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I am looking for information on what @Steve recommended taking everyday with the Vitamin D3?, I hope this isn't to off topic, thanks in advance for pointing me in right direction @Steve

WahTah said:

I am looking for information on what @Steve recommended taking everyday with the Vitamin D3?, I hope this isn't to off topic, thanks in advance for pointing me in right direction @Steve

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5000 IU

On recent SN 786 @Steve said...

"Now, so what this is saying is Dr. Fauci is taking, as far as we can gather from this, 6,000 IU a day, which is equal to 150 micrograms. So that's the dose he seems to be taking. Now, we have mentioned a few times that when it's not sunny, I am personally taking that. "

I've been taking 5,000 for years based on Steve's recommendation.

Have a look here: https://www.grc.com/health/Vitamin-D.htm

Hello all. I've been a Security Now fan since nearly the beginning. I really appreciate the information Steve and Leo provide.

This is an indirect answer to your question plus a bunch of info on Vitamin C and COVID-19.

Google has been aggressively censoring alternative health information. But, assuming they haven't censored what you're searching for, and since Steve provides transcripts of his podcasts, you can search for any topic on his site if you can think of some key words with a google search such as this:

"vitamin d" OR "vitamin c" site:grc.com

You could omit the quote marks to broaden the search, but you might get more false hits since the letters C and D are quite common. You can play around with various search terms.

I have been highly motivated since January to research COVID-19. I have been blessed to come across information on how to prevent and cure COVID-19 with high dose Vitamin C and several other nutritional items, including Vitamin D. Below is a commentary I've put on many YouTube videos and sent to various other people. Hope you find the info helpful. See below.

Ron

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Remaining content removed by moderator as inappropriate for this forum

I would like to communicate privately with the moderator that removed my prior post in this thread. Everything that I stated previously is true, accurate, and proven by certified medical doctors. The post should not have been removed. Please write to me at my forum profile email address. Ron

Ron ( @rfrazier ): I was not the person who removed your posting, but I agree with their action. I do not intend to host controversial topics here. I tried that once with politics in a newsgroup forum called "Ten Forward" — it was a food fight disaster and resulted in a general ban of political discussion on the GRC newsgroups. I am applying a higher standard here and wish to discourage topics that stir strong feelings. That's not what GRC's groups are for. Off Topic is fine, and technology is our nominal focus. There are ample places on the web for all other conversation. Thanks!

HI Steve. ( I'm assuming you just type in the @ tag here.) @Steve I understand what you're saying. The alert I got didn't say it was too controversial. It said I was providing inaccurate information, which I never do intentionally. The post was relevant to this thread, and to your prior health research, and to ending the pandemic. But, I understand where you're coming from. Many true things are controversial. So, I can respect your rules and we can talk about other things. Whether the information is on the public forum or not, I would like for you personally to see it. What you do with it, if anything, is up to you. If it's no longer accessible on the forum system, I'd be happy to email it, etc. Thanks for all the cool stuff you do. Ron

I appreciate your understanding, Ron. Muchly!

I'm taking 5000IU of vitamin D3 every day now, and have been for only couple of weeks, I thought I heard @Steve mention, when talking to Leo on SN he was also taking strong dose of vitamin C everyday, and he had been for some time. I looked on the grc.com health home page but I couldn't find the details.Was wondering if there was another location @Steve has mentioned the best dose to consume? Thank you in advance.

Vitamin C is water soluble, so it doesn't remain in one's system long. So, ideally, it should be taken throughout the day. Lorrie, who is not a pill taker, and Leo, both sip a diluted liquid vitamin C, which serves to make water taste more interesting. I take a pH-balanced 'C' — 5g in the morning and 5g in the evening.

As long as we're talking about nutritional supplements, Steve, would it be much of a bother to insert here what you mentioned a week or two ago about the bioavailable form of Magnesium you discussed? (If I've mistaken Mg for the mineral (?) you mentioned, I apologize profusely. I have a legitimate reason for the confusion, but I'd rather not bring that up now.)

Thank you very much!

