[mamak05]

Before you started taking CLO, did you have your vitamin levels checked? To me, it seems like taking CLO would not be harmful, but I wanted to ask the experts here.

After all the reading I've been doing on the benefits, I want to start taking it, but am wondering if I need to get a checkup before hand. Also, I live in the southeast, but am not outside a lot - maybe a couple hours a day in the early morning and late afternoon (even less in the summer!). Any worries I should have there?

Other questions I should be asking or other info I should know, please pass it along.

Thank you!

 

[Tcarwyn]

in gerenral ameracians are getting way way less vitamin a and d traditional peoples are getting. many people choose to take high vitamin clo, but if you are worried in anyway ( which I would not be ) just take regular clo.

Tanya

 

[mamak05]

Thanks - I am currently reading Physical Degeneration and was astounded about the difference in vit/mins in traditional diets vs the modern Western diet.

 

[saratc]

I don't get enough sun even during the summer, so I did not get my vitamins checked before taking CLO. I also believe like a lot of research indicates that it is very difficult to overdose on vitamins from natural sources, and I'm only taking a dosage of the high vitamin CLO daily, not a very high dosage. People under stress can go up to 90,000 IU of vitamin A, and I'm only getting 5,000 IUs daily. When I have colds, I take extra CLO and it seems to help.

 

[mamak05]

Thank you! By the way, I am really scared about what my grandmother was eating!

 

[zzwhitejd]

Heck no I wouldn't ask a Dr first. What do they know about vitamins that are not in drug form? It bites me in the tail everytime I mention that sort of thing to my Dr, and I have what I would consider a good one.

 

[Ruthla]

Why on earth would I talk to my dr about taking CLO? I'm sure if I asked her any nutritional information she'd just tell me to take a commercial multi-vitamin.

 

[mamak05]

Good points about the knowledge of nutrition. I was thinking more about having levels of Vit D tested (I read that on Mercola's site) before taking clo.

Ruth, I'm sorry about Samster.

 

[Imvishta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamak05 Before you started taking CLO, did you have your vitamin levels checked? To me, it seems like taking CLO would not be harmful, but I wanted to ask the experts here. After all the reading I've been doing on the benefits, I want to start taking it, but am wondering if I need to get a checkup before hand. Also, I live in the southeast, but am not outside a lot - maybe a couple hours a day in the early morning and late afternoon (even less in the summer!). Any worries I should have there? Other questions I should be asking or other info I should know, please pass it along. Thank you!

I'm not sure about the vitamin A, but have read some on vitamin D. For Caucasians, about 15 minutes (more if you have darker skin) in the sun mid-morning without sunscreen a few times a week should give you plenty of vitamin D in the south. Just your legs or parts of your body; no need for a swimsuit, thankfully. I can't remember the man's name off-hand, but he is (or was) the head of endocrinology at Boston University, I think. And, he was stripped of his professorship of dermatology there because of his recommendations. In any case, you'd get tons of it and your body just flushes out what it doesn't need without any worries about toxicity. Sounds like you would be getting plenty already. Just don't put on sunscreen until you get out there (I think it takes about 15 minutes to start to work anyway?) unless it's midday and too dangerous.

 

[Taedareth]

Hmm what about the northern US? I'm in Washington State. Do we ever get sufficient sun exposure at this latitude (to make vitamin D)?

 

[Imvishta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taedareth Hmm what about the northern US? I'm in Washington State. Do we ever get sufficient sun exposure at this latitude?

Not so much all year 'round. The study I read included girls from Maine, I think. I'll try to find it and post, but not sure if I'll be able to find the exact one.

 

[newcastlemama]

I would not worry about it unless you are getting A LOT of sun while not wearing sunscreen. I think I was reading on Mercola that the RDA for vit D is too low and they are actually looking into changing it. I think on WAPF it talked about unless you are nearly naked midday, most days, you are not getting enough. From what you descibed (not in the sun much) I would think that you desperately need it!

If you are really concerned about D overdose you could get a bloodtest. I was depressed and my D was low so I am glad I started high vitamin CLO.

Jen

 

[Tcarwyn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newcastlemama I would not worry about it unless you are getting A LOT of sun while not wearing sunscreen. I think I was reading on Mercola that the RDA for vit D is too low and they are actually looking into changing it. I think on WAPF it talked about unless you are nearly naked midday, most days, you are not getting enough. From what you descibed (not in the sun much) I would think that you desperately need it! If you are really concerned about D overdose you could get a bloodtest. I was depressed and my D was low so I am glad I started high vitamin CLO. Jen

They *did *just up the upper limit:

The upper safe limit has been raised to 10,000 iu, as of January of this year, at least it appeared in a concensus article by Vitamin D experts in the Am J Clin Nutrition. Adverse effects appear with doses of 40,000 IU daily when taken for many months. Loading doses of 50,000 iu for a week in those who are deficient are without adverse consequences, and are now commonly used in cancer patients, with the sustained dose back somewhere between 4000 and 10000 iu.

