Vitamin D3 is special among all nutrients in that the great majority of the populations of all countries ingest, or produce in their skin, only a fraction of what they need to run their immune systems properly.
There is a stark relationship between even lower than the lousy average level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (which is made primarily in the liver from vitamin D3, and is the compound the kidneys and immune system need) and risk of neurodegeneration. This is known from numerous lines of research, especially concerning Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy, which are essentially the same disease, with dementia with Lewy bodies, in that they all involve the self-catalysed, prion-like, misfolding of the same protein.
The average daily supplemental amount of vitamin D3 is specified as ranges of ratios of body weight, with higher ratios for people suffering from obesity. This is because obesity reduces the ability of the liver (primarily) to hydroxylate vitamin D3 in to 25-hydroxyvitamin D while the excess adipose (fatty) tissue absorbs both compounds: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#obesity-deficit .
These recommendations are intended to ensure that all, or almost all, people who follow them will safely attain, after several months) at least the 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L circulating level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which the immune system needs to function properly. These recommendations are for people of all ages and body weights for whom there is no medical advice to the contrary.
3.75 mg (150,000 IU) vitamin D3 a week is a good way to boost your 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels rapidly. However, unless you are following something like the Coimbra protocol (https://www.coimbraprotocol.com/the-protocol-1 and https://vitamindstopscovid.info/06-adv/#01-higher), continuing with these average daily intakes (0.536 mg 21,429 IU) a day will most likely increase the risk of hypercalcemia and/or reduction of calcium in the bones.
These protocols involve avoiding calcium supplements and foods with high levels of calcium. Large amounts of water must be consumed and there are regular blood tests for calcium and parathyroid hormone. Some doctors who supervise the Coimbra protocol do not bother to test the 25-hydroxyvitamin D level, since the level at which hypercalcemia occurs varies a great deal between individuals: Finamore et al. 2013 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/derm.24808b .
It is best to specify 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (as measured in "vitamin D" blood tests) with the units, since 130 nmol/L (nano-mols per litre, a count of molecules) is a good healthy level (divide by 2.5 to get nanograms per millilitre, the mass of the molecules, 53 ng/mL) is a perfectly healthy level. 130 ng/mL (the units used in the United States) is higher than what most knowledgeable clinicians would regard as healthy, unless you are pursuing the Coimbra protocol, in order to suppress auto-immune inflammatory conditions, including psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, cluster headaches, migraine etc., for which this or similar protocols are highly effective.
For clinical emergencies, such as sepsis, COVID-19, ARDS, Kawasaki disease and MIS-C, ordinary daily healthy vitamin D3 intakes make little difference, because it takes months to raise typical low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, such as 10 to 20 ng/mL, safely above 50 ng/mL.
For average weight adults, a single bolus dose of 10 milligrams (400,000 IU) vitamin D3 will raise 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels safely over 50 ng/mL after several days, due to time it takes to hydroxylate it in the liver. (Actually, only about 1/4 of ingested vitamin D3 goes into circulation as 25-hydroxyvitamin D). This would save many lives, but the best treatment, which almost every sufferer of these diseases desperately needs, is, for 70 kg 154 lb body weight, to give a single oral dose of about 1 milligram of calcifediol. This *is* 25-hydroxyvitamin D. It does not need to be processed in the liver, so it raises 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels safely over 50 ng/mL in 4 hours or less.
Vitamin D3 is special among all nutrients in that the great majority of the populations of all countries ingest, or produce in their skin, only a fraction of what they need to run their immune systems properly.
There is a stark relationship between even lower than the lousy average level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (which is made primarily in the liver from vitamin D3, and is the compound the kidneys and immune system need) and risk of neurodegeneration. This is known from numerous lines of research, especially concerning Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy, which are essentially the same disease, with dementia with Lewy bodies, in that they all involve the self-catalysed, prion-like, misfolding of the same protein.
See the research articles cited and discussed at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#3.3, especially Ogura et al. 2021: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405650221000617 .
For how much vitamin D3 to take, see the recommendations of New Jersey based Professor of Medicine, Sunil Wimalawansa, at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#00-how-much and https://nutritionmatters.substack.com/p/how-much-vitamin-d3-to-take. These are his recent slight simplification of recommendations in his 2022 Nutrients article: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2997 .
The average daily supplemental amount of vitamin D3 is specified as ranges of ratios of body weight, with higher ratios for people suffering from obesity. This is because obesity reduces the ability of the liver (primarily) to hydroxylate vitamin D3 in to 25-hydroxyvitamin D while the excess adipose (fatty) tissue absorbs both compounds: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#obesity-deficit .
These recommendations are intended to ensure that all, or almost all, people who follow them will safely attain, after several months) at least the 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L circulating level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which the immune system needs to function properly. These recommendations are for people of all ages and body weights for whom there is no medical advice to the contrary.
Thanks for all your work. I just got back my D level and it's 130 on 50,000 IU 3 x per week. Perfect!
3.75 mg (150,000 IU) vitamin D3 a week is a good way to boost your 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels rapidly. However, unless you are following something like the Coimbra protocol (https://www.coimbraprotocol.com/the-protocol-1 and https://vitamindstopscovid.info/06-adv/#01-higher), continuing with these average daily intakes (0.536 mg 21,429 IU) a day will most likely increase the risk of hypercalcemia and/or reduction of calcium in the bones.
These protocols involve avoiding calcium supplements and foods with high levels of calcium. Large amounts of water must be consumed and there are regular blood tests for calcium and parathyroid hormone. Some doctors who supervise the Coimbra protocol do not bother to test the 25-hydroxyvitamin D level, since the level at which hypercalcemia occurs varies a great deal between individuals: Finamore et al. 2013 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/derm.24808b .
It is best to specify 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (as measured in "vitamin D" blood tests) with the units, since 130 nmol/L (nano-mols per litre, a count of molecules) is a good healthy level (divide by 2.5 to get nanograms per millilitre, the mass of the molecules, 53 ng/mL) is a perfectly healthy level. 130 ng/mL (the units used in the United States) is higher than what most knowledgeable clinicians would regard as healthy, unless you are pursuing the Coimbra protocol, in order to suppress auto-immune inflammatory conditions, including psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, cluster headaches, migraine etc., for which this or similar protocols are highly effective.
Please see the research articles on the immune system's need for at least 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/ . For how much vitamin D3 to take, see the recommendations of New Jersey based Professor of Medicine, Sunil Wimalawansa, at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#00-how-much and https://nutritionmatters.substack.com/p/how-much-vitamin-d3-to-take. These are his recent slight simplification of recommendations in his 2022 Nutrients article: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2997 .
For clinical emergencies, such as sepsis, COVID-19, ARDS, Kawasaki disease and MIS-C, ordinary daily healthy vitamin D3 intakes make little difference, because it takes months to raise typical low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, such as 10 to 20 ng/mL, safely above 50 ng/mL.
For average weight adults, a single bolus dose of 10 milligrams (400,000 IU) vitamin D3 will raise 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels safely over 50 ng/mL after several days, due to time it takes to hydroxylate it in the liver. (Actually, only about 1/4 of ingested vitamin D3 goes into circulation as 25-hydroxyvitamin D). This would save many lives, but the best treatment, which almost every sufferer of these diseases desperately needs, is, for 70 kg 154 lb body weight, to give a single oral dose of about 1 milligram of calcifediol. This *is* 25-hydroxyvitamin D. It does not need to be processed in the liver, so it raises 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels safely over 50 ng/mL in 4 hours or less.
The details of this 0.014 mg / kg body weight calcifediol protocol are in Prof. Wimalawansa's article, and at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#4.7.