Steve said:

Vitamin C is water soluble, so it doesn't remain in one's system long. So, ideally, it should be taken throughout the day. Lorrie, who is not a pill taker, and Leo, both sip a diluted liquid vitamin C, which serves to make water taste more interesting. I take a pH-balanced 'C' — 5g in the morning and 5g in the evening.

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Thank you for your reply @Steve I will look at trying the diluted liquid vitamin C as I am told I should be consuming more water every day also, if that isnt working out for me, I will look at your option with 5g morning and evening. I am so greatfull for all that you share and the work you create. Thank you again.

Steve said:

Vitamin C is water soluble, so it doesn't remain in one's system long. So, ideally, it should be taken throughout the day. Lorrie, who is not a pill taker, and Leo, both sip a diluted liquid vitamin C, which serves to make water taste more interesting. I take a pH-balanced 'C' — 5g in the morning and 5g in the evening.

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Vitamin C is ascorbic acid so I would have thought sipping it could rot your teeth?

I remember a news story long ago where some parents were trying to sue one of the big cola firms because their son would sip his while on the sofa watching TV because they wanted to limit him to one can. This pitted his teeth. Parents thought there should have been a warning on the can.

I tried the 5000 IU dose from March through August. During August, I started to notice a strange smell in my urine. Then had a bit of blood in my urine. Talked to my wife, a clinical pharmacist with a specialty in IV nutrition, and asked if the Vitamin D I was taking could be causing this. She thought the 5000 IU was pretty high and a little research showed that Vitamin D can cause an alteration in urine smell. Regardless, I stopped taking the Vitamin D the beginning of September and the smell has just returned to normal this week. My wife thinks the smell is the Vitamin D, but the blood might not be. I also have occasional flare ups of gout. Haven't had a true attack in quite a while but that doesn't mean that my kidneys aren't dealing with high level of uric acid in my system that may cause some irritation. Probably TMI, but wanted to add my experience to the conversation. I"m probably going to start take a reduced amount of Vitamin D and see how it goes. My wife is recommending I start with 1000 IU per day.

@danlock : THIS is the one you want: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0773PZG4D/. It's a dipeptide — a molecule of magnesium tightly bound to a pair of glycine molecules. The rule is that you should take as much as your "guts" will allow. Taking too much will result in mild to moderate stool loosening since the presence of unabsorbed magnesium will osmotically pull water into your large (lower) intestine and colon. It's not harmful but you'll want to back off. The best approach would be to take more and more until things begin to soften. For me, that level is 10 tablets per day, 5 in the AM and 5 in the PM. So that's 1g of elemental Mg per day.

What's interesting is that for about a year I was able to take substantially more, then I needed to back off. This is a well known phenomenon. Initially much more will be absorbed while our body's supply is being replenished. Once it is "topped off" we stop absorbing as much.

If you're interested in learning more about Mg, THIS is the best reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399594442/ I dislike the title, since there's nothing whatsoever miraculous about magnesium — it's all just pure science — but I understand the need for a “popular” title.

@pch I don't know what your situation with health care is (I know people can be forced to avoid the doctor because of costs) but blood in the urine is not something I would ever dismiss out of hand, you should see a doctor about it.

Russell said:

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid so I would have thought sipping it could rot your teeth?

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Yes I would think so too. I remember Leo being worried about the same thing.

Wow about Vitamin D your podcast is the 1st I found out about it. I thought it just came in milk back then. I know they add it to milk and looks like mostly get it from pigs hides.

I am taking 5000 Ui like you just said not long ago what you take. From the years things I found out and not sure if right. That if you overdose on Vitamin D that is hard to do the antibodies can eat up your throat. They did a test giving it to someone to see what would happen.

All you need calcium else it will take it from your bones. You all so need vitamin K that is green vegetables the greener the more vitamin K they have.

That at age 50 you only get about half from the Sun and it goes down from there.

If your shadow is longer then how tall you are that your not getting enough Sun for Vitamin D.

