There are so many questions about Vitamin D today especially in the media regarding its relevance to general health, thyroid health and how it is related to COVID. There are a lot of arguments as to how Vitamin D can be beneficial to humans, and the recent one is its contribution to fight COVID-19. I stumbled across one of Dr. Deva Boone’s articles about people easily getting hypercalcemia or high calcium levels even from mild excesses of Vitamin D. I recommended before to avoid higher levels of Vitamin D as it is less useful and makes you less productive but it turns out it can also be quite dangerous.
Between the latest online fads and the crazy media headlines, it’s easier more than ever to get confused about your health. If you want to make better decisions about your health so you can feel better and live longer, you’ve come to the right place.
Joining us is Dr. Deva Boone to understand more of how Vitamin D works in our body and what are the best practices to think about for our general welfare.
Dr. Deva Boone is one of the most experienced parathyroid surgeons and has become a renowned expert on calcium and Vitamin D. She attended Cornell University medical school, completed a general surgery residency in New York City, and an endocrine surgery fellowship in Chicago. She spent the past six years as a parathyroid surgeon at the Norman Parathyroid Center, and was the Medical Director there for the past three years. She is currently obtaining an executive MBA at the University of South Florida, and is planning to open a parathyroid surgery center in Arizona in 2021.
Key Takeaways:
[0:35] Introduction to Dr. Deva Boone
[2:02] Dr. Boone shares a story about Shannon with a medical mystery.
[2:35] Shannon showing symptoms related to Catatonia - a psychiatric disorder.
[3:27] Suspected parathyroid disease because of consistent high calcium levels.
[4:10] Sharing symptoms with parathyroid disease and psychiatric disorder.
[4:45] Dr. Boone examined deeper and shifted to high levels of vitamin D.
[5:00] Results of taking vitamin D as a medication for a long period.
[5:40] High levels of vitamin D cause high calcium levels.
[6:00] Putting a stop on taking vitamin D as a cure.
[6:45] Diagnosing patients with high calcium levels because of vitamin D
[7:25] Effects of having high calcium levels.
[7:50] Dr. Boone explains vitamin D is a steroid hormone.
[9:20] High calcium blood levels that cause toxic range of vitamin D.
[11:30] Problems in measuring vitamin D.
[13:01] Vitamin D in milk to avoid bone deformities.
[13:30] Other health effects of low or high in vitamin D
[14:28] Range of vitamin D levels and the health effects according to race.
[15:43] Correlation is not causation - associating low vitamin D to a lot of diseases.
[17:38] Ignoring high calcium levels and its impact.
[18:35] The body keeps a tight range of calcium levels.
[19:00] General effects of high calcium levels.
[19:50] Hich calcium level is a parathyroid tumor until proven otherwise.
[21:01] Normal range of calcium levels according to age.
[22:13] Parathyroid surgery as the best cure of parathyroid disease.
[24:25] Considering surgery rather than just maintaining lifestyle medicine.
[25:50] How Parathyroid surgery works?
[26:55] Vitamin D is not definitive but plays a role in our immune system and could help prevent COVID.
[29:40] Taking vitamin D more than the normal range is not recommended.
[31:00] Vitamin D taken as a medication instead of a supplement.
[31:35] Safe and average number of taking different supplements containing vitamin D.
[33:58] Closing statement with Dr. Deva Boone.
[34:35] Is there a topic you’d like to hear?
