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Related post by Scott Alexander: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/covidvitamin-d-much-more-than-you https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/covidvitamin-d-mu
by frankus 6y ago
Related post by Scott Alexander: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/covidvitamin-d-much-more-than-you https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/covidvitamin-d-much-mo...
- cj 6y agoThis quote from the article you linked to sums up my viewpoint well: > If it does prevent or cure coronavirus, great. If not, the worst that will happen is you'll have slightly better bone health. Taking Vitamin D daily is like taking Vitamin C daily. Who knows if it actually helps, but we know it doesn’t hurt, so why not. Edit: (as mentioned by commenters below, obviously don’t swallow more than the recommended dose on the bottle)
- wunderflix 6y agoThere is a doctor on HN who frequently writes about how bad overdosing Vitamin D can be. So I’d be careful on the dosage at least.
- llovan 6y agoI get extreme migraines if I take it every day for more than a week. For me, eating Vitamin D fortified foods and sunlight seems to be more than enough.
- wang_li 6y agoVitamin C is water soluble, excess is excreted in your urine. Vitamin D is fat soluble. If you take more than your body can use it builds up inside you. It can cause problems if too much accumulates.
- pbak 6y agoWhat kind of problems, in what kind of circumstances ?
- Jtsummers 6y agoNausea, vomiting, weakness, frequent urination, kidney stones. It's really hard to get too much Vitamin D from food (doesn't have enough) and sun exposure (the body usually regulates itself well enough) so it's primarily supplements that cause Vitamin D toxicity unless you have other medical issues going on. It's definitely a supplement that's better taken under guidance of a physician who can order labs to monitor serum levels. EDIT: It's worth noting that it takes a very high and frequent dose (60,000 IU daily, for instance, can cause it which is about 100x the recommended daily allowance of 600 IU).
- pbak 6y agoThanks. Couple friends got diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency after going through Covid, both got 1-2k i.u, a day. But 60K? Good god. That really seems like overdoing it !!!
- Jtsummers 6y agoNP. Yeah, I was recently tested and found very deficient and even my doctor didn't prescribe anything close to that level. I'm at ~14k/day (50k twice a week) for 12 weeks. Talking with my colleagues, it seems most are on a prescribed Vitamin D supplement (or an encouraged supplement), but no one else was even close to my level. One has a 10,000 IU daily dose for 8 weeks, the rest have 1k-2k (like your friends) indefinite daily dose or just for the winter to carry them through.