All so it takes about 3 days to absorb in your skin and you can wash it off before that with soap. Not sure this is right. It is all things Steve did not say in his podcast.

Maybe you should do a new Vitamin D podcast. With this covid-19 around sounds like Vitamin D will get your Antibodies up and the more you have the faster they can fight the virus.

Found out to some vitamins store in your fat so stay about 90 days but other don't and stay a day. Fat-soluble never know what that meant before.

That about every animal make vitamin C but that we must of lost a genes some time. That's one that last just a day don't store in your fat.

Happy you did this Vitamin D episode back then. Found out more about health too. Seems like sugar is are energy that is why we have to breath and why we have to breath more when we do more. But have to watch how much you eat else it goes to fat. Just things I herd after the Vitamin D I did from Steve.

-Raymond Day

I've been taking 8000 IU, since the gels I've been getting are 4000 IU apiece. I hope they're the real deal and not just filled with sugar.

Adam J. Richardson said:

I've been taking 8000 IU

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This seems a little high to me. I think 4000 or 5000 is a reasonable recommended maximum.

I am not a doctor, however: a healthy young person can in a day in summer around noon produce 12000IU if they expose all their skin to the sun, so if one is an indoor person, who never sees the sun, I would say that 12000IU is the upper limit nature had in mind for D3.

The liver will store excess, normally in winter we are supposed to tap into that storage of D3 the liver has, and in summers fill it up again, so maybe if we average out and take d3 every day, a lower dose like 4000IU-5000IU is just about right.

It is of course always best to test ones blood value of D3 to see where it is, so it is not going too low or too high.

PHolder said:

This seems a little high to me. I think 4000 or 5000 is a reasonable recommended maximum.

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Agreed, but I've thought about it a bit. Steve said at one point that you'd have to exceed 50000 IU per day for months to actually overdose. I know Steve's not a doctor, and I'm not taking his advice as gospel, but I think on balance 8000 IU is probably a fairly safe risk to take.

I am under fairly regular medical care as a post-cancer patient, so I'll bring it up with my doctors next appointment which is actually... soonish.

Without going onto political things, Trump was taking vit d and zinc before his hospitalization. Also in his last checkup (june) his vit b-12 and d were normal (whatever that means)

@Steve et al,
Recently found the following paper which asserts that the RDA for Vitamin D was calculated incorrectly (by an order of magnitude) ...


... and this response from another group, which supports the first paper with more relevant experimental data ...


Looks like these results back up your own personal trials.

Adam J. Richardson said:

Agreed, but I've thought about it a bit. Steve said at one point that you'd have to exceed 50000 IU per day for months to actually overdose. I know Steve's not a doctor, and I'm not taking his advice as gospel, but I think on balance 8000 IU is probably a fairly safe risk to take.

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Better safe than sorry!

Steve also said that D3 remains in the system for a long time. I think its half-life in the body is around 15 days.

Vitamin D is high in demand in the Czech Republic (where I come from). It reached a point when even news mention it. Pharmacists say that people just stock up on vitamin D. They also mention that people learned about vitamin D benefits from the internet. I feel like being light years ahead because I was informed about vitamin D benefits by Steve already years ago.

Also I can confirm that the vitamin D can change the smell of the urine.

5k a day, keepin' the Covid at bay

i've been taking 5,000 IU of vitamin D ever since Steve did his podcast about it. Every night, as it's part of my nightly regimen.

Multi, C, D, Calcium, Fish Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar.

Trying to get my gf to reliably take vitamin D for side effects of Covid protection, she works in a nursing home were covid has recently ran amuck. They test the staff twice a week and so far she's negative. I recommend she start taking 5,000 back in April. she only recently started taking it but when I asked her about it, she forgot for the last 3 days.

I've been taking 5000IU for about a year, usually in the morning with breakfast. Recently had my blood work done as part of my annual checkup. Had them test my D level and it was right down the middle of the stripe. So has been apparently working well for me, though I didn't really have a baseline before taking it to compare. But it appears to not be doing any harm for sure.