For more details about Dr. Deva Boone, visit her website www.devaboone.com or connect with her through these platforms:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deva.boone
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deva-boone-md-mba-95a31983/
Twitter: @DevaBoone
Topic references:
https://parathyroidpeeps.com/2019/04/17/confused-about-vitamin-d-supplementation-in-relation-to-parathyroid-disease-expert-parathyroid-surgeon-dr-boone-explains/
https://www.parathyroidqanda.com/question/low-vitamin-d-but-normal-calcium-levels
https://www.inspire.com/groups/parathyroid/discussion/ask-the-expert-parathyroid-expert-and-surgeon-dr-deva-boone-aug-3-7/
https://www.southwestparathyroid.com/about
https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-deva-boone-ggyws
You can check out her articles and learn more about Vitamin D:
Vitamin D, part 1: https://www.devaboone.com/post/vitamin-d-part-1-back-to-basics
Vitamin D, part 2: https://www.devaboone.com/post/vitamin-d-part-2-shannon-s-story
Vitamin D, part 3: https://www.devaboone.com/post/vitamin-d-part-3-the-evidence
Vitamin D and Covid: https://www.devaboone.com/post/vitamin-d-and-covid
Physiology of Vitamin D Resources:
Christakos S, Dhawan P, Verstuyf A, Verlinden L, Carmeliet G. “Vitamin D: Metabolism, Molecular Mechanism of Action, and Pleiotropic Effects”. Physiol Rev. 2016;96(1):365-408. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00014.2015 Bikle DD. “Vitamin D metabolism, mechanism of action, and clinical applications.” Chem Biol. 2014;21(3):319-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2013.12.016
Randomized controlled trials of Vitamin D Resources:
VITAL trial Manson JE, Cook NR, Lee IM, et al. “Vitamin D Supplements and Prevention of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease.” N Engl J Med. 2019;380(1):33-44. ViDA (Vitamin D Assessment) Trial Scragg R, Stewart AW, Waayer D, et al. “Effect of monthly high-dose vitamin D supplementation on cardiovascular disease in the vitamin D assessment study : a randomized clinical trial”. JAMA Cardiol. 2017;2(6):608-616. RECORD trial follow-up study Avenell A, MacLennan GS, Jenkinson DJ, et al. “Long-Term Follow-Up for Mortality and Cancer in a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Vitamin D3 and/or Calcium” (RECORD Trial), J Clin Endo & Met, Volume 97, Issue 2, 1 February 2012, Pages 614–622. RECORD Trial Grant AM, Avenell A, Campbell MK, et al. “Oral vitamin D3 and calcium for secondary prevention of low-trauma fractures in elderly people” (Randomised Evaluation of Calcium Or vitamin D, RECORD): a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2005;365(9471):1621-1628. VITAL-BONE Trial LeBoff MS, Chou SH, Murata EM, et al. “Effects of Supplemental Vitamin D on Bone Health Outcomes in Women and Men in the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL)”. J Bone Miner Res. 2020;35(5):883-893. D2d Trial Pittas AG, Dawson-Hughes B, Sheehan P, et al. Vitamin D Supplementation and Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2019;381(6):520-530. VIOLET (Vitamin D to Improve Outcomes by Leveraging Early Treatment) trial National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute PETAL Clinical Trials Network, Ginde AA, Brower RG, et al. “Early High-Dose Vitamin D3 for Critically Ill, Vitamin D-Deficient Patients”. N Engl J Med. 2019;381(26):2529-2540.
List of significant meta-analyses on Vitamin D:
Zhang Y, Fang F, Tang J, et al. “Association between vitamin D supplementation and mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis”. BMJ. 2019;366:l4673. Bjelakovic G, Gluud LL, Nikolova D, et al. “Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of mortality in adults”. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;(1):CD007470. Bjelakovic G, Gluud LL, Nikolova D, et al. “Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of cancer in adults”. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD007469. Chung M, Lee J, Terasawa T, Lau J, Trikalinos TA. “Vitamin D with or without calcium supplementation for prevention of cancer and fractures: an updated meta-analysis for the US Preventive Services Task Force”. Ann Intern Med. 2011;155(12):827-838. Avenell A, Mak JC, O'Connell D. “Vitamin D and vitamin D analogues for preventing fractures in post-menopausal women and older men”. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;4:CD000227. Jolliffe DA, Greenberg L, Hooper RL, et al. “Vitamin D supplementation to prevent asthma exacerbations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data” [published correction appears in Lancet Respir Med. 2018 Jun;6(6):e27]. Lancet Respir Med. 2017;5(11):881-890. Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Greenberg L, et al. “Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: individual participant data meta-analysis”. Health Technol Assess. 2019;23(2):1-44.
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