Vitamin D

I'm taking 1000 mg of Vitamin D daily because Suzanne (my nutrition guru), who generally favors eating real food over popping supplements, says that it has been consistently associated with better cancer treatment outcomes. In fact, she takes the same supplement herself and thinks that almost everyone should.

Her article explaining the whys and hows of Vitamin D much better than I ever could is here: Vitamin D, Wonder Nutrient

The importance of Vitamin D supplementation is definitely not recognized in Holland. At the Bio Markt (the Dutch version of Whole Foods), there are floor-to-ceiling shelves of vitamins in alphabetical order. Vitamin C can claim almost a whole shelf to itself. But there is a gap between Vitamin C and Vitamin E, a dark hollow space that seems to say: no, we didn't misshelve D, we just don't think you should take it.

At Etos (the Dutch version of Long's or CVS), I could only find Vitamin D in combination with calcium. Three of these tablets a day would provide 750 mg of calcium and 7.5 mg of Vitamin D. But the recommended dose of Vitamin D is at least 1000 mg!

After mentioning this to Suzanne, she sent me a link to her source of Vitamin D. I ended up ordering 1000 mg Vitamin D gelcaps very cheaply (180 gelcaps for about 9 dollars, including shipping) via iherb.com and having them shipped to my brother, who will be flying here next week.

This whole experience has started me thinking that Vitamin D misinformation could be one of the biggest public health problems that should be addressed. If I were to accept everything that Suzanne wrote in her article, there are a number of things that should be changed:

1) Vitamin D supplementation should be included as part of chemotherapy treatment, if not already taken.

2) Vitamin D in higher doses should be made readily available wherever vitamins are sold.

3) The general public should be encouraged to swallow Vitamin D daily, especially in the north, through general media campaigns.

4) Certain high-risk populations (African-Americans living in Europe for example) should be targeted through tailored media campaigns.

5) Vitamin D supplementation should be taught in schools (at what age should it begin?)

It seems to me that there is a real need for a grass-roots campaign to increase the visibility of Vitamin D (perhaps following the trajectory of the successful campaign to increase calcium supplementation in adult women), but I'm not sure that I have the time or energy to launch it.