Tanya

 

[Imvishta]

Here are a couple of articles about D, how to get it, who gets it most, etc. Some good stats. They are both articles each just one in a series of article and both have lots of links and references. They mention a Boston University professor, but I'll have to look later and come back and edit my post as I got sidetracked and now don't have time. But, these two do seem like really good articles and the first one listed below mentions that the closer one lives to the equator the less likely one is to have other cancers (i.e. other than sun cancer), MS or other autoimmune diseases. Fascinating!

Vitamin Boost
From muscle strength to immunity, scientists find new vitamin D benefit
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041009/bob8.asp

Understanding Vitamin D Deficiency
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050430/food.asp

I realize this is kind of a tangent from the OP about taking CLO, but did seem to apply to the issue of not getting enough D from the sun depending on where you live.

I'll try to come back and add the info on the B.U. study later when I find it. HTH.

First edit:

The doctor from B.U. mentioned in the article above is the one to whom I was referring. This article isn't the one I originally read, but is a New York Times article that mentions his "prescription" of 20 percent of the amount of time it would take you to burn in the sun. He also mentions storing D from spring and summer exposure. And, taking a supplement, etc. Of course, in this article he mentions being a professor of dermatology, and by the time he wrote or was referenced in the article I read he'd been stripped of that professorship for advocating sun exposure.

A CONVERSATION WITH: MICHAEL HOLICK; Shining a Light on the Health Benefits of Vitamin D
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...52C0A9659C8B63

Second Edit:

Second part of article "Vitamin Boost" above:
Vitamin D: What's Enough?
Many people may need much more
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041016/bob9.asp

That's easy enough to do if you're, say, a white person working outdoors during the summer in New Jersey. In shorts and a T-shirt, such a person can soak up enough ultraviolet rays to produce 12,000 IU of vitamin D within 20 minutes, notes Reinhold Vieth of the University of Toronto.

The article discusses variability based on location, season, race.

 

[Imvishta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newcastlemama I would not worry about it unless you are getting A LOT of sun while not wearing sunscreen. I think I was reading on Mercola that the RDA for vit D is too low and they are actually looking into changing it. I think on WAPF it talked about unless you are nearly naked midday, most days, you are not getting enough. From what you descibed (not in the sun much) I would think that you desperately need it! If you are really concerned about D overdose you could get a bloodtest. I was depressed and my D was low so I am glad I started high vitamin CLO. Jen

Oh, I don't think you can ever get too much D from the sun, if I've read the information correctly. While you get numbers (can't remember exactly) that seem extraordinarily high, they are just flushed out of your body because of the type of D from which it is derived. Meaning, I don't think the high numbers correlate to the same numbers if they are taken in any other form, kwim? Whether or not that meant that she was getting "enough" from the sun then getting too much by taking any form of supplement I don't know. But, you're right, they are calling for higher RDA's of D. But, I didn't mean to imply that anyone would overdose by getting their D from the sun. I meant simply that being in the sun for several hours a day would probably be enough if she's Caucasian. I hope I can find that article...

 

[newcastlemama]

Ooops! I should have been more clear. I don't think the sun can cause a D overdose. But tons of sun plus the CLO might.

Jen

 

[Taedareth]

Hmm. The Weston Price Foundation says adults are supposed to take 2 tsp of CLO per day, is that right?

 

[Imvishta]

So, about checking D levels before taking CLO... Dr. Holick mentions in one article (not posted) that often doctors just look at blood calcium levels and assume that D levels are sufficient. Do you have to ask for a specific test?

And, just wondering... what do you all think is a lot of time in the sun? I think several hours a day is a lot of time in the sun, even though I used to spend all day in it. I think I've used up my reserves at this point, though.

:

 

[newcastlemama]

I was thinking of not giving my dh CLO this summer because he gets a lot, IMO. All day outside working M-F. Then all weekend outside in only shorts.

 

[mamak05]

Everyone - thanks so much for the discussion. I LOVE learning about nutrition - and there is so much to learn.

Imvishta - thanks for the links to the articles - can't wait to read them!

I suspect that on some days my sun exposure is good for Vit D but on many days (like in the past two weeks) it is not. Pollen keeping me indoors! When it gets really hot here I run from the sun most days. DD and I are both very fair skinned and burn pretty fast, so I think the CLO would be beneficial regardless. Maybe I should take fish oil in the winter and CLO in the summer to account for my own personal outdoor time (opposite of my friends in the north - where I used to live).