The Institute of Medicine recommendations on vitamin D are a new low in ignorance and data suppression.

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By Marc Sorenson, EdD

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), a health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has just released its long-awaited vitamin D supplementation recommendations. To the disappointment of the world’s leading vitamin D scientists, those recommendations make a mockery of an exhaustive body of scientific research.

The IOM suggests that 600 international units (IU) of supplemented vitamin D3 per day is ideal, and that a blood level of 20 ng/ml is sufficient for optimal human health. The IOM also suggests that supplementation with higher quantities of vitamin D could be harmful and that there are no randomized controlled trials to prove the safety or efficacy of higher levels of supplementation.

The Sunlight Institute declares that the IOM’s recommendations are ill-conceived and dangerous for the following seven reasons:

1. Extensive research indicates that if there were no other dietary source of vitamin D, 600 IU per day in adults would produce a blood level, on average, of about 6 ng/ml, a level so low that it correlates to the occurrence of the disease osteomalacia or “adult rickets.” Incredibly, in the press conference, it was stated that 600 IU would be adequate at the North and South Poles.

2. The IOM considers the 600-IU-per-day recommendation, added to dietary sources and sunlight exposure, to be sufficient for optimal health. In reality, little vitamin D is present in foods. For example, three glasses of vitamin D-fortified milk provides only 300 IU; 3.5 oz. of farmed salmon, 200 IU; a glass of fortified orange juice, 100 IU totaling a mere 1,200 IU per day including the IOM-recommended 600 IU supplement. Sunlight exposure, the most natural and productive source of vitamin D, could easily fill in the gap to a 2,000 IU level during the summer, but in the winter, north of latitude 340,(On a line from Los Angeles to Atlanta, for example) little or no vitamin D is produced. In the northern US and in Canada, “vitamin D winter” (the time during which the body cannot produce any vitamin D from the reduced amount of available sunshine) lasts for several months. Ninety-five percent of Canadians are considered (by non-IOM measures) to be D deficient in winter, and Americans in the Northern states are not much better. A 600-IU supplement plus the IOM’s recommended food sources is a recipe for a winter health disaster, which may include highly increased susceptibility to colds, influenza, cancer, heart disease MS, septicemia and numerous other maladies. It was also stated at the IOM press conference that the average American gets 200-300 IU from food.

3. Vitamin D blood level of 20 ng/ml are not really even sufficient for bone health, and that number sets research back several years. The “normal vitamin D range” printed on laboratory blood-test results prior to 2005 was from 8.9 ng/ml to 46.7 ng/ml. Based on newer research findings, that range changed after 2005, and lab test results began carrying the statement, “Recent studies consider the lower limit of 32 ng/ml to be a threshold for optimal health” with a reference to research conducted by Dr. Bruce Hollis who is widely regarded as one of the world’s top vitamin D scientists. (Hollis BW. J Nutr 2005;135:317-22) Dr. Hollis stated: “The current adult recommendations for vitamin D, 200-600 IU per day, are very inadequate when one considers that a 10-15 min whole-body exposure to peak summer sun will generate and release up to 20,000 IU vitamin D-3 into the circulation.” Hollis has also established that pregnant and lactating women need as much as 6,000 IU daily to provide for their own and their infants’ needs (Hollis, BW. J Bone Miner Res 2007;22, suppl 2:V39-44). The IOM’s low recommendations attempt to take us back to the Dark Ages of vitamin D knowledge.

4. The fact that up to 20,000 IU of vitamin D can be produced by sunlight exposure (the natural source of vitamin D) defines the IOM recommendation of 600 IU as being ludicrous. 600 IU is produced in summer sunlight in less than one minute in a light skinned individual. If God or nature created a system that produces such a vast quantity of D, there is a reason for it, and it is obvious that 5,000 IU per day is not harmful. Dr. Reinhold Vieth has presented compelling information that there is no evidence of any toxicity or adverse effects at prolonged intakes of 10,000 IU per day (Vieth, R Ann Epidemiol;2009;19:441-5).

5. The IOM also inexplicably recommended the same vitamin D intake for infants as for adults (600 IU), which to any reasonable person, is illogical.

6. The IOM used only bone health to make its recommendations, but bone health is a terrible indicator of adequate vitamin D levels because only very small quantities of vitamin D are adequate to ensure bone health. The IOM, by ignoring both observational and randomized controlled trials showing that low levels of vitamin D correlate to a multitude of health problems including cancer, heart disease, depression, influenza, Multiple Sclerosis, and autism, has done a dreadful disservice to those struggling with these and other health issues that are impacted by low vitamin D levels.

