2 replies to this topic

[AutonomousOne1980]

there is a school of thought that suggests the recommended Daily allowances that are set by governmental health institutions are too low, and advocate a, higher is better, mentality. There is also some folks on this site who use an argument from analogy and claim that Accutane(retinoic acid) in high doses "cures" acne, therefore vitamin or other similar vitamins may do the same.accutane is the same as "vitamin a" , and since this is a form of megavitamin therapy used by the medical industry,means that megavitamin therapy is safe and healthy, which it is not. The same people may fall for other similar arguments and easily/automatically fall for other mega vitamin therapy theories, for instance, the b5 acne theory.
having said this, i would like to make a few statements that may steer people away from moving into this direction, and those who already been led in this direction, toward, the light, or the truth of the matter.

to get one issue out of the way immediately, the RDAs that have been painstainkingly set by many research scientists, are very good guidelines and should be respected, and only in rare circumstances, questioned. i have learned this from many experiances. Now the levels that are chosen by vitamin manufacturers, who generally have a bias towards their own profession, seem to also subscribe to the more is better theory, but this isnt always the case. it is very easy to find OTC vitamin A supplements with 10,000 i.u.s of retinol, or a vitamin d supplements with 2, 4, 8, or 10,000 iu's , or even very high vitamin k supplements, which are manufactured in almost total disregard for the rdas that have been set. and unfortunatly it these are fat soluble vitamins which are much more dangerous then the water soluble b vitamins.

when you study the metabolism of retinol from beta carotenes, you will see that retinol is a highly regulated molecule, and by ingesting large amounts of vitamin a as retinol, you are bypassing these regulatory mechanics and now that vitamin a is going to interrupt other vital process leading to toxic effects. the same goes for vitamin d, it is a highly regulated substance, our skin will turn darker so we stop making vitamin d, this is a protective mechanism, so why would we go and take 10, 000 ius in a pill form? there is almost no reason to take that much. they only recently updated the rda from 400iu to 800iu, sure they updated some previous opinions, but as you see, they werent THAT off the mark to begin with, the same goes for most other rda they have set as well, they are very sensible not way too low as some may suggest.

so you better check yourself before you wreck yourself, and watch out for these crazy vitamin manufacturers, it is truly the wild wild west of alternative medicine these days, too little regulation for the supplement manufacturers i say. good luck.

Edited by AutonomousOne1980, 26 January 2012 - 10:17 AM.

[Rawhide]

Clearly you have no idea about vitamin D. Maybe you should take a look at Vitamin D Council.

Our skin produces 10 000 ius from 30 minutes of sun exposure. Tanning is protection against excess UV-radiation, not against vitamin D. Actually vitamin D is part of the protection.

Edited by Rawhide, 25 January 2012 - 02:11 PM.

[AutonomousOne1980]

Clearly you have no idea about vitamin D. Maybe you should take a look at Vitamin D Council.

Our skin produces 10 000 ius from 30 minutes of sun exposure. Tanning is protection against excess UV-radiation, not against vitamin D. Actually vitamin D is part of the protection.

unfortunatly, i know all about the vitamin d council and i used to tell people the exact same thing you are saying to me now, and it is also somewhat true, high doses may NOT kill you fast, it will probably kill you slowly with little objective outward visible signs or perhaps even many, just because there are little outwards sign so f toxicity, may not mean that the stuff isnt toxic, our eyes and scientific instruments cannot measure and see every atom that is in existence, there are limits to human perception. but the vitamin d council may even be irrelevant now that the rda actually has been raised. but im not saying i have seen it all, or that i am done learning or that i am always right, but until i started to test different levels of these vitamins to determine what the truth is, that is when i started to develop these opinions, the only way to learn the truth is to test it all for yourself, then you will know, but you have to test it correctly, controlling for other variables, there are sometimes subtle differences that are hard to notice. for example i was taking a 2000 iu vitamin d supplement, also thinking it was helping my crohns disease, but after painstakingly reveiwing my notes, i realized it seemed that i was doing worse, and i tried to explain why, i noticed that i was taking more vitamin d now, then i was when i was doing my best, only 1000 iu on cloudy days, compared to now,im taking 2000 iu everyday, so i hypothesized i might improve a bit when i lower or cease taking the vitamin d, and i started sleeping a little deeper, it wasnt obviously affecting my sleep quality, but the difference was just enough for me to notice, then my condition improved a bit, then i concluded that i may have partially explained it, the vitamin d was too much, it may have been actuallly supressing my immune system and increasing inflammation, making my condition a bit worse. im not saying i wont take a vitamin supplement, because i believe i also experiance some benefits with that dosage as well, but 2000 iu just wasnt right, and the rda is probably right where i should be. i have also experianced this with zinc supplements, vitamin a and vitamin k supplements, many which one pill exceeded the rda and produced toxic effects.

Edited by AutonomousOne1980, 25 January 2012 - 02:36 PM.