recommended to prevent OP.
..... As usual, though, I’m not nearly as carried away by this anti-cancer hoopla as others seem to be, mostly because, as I`ve told everyone for years who’s solicited my opinion about “how much vitamin D should I be taking, Doc” (to be honest, this really only amounts to two semi-drunk people in an express line I was caught in but hey, they really did want my opinion), I’m not convinced that we know enough about the safety of taking lots of extra vitamin D. And to underline my concern, a recent study, which involved MRI brain scans of 232 elderly patients, concluded that those people with the highest intake of vitamin D (and calcium) also had the greatest amount of “lesions” in the brain. To be fair, it isn’t clear that these “lesions” mean very much in the real world, but hey, if you ask me, as I age, I’d rather not have any changes in my brain, least of all “lesions” that no one really knows the significance of.
..... And then there’s that recent study that received a lot of attention that concluded that men who took higher doses of multi-vitamins (defined simply as taking multi-vitamins more than once a day) were diagnosed with more aggressive forms of prostate cancer than men who took lower doses.
..... So what I’m saying, folks, is simply this: we just don’t know the long-term safety effect of taking high doses of any vitamins, even something as seemingly beneficial as vitamin D, so yes, we all should try to get 15 minutes of regular sun exposure a day, and on top of that, many of us could benefit from a little – I stress, that’s “a little” – bit of extra vitamin D, perhaps as high as 1000 units a day (and as always, I recommend strongly that before rushing off to buy vitamin D supplements willy-nilly you discuss the dosage, etc, with your doctor or pharmacist).
..... Here’s the ubiquitous other hand, though, folks: based on current evidence, anything higher than that is really more faith than science.
..... And speaking of faith over science, for those of you who want to continue driving your Hummers or traveling in your 8-person-sized RV, hey, send me some money and I’ll send you some carbon credits and plant some trees in your name. In fact, if you send me enough money, I might even buy a plantation in Hawaii, move there, and continue planting so long as you keep sending money. I’m just an all-around good guy, eh.
Dr. Art Hister can be heard on CKNW and other Corus Radio Network stations on House Calls on Saturdays at 10 AM, as well as seen on Global TV news on Saturday mornings at 9:20. |
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