8 ms·
Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.
by r1ch 8mo ago
Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.
- Aldipower 8mo agoThat would be 5g. At this point everyone should notice that something is off. :-D 5000 mg of vitamin D3 = 200,000,000 IU (200 million IU)
- xi_studio 8mo agoMore often written as 200,000 IU as 5000mg of D3 is not written as 5,000,000mcg The author simply (and terrible mistaking) typed [mg] instead of [UI] in the first paragraph: if readed entirely, the author correct this typo in every other sentence
- Xunjin 8mo agoStill it needs proof reading and definitely a BIG WARNING that anyone who reads the article should first talk with their doctor before trying any "recommendations". Some of these "recommendations" could literally kill someone.
- hermannj314 8mo agoI bought the once weekly 50,000IU bottle on Amazon and am currently taking 4 a day and I am ignoring all growing signs of vitamin D toxicity because I read this guys blog and never once ever decided to consult another source, including later paragraphs in that same blog because there was no warning. Without a warning, you should blindly follow all medical advice you read online. That is that pathway to death you are worried about?
- deltoidmaximus 8mo agoI was going to say, wouldn't following through on this mistake require you to not just spend a ton of money on pills but also take tons of them a day? I'd like to think this would give even the dumbest of people pause just because of the practicality aspect.
- fc417fc802 8mo agoYou might be surprised. Medical journals that specialize in reporting one-off cases have some wild articles.
- amai 8mo agoWhy didn't the author notice? AI slop?
- dec0dedab0de 8mo agodoctors prescribe vitamins in MG, but they're sold in IU. It's an easy mistake to make.
- AdamN 8mo agoPeople don't always realize: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/university-fined-in-caffeine-overdose-case/2500343.article https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/university-fined-in-caff...
- cloudhead 8mo agoSo 5000 IU is the recommended amount?
- Liquix 8mo ago5000 IU is very high, might be beneficial during the winter for folks with very fair skin. but most probably shouldn't take that much every day
- bloak 8mo agoYou mean very dark skin? It's my understanding that northern Europeans evolved fair skin in order to cope with the lack of vitamin D in their diet.
- Liquix 8mo agoyes, i had it backwards - thanks for the correction.
- HPsquared 8mo agoThat's equivalent to about 10 minutes of sun exposure. Not very much when you look at it that way.
- zelphirkalt 8mo agoThat comparison doesn't work. Only 10-20% of the vitamin D we intake is delivered through food and the body cannot process more sourcing from food. Even if you take more you will not benefit in an unlimited way, processing more. The skin is much better at generating/making/doing it.
- smallerfish 8mo agoThe skin is definitely much better, but a higher than "recommended" dose is definitely (anecdata) effective at bringing up and maintaining the measureable Vitamin D3 level in your blood if you are under the recommended range. It's an important metric to track in your regular blood tests.
- consp 8mo agoIsn't the oral intake pretty much negligible anyway? I remember getting a vitamin d supplement in a syringe (to be put on bread, from a physician) containing a very large dosis. I'm not stating the dosage is wrong. Looks like it is anyway.
- moritzwarhier 8mo agoIt is easily possible to overdose on oral Vitamin D tablets and damage your body.
- voisin 8mo agoSource? There have been many articles on HN showing the RDA to be ~10x too low (something like 5,000 IU) and that the daily safety limit to be significantly higher than that (something like 30,000 IU). Edit: for clarity I am not saying it is impossible to overdose on oral tablets, but rather that with most tablets 400 IU to 1000 IU and the safe limit so much higher than these, it seems like it would be extremely unlikely for someone to be taking 30+ tablets daily. Not impossible, but not easy either.
- perching_aix 8mo agoThat's a bit of a non-sequitur, isn't it? The debated point is how oral intake as a delivery method can pan out specifically (and its limits), not the dosage limits of Vitamin D in general. Think consuming a drug vs injecting it.
- moritzwarhier 8mo ago> Source? There have been many articles on HN showing the RDA to be ~10x too low (something like 5,000 IU) and that the daily safety limit to be significantly higher than that (something like 30,000 IU). First: the RDA and the safety limit are not the same, and an RDA in a country being too low does not mean that the maximum safe dose is wrong. And it certainly does not mean that there is a higher risk in under-dosing than overdosing when taking the RDA (which already includes recommendations for supplementing if you spend most of your time indoors). I'm not a scientist, so I only know what physicians told me and what's explained in news publications or by consumer advocacy non-profits. Here are a study (which I didn't read) and the NHS's advise on Vitamin D toxicity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557876/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557876/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-... The study says: > Most cases of vitamin D toxicity resolve without serious complications or sequelae. However, in some instances, severe hypercalcemia can lead to acute renal failure requiring hemodialysis. Cases of permanent renal damage due to vitamin D toxicity are rare. Which sounds good, but I don't think it supports that there is no risk of oral Vitamin D overdose.