7. Ironically, the IOM consulted with several leading vitamin D researchers but then completely ignored their recommendations. This indicates a bias that may extend beyond simple ignorance and descend into the realm of concealing information.

Another of the most prolific researchers in the vitamin D field, Dr. William Grant, gave the Sunlight Institute this statement regarding his feelings about the IOM report:

“The Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D and Calcium committee of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies was essentially a tool of the agencies that funded the study, including the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Federal sponsors defined the key questions, and a technical expert panel was assembled to refine the questions and establish inclusion and exclusion criteria for the studies to be reviewed. By excluding ecological studies and case-control studies in which serum 25(OH)D levels were measured at time of diagnosis, they in essence dictated the conclusion that vitamin D has no health benefits other than for healthy bones. Since 90% of our vitamin D comes from the sun, they throw out 90% of the evidence. The work of this committee contrasts with well-conducted scientific reviews such as that by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which included over 600 scientists contributing to the report and 500 scientists as reviewers. The process was open rather than behind closed doors and resulted in a Nobel Prize for the contributors. If only health policy were treated as a science instead of a business tool.”
William B. Grant, Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC), San Francisco

In putting forth its report, the IOM has destroyed any credibility it might have had with those who conduct the science of vitamin D. The IOM has misled the public and placed itself on a level with those who, in the past, ignorantly told us to avoid sunlight exposure at all costs. If the public follows their recommendations we will return to the Dark Ages of health awareness; the report is an absurd suppression of critically important research.

Television viewing in teens is linked to adult depression. Lack of sunlight and vitamin D may be the reason.

Television viewing in teens is linked to adult depression. Lack of sunlight and vitamin D may be the reason.

An interesting study from the University of Pittsburgh has found that the more TV teenagers watch, the more likely they are to be depressed as adults.[1] The study author theorized that because there is so much depressing news and programming on TV, the more exposure, the more the internalizing or the depressing programming. For each hour of TV watched, the rate of depression increased significantly.

The researchers may be correct, or it could be that hours of sedentary life in front of the TV, watching commercials for junk food, leads to obesity and poor health as the teenager’s age. I have another theory that may supplant, or at least add to those theories. In an earlier post, I discussed the dramatically increased rate of depression among people who were vitamin D deficient.[2] Vitamin D is absolutely critical for the central nervous system (CNS) to function at optimal levels; it is possible that years of unnatural indoor habits create vitamin D deficiency, which damages the CNS, and—combined with the previously mentioned deleterious influences of excessive TV watching, result in depression. Sunlight and vitamin D are absolutely necessary for human health and happiness. An indoor lifestyle is unnatural and damaging to the human body and psyche.

Get away from the TV, video game and other sedentary, sunless activity and get outdoors. And, stop eating toxic foods. You will be glad you did!

[1] Primack, B. Association between media use in adolescence and depression in young adulthood: a longitudinal study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 Feb;66(2):181-8
[2] http://drsorenson.blogspot.com/2009/01/vitamin-d-and-depression-how-sad.html

Is depression ruining your marriage? Light, love and vitamin D may save it!

WebMD’s alert for today was titled, “Is depression rocking your marriage?”

What followed were three pages of reasons why depression causes indifference and lack of interest in sex, thus creating divorces and otherwise tearing apart good relationships.[1]

Nowhere did the article mention that lack of sunlight and/or high blood vitamin D blood levels were major causes of depression. Dealing with depression, as suggested by WebMD, is one way of coping, I suppose; preventing it is quite another, and it is a far better choice. Fortunately, sunlight and vitamin D can often do both.

Sunlight that enters the eye dramatically relieves depression by increasing production of one of the body’s natural antidepressants, serotonin. Most antidepressant drugs also try to relieve depression by maintaining circulating blood-serotonin at high levels. Interestingly, research has proven that sunlight does a better job at raising serotonin levels that do drugs. A study reported in the Lancet in 2002 found that brain serotonin levels were greater during the summer, and higher on sunny days than cloudy ones—the brighter the sunlight, the greater the production of serotonin. The researchers also found that the number of daily hours of bright sunlight was directly related to the production of serotonin by the brain[2] (remember never to stare directly into the sun; indirect sunlight is sufficient). Anyone who has ventured outside on a sunny spring day after enduring a long, sunless winter immediately feels an increase in wellbeing and a decrease in depression. Here are more reasons to save your marriage with light and vitamin D as opposed to the noxious, antidepressant drugs:

1. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), indicates that antidepressant medications known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) may increase depression in some cases and lead to suicidal thoughts.[3] Some of the brands involved are Paxil, Lexapro, Prozac, Effexor, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Luvox, Celexa and Serzone, although the FDA listed 34 drugs. The entire list is at fda.gov/cder/drug/antidepressants/.

