Understanding the US vitamin D RDA

June 9, 2017

Director's Letter

This week we want to revisit the topic of the current US RDA for vitamin D and government recommendations for vitamin D serum levels. These were last set in 2010, and as we will recount below, none of our 48 vitamin D researchers agreed with the recommendations. There were three papers that were written about this decision, explaining why it was wrong, a Canadian petition with almost 10,000 signatures, and many editorials and blogs. (see sidebar for all these references)

The tide may be changing, and we hope to report on that soon, so we wanted to update you on the current situation, as it stands today. The better we understand today - the better we can move to the future.

After understanding where the government stands today, I encourage you to watch Dr. Mercola's interview with the late Dr. Robert Heaney, world-renowned vitamin D researcher, former research director for GrassrootsHealth and a wonderful friend and human being. A quote that I felt was significant was

"I think moving control out of the hands of an establishment into the hands of the general public carries a long way toward substantial improvement in public health because the official apparatus moves with glacial slowness."

That has always been a key for GrassrootsHealth, to create a REVOLUTION in health with vitamin D through providing information and tools to individuals, to YOU, so you can make your own decisions -manage your own health using real data and real research.

Onwards!

Carole Baggerly

Director, GrassrootsHealth

Moving Research into Practice NOW!

Explanation of Current US RDA for Vitamin D

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, non-profit institution comprised of scholars in various scientific fields, most of whom donate their time. It was created as an act of congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Its purpose is to provide independent, fact-based recommendations on scientific matters including science, engineering, and medicine. When you hear about the Institute of Medicine (IOM), this is the branch under NAS that is concerned with medical matters. In 2010 they set a new RDA for Vitamin D. This blog explains the current RDA and what the scientific community thought of these new recommendations.

GrassrootsHealth Data Supports Much Higher Vitamin D RDA

GrassrootsHealth scientists and staff have authored and published a paper , citing the D*action data, calling for the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to increase its current vitamin D recommended dietary allowance (RDA) from 600 IU/day to 7,000 IU/day from all sources. Within the GrassrootsHealth cohort, it should be noted that the intake from sun, food, other sources than supplements averages about 3300 IU/day.

This paper supports a paper from Paul J. Veugelers, PhD, which showed through statistical analysis, using the data the IOM chose to compute the RDA, that the IOM made an error in their analysis and that the RDA should be 8,895 IU/day.

Both Veugelers and GrassrootsHealth, using a separate data set, have determined that the RDA is wrong by an order of magnitude. Using data and standard methods of analysis, they both showed we need 10 times more than the current recommendation.

The Real RDA for Vitamin D is 10 Times Higher than Currently Recommended

Dr. Robert Heaney, former research director for GrassrootsHealth, was interviewed by Dr. Joseph Mercola about the current US RDA for vitamin D. Most vitamin D researchers disagree with the current RDA, citing it is too low, and Heaney does a great job of explaining that position.

In the beginning of the interview, Heaney mentions that institutions move with glacial slowness. So, we need to act now for our own benefit. The good news is that for a single person or a single medical practice, this is relatively easy. You find out your vitamin D level and adjust your supplements or sun exposure to get within 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol /L). Many doctors, after they have seen a few patients with success using higher doses of vitamin D, learn to use it for their entire practice.

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