Hello all, I hate to cite Forbes, but they covered the results of a study linking Vitamin D to better COVID19 outcomes. The lead author is @Steve favorite Dr Michael Holick. The scientific community has some concerns over the sample size, about 230 or so, but this is promising stuff. The report also got some coverage from BBC and others, including some push-back on Vit D supplementation. I find this especially strange in light of the "Statistical Error" ref cited by @peterhatoz.

The Forbes article has link to the published study, with notes about sample size concerns.

Disclaimer here, I have not yet consulted my physician concerning the following and I take Lipitor, Plavix and Lopressor:

I have been taking vitamin D3 for a number of years. In past years I took 2000 IU, but in the last year I have been taking 4000 IU. Dr. Fauci recommends taking vitamin K2 MK-7 when taking vitimin D3, but based on some research, it may not be a good idea to do this if you are taking heart medications such as this 62 year old does. I was a long distance runner in my youth and a bicycle racer in my 20's and 30's, but this doesn't always protect on if it is in your family history and certain diet and life style chooses take precedence. 2 years ago I started cycling again, but still had a heart attack a year ago, which required a stint. I did, however, get up to 20 miles again by the end of summer.


"One of the biggest vitamin K2 side effects on health is its potential to interact with blood-thinning medications. Blood-thinning medications work by inhibiting vitamin K. Suddenly increasing the vitamin K2 coming from any source, whether vitamin K2 supplements or vitamin K2-rich foods, may decrease the effect of blood-thinning medications. Cutting down on vitamin K2 may increase its effect. This unwanted side effect may seem more significant with vitamin K2 than vitamin K1. Even a small change in menaquinone intake may affect anti-coagulant medications.

When an allergic reaction turns up, vitamin K2 supplements are basically safe and non-toxic. Menaquinones may be metabolized with vitamin K2 differently than vitamin K1. For instance, vitamin K2’s effect coming from fermented foods on blood-thinning medications may last longer than vitamin K1’s effect.

This is actually one of the common side effects of vitamin K2 that you should know and try to be cautious when taking in vitamin K2 from any sources while taking blood-thinning medications."

Source for above: https://nutritionkit.com/vitamin-k2-side-effects/

From what I understand, and I am no doctor, K2 maybe can interfere with warfarin and other anticoagulants, but at the same time it helps prevent calcification of blood vessels and helps the heart in doing so, and also has other heart health improving effects, something that medicines that mess with vitamin k/k2 metabolism messes up. I don't know if K2 overall is good or bad for people with those medications though. I think that will have to be something each person on those medicines discuss with their doctor and then decide on for themselves. I am not sure if high D3 is such a great idea without some source of K2 though, given that if an overdose happens it will speed up calcification of soft tissues.

Also I am not sure if K1 and K2 act the same, I mean the molecules look similar so maybe, but I thought K1 was the one with highest coagulation enhancing properties, while K2 had other functions. I may be remembering that wrong though, do your own research

Some useful youtube references on Vitamin-D (K2 and Omega3 is also required in the equation, but they my be adequate in diet already):
"From Ivor Cummins BE(Chem), CEng MIEI “D is for Debacle – The Crucial Story of Vitamin D and Human Health”: which goes into scientific research on what levels the body should have, including breast--feeding mums.
For more recent clinical studies into current illnesses, have a look at Dr John Campbell discussing Vitamin-D and immunity and on large scale studies

i have been taking 10k for a few weeks now, trying to get my levels up a bit. Then will drop back down a maintenance dose of 5k that i will take daily.

@Steve , I remember you've discussed several times in the podcast that you take quite a few suppliments.
I'd love to see a breakdown of what you're taking but also, probably more importantly, why you take it.

Also, has anyone found a good supplier of the vitamin D3 in the UK?
I ordered some 4000IU "capsules" that turned out to be tablets.
Since the vitamin is fat soluble, I'm thinking I'd prefer to get some capsules with the vitamin suspended in oil.

Thanks in advance,

airchie said:

@Steve , I remember you've discussed several times in the podcast that you take quite a few suppliments.
I'd love to see a breakdown of what you're taking but also, probably more importantly, why you take it.

