever notice that symptom you should try to be more mindful about your zinc intake in the future (food or supplements).
- waskosky 9y agoIodine deficiency is still shockingly widespread. According to World Health Organization, "Iodine deficiency is the world’s most prevalent, yet easily preventable, cause of brain damage." http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/idd/en/ http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/idd/en/ And many believe it is even still widespread in first world countries: https://hypothyroidmom.com/busting-the-iodine-myths/ https://hypothyroidmom.com/busting-the-iodine-myths/
- amelius 9y agoAbout 1-3% of middle aged people have insufficient stomach acid, meaning that nutrients are not fully absorbed.
- richardthered 9y agoAny suggestions for good treatment options? Taking acid pills with meals (Betain HCL) is one possibility. Any others?
- HillaryBriss 9y agoNot highly confident about this, but i've heard anecdotes that lemon juice sometimes helps.
- amelius 9y agoPerhaps it works better if you combine it with beetroot juice (which contains a lot of betaine).
- mtgx 9y agoWhat about K2?
- AstralStorm 9y agoIt is being thoroughly investigated.
- throwawayk2 9y agoVitamin K2 is important insofar as it's synergistic with magnesium and vitamin D.
- pokemongoaway 9y agoIronic how the majority of replies in a geek thread are so confident about health when we know - statistically speaking - the majority of you geeks are in terrible health!
- gtd 9y agoWhat do you mean "you geeks", is this fucking high school?
- pokemongoaway 9y agoRight, pattern recognition is evil except it is used by geeks to build targeted advertising... You sound bitter. Can't help but instigate a little in a thread full of various arguments that aren't mutually exclusive, but whose proponents seem unwilling to duke it out. Yeah, right, I'm talking like a "jock" now slams locker door :P
- sp332 9y agoA tenth of a percent of the U.S population is 300,000 people. (I don't really understand what the rest of your comment means.)
- opo 9y agoIn a study of college athletes, males were deficient in about 40% of the vitamins and 50% of the minerals required. The female athletes were better but were still deficient in 29% of the vitamins and 40% of the minerals RDA. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129155/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129155/
- brokensegue 9y agoThat paper is remarkably low quality.
- Lost_BiomedE 9y agoAlso potassium. Very few hit the RDA and most are shocked how high it is.