How to get the right dose of Vitamin D?

Question: from Alison

There has been a lot of hype in the news lately about Vitamin D deficiency and about current FDA recommendations being way too low. What are your thoughts on Vitamin D dosages? Will Xtendlife increase dosage amounts? Would love your advice!

Answer: from Warren

We feel that the current levels of Vitamin D recommended by the FDA are not too far off the mark. Probably a bit low but more sensible than some of the levels being touted in the media.

It is quite easy to overdose with Vitamin D, in particular the D2 form which is what many of the high dose supplements are. Vitamin D is an interesting nutrient and the supplement form is quite different to that which your body makes.

For example, when you expose yourself to sunshine, your body makes Vitamin D but not the activated form. It builds up in your fatty tissues and remains there and is released as your body needs it. This is why it is possible in the summer time to get enough Vitamin D from sunshine to last you through the winter.

In contrast Vitamin D in supplement form has a totally different action and acts differently in the body than the Vitamin D produced by sunshine. The body is designed to get its Vitamin D from the sun as opposed to ingesting it.

The liver is not familiar with having to process high doses of Vitamin D orally and this may be a factor why some people have problems with it. I am very much of the opinion that if levels of a specific ingredient are not possible to get by food intake then you are likely to put added stress on the body by forcing it to accept these levels.

High dose Vitamin D supplements come into that category as does high dose Vitamin C. Embrace the sun…sensibly… and then you won’t need to take high doses of Vitamin D. And, to answer your question whether we will increase the amount of Vitamin D in our products at this stage the answer is no, as we remain unconvinced on the long term benefits of doing so.

For those people who believe they should take more it is a cheap ingredient to buy and they can always take it in addition to their Total Balance.