Also, has anyone found a good supplier of the vitamin D3 in the UK?
I ordered some 4000IU "capsules" that turned out to be tablets.
Since the vitamin is fat soluble, I'm thinking I'd prefer to get some capsules with the vitamin suspended in oil.

Thanks in advance,

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I could not find the one Steve is taking in the UK, so I searched online for "now High potency Vitamin D-3 5,000 IU". Got it shipped i a few days. Think it came from Sweden!

Mervyn Haynes said:

I could not find the one Steve is taking in the UK, so I searched online for "now High potency Vitamin D-3 5,000 IU". Got it shipped i a few days. Think it came from Sweden!

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Found It! It was iherb.com. £8.56 plus shipping.

martyfender said:

Dr. Fauci recommends taking vitamin K2 MK-7 when taking vitimin D3,
Source for above: https://nutritionkit.com/vitamin-k2-side-effects/

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I can't find this recommendation by doctor Fauci; can you give us a source for this? I've heard he recommends vitamin D3 and C, didn't see K2 mentioned.

Santiago said:

I can't find this recommendation by doctor Fauci; can you give us a source for this? I've heard he recommends vitamin D3 and C, didn't see K2 mentioned.

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Sorry, it was in one of his many YouTube videos he posted in the last few weeks.

A very small consideration perhaps, but is anyone concerned by the extra ingredients that are often a part of the tablet?

Such as:

Bulking Agent: Maltodextrin, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Tablet Coating (Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, Glycerin, Natural Source Colour: Titanium Dioxide), Anti-Caking Agents: Silicon Dioxide, Stearic Acid & Magnesium Stearate.

I didn't know there were K1 and K2 vitamins. I thought potassium (chemical symbol K) was sometimes called Vitamin K.

Where am I confused here? Thank you!

Chemically, the vitamin K family comprises 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (3-) derivatives. Vitamin K includes two natural vitamers: vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin K2 (menaquinone).[3] Vitamin K2, in turn, consists of a number of related chemical subtypes, with differing lengths of carbon side chains made of isoprenoid groups of atoms. The two most studied ones are menaquinone-4 (MK-4) and menaquinone-7 (MK-7).

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Mervyn Haynes said:

Found It! It was iherb.com. £8.56 plus shipping.

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For Europeans (similar could be found in the US?) I think this Germany made, 5k IU per droplet in coconut oil makes the most sense and by far is the most economical (5+ years of supply on 5k/day, the expiration date will probably come sooner). I prefer tasteless drops (as my mother fed us as kids ) to pills.

@Steve, do you have a recommendation for a zinc supplement? Are zinc and other minerals similar to magnesium, in that they need to be bound (TRAACS) to be sufficiently absorbed by the human body?

love the new forums

I take 20,000IU a day. But I'm an over achiever I guess. Haven't had any negative side-effects I can think of.

@Sukima it's not a contest and that is too much. At best you're wasting your money, at worst you will eventually have health consequences. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-side-effects

Sukima said:

I take 20,000IU a day

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WHAT. WHY?

Sukima said:

I take 20,000IU a day. But I'm an over achiever I guess. Haven't had any negative side-effects I can think of.

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Sweet Jeezus ! Why ?!? Are you in Siberia / Alaska ?

I'm low vitamin D and living in North Carolina. I take 10,000 IU daily and have been for several years now. I don't know why my body needs so much but my bloodwork is staying at about 70. The normal range for vitamin D is 30 to 90 in my reports. I think my break even point is somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 IU daily. I have no negative side effects that I know of but plenty of exhaustion if I miss a dose or only take (1) 5,000 IU pill in a day.

mwg said:

@Steve, do you have a recommendation for a zinc supplement? Are zinc and other minerals similar to magnesium, in that they need to be bound (TRAACS) to be sufficiently absorbed by the human body?

love the new forums

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I take Zinc daily. I am not low Zinc but I find other health benefits from taking it. It took a while to get the dosage right. If you experience diarrhea then you've taken too much. I quarter a 25 mg pill and only take a dose three times a week for about 18.75 mg weekly. It's all my body can handle. So, like the Health Sleep Formula, YMMV.

mwg said:

@Steve, do you have a recommendation for a zinc supplement? Are zinc and other minerals similar to magnesium, in that they need to be bound (TRAACS) to be sufficiently absorbed by the human body?

love the new forums

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Now Foods sells 30 mg Zn Glycinate soft gels. I take one of these per day with no adverse effects. The source company is TRAACS.

