Related Episodes for What Vitamin D Levels Can and Cannot Tell Us

“In this clip, Bruce Ames describes how folate is critical for the transferring of single-carbon groups between molecules. A deficiency in folate leads to errors in production of nucleic acids and can lead to double-stranded breaks in DNA.”

“In this Institute for Functional Medicine excerpt, Dr. Rhonda Patrick answers a longevity question with a food-first premise: identify essential micronutrients and choose foods that supply them before focusing only on what to avoid.”

“In 1,334 dementia-free adults with a mean age of 84, levels below 25 nanomoles per liter were associated with a 91 percent higher rate of all-cause dementia and a 128 percent higher rate of Alzheimer's dementia over seven years.”

“Dr. Patrick also describes a trial in vitamin-D-deficient, overweight African-American adults in which 4,000 IU per day reduced an epigenetic-age measure by almost two years. Epigenetic age is a surrogate biomarker, not proof that vitamin D slowed clinical aging, prevented disease, or extended life.”

“In a study of over 190,000 people tested for SARS-CoV-2, lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were strongly associated with higher SARS-CoV-2 test positivity rates, despite race/ethnicity, age, sex, and latitude.”

“A national survey analysis estimated 2.6% severe deficiency, 22% moderate deficiency, and 40.9% insufficiency among US adults, although prevalence changes with the threshold used. These categories should remain distinct because insufficiency is not the same as clinical deficiency.”

“A 12-month randomized controlled trial found that vitamin D supplementation improved cognitive function, intelligence quotient scores, telomere length, and lowered oxidative stress markers in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (compared to placebo), suggesting that not only does vitamin D supplementation improve biomarkers of aging, but also functional outcomes.”

“Measuring 25-hydroxyvitamin D helps place these factors in context. When sunlight is insufficient, Dr. Patrick favors vitamin D3 over vitamin D2 and stresses that dose should match the person rather than follow a universal rule.”

“A separate cohort of 12,388 adults associated vitamin D exposure with 40 percent lower dementia incidence, and a 12-month randomized trial of 183 older adults with mild cognitive impairment found improvements on several cognitive tests with 800 IU per day.”

“Among 1,787 adults assigned vitamin D3 at 1,000 IU per day, calcium, both, or placebo, vitamin D3 raised 25-hydroxyvitamin D by an average 6.1 nanograms per milliliter after one year, with wide person-to-person variation.”