Vitamin D: What the Latest Guidelines Really Say
Vitamin D: what has changed?
Back in February 2023, I shared an overview of vitamin D supplementation and how the world had spent that year, $1.18 billion USD on this supplement. Essentially that article stated:
"We have created another pseudo-disease that is encouraged by vitamin companies, patient groups, food manufacturers public health departments and charities".
TO ADD FURTHER WEIGHT:
Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London states that:
“Vitamin D, despite its star status, would not be called a vitamin today, as the doses needed are too large, the body can synthesise it from skin, and it is a steroid precursor.
Instead of relying on this impostor, healthy people should get vitamin D from small doses of sunshine every day as well as from food, such as fish, oil, mushrooms and dairy products”. read that article here
Since then, research and clinical guidance have continued to evolve.
So, what is the latest advice—and what does it mean for you?
Recent major studies
Limited bone protection
The BMJ review of over 153,000 adults suggest that calcium and vitamin D supplements provide little to no benefit for preventing fractures or falls in most older adults. Challenging long-standing guidelines [1]
Life Expectancy:
The QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute indicates that monthly vitamin D supplements do not increase life expectancy in the general population unless a verified deficiency exists. [1]
Supplement Interactions:
Emerging safety discussions suggest that certain forms, like vitamin D2 supplements, might actively reduce active vitamin D3 levels in the body. [1]
In other words, most healthy adults do not need regular testing or a vitamin D supplement simply as a precaution.
The takeaway.
May be helpful for some people, but
more is not always better—and
routine supplementation is not automatically necessary for everyone.
Rather,
"healthy people should get vitamin D from small doses of sunshine every day as well as from food, such as fish, oil, mushrooms and dairy products”
This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for individual medical advice. References: [1, 2].
