Disease and treatments are very complex. So too is nutrition, including some important nutrients which are best not ingested at the same time as other nutrients.
However there is one nutrient which almost everyone needs to supplement in order to be healthy: vitamin D3 cholecalciferol, no matter what other supplements or food we consume, and whatever medical treatment or lifestyle choices we make.
Without such supplementation - in quantities which are small but 8 or more times the tiny amounts recommended by governments and many doctors - most people cannot attain the 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L = 1 part in 20,000,000 by mass) level (concentration) of 25-hydroxyvitamin D which the immune system needs to function properly.
25-hydroxyvitamin D calcifediol (AKA "calcidiol") is measured in "vitamin D" blood tests. Neither of these compounds are hormones.
The first exception is infants who are substantially breast fed by 25-hydroxyvitamin D replete mothers. Such breast milk contains both vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (Tsugawa et al. 2021 https:// www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/2/573), the latter being more important since it is absorbed directly into the infant's circulation, while only (very approximately) 1/4 of ingested vitamin D3 is hydroxylated in the liver to circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
The other exception is those who have, in recent weeks or months, had extensive ultraviolet B exposure of ideally white skin. However, UV-B always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer. Far from the equator, it is only available in sufficient quantities for people to approach 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D from late morning to mid-afternoon on cloud-free summer days, without glass, clothing or sunscreen intervening. Those with dark or black skin would need to spend most of their time outdoors, with minimal clothing, most of the year, in equatorial areas, in order to generate sufficient vitamin D3 to attain 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
There is very little vitamin D3 - or the less effective, unnatural, vitamin D2 - in foods, whether or not they are fortified with D2 (most commonly, since it is more stable) or D3. Such fortified foods, or some oily fish, can somewhat raise circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels from the rock-bottom deficiency levels which cause rickets. However no-one can eat enough of these foods to gain enough vitamin D3 or D2 for their livers to hydroxylate into enough 25-hydroxyvitamin D (D3, or the less effective D2) in order to enable the immune system to function properly.
Please see the research cited and discussed at: https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/. This begins with recommendations from New Jersey based Professor of Medicine, Sunil Wimalawansa on the average daily supplemental intake quantities of vitamin D3 which will attain least 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, over several months, without the need for blood tests or medical monitoring:
70 to 90 IU / kg body weight for those not suffering from obesity (BMI < 30).
100 to 130 IU / kg body weight for obesity I & II (BMI 30 to 39).
140 to 180 IU / kg body weight for obesity III (BMI > 39).
This is because obesity reduces the rate of hydroxylation in the liver and because the resultant 25-hydroxyvitamin D (and probably vitamin D3 itself) is sequestered in the excess adipose tissue: https://5nn.info/ temp/250hd- obesity/.
For 70 kg (154 lb) body weight without obesity, this is about 0.125 milligrams (125 micrograms 5000 IU) a day. This takes several months to attain the desired > 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This is 8 or more times what most governments recommend. "5000 IU" a day sounds like a lot, but it is a gram every 22 years - and pharma-grade vitamin D costs about USD$2.50 a gram ex-factory.
These recommendations are included in a recent article with another professor of medicine Scott T. Weiss and professor of pediatrics Bruce W. Hollis: https:// www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/22/3969. All three have been researching vitamin D for decades.
https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#07-fortif contains arguments and evidence which show that all efforts at vitamin D food fortification would be better directed at raising awareness of the need for proper vitamin D3 supplementation.
Many types of immune cell need a good supply, by diffusion from the bloodstream, of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in order to run their 25-hydroxyvitamin D -> calcitriol intracrine signaling systems. This is signaling within a single cell, which is crucial to the ability of each individual cell to change its behavior according to its changing circumstances.
This has not yet been explained in a tutorial fashion in the peer-reviewed literature. Very few doctors or immunologists have ever heard of it, or of the related 25- hydroxyvitamin D -> calcitriol paracrine signaling, which affects the behavior of nearby cells, typically of different types. I wrote a detailed tutorial in late 2020: https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/02-intracrine/. Only a small subset of vitamin D researchers understand these properly.
If we ate the same quantity of vitamin D3, as a ratio of body weight, as rats, we too would die a horrible death. This doesn't alter the fact that in order to attain the 50 ng/mL or more circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D our immune systems need to function properly, that we need to ingest ca. 125 micrograms of vitamin D3 a day, on average (for 70 kg body weight without obesity) OR generate it ourselves with large amounts of UV-B exposure of ideally white skin, which is impractical and always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer.
Manufactured vitamin D3 cholecalciferol is identical in every respect to the vitamin D3 cholecalciferol produced in our skin by the ultraviolet B light breaking a bond in one of the carbon rings of 7-dehydrocholesterol.
Lovely post… so enjoyed reading it.
Sub-stack sees fit to call us 'followers' and 'subscribers, why not readers and contributors? Excellent reflections on this theme Ann, thanks.
Good point! And thank you. High praise from a deep thinker 🙏
Thank you, Eileen!
Disease and treatments are very complex. So too is nutrition, including some important nutrients which are best not ingested at the same time as other nutrients.
