Ask HN: Vitamin D in a Household Product

5 points·JoeAltmaier··9 comments

We all know about iodized salt, vitamins in wheat, fluoridated water. What can we put Vitamin D into, that will neither risk overdose nor leave anyone out?

The only product I can think of is, toilet paper. Folks all use approximately the same amount. But that would work only if Vitamin D was effective if topically applied. Is that the case?

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None of them. Vitamin D is fat soluble and it's possible build up toxic levels of it. At the same time many studies suggest that humans need much higher doses than typically recommended, and some studies suggest that spaced hyperdosing is a much more effective way of recovering from a defficiency than a frequent small dose.

So adding a small dose to any product will have close to no effect on anyone with a deficiency while adding a dose that's meaningful to address people's deficiencies will push other people to toxic levels.

Fortified milk and similar products usually include vitamin D.

Actually, women tend to use more paper. Not only do they use more, but they use it on a mucus membrane (think that's the right word).

If only there was a way to bottle sunshine. Then we could hide in our homes and have our bodies safety convert cholesterol to vitamin d.

Canola oil, this one [1] is sold in Sweden

[1] https://www.zeta.nu/produkter/rapsolja-d-vitaminberikad/

It's also used as a strong rat poison so overdose risk is a serious concern.

Best thing would be blood testing (it can be done cheaply with a fingerprick) to see if the persons actually need supplementation...

I have read somewhere eggs are a good source of vitamin D. Also mushrooms dried in sun can have sufficient levels of vitamin D.

Sunlight

Move to Finland, Sweden, or some other dark place and you'll find that Vitamin D supplements are common for winter-times.

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