So let me add my two cents. First off, I think that at this point it
is way too early to really make any firm conclusions or decisions
based on the available research. What I got from the link you sent
Meag yesterday is that there is likely many cases where taking vitamin
D supplements may not help and likely less where it may hurt. There
are a few things to consider. As you said there are three forms. The
first is converted to the second by sunlight and the second to the
third chemically within cells down the line. The supplements are the
second form which circumvents the sunlight step. I have no evidence
for this statement but it would seem to me that the natural process
using sunlight would likely always be better than supplements.
That's the way it was meant to be and I think that is the way that
probably works best for whatever reason. Also with regard to the
toxicity, Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin like vitamin E so you can
overdose on it and there are some negative effects. I don't think
death is one but I'm no expert. The thing is there are a lot of
feedback mechanisms; if there is enough of the active third form the
production of more of the second form by sunlight may be shutoff.
Also it's not totally clear that the second form doesn't have some
activity. And it's not clear how all diseases that show a response to
vitamin D actually behave in a person. It's one thing to say that a
bunch of cells in a dish or a rat respond better or worse to treatment
with vitamin D but quite another to say that the same effect will be
seen in a person. Vitamin D does a lot of things so it's not simple.
It may help the arthritic cells but it may also activate immune
responses that make it worse somewhere else. I think the point of the
one paper that you sent the link for was to say 'hey let's back up
here and before we go jacking people up on Vitamin D let's make sure
we understand all the possible effects, and in the meantime let the
natural sunlight driven process maintain the balance.' I told Meag it
might not be a bad idea to go to a tanning salon and get some UV.
Anyway I hope that helps a little, probably not because it is way
complicated and even the people working on these things don't really
know so...
Cait
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