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by voldacar 1507 days ago
The "tolerable upper limit" for vitamin D is set absurdly low.

I have perused the literature on D toxicity and each case involved someone taking at least 100k IU per day, and usually way more than that. I take 50k IU per day every winter and have never had an issue. Blood calcium levels normal, etc

5k IU is an average dose and will absolutely not cause harm.
1 comments
TameAntelope 1507 days ago
> "I have perused the literature"

...and you are?

> 5k IU is an average dose and will absolutely not cause harm.

This is wildly irresponsible to post, and should be removed from HN.

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voldacar 1507 days ago
>...and you are?

Someone who is wholly uninterested in the credential theory of epistemology. Back to reddit with that, please.

> This is wildly irresponsible to post, and should be removed from HN.

You don't seem to know what the TUIL actually means. The tolerable upper intake level of a substance is not the actual safe upper limit, it just guarantees that a certain level is safe. In the case of vitamin D, the actual safe upper limit is likely an order of magnitude higher, which was even acknowledged by the people who, very conservatively, set the TUIL at 4k IU.[0] If 4k IU is completely safe (which it is), then there is nothing at all irresponsible about suggesting that 5k IU is completely safe (which it is), unless that extra 1000 IU somehow accomplishes some deleterious effect, which it doesn't.

That extra 1000 IU between 4k and 5k is simply insignificant. To put all these numbers in context, the body synthesizes the equivalent of anywhere from 4k-12k IU per day from sunlight,[1][2] and possibly 20k+ IU if you're sunbathing with most of your skin exposed.[3] So really, a 5k dose is in the low to moderate range. If 5k IU of vitamin D is scary or irresponsible, then getting even a little sun exposure is really scary and irresponsible!

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17209171/

[1] https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/61.3.638S

[2] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2007.03.004

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18290718/

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TameAntelope 1507 days ago
> Someone who is wholly uninterested in the credential theory of epistemology.

So nobody qualified to answer this question? That's what I expected. In medicine more so than in nearly any other field, qualified experts should be the only people to express opinions publicly, considering the potential negative outcomes.

You really shouldn't be giving medical advice on any website, Reddit or Hacker News. This is on the same level as anti-vaxx shit, I hope you realize.

This, more than Reddit, is a place where qualified people discuss topics. If you'd like to wildly speculate, that sounds more like what happens on Reddit.

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Sargos 1507 days ago
Are you sure? 5k being a safe average dose seems to be corroborated across the internet and the abstracts of some papers I've seen.
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TameAntelope 1507 days ago
And yet, not a single reputable journal will publish those papers, the medical community won't change the recommendations, and those studies go unreplicated.

It seems like there's an undereducated underground on the Internet that has the hubris to think they know more than the medical consensus, so what you're seeing are the effects of that hubris, nothing more.

Turns out Vitamin D is the anti-vaxx of computer nerds. Pretty hypocritical, but unsurprising.

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