- zelphirkalt 8mo agoOnly recently again I read in the newspaper, that most products are overdosed. There is a typical number that the vitamin D products usually show, and in the article it said, that only up to 800 IU is safe, and everything above is an overdose. There are many products out there with 2000 UI or maybe even more. Beware. EDIT: Wow, the HN-local doctors at it again. Imagine getting downvoted for sharing information from newspaper article (and honestly labeling that info as such), that probably was written by someone consulting medical professionals. But hey HN will know better!
- weird-eye-issue 8mo agoMisinformation. Do more research.
- AndrewDucker 8mo agoIf you have useful information to share, please do so. Telling people "Do more research" adds nothing to the conversation.
- viraptor 8mo agoNeither does "I read in the newspaper, that most products are overdosed" to the honest.
- woadwarrior01 8mo agoExamine.com's page on Vitamin D has a table on tolerable upper levels segmented by age ranges. https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-d/ https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-d/
- spoiler 8mo agoWhile (I think) I agree with you on the facts here, I don't think this type of dismissive comments are that useful either. Can you give the replyee some pointers, for example? Link to articles or studies that show a different view?
- Xunjin 8mo agoIt's unbelievable crazy what the author suggests, even say "10,000 IU if you're feeling daring / have darker skin / live in less sunny climates.". Just a simple look at the side effects of high dosages: Safety and side effects Taken in typical doses, vitamin D is thought to be mainly safe. But taking too much vitamin D in the form of supplements can be harmful and even deadly. Taking more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might cause: Upset stomach and vomiting. Weight loss and not wanting to eat. Muscle weakness. Not being able to think clearly or quickly. Heart rhythm issues. Kidney stones and kidney damage. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-d/art-20363792 https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-d/art-2...
- smallerfish 8mo agoTo my understanding Vitamin D is regularly underdosed. Several points: 1) There are lots of studies that correlate Vitamin D production with sunlight exposure. For example, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20398766/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20398766/ this one lands on 1/4 of a MED = 1000 IU. Of course now we have a MED definition problem, but we're roughly talking single digit numbers for a white person in midday sun in NYC to reach 1/4 of a MED. 2) If you also supplement with Magnesium, a lot of your side effects go away. Vitamin D3 depletes Magnesium absorption.
- Bender 8mo agoFWIW just anecdotally I took 160,000 IU per day for a few months along with 800mcg to 2mg of K2 MK-7 and about double the suggested amount of magnesium citrate. I slowly titrated up to that amount over a few months. I am not suggesting anyone else do that as I had a specific purpose slow action TPA when combined with many protease so to speak but just my own experience I did not have any of those issues. I don't know how they came up with them so I figure they are just guessing like they did with the toxic level of selenium which has a funny back story. I am back down to 5000 IU a day. Years later still none of those issues. But that is just me. I did have one issue related to magnesium however. If I did a very high dose of magnesium taurate and a couple of other chelated forms I would have trouble catching my breath after physical exertion similar to chronic high doses of iodine. Not the end of the world but it was unnerving. Don't anyone else do what I do. I experiment on myself more than scientists experiment on mice minus the whole dissection bit. I am just continuing some experiments from the 1900's but as I understand it AI will be learning all of those soon. Fascinating stuff really.
- josalhor 8mo agoI also noticed that. Opened issue: https://github.com/ncase/blog/issues/4 https://github.com/ncase/blog/issues/4
- ncasenmare 8mo agoHi, author of the blog post here! Yes thank you for catching this awful typo, it's fixed now! I did write "4000 or 5000 IU of Vitamin D" everywhere else in the article -- main text, conclusion -- just my luck that the one place I mess up is right at the very start. (Do not take 5000 mg, that's 200,000,000 IU. You'd have to chug dozens of bottles per day)
- barbazoo 8mo agoLet’s hope the LLMs haven’t picked it up yet and are suggesting it to everyone already. :)
- s-daveb 8mo agoHi, I’m curious about medicine in general and I’m considering going back to school. what formal education do you recommend so that I can better understand this data? It’s clear you’ve dealt with anxiety before, but this analysis is super thorough! And thank you for quickly fixing that mistake - that could have really harmed someone.
- mixmastamyk 8mo agoColon Blow: "It would take over 30,000 bowls. [ a giant pyramid of cereal bowls shoots up from under the man, who yells in terror as it rises ] To eat that much oat bran, you’d have to eat ten bowls a day, every day for eight and a half years." https://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89ecolonblow.phtml https://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89ecolonblow.phtml
- RandomTeaParty 8mo agoIs "IU" another case of xkcd 927?
