Recommend a SMALL sized multivitamin?

Savvy_Sue

While you're waiting for your Vit D tablets to arrive, Holland and Barrett do small easy to swallow ones!

ailuro2

I'll just finish the ones I've got, not sure what sticks in my throat more - the big tablets or wasting money by not taking them.:rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

You can of course get a pill cutter, I'm sure my local chemist has one for 99p. Or DH used to crush his mega big tablets.

Note, I know some prescribed medications should NOT be cut or crushed, so always read the instructions!

Ted_Hutchinson

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

While you're waiting for your Vit D tablets to arrive, Holland and Barrett do small easy to swallow ones!

But do take account of the fact that these are 6p each 1000iu

From Iherb the 360 X 2000iu including P&P (and not including the $5 introductory discount you can find if you look in the referrals board.) work out at $17.37 = £10.12 = 2.8p each.

So you get twice as much for less than half the price.

But do remember that the level at which your body's needs are met and you have some available to pass on to your baby via breast milk or some to store to fight infection through the winter is 125nmol/l.

currently the average UK adult has around 55 nmol/l so requires around 75nmol/l EXTRA to get around the optimum status. 1000iu will provide 25nmol/l so 3000iu provides 75nmol/l. So assuming you have been laying naked in the sunshine whenever possible through the summer you could raise your status to ideal with 3000iu/d that is 2 x 2000iu day 1 and 1 x 2000iu/day 2 and so on.
However your body actually works best on 5000iu/daily and you won't get any from sunlight from September to March (because the sun is too low and the angle at which the UVB rays hit the atmosphere means they don't get through the upper atmospheric pollution) So although 3000iu should be enough in the summer in the winter it simply will not do. 5000iu for women and 6000iu for men is what Dr Davis finds works in Wisconsin lat 43 I take 5000iu/d and find that works at lat 52 IF I ALSO GET FULL BODY SUNSHINE WHENEVER POSSIBLE AT MIDDAY.

So 3 x 2000=6000iu= 3x 2.8=8.4p using Iherb or use 5000iu from Bio Tech If you buy 2 pots of 250 you only pay one lot of postage and they work out around 4p daily.
Vit d is fat soluble and has a half life of around 3 weeks. So if you order today and get your vit d in 2 weeks time it is perfectly safe to take 10 x 5000iu on the day you get them to catch up for lost time. You may do this ONE DAY IN each of the next 8 weeks. so EACH WEEK take 10 x 5000iu=50,000iu= 7000iu/d, that way you catch up and ensure your status gets over 60ng 150nmol/l. after which it's 5000iu/daily until the end of March when you can start nude sunbathing again or continue with the 5000iu/d if you don't fancy full body exposure.

Savvy_Sue

Ted_Hutchinson wrote: »

But do take account of the fact that these are 6p each 1000iuthrough the winter is 125nmol/l.

Be fair, Ted, I did say

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

While you're waiting for your Vit D tablets to arrive, Holland and Barrett do small easy to swallow ones!

Ted_Hutchinson

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Be fair, Ted, I did say

I wasn't having a go at you simply explaining that you can safely do a catch up operation if you want with the higher strength available from the USA.

The ideal time to start supplementing to prepare for the winter would have been August (that's when we should have been getting our Vit d from sun but it was so cloudy)

You can see here how much Vitamin D3 is required to bring Wisconsin people up to the level associated with least heart disease, They are further south, have less cloud than we do and also have fortified milk/cereals.

The small amount available in UK supplied D3 tablets is so trivial it is hardly worth bothering with, although of course, every little helps, but if you're short of money then wait till the effective strength ones arrive and then have a quick boost with them.

peat

In the article in your last link Dr Davis states "But the ability to activate D is lost by the majority of us by age 40" so are you not wasting your time sun bathing?

Ted_Hutchinson

peat wrote: »

In the article in your last link Dr Davis states "But the ability to activate D is lost by the majority of us by age 40" so are you not wasting your time sun bathing?

I think he is overstating the case . I agree that the ability to synthesis vitamin D3 does get lower as you get older but I haven't seen the research that indicates you completely lose the ability. As far as I know it declines by about 65% but that still allows some benefit to be obtained. A young skin can make 10,000iu in just 20-40minutes or so, 65% of that still leaves me(age 64yrs) with 3500iu right where it's needed.

However I DO NOT rely on sun exposure as my only source of D3 I use 5000iu every day of the year. Dr Davis suggests it takes 6000iu/d in Wisconsin (level with Monaco) to attain and maintain 60-70ng. Well I achieve that level with just 5000iu plus regular sun exposure. Of course it could be that I'm just efficient at using the D3 from supplements and I am wasting my time laying in the sun for 30mins at midday. While it's such a palaver getting a test (I still haven't the result of the 25(OH)D test done 4 weeks ago) it's impossible for me to track my D3 status through the seasons so I cannot be certain the extent to which my status is boosted by sun exposure.

Dr Davis also says that the dry powder forms of D3 aren't reliable and he only recommends the oil gel capsules but I've only used the dry powder and if they didn't work for me my status would be down around 100nmol/l as the weather near Skegness is generally referred to as "Bracing" which means when it's not cloudy it's still too cold to spend too much time in the sun.

I believe regular sun exposure has advantages as it produces D3 right on the surface of the skin where it is needed to improve immune function.

vegankris

The Vegan Society's online shop sell blackcurrant flavour chewy Veg 1 multivits which contain vit D if a chewable one's any use.

Ted_Hutchinson

vegankris wrote: »

The Vegan Society's online shop sell blackcurrant flavour chewy Veg 1 multivits which contain vit D if a chewable one's any use.

~As the form of Vitamin D they provide is D2 ergocalciferol I am fairly certain the amount provided in those multivit/minerals will be worse than useless.
See The case against ergocalciferol as a vitamin supplement

You need to understand that as humans evolved living an outdoor existance and near naked for most of the 2 million years of evolution our bodies are fine tuned to attain and maintain a 25(OH)D status between 125nmol/l and 175nmol/l. That is the level at which our bodies store Vitamin D. Breast milk flows replete with vitamin D3 and is associated with the lowest incidence of many chronic conditions.

If you email The Doctor's Laboratory They will send you a 25(OH)D sample kit which you take to your local surgery.
They will draw your blood and return the sample with a covering letter to the lab. You will then within a couple of days, get an accurate DIASORIN test result showing how much circulating D3 you currently have. It will cost you £40. but it will enable you to understand how much vitamin D you now need to take to raise from your current status to that associated with the lowest incidence of cancer, heart disease and diabetes among others. It easy to work out as each extra 100iu/daily of D3 Cholecalciferol raises status 1ng or 2.5 nmol/l. If you have any problems post back here and I'll do the calculations for you but it's basically just simple arithmetic.

You will then understand why the amounts of vitamin D normally provided in multivitamin/mineral mixes is totally inadequate and as it provides people with a false sense of security is dangerously misleading.