How Taking Vitamin D Supplements Can Sabotage Your Vitamin D Levels

This article’s featured image is mushrooms and sunshine, because that’s a better way to get vitamin D, especially when combined, but more on that later!

First, let’s talk supplements…

The mistake that weakens your immunity

Most people over a certain age know the importance of maintaining good vitamin D levels, especially in the context of bone health (as vitamin D is instrumental in how the body processes calcium).

However, consider for example this guest feature: Are you over 75? Here’s what you need to know about vitamin D ← you can always tell the guest articles because they will be credited to their external source, in the case of the article we just linked, it’s Dr. Elina Hypponen and Joshua Sutherland at the University of South Australia.

In that article, it talks a lot about supplementation and the importance thereof, and the difficulty in getting enough vitamin D from the sun, especially if you live somewhere that’s not so sunny. But it doesn’t talk about the differences between vitamin D2 and vitamin D3.

Regular 10almonds readers might remember about these differences; if not, here you go: Vitamin D2 vs Vitamin D3: What You Would Benefit From Knowing

This situation is the compounded by the fact that if you take supplemental vitamin D2, not only is it inferior to vitamin D3, but also, its presence in your body will reduce your own production of vitamin D3:

❝Vitamin D supplements are important, especially between October and March, when our bodies cannot make vitamin D from sunlight in the UK. However, we discovered that vitamin D2 supplements can actually decrease levels of vitamin D3 in the body, which is a previously unknown effect of taking these supplements.

This study suggests that subject to personal considerations, vitamin D3 supplements may be more beneficial for most individuals over vitamin D2❞

~ Dr Emily Brown, lead researcher of the study we’ll link shortly

This second problem creates a further, third problem, per:

❝We have shown that vitamin D3, but not vitamin D2, appears to stimulate the type I interferon signalling system in the body—a key part of the immune system that provides a first line of defence against bacteria and viruses. Thus, a healthy vitamin D3 status may help prevent viruses and bacteria from gaining a foothold in the body.

This meta-analysis highlights the importance of ensuring plant-based vitamin D3 is accessible in the UK.❞

~ Dr. Cathie Martin, another researcher on the study we’ll link shortly

With regard to all the mentions of the UK: obviously this was a British study, but physiology is the same regardless, and even if you live in a sunnier place, you will still run into the same problem of the fact that it won’t matter how sunny it is if your body is suppressing vitamin D3 production because of high levels of vitamin D2.

You can read the paper yourself, here: Effect of Vitamin D2 Supplementation on 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Status: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Open Access

What was that about combining mushrooms and sunshine?

Since mushrooms are a good source of vitamin D3, and sunshine allows us to make vitamin D3 if our vitamin D2 levels are not suppressing it, both are already good individually.

But there’s more. As we wrote in our article comparing and contrasting these two forms of vitamin D, getting a lot of sun can be bad for us in other ways (due to UV damage to our skin, acceleration of aging, increased risk of cancer, etc). We’ve also written about this previously; see: The Sun Exposure Dilemma

If, like this writer, you are a mostly crepuscular being who avoids the sun, we have good news: mushrooms can do the sunbathing for us!

❝Exposing mushrooms to UV (from sunlight or in a laboratory) increases the amount of vitamin D in mushrooms by nearly eightfold. Putting five store-bought button mushrooms in the sun, or just one portobello mushroom, produces 24 µg of vitamin D, which translates to nearly 1000 international units, providing the amount of vitamin D one needs in an entire day, and the equivalent found in most vitamin D supplements.

If you’re wondering if the vitamin D from mushrooms actually makes it into your bloodstream, it does. A recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials showed that tanned (UV-exposed) mushrooms may be effective in increasing active vitamin D levels in adults with low levels of vitamin D, and studies (randomised controlled trials) have shown that it may be just as effective as supplements at increasing vitamin D levels in the blood (here, and here).

Some research is very positive, saying that putting your mushrooms in direct sunlight for 10–15 minutes may provide you with 100% of your daily vitamin D needs, and the vitamin D content in sunlight-exposed mushrooms may be retained with refrigeration for up to 8 days.

The production of vitamin D may be increased by a further 30% by placing them in the sun with the underside, or gills, facing up, or by 60% if you slice them.❞

Read all about it: Tan your mushrooms, not your skin

Mushrooms are also good for more reasons; we don’t want to get too off-topic, but we will drop a link to our article about ergothioneine, of which mushrooms are an excellent source:

The Magic Of Mushrooms: “The Longevity Vitamin” (That’s Not A Vitamin)

What kind of mushrooms? All kinds, but please stick to non-poisonous ones!

Want to try supplemental vitamin D3?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

But watch out with the doses, if supplementing vitamin D in either form, because…

Vit D + Calcium: Too Much Of A Good Thing? ← this also talks about safe and effective doses, and what goes wrong if you take too much

Take care!