However there is one nutrient which almost everyone needs to supplement in order to be healthy: vitamin D3 cholecalciferol, no matter what other supplements or food we consume, and whatever medical treatment or lifestyle choices we make.
Without such supplementation - in quantities which are small but 8 or more times the tiny amounts recommended by governments and many doctors - most people cannot attain the 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L = 1 part in 20,000,000 by mass) level (concentration) of 25-hydroxyvitamin D which the immune system needs to function properly.
25-hydroxyvitamin D calcifediol (AKA "calcidiol") is measured in "vitamin D" blood tests. Neither of these compounds are hormones.
The first exception is infants who are substantially breast fed by 25-hydroxyvitamin D replete mothers. Such breast milk contains both vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (Tsugawa et al. 2021 https:// www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/2/573), the latter being more important since it is absorbed directly into the infant's circulation, while only (very approximately) 1/4 of ingested vitamin D3 is hydroxylated in the liver to circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
The other exception is those who have, in recent weeks or months, had extensive ultraviolet B exposure of ideally white skin. However, UV-B always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer. Far from the equator, it is only available in sufficient quantities for people to approach 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D from late morning to mid-afternoon on cloud-free summer days, without glass, clothing or sunscreen intervening. Those with dark or black skin would need to spend most of their time outdoors, with minimal clothing, most of the year, in equatorial areas, in order to generate sufficient vitamin D3 to attain 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
There is very little vitamin D3 - or the less effective, unnatural, vitamin D2 - in foods, whether or not they are fortified with D2 (most commonly, since it is more stable) or D3. Such fortified foods, or some oily fish, can somewhat raise circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels from the rock-bottom deficiency levels which cause rickets. However no-one can eat enough of these foods to gain enough vitamin D3 or D2 for their livers to hydroxylate into enough 25-hydroxyvitamin D (D3, or the less effective D2) in order to enable the immune system to function properly.
Please see the research cited and discussed at: https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/. This begins with recommendations from New Jersey based Professor of Medicine, Sunil Wimalawansa on the average daily supplemental intake quantities of vitamin D3 which will attain least 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, over several months, without the need for blood tests or medical monitoring:
70 to 90 IU / kg body weight for those not suffering from obesity (BMI < 30).
100 to 130 IU / kg body weight for obesity I & II (BMI 30 to 39).
140 to 180 IU / kg body weight for obesity III (BMI > 39).
This is because obesity reduces the rate of hydroxylation in the liver and because the resultant 25-hydroxyvitamin D (and probably vitamin D3 itself) is sequestered in the excess adipose tissue: https://5nn.info/ temp/250hd- obesity/.
For 70 kg (154 lb) body weight without obesity, this is about 0.125 milligrams (125 micrograms 5000 IU) a day. This takes several months to attain the desired > 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This is 8 or more times what most governments recommend. "5000 IU" a day sounds like a lot, but it is a gram every 22 years - and pharma-grade vitamin D costs about USD$2.50 a gram ex-factory.
These recommendations are included in a recent article with another professor of medicine Scott T. Weiss and professor of pediatrics Bruce W. Hollis: https:// www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/22/3969. All three have been researching vitamin D for decades.
https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#07-fortif contains arguments and evidence which show that all efforts at vitamin D food fortification would be better directed at raising awareness of the need for proper vitamin D3 supplementation.
Many types of immune cell need a good supply, by diffusion from the bloodstream, of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in order to run their 25-hydroxyvitamin D -> calcitriol intracrine signaling systems. This is signaling within a single cell, which is crucial to the ability of each individual cell to change its behavior according to its changing circumstances.
This has not yet been explained in a tutorial fashion in the peer-reviewed literature. Very few doctors or immunologists have ever heard of it, or of the related 25- hydroxyvitamin D -> calcitriol paracrine signaling, which affects the behavior of nearby cells, typically of different types. I wrote a detailed tutorial in late 2020: https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/02-intracrine/. Only a small subset of vitamin D researchers understand these properly.
Maybe skip the D3 supplements and just get some sunshine?
https://www.avs4pets.com/blog/cholecalciferol-a-different-rodenticide-toxicity
If we ate the same quantity of vitamin D3, as a ratio of body weight, as rats, we too would die a horrible death. This doesn't alter the fact that in order to attain the 50 ng/mL or more circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D our immune systems need to function properly, that we need to ingest ca. 125 micrograms of vitamin D3 a day, on average (for 70 kg body weight without obesity) OR generate it ourselves with large amounts of UV-B exposure of ideally white skin, which is impractical and always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer.
Manufactured vitamin D3 cholecalciferol is identical in every respect to the vitamin D3 cholecalciferol produced in our skin by the ultraviolet B light breaking a bond in one of the carbon rings of 7-dehydrocholesterol.
Please see the research cited and discussed at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/ and my reply to a comment in this thread: https://romanbystrianyk.substack.com/p/the-cure-we-ignored/comment/113213559 in which the commenter asked: "If a doctor test for vitamin D3 what he testing for? Is he test for the synthetic man made vitamin D3 or is he/her testing for the real deal? Can the real deal even be tested for".