A recent Reuters story entitled “Vitamin D, calcium disappoint in dementia study” raised some serious questions about the efficacy of Vitamin D: http://news.yahoo.com/vitamin-d-calcium-disappoint-dementia-study-043621176.html;_ylt=A2KJjb1.MMJQdWYA9ATQtDMD
David Blanco raises far more important issues on his Lifelink news blog about the efficacy and methodology of the studies reported by Reuters:
http://www.lifelinknet.com/siteResources/SuppsInNews/2011/07/VitD-Insane.asp
Vitamin D researchers challenge National Academy: “It’s just insane.”
As research sheds more and more light on the importance of maintaining high vitamin D levels in the body, researchers are challenging the overly timid recommendations made by a quasi-official body known as the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM is the health arm of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences;1 it is the organization that sets widely followed recommendations for vitamin dosages, among other things.
The problem seems to be that the IOM makes its decisions with blinders on. Last November, the IOM announced new recommendations for Vitamin D. In response to increasingly vociferous complaints that the old recommendation of 200 international units per day was far too low, the IOM had assigned a panel to study the issue and come up with a new daily dosage.
Research Methodology: is Vitamin D research flawed?
The panel looked at thousands of studies of vitamin D. They discarded all of them that did not utilize the most perfect statistical standards possible — disregarding any useful information that these not-quite-perfect studies contained. The panel then based its conclusions on the tiny fraction of studies that remained. All of the high-dose studies showing benefits for serious illnesses were disregarded for technical reasons. The panel concluded that the case for dosages higher than 600 i.u. per day had not yet been proved — one might say, “proved beyond a shadow of a doubt”. For the IOM, it seems, a shadow of a doubt is enough to justify keeping people on dosages that leave them at much higher risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s Disease, premature births, and many other serious conditions.2
Vitamin D researchers have denounced the Institute of Medicine for their foolishness. As one researcher put it, “These new IOM levels won’t accomplish anything. It’s just insane.”2
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: did he die at an early age due to Vitamin D deficiency?
In other vitamin D news, a new hypothesis suggests that the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died from infections stemming from a vitamin D deficiency.3 Mozart was just 35 years old.
LifeLink carries two vitamin D products:
- D3ZO is a high-potency vitamin D3 supplement with zinc orotate as a bioavailability enhancer.
- Formula CS Plus is a medium-potency vitamin D supplement that also aims to protect against osteoporosis by supplying a variety of bone enhancers.
References
[1] About the IOM Institute of Medicine website
[2] The power of D ScienceNews.org website; July 16, 2011; Vol.180 #2
[3] LACK OF VITAMIN D MAY HAVE KILLED MOZART Discovery News website, July 11, 2011
