Hello fellow Optimizing Medics,
Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote.
And thank you to those of you who approached me over the past two weeks to encourage me to keep up with this project. Your support really does mean a lot.
This message will be a quick one, but I hope it will prove beneficial.
If you're living in the northern hemisphere, and you're not supplementing with Vitamin D, then now might be a really good time to get on that.
Vitamin D supplementation has been linked to a number of health factors (link: examine.com Human Effect Matrix).
Remarkably, a systematic review published earlier this year found a 15% reduction in risk of cancer death with Vitamin D supplementation.
This was also one of the findings of the VITAL study, the largest RCT on vitamin D supplementation to date where they found an apparent 17% reduction in cancer death among those supplementing with 2000IU of Vitamin D3 per day. The study was also suggestive of a 23% reduction in cancer risk among African Americans.
With shift work "probably" being carcinogenic to humans, these findings should probably be enough to motivate some interest!
However, another recent study found that having normal range vitamin D levels was significantly correlated with reduced severity of illness and mortality among those infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Unfortunately, Vitamin D testing is no longer a routine part of the physician's examination where I live and is not always available on request.
Fortunately, if you're in the same situation, you can take matters into your own hands with at-home Vitamin D tests.
I've used at-home Vitamin D tests to confirm that the supplement dose I was taking was effective and also to see what happens to my levels if I don't supplement with Vitamin D over the summer.
The trouble is, even these are hard to track down in Canada. The lab I used to use no longer delivers to Canada. If I find another source I'll be sure to share.
As far as which Vitamin D to take, the systematic review above found improvement to all-cause mortality with Vitamin D3 vs. Vitamin D2.
My trusted source for Vitamin D is Thorne. Their product has great value (1200 x 500IU drops / bottle) and I've measured an increase in Vitamin D levels over the winter while using their product.
And also, remember, none of this is medical advice and is provided for informational purposes only. Talk about these things with your doctor!
I hope 2021 brings you all an end to the pandemic, many smiling faces, hugs, house parties and days in the Sun elevating your vitamin D (without a mask!).
Yours in Optimizing,
Brendan
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