2. SSRI’s don’t work very well![8] A meta-analysis of data on SSRI’s submitted to the FDA indicates that placebos (sugar pills) are as effective as SSRI’s in reducing depression; in other words, only drug companies benefit from SSRI’s—not depression sufferers.

3. Two research papers in the journal, Archives of Internal Medicine, show that taking antidepressants called selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRI’s)—the most popular antidepressant drugs—dramatically reduces bone mass in users compared to non-users.[4] [5] The first study demonstrated that elderly women who take SSRI’s lost nearly 43% more bone per year than those who did not. The second established that bone mineral density (BMD) among elderly male SSRI users was about 4% lower at the hip bone and about 6% lower at the spine compared to those reporting no SSRI use. Another investigation reported that SSRI-using adults over the age of 50 were twice as likely to fracture a bone and twice as likely to fall as those who did not use the drugs.[6] These risks were dose-dependent, meaning that as the dosage of the drug increased, there was an accompanying increase in fractures and falling.

4. The use of antidepressant drugs may lead to a doubling of the risk of diabetes![7]

5. Vitamin D itself dramatically reduces the risk of depression. See my previous blog: http://drsorenson.blogspot.com/2009/01/vitamin-d-and-depression-how-sad.html

Considering the downside of these awful drugs and the upside of sunlight/vitamin D therapy, it makes sense to improve your marriage the way God intended, with love, sunlight and vitamin D!


[1] http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/divorcing-depression?ecd=wnl_day_020209
[2] Lambert, G. et al. Effect of sunlight and season on serotonin turnover in the brain.  Lancet 2002;360:1840-42.
[3] USA Food and Drug Administration web site, updated July 12, 2005.
[4] Diem, S. et al. Use of antidepressants and rates of hip bone loss in older women: the study of osteoporotic fractures. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1240.
[5] Haney, E. et al. Association of low bone mineral density with selective serotonin uptake inhibitor use by older men. Arch Intern Med 2007167:1246-51.
[6] Richards, J. et al. Effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on the risk of fracture. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:188-94.
[7] University of Alberta (2008, March 26). Antidepressants Linked To Type 2 Diabetes, Study Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/03/080325122804.htm
[8] Kirsch, I. et al. Initial severity and antidepressant benefits: a meta-analysis of data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. PLoS Medicine 2008;5:e45. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045 Accessed March 11, 2008.

Vitamin D may help your economic depression and decrease your financial aches and pains this winter.

If you are feeling some depression due to the economic downturn and are experiencing the aches and pains of a shrinking portfolio, your answer may lie in taking a vacation to the tropics or at least increasing your intake of vitamin D. No, it won’t improve your bottom line, but it could help you to feel dramatically better while you suffer through the economic doldrums.
When we become financially depressed during winter, it only adds to the natural depression we feel due to lack of sunlight. That depression is known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Furthermore, the pain of pecuniary woes adds to the physical pain experienced by so many people who are deficient in vitamin D.

Did you know that those who suffer from SAD are almost always vitamin D deficient and that when vitamin D supplements are provided in winter, they improve mood in only five days?[1] Or were you aware that 75% of depressed patients (SAD patients in winter) reduce their depression levels with the use of vitamin D?[2] There are at least two more recent papers showing that depression is lifted by the use of vitamin D supplements.[3] [4] In one of them, 4,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D were given to depressed patients during Canada’s long winter. The result was a profound increase in blood vitamin D levels and an even more dramatic increase in the subjects’ sense of wellbeing.4

In another investigation, researchers studied the association between vitamin D levels and the risk of mood disorders in the elderly. The results were impressive. Those whose vitamin D levels were deficient—defined as less than 20 ng/ml—had 11.7 times the incidence of depression when compared to those whose vitamin D levels were higher. Usually an association is considered meaningful when a measured factor correlates to a 50% increase or decrease. In this case, the correlation between vitamin D deficiency and risk of mood disorders was a staggering 1,169 percent—a nearly 12 times increase in depression risk![5] Elderly people seldom get in the sunlight and are consequently depressed. The elderly who have low levels of vitamin D also are three-and-one-half times as likely to be admitted to a nursing home as those who have higher levels.[6] It is criminal to let elderly persons die of depression, fractures and all of the other maladies correlated to their critically low vitamin D levels. This research is no secret, and someone needs to get the word out to the elderly and to all others interested in better health.