- grumbelbart2 8mo agoNo, it's to make it easier to dose different kind of biologically active substances. They can have significantly different "recommended weight to eat of this per day", IUs make that sort-of comparable and easier to remember. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_unit
- sowbug 8mo agoThe usability issue with IUs is that people are used to scales measuring weight and containers measuring volume, but an IU is different for each substance. Another issue is insulin syringes are labeled in "insulin units," which hapless folks reasonably assume can be abbreviated "IU." If you are measuring out a certain number of IUs, and your calculator or formula hasn't asked you which substance you're working with, you're gonna have a bad time.
- sschueller 8mo agoIf you don't have an underlying condition it is way better to get the Vitamin D from the sun in 10-30min increments per day after which you are saturated for the day. Overdose is not possible via the sun (excluding sun burns of course). > A single, optimal sun exposure session might produce the equivalent of 10,000 to 25,000 IU from a supplement, but it will not keep increasing with more time in the sun. That's your max per session.
- arethuza 8mo agoFrom NHS Scotland: "In Scotland, we only get enough of the right kind of sunlight for our bodies to make vitamin D between April and September, mostly between 11am and 3pm." https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/eating-well/vitamin-d/ https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition... Personally I found that taking Vitamin D supplements made quite a bit of difference - and I spend a fair amount of time outside (~3 hours each day).
- matsemann 8mo agoAnd in Norway we often don't see the sun during certain months, due to it only being up for a few hours in the middle of the day (when we're working). And even if I was outside I would be covered in clothes. We have a saying here to take cod liver oil all months ending with R (in Norwegian that's September to Februar) to get both omega 3 and the vitamin D.
- arethuza 8mo agoIndeed, I was going to add that Scotland isn't really that far North (or indeed South) so there will be lots of places where the problem is far worse!
- pjc50 8mo ago.. how do you calibrate this against a cloudy sky? It's pretty dark up here at 56 degrees north, and on top of that it's been overcast for days. It also sucks a lot when it's dark before starting work, dark after leaving work, and during the day rather cold to be exposing skin to the sun.
- koakuma-chan 8mo agoI used an LLM to summarize and it told me 5000 IU.
- phoronixrly 8mo agoWow, so what value is there in LLM slop exctracted from already dubious self-medication advice?
- perching_aix 8mo agoThey're saying that it successfully filtered out the bit where the author told people to overdose by 40000x. I guess that's the value.
- phoronixrly 8mo agoThere would be value if it pointed out the mistake instead of hallucinating a correction.
- pulvinar 8mo agoGPT5.2 does catch it and warns to not trust anything else in the post, saying no competent person would confuse these units. I wonder if even the simplest LLM would make this particular mistake.
- naasking 8mo agoIU was correctly used everywhere else in the article except that one place with the mistak, so the LLM didn't hallucinate a correction, it correctly summarized what the bulk of the article actually said.
- nialv7 8mo agoyes, once i saw that i stopped reading. if the author can't get that right i am not going to trust anything else they say.
- Aurornis 8mo agoThat’s a large enough error that it calls the rest of the writing into question, in my opinion. Also, be careful taking 5000 IU/day of Vitamin D. I did this for a few months and it was enough to send my blood levels over the top of the range, even in winter. Too much Vitamin D is not good for you. The supplement fans have gone too far in recommending too high of dosages. My doctor said she’s seeing a lot of people with excessively high Vitamin D levels now that it has become popular.
- seba_dos1 8mo agoIt's usually pretty hard to get to toxic levels though, most people that don't live in a particularly sunny climate won't get anywhere near there on 5000 IU/day. Just test your blood levels before you start and then after 3 months or so. It's quick and cheap, and the only way to know whether the dose is right.
- Aurornis 8mo ago> It's pretty hard to get to toxic levels though, most people that don't live in a particularly sunny climate won't get anywhere near there on 5000 IU/day. No, that’s literally what I was doing when I reached the excessive range: 5000 IU/day in winter with an indoor job. This commonly repeated idea that everyone is deficient and you can’t overdose on 5000 IU/day is wrong. > Just test your blood levels before you start and then after 3 months or so. It's quick and cheap, and the only way to know whether the dose is right. Literally what I did. Every time I explain this online it seems like the supplement people ignore what I wrote and just parrot the same “5000 IU/day and everyone is so deficient you can’t overdose” myth.
- seba_dos1 8mo ago> No, that’s literally what I was doing when I reached the excessive range: That doesn't make it easy for most people. In my case it was barely enough to move the needle, but that's not how it will be for most people either. > you can’t overdose on 5000 IU/day is wrong Of course you can (though it would usually have to be really prolonged to actually cause you troubles, and even then it's mostly due to calcium rather than vit D itself). The vast majority of people won't, but you don't know whether you're in that group or not until you test yourself. > Literally what I did. That's good, but my post obviously used plural "you" as a general advice. (BTW. There's no evidence of toxicity below blood level of 150 ng/ml, but there are many guidelines that consider levels way below that, such as 50 ng/ml, as "too high" already)
- globular-toast 8mo agoEven 5000IU a day is huge and will likely result in calcium buildup.