The Double Edge of vitamin D Supplementation: From Heart disease to Multiple Sclerosis

### Low levels of vitamin D are often associated with many ongoing chronic issue. Multiple Sclerosis of the Central Nervous System  is a good example. The question is a classical chicken-egg problem. Does the disease "burn" vitamin D" or is the deficiency in vitamin D causing the disease(s)

### **Let us look at the role of vitamin D in Cardiovascular diseases**_:_

### My previous post on the dangers of food fortification focused on Calcium.

### [http://www.medinewsdigest.com/?p=4759](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emedinewsdigest%2Ecom%2F%3Fp%3D4759&urlhash=62T1&_t=tracking_disc)

### If you go to the live references, you will see that most current research points in problems of supplementing with calcium alone.

### _But adding  vitamin D to calcium   does not necessarily alleviate the calcium induced problems_ (Ref. 13 of my post).
The dangers or benefits of vitamin D supplementation are somewhat ambiguous, see the articles on "Vitamin D and vascular calcification."
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17218831](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%2Fpubmed%2F17218831&urlhash=nrqb&_t=tracking_disc)
"Protective and toxic effects of vitamin D on vascular calcification: clinical implications."
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18538838](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%2Fpubmed%2F18538838&urlhash=8kbT&_t=tracking_disc)

### Vitamin D and vitamin K, all play a role in the way the body uses Calcium, it does seem that the synergies, or ways they interplay, are yet fully understood.
Furthermore, there is a published study documented the toxic effects of accidental excessive (50,000IU daily for three months !) supplementation of vitamin D. See "Hypervitaminosis D associated with a vitamin D dispensing error."
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21917555](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%2Fpubmed%2F21917555&urlhash=EwNo&_t=tracking_disc)

### One interesting aspect of the above reference is that "…Hypervitaminosis D brought about hypercalcemia and acute kidney injury secondary to hypervitaminosis D. All vitamin D supplementation were discontinued and 5 months after discharge, the patient's serum calcium and vitamin D concentrations returned to baseline…"

### It is very possible that lesser doses than such megadoses of Vitamin D still might have serious long term issues. many, including the Livestrong site, take as an upper limit 4000 IU/day.

### [http://www.livestrong.com/article/508535-safe-limit-of-vitamin-d-for-women/](http://www.livestrong.com/article/508535-safe-limit-of-vitamin-d-for-women/)

### The Integrative Practitioner blog writes that:  "… Even a modest increase in vitamin D3 intake (from 331 IU/kg of diet to 2,200 IU/kg of diet) exacerbated coronary atherosclerosis in swine consuming a diet high in saturated fat…[in a study on pigs]"

### [http://www.integrativepractitioner.com/article.aspx?id=17867](http://www.integrativepractitioner.com/article.aspx?id=17867)

[](http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Cholecalciferol-D3.jpg)
Cholecalciferol (D3) (Wikipedia Commons)

### **But what about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)**

### Vitamin D deficiencies  have been observed in MS.    As far as Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS), there are some studies showing a moderate decrease in the occurrences of relapses with vitamin D supplementation
See the two links :
"Relationship between 25-OH-D serum level and relapse rate in multiple sclerosis patients before and after vitamin D supplementation."
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22783368](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%2Fpubmed%2F22783368&urlhash=eLKd&_t=tracking_disc)
"Higher 25-hydroxyvitamin D is associated with lower relapse risk in multiple sclerosis".
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20695012](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%2Fpubmed%2F20695012&urlhash=GDc6&_t=tracking_disc)
_So is it all out supplementation with Vitamin D against RRMS?_

### Not so fast read that articles from the Archives of Neurology:
"Severe hypercalcemia following vitamin D supplementation in a patient with multiple sclerosis: a note of caution."

### [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22232355](http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%2Fpubmed%2F22232355&urlhash=LB57&_t=tracking_disc)

### Here again the article purports that "… Nevertheless, cholecalciferol may increase serum calcium, and there seems to be an additive effect when patients simultaneously use calcium supplements…"

### Conclusion: The synergistic effect of Calcium and vitamin D still need clarifying studies, and as doses substantially higher than the Recommended Daily Allowance  (RDA). Note that the RDA is itself somewhat controversial and vary between 400 and 800 IU

###

### _**We encourage you to discuss this  to your health provider!**_

URL: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/?p=5011