Now let's discuss pain:

Dr. Stewart Leavitt recently posted the results of a review of 22 scientific studies on the relationship of vitamin D deficiency to chronic pain. (http://Pain-Topics.org/VitaminD). This 2008 analysis is just the latest of many studies on vitamin D and pain, most of which have been ignored by the physicians that treat the disorder. In total, there were 3,670 patients with chronic pain, and 48% of them showed significant vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D supplementation was very helpful in alleviating the pain.[7] Dr. Leavitt states: “When supplementation was provided for improving vitamin D status, pain and/or muscle weakness were resolved or at least subsided in most cases, and there were associated improvements in physical functioning.”

Pain is common in winter, and it has been known for some time that vitamin D or sunlight therapy is effective for its alleviation. For instance, In one interesting study, conducted on chronic pain patients in Minneapolis, Minnesota (45 degrees north latitude), it was found that 100% of African Americans, American Indians, East Africans and Hispanics were vitamin D deficient, as were most Caucasians.[8] In summer sunlight, dark-skinned people take up to 6 times as long to produce the same amount of vitamin D as light skinned people, making dark skinned people much more susceptible to vitamin D deficiency. Indoor lifestyles and the advice to slather with sunscreen, which can reduce vitamin D production during sunlight exposure by 99.5%[9] puts dark-skinned people at a considerable vitamin D deficiency disadvantage. In addition, during the winter at high latitudes in areas such as Minneapolis, there are several months where little or no vitamin D is produced by the skin due to the sun’s position in the southern sky; that is why vitamin D deficiency and it subsequent depression and pain are so much more pronounced in winter. It is absolutely essential for dark-skinned adults to take vitamin D3 supplementation of 4,000 to 5,000 IU per day year around or regularly use a tanning bed to stave off pain and to reduce the excessive risk of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, etc., that plague them. It is also critical for most Caucasians during winter. Remember that vitamin D3 is the only type of vitamin D that should be used.

Another impressive result comes from a clinical observation of five vitamin D-deficient patients who suffered from myopathy, a disease of bone and muscle tissue. They were confined to wheelchairs and experienced severe fatigue, weakness, and chronic pain. After receiving 50,000 IU per week of vitamin D, all regained enough strength and energy within four to six weeks to be mobile and functional, and their aches and pains disappeared.[10] Other research reported that five chronic-pain patients at John Hopkins University Medical School were treated with vitamin D, and their pain resolved within a week![11]

Vitamin D is a potent anti-inflammatory and also helps to strengthen bone, joint and muscle tissue. Be sure to maintain optimal levels (50 ng/ml or 125 nmol/L) in order to avoid the aches and pains of winter.

So there you have it. Monetary woes this winter may increase depression and cause financial pain, but there is no reason to worsen the problem with severe physical pain and chemical depression. You have the answers before you. A year of vitamin D supplementation at 5,000 IU per day will cost you about $10.00 at Bio-Tech Pharmacal, and that will not cause you any additional financial pain or depression. Their web site: http://www.bio-tech-pharm.com/catalog.aspx?cat_id=2. By the way, I have no financial interest in that company and simply recommend them as an exceptionally high quality, low-price source of vitamin D3.

Lose the blues and be happy and well this winter!

[1] Lansdowne, A. et al. Vitamin D3 enhances mood in healthy subjects during winter. Psychopharmacology 1998;135:319-23.
[2] Gloth, F. et al. Vitamin D vs. broad spectrum phototherapy in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder J Nutr Health Aging 1999; 3(1):5-7
[3] Jorde R. et al. Effects of vitamin D supplementation on symptoms of depression in overweight and obese subjects: randomized double-blind trial. J Intern Med 2008 Dec 1;264(6):599-609. Epub 2008 Sep 10.
[4] Vieth, R. et al. Randomized comparison of the effects of the vitamin D3 adequate intake versus 100 mcg (4,000 IU) per day on biochemical responses and the wellbeing of patients. Nutr J 2004;3:8.
[5] Wilkins C. et al. Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated With Low Mood and Worse Cognitive Performance in Older Adults. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry;2006;14:1032–1040).
[6] Visser, M. et al. Low serum vitamin concentrations of 25 hydroxyvitamin D in older persons and the risk of nursing home admission. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;84:616-22.
[7] (http://Pain-Topics.org/VitaminD)
[8] Plotnikoff G. et al. Prevalence of severe hypovitaminosis D in patients with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Mayo Clin Proc. 2003;78:1463-70.
[9] Matsuoka, L. et al. sunscreens suppress cutaneous vitamin D3 synthesis. J Clin Endocrinology & Metab 1987; 64:1165-68.
[10] Prabhala, A. et al. Severe myopathy associated with vitamin D deficiency in western New York. Arch Intern Med 2000;160:1199-1203.
[11] Gloth, F. et al. Can vitamin D deficiency produce an unusual pain syndrome? Arch Intern Med 1991;152:1662-4.