Page 22 - Summer2010

my spring 2007 article on vitamin K , “On the the form of 25(OH)D, is above 50 ng/mL (125
2
Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year- nmol/L)?
Old Mystery Finally Solved.” The answer is “No.” If you’ve been trying
As a result of this research, in December of to maintain your levels this high because you
2007, I published a hypothesis on the molecular thought this was the case, I’m sorry to break the
mechanism of vitamin D toxicity in the journal news. There is, on the contrary, good evidence
Medical Hypotheses entitled “Vitamin D tox- that 25(OH)D levels should be at least 30-35 ng/
icity redefined: vitamin K and the molecular mL (75-88 nmol/L). Much higher levels may
mechanism,” which emphasized interactions be better, or they could start causing harm, es-
between vitamins A, D, and K . The following pecially in the absence of adequate vitamins A
2
year, researchers from Tufts University published and K . Once we leave the land of 30-35 ng/mL,
2
a paper in the Journal of Nutrition supporting however, we enter the land of speculation.
this hypothesis, showing that vitamin A protects The idea that science has proven we need to
against vitamin D toxicity in part by helping to maintain 50 ng/mL as a minimum comes from
properly regulate the production of vitamin K- Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council.
dependent proteins. In his article “Am I Vitamin D Deficient?” he
One question I have never been able to an- writes the following: “Thanks to Bruce Hollis,
swer in any of these articles is the one everyone Robert Heaney, Neil Binkley, and others, we now
wants an answer to: what, precisely, is the proper know the minimal acceptable level. It is 50 ng/
ratio of vitamins A and D? ml (125 nmol/L). In a recent study, Heaney, et
Dr. Linday and her colleagues offer a sug- al expanded on Bruce Hollis’s seminal work by
gestion: poultry studies suggest optimal A-to-D analyzing five studies in which both the parent
ratios between four and eight. Similarly, in her compound (cholecalciferol) and 25(OH)D levels
own studies showing that cod liver oil protects were measured. They found that the body does
against upper respiratory tract infections, Linday not reliably begin storing cholecalciferol in fat
supplied her patients with A-to-D ratios between and muscle tissue until 25(OH)D levels get above
five and eight. 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L). The average person starts
They also point out that rat studies show- to store cholecalciferol at 40 ng/ml (100 nmol/L),
ing that vitamin A is toxic and antagonizes the but at 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L) virtually everyone
effects of vitamin D used much higher ratios, begins to store it for future use. That is, at levels
It is ranging from 5,000 to 55,000! below 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L), the body uses up
It is refreshing to see a powerful defense of vitamin D as fast as you can make it, or take it,
refreshing to cod liver oil in the scientific literature, and espe- indicating chronic substrate starvation—not a
see a cially refreshing to see the work of the Weston good thing. 25(OH)D levels should be between

powerful A. Price Foundation cited therein. 50–80 ng/ml (125–200 nmol/L), year-round.”
We owe a big thank you to Dr. Linda Linday
defense of (MD) of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center DIFFERENT CONCLUSIONS
cod liver oil in in NY, NY, Dr. John C. Umhau (MD, MPH) of There are a few problems with this argu-

the scientific NIH in Bethesda, MD, Richard D. Shindledecker ment. To begin with, Drs. Hollis, Heaney, Bin-

literature, of New York Downtown Hospital in NY, NY, kley, and the other authors of this study rightly
Dr. Jay N. Dolitsky (MD) of New York Eye and made very different conclusions from their own
and especially Ear Infirmary in NY, NY and Michael F. Holick data. In the report they wrote for the American
refreshing to (PhD, MD) of Boston University Medical Center Journal of Clinical Nutrition, they wrote the
see the work in Boston, MA for helping to sort out these im- following: “One could plausibly postulate that
the point at which hepatic 25(OH)D production
portant questions about the fat-soluble vitamins.
of the Weston becomes zero-order [this is the point at which
A. Price OPTIMAL VITAMIN D LEVELS the enzymes converting vitamin D to 25(OH)
Are some people pushing their vitamin D D are saturated with vitamin D] constitutes the
Foundation levels too high? Has science proven that the definition of the low end of normal status. This
cited therein. minimal acceptable blood level of vitamin D, in value, as suggested in an equation shown in the

22 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2010