The Vitamin D Newsletter

Dr John Cannell

www.vitamindcouncil.org

August 20, 2009

 

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As the H1N1 pandemic looms, it is heartening that Dr. Alexandra Yamschchikov and

colleagues at Emory University conducted the first meta-analysis of randomized

controlled trials of Vitamin D treatment of infections, concluding that significant scientific

evidence exists to support further research of Vitamin D treating, not just preventing,

infections like the flu. The only mistake I can see is that she confused activated Vitamin

D and one of its analogs with Vitamin D.

 

Yamshchikov AV, Desai NS, Blumberg HM, Ziegler TR, Tangpricha V.

Vitamin D for treatment and prevention of infectious diseases: a systematic review of

randomized controlled trials. Endocr Pract. 2009 Jul-Aug;15(5):438-49.

 

If you have been taking 5,000 IU per day for several years, you know Vitamin D helps,

but certainly does not prevent all respiratory infections. Because H1N1 may be deadly,

besides taking 5,000 IU per day every day (1,000 IU for every 25 pounds of body weight

for children) to prevent deficiency, make sure you have some 50,000 IU capsules of

Vitamin D on hand this winter.

 

I recommend 2,000 IU per day per kilogram of body weight (which is about 1,000 IU per

day for every pound of body weight) for three days at the first sign of influenza. While

there are no randomized controlled trials showing it will help, there is a randomized

controlled trial showing such doses will not hurt. This month, Dr. Bacon and colleagues

at the University of Auckland found that a single dose of 500,000 IU (half a million units)

did no harm to the elderly; a month after a single 500,000 IU dose, Vitamin D levels

were about 40 - 50 ng/ml; two months later they were deficient again, only 30 ng/ml.