Vitamin D: Time To Up Your Daily Dose?

Dear PJH,

Many thanks for your enlightening and explicitly clear article written in such a simple and beautiful language that all of us laymen can fully understand it. Please go on writing more and more about Vit D so that we can get out of the daily recommended "straight jacket" of -- would you believe this? -- 100 IU per day being enough!! According to many doctors here who read the labels on Calcium tablets that carry only that much Vit D!!

Also people walk around in the sun in India all the time without hats, so they get a lot of sun on their faces. Most of the body is covered as this is still a conservative society and sleeping on the beach in swim wear is still rare.

 I understand that the face alone will not give that much Vit D anyway. When they say they get 20,000 IU from fifteen minutes of a sun bath they probably mean the exposed body-- but for the face they would get only -- 1000 IU? -- I dont know. 

Unless there is something special about the face in the manner that it takes up Vit D. What about the head even though covered with hair? Bald people would be the winners for Vit D here. Maybe if the sun's heat were entering the head and some ultra violet rays through the hair, or maybe the follicles of the hair were themselves conveying the ultra violet radiation into the skull! It would be tremendous to know if the hair on the head conveyed Vit D into the body! This may lead to more people here discarding their turbans! lol.

Thanks again for your valuable article, please write more.

Yours,

Priya

Hmmmmm. Logically as one with osteoporosis I've upped my dosage to 1000-2000IU. However studies show that over 1000IU may possibly cause kidney stones, liver damage and heart problems. I would need more studies in front of me before I upped my dosage to 10,000IU. As always, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Even broccolli is toxic in mega dosages. Good Health all.