News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Beh... by bookofjoe on Sunday August 19, 2018 @05:45AM (#17793513)
I'm a board-certified physician (anesthesiology). I read the OP and all the comments here. I've followed the subject of vitamin D supplementation and whether it's generally effective or overused for over 40 years, and I'm still uncertain.
Re:Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Beh... by 300bps on Sunday August 19, 2018 @11:15AM (#17794582)
I think with uncertainty some people may err on the side of “supplements can’t hurt” and start or continue to take them.

For another perspective, I get a yearly physical and about 15 years ago I was having elevated ALT/AST liver enzyme results in my blood test. This lasted two years in a row while my primary care physician ran a dozen tests including for hepatitis trying to figure out what was causing it. Everything came back negative. She asked me if I took a multi-vitamin and I said I did, a daily Centrum.

She told me to stop taking it. I have never had elevated liver enzymes in the 15 years since. She told me overdosing on some vitamins was causing live damage as my liver struggled to process them.

Re:Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Beh... by tchaffee on Sunday August 19, 2018 @10:23AM (#17794425)
Thank you for saying something that far too many doctors, scientists, and my fellow programmers seem to have trouble with: I don't know. Your honesty is refreshing and we need to use those words far more often.
Re:Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Beh... by milesvp on Sunday August 19, 2018 @11:25PM (#17797517)
Piece of anecdata for you. I take 2000iu of d3 daily, and live in Seattle. I've found when I stop taking d3 it's highly correlated to feelings of depression. Once I realize what's going on, if I start taking it again usually the depression starts to lift within days.

Now that said, it's not clear to me that it's causitive, since usually when I stop taking my dose, it's because I've run out, and it's very possible my not having time or interest to get more means I may have already started down the depressed path, and I may already be recovering when I finally start taking care of myself.

In any event I don't seem to get the really dark depressions I got before taking d3 and I don't dare stop taking it intentionally. Even if it's largely placebo the cost and risk seem very small conpared to my perceived benefits.

Re:Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Beh... by bennyelv on Monday August 20, 2018 @09:04AM (#17799558)
Alas, such anecdotes are not helpful to the question at hand. There's nothing wrong with taking placebo or the approach that you have as an individual, but you have to be aware that there's no way that you could ever know if there was a causative relationship without a double blind placebo controlled study... which is not something you can realistically do on yourself!