Vitamin D3 – Easy to Measure and Important to Correct

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Don't Know About The Importance of D3?: Start with these basics:

At every first psychiatric interview, especially here in the middle of northern hemisphere winter, especially in the Northern US, Canada, Alaska, Russia, the Scandinavian Countries, and in China, – and if you or your client is African American always ask the SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder question:

Do you become more depressed starting in the fall, around Halloween or Thanksgiving here in the US? Does it last until spring? Have you been chalking it up to the Holiday Blues?

I read about SAD for years, and yet didn't know about Vit D3. Vit D3 is easily to measure in the laboratory, useful, and is attended by multiple specific peer reviewed literature. I first wrote about SAD and D3 Deficiency here at CorePsychBlog almost 2 years ago, and find the medical community has become much more informed since that first article.

D3 is different than D2, and we should all know about those treatment implications. See this video by Cannell and the differences between D2 and D3 here on this CorePsych Blog post.

Download: The Use of Vitamin D in Clinical Practice Download UseofVitDinClinicalPractice
– is a new, excellent 15 page White Paper that includes a meta-analysis of 18 randomized control trials, and deals with everything from medical to legal implications of prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment of Vit D deficiency – with implications for “most of the diseases of civilization.”  I have it loaded as well on my Useful References page here at CorePsychBlog with another Vit D overview article by the same lead author: JJ Cannell MD.

– Strongly recommended for your winter thinking!
cp

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6 Comments

  1. Josh H says:
    January 3, 2013 at 9:12 PM

    Doc,

    This is one thing I forgot to mention last time we talked. I got my D levels measured back in August-September which were on the low end (34), GP suggested 5000U daily which I have been doing. Expect to retest on 2/14 I believe, have you ever experienced noticeable improvement through D3 level corrections alone?

    • Dr Charles Parker says:
      January 4, 2013 at 6:13 AM

      Absolutely, but not categorically. The interference from other biomedical factors such as low iron and Vit c can prevent assimilation of D3 leaving no improvement. Most important oversight: missing the IgG contribution to the D3 problem in the first place.

      • Josh H says:
        January 4, 2013 at 12:27 PM

        I have experienced success with Vitamin C as well, specifically the James Wilson formulation.

        All the more reason to get the TMA because until you do that you are shooting in the dark, something I’m not a fan of.

  2. Dr Charles Parker says:
    January 7, 2009 at 6:03 AM

    g,
    I do look forward to having him on a podcast this year – the vitamin D issue, as many now know from Dr Cannell’s excellent articles, can have pervasive effects – just replied to a comment asking about hair loss.

    Another D issue to watch for: even if corrected you can slide back into the abyss. Once you find the D problem it’s good to have checkups later, at your yearly physical, because it can slide around. Sometimes you need more Vit C to fix the rusty pipes that preclude it coming on board.

    A physician colleague in DC who introduced me to the Vit D issue, an expert in functional medicine, recently retested and found his was 14, after he had been supplementing! He increased the dose, added a good calcium/magnesium supplement and dosed up on Vit C.

    For instructions on how to test for Vit C deficiency: See the Useful References here and sit down with your husband for a real laugh – but not at dinner. Vit C Calibration: Science with comic relief.

    Thanks,
    cp

  3. Gina Pera says:
    January 6, 2009 at 2:58 PM

    As usual, you were on the vanguard, Dr. Parker. Thank you for this timely seasonal reminder.

    When we checked our Vitamin D levels a few years ago (inspired by Dr. Cannell and the Vitamin D council), mine was 45 but my husband’s was 17! He’d grown up in the far north and then lived in Paris. But even after five years of living in San Diego, getting a lot of sunshine, his level was still critically low.

    Dr. Cannell is a personal hero. When I interviewed him for a podcast five years ago, he said he was (paraphrasing) looking for a way to do the most good for the most people — one health issue that was epidemic but inexpensively remedied. When his investigations led him to Vitamin D , he was astounded at the widespread deficiency and the link to so many diseases and disorders. Plus, sunshine is free and D3 supplements cheap!

    He was absolutely fearless in taking on the Dermotology establishment, which had done much to irrationally scare the public out of the sun and thus become even more Vitamin D deficient.

    I found his paper examining the link between Vitamin D deficiency and autism remarkably noteworthy — something every OB/GYN and woman of child-bearing age should read.

    Thanks again,
    g