Most vitamins are useless — at least, they’re at best harmless (unless overdosed, of course) — because most of it is just passed through urine. It must be true because I read that in an encyclopedia (my Junior Readers can ask their grandparents to explain how the Internet was once all contained on paper, in leather-bound books — also ask for an explanation of “books”).
Where was I? Oh yeah, vitamins.
Turns out that some are actually quite useful, at least until next week, when another group of “scientists” will tell us that Vitamin D gives us congenial herpes or something.
As you can probably guess from the above, I don’t set much store by vitamins; the only one I do take religiously is the aforesaid Vitamin D, because I don’t go out into the sunshine a lot (I can get sunburned walking to the mailbox, hello Texas), and my doctor said I should or else Bad Things would most certainly happen to me. In fact, when I go for my annual checkup, it’s the one thing he’s most careful to ask me about. “Still taking that Vitamin D 1000u each day? Good. Keep doing that.”
Turns out that’s a Good Thing, for all the reasons explained in this little piece (via Insty once more; thankee, Squire).
Of course, there’s a catch. No, not the herpes thing, I just made that up. Turns out that for my age, a daily 800-1000u is just the ticket; but too much can make the telemores too long, which is a Bad Thing.
No, I don’t have the foggiest either; you’ll just have to read it all for yourself.
congenial or congenital?
I larfed at congenial herpes.
You guys aren’t going to believe this, but that was intentional.
After all, you can’t get “congenital” anything except by being born, right?
Yo Kim,
I’m with you and sunshine … my central (German, Dutch) and eastern (Ukrainian) European genetic background ensures I’ll burn in direct sun in a matter of minutes. I’ve been taking 5,000 IU of D3 every other day for more than a decade. And like your doc, that’s one of the first things my doc measures every time he sends me to see the vampires. That and a full lipid panel (bad genes) as well as an annual PSA level. This getter old shit kinda sucks rancid rabid monkey ass, but it’s much better than the alternative.
– Brad
I’m up north so I take D3 in the winter months. Summerish months I spend at least an hour every day in “indirect” sunlight, ie., sitting/standing on the roofed porch. No sunburn required.
What do I do during that boring hour on the porch?
We have a double shepherds hook with 2 hummingbird feeders and I get a lot pleasure watching them. You’d be surprised how entertaining it is when 15-20 hummingbirds are swarming like they do. Endlessly fascinating.
Pretty cheap entertainment too, just sugar and warm water. (They don’t care if it’s red or not.)
Not to get super technical.. the type of Vitamin D you want is the Calcifediol based as opposed to the Cholecalciferol based. Problem – there WERE 2 Calcifediol-based brands, D.Velop and SunRay.
Sadly, D.Velop has been discontinued, but not for anything bad. It was originally developed as a feed supplement for chickens. Recently, the parent company decided to split off their animal nutrition division. As the production site that actually makes it is part of that animal division, D.Velop had to go. One would think a bunch of corp M&A geniuses could’ve figured out a plan to keep brand alive, but no.
Yes, I’m looking at a poster of a chicken across from my desk. Just saying.
“Too long”? I thought that aging was a result of telomeres getting too *short*, so wouldn’t something that made them *longer* served to extend the lives of the cells, and hence the individual?
I take Vitamin D too, though I don’t know the dosage off the top of my head, nor whether it’s Calcifediol-based. Something to look into.