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Comment by TacoToni | Hacker News Reader

getting my blood panel ran and finding out i was deficient in Vitamin D changed my life for the better once i start daily supplementation of Vitamin D3 (5000 IU). I even live in Florida, but working in an office all day doesn't help. Now that my levels are good, i feel as if my memory is far better and i dont feel tired all the time.

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> i feel as if my memory is far better and i dont feel tired all the time.

I agree. Don't overdo it though, 5000 IU daily seems a bit much :) I live in Amsterdam and take 2000.

I take about 5000 IU daily (with one or two days off every 10 days or so). I get tested regularly and measure at the top of the lab's 'normal range' (200 nmol/l). I also take vitamin K (especially K2).

Out of personal curiosity, what supplement brand do you take? I live in Ams as well and the season is...horrible.

Currently I take the one from physalis: https://www.hollandandbarrett.nl/shop/product/physalis-vitam...

You can probably play around with the brands and doses a little. I think the important thing is to take gel capsules with oil inside and not solid pills. Vitamin D is fat-soluble so I think solid pills don't get absorbed very well.

I take GAL D3 or D-complex+K2 Forte (https://www.gal.hu/en/spd/VIGAD303001/GAL-D3-vitamin and https://www.gal.hu/en/spd/VIGAKKF02001/GAL-K-complex-Forte). They are quite transparent on how they source and extract the ingredients.

There have actually been a couple of studies lately about Vitamin D recommendations being drastically too low. For example [1] recommends 4000 IU/day for adults and [2] recommends 8000 IU/day.

1: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/744128 2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28768407/

> 5000 IU daily seems a bit much

I think it depends on the person. If you get your blood level checked when you have a regular physical, you can adjust the dose as needed to keep the level where you want it (I shoot for the upper end of the normal range, and 5000 IU a day seems to be doing that for me).

Canada here. "Central Canada" aka reasonably far up.

2000 IU a day, 3-5 days a week. Not strict about it, just whenever I remember. Big difference in terms of energy, depression, sleep quality, etc.

I've messed around with higher levels but they usually give me wicked headaches.

The FDA's recommendation for Vitamin D daily value is 400 IU. 5000 IU seems extremely and poisonous.

My MD prescribed me 5000 IU / day after a blood panel came back with me on the low end of healthy.

Same. He wanted to do it after asking if I worked in an office, and the results came back pretty low.

It actually isn’t. 400 IU is based on preventing disease. To obtain optimal health though, dosages should usually be much higher. Obviously this differs from person to person, but 2000 IU should lead to optimal vitamin D levels. This is an interesting video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeLC_b5gDUM

The body can produce up to 25000 IU/day in very sunny places on very pale skin. 10000IU/day is considered the safe upper limit. Whether or not that's a good idea long term is a different matter.

The body can produce over 250,000 IU in short order delivered as 25,000 IU a day as a controlled release through the skin. If you want this, the best idea is to spend 5 minutes in your underwear in a tanning bed. Dietary supplements can work, but it takes months.

There is research showing that the figure of 400 IU is based on a statistical error [1] (that's the original article, there's plenty more if you search).

Most articles I have read recommend somewhere between 2000 and 5000 IUs. Some recommend higher.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/

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