I’ve been taking Now Foods 1000IU for a few years now and have recently upped it to 5000iu a few times a week in the winter. I’ve never noticed any adverse effects but remember to always start slow. Too much vitamin D is associated with calcification of the blood (something like that) which leads to clogging of arteries I think. The medical advice is usually get a blood test before taking D. Like I said though I started low and I live in Canada so I am getting about 0iu naturally right now.

I also found Now zinc tablets, 50mg. I take that a few times a week, not every day though. On top of that Omega 3 with high epa/dha every day and a good multivitamin, I use Pure Encapsulations.

personally I think D and omega 3 are essential and I thank @Steve for pointing me in the D direction all those years ago.

L0rd said:

A very small consideration perhaps, but is anyone concerned by the extra ingredients that are often a part of the tablet?

Such as:

Bulking Agent: Maltodextrin, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Tablet Coating (Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, Glycerin, Natural Source Colour: Titanium Dioxide), Anti-Caking Agents: Silicon Dioxide, Stearic Acid & Magnesium Stearate.

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Titanium Dioxide does bad things to rats but the dose looks high and rats are not humans. Still a stupid thing to use since it is only for coloring. Who cares what color the pills are!? I avoid it. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30936694/

If you're interested in a deeper dive into how Vitamin D works in the body and its use in various clinical trials including Covid-19 treatments, watch this YouTube video published by MedCram. MedCram summarizes medical research and lectures into more easily understandable terms.

Vitamin K2 is pretty interesting, discovered not that long ago (10 or 15 years?) and so it isn't on that many people's radar yet. It does many things, probably much we don't know yet, including helping with skin elasticity, and activating two proteins that are important in dealing with calcium in the body. The effects of this are that bones are in general better built, to use a scientific term, and calcium is moved to where it should be in the bone matrix. Children growing up with good K2 levels tend to have wider faces and larger jaws leading to less problems with cramped teeth. The two proteins it activates are Osteocalcin and Matrix-GLA. Their jobs are to transport calcium into the bone matrix, and to hoover up stray calcium that tends to deposit just anywhere in the body if there's too much in circulation. The combination of these two actions help to properly use calcium that is absorbed from food, the link with Vitamin D being that it causes us to absorb more of the calcium in our diet - and our body may need a little help dealing with this extra calcium.

Reading articles and watching numerous videos on the subject various medics seem to be split on the need to supplement with this. There's little in the food we eat unless we are from the half of Japan that doesn't find the taste of natto unpleasant. However it's possible that the body can convert enough K1 to K2 to handle our needs.

I guess that here we come back to the question of requirements to be properly healthy versus the level to avoid the deficiency disease. But personally, because I take D3, I tend to side with the medics who say that 200 microgrammes of K2 MK7 daily is perfectly safe, and on balance is probably a good idea given the safety profile.

I'm not a medic by the way. My Dad was but where I lived at the time it was and still is ridiculously competitive to get in to medical school. I'm just another person who is interested in the subject and like to know some of the detail.

danlock said:

I didn't know there were K1 and K2 vitamins. I thought potassium (chemical symbol K) was sometimes called Vitamin K.

Where am I confused here? Thank you!

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I realize your question is old and you've gotten other answers. I wanted to give a shoutout to the Linus Pauling Micronutrient Information Center at Oregon State University. They curate reports on a vast number of vitamins, minerals, etc. on their website. The writeups are curated by PhDs or better in the field. It's a pretty cool collection of articles.

It's a good resource, but not a perfect one. Check it out: https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic .