2007/02
From Smart Life Forum
Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 7:00pm
- Newsletter - detailed information about the talk
- Donate to SLF
- small video (QuickTime 320x240 90MB)
- large video (QuickTime 640x480 286MB) - Order on DVD
- audio (mp3 23MB)
- Online discussion of this meeting
- Order a video of this talk
- PubMed papers
- Speaker CV
- Speaker web site: Endocrine Metabolic Medical Center (EMMC)
- Speaker web site: Dr Joe's Rx for Managing Your Health book reviews
Contents |
7:00 Discussion period
Dr. Richard Kunin's Orthomolecular Health Medicine (OHM) conference this weekend Feb 23-25 is available for $100 to SLF members at the student rate.
7:30 Mini presentation
Dr. Tim Gallagher, DDS
Dr. Gallagher will speak about new data linking essential fatty acids to the prevention of tooth decay.
8:15 Main presentation
J. Joseph Prendergast, M.D.
- L-arginine and Vitamin D: Key Factors in Optimizing Metabolism
Watch the online video of this 1-hour talk:
- small (QuickTime 320x240 90MB)
- large (QuickTime 640x480 286MB) - Order on DVD
- audio (mp3 23MB)
Dr Joe's Rx for Managing Your Health
Be sure to read Dr Prendergast's article in this week's newsletter.
L-Arginine
A summary of arginine info can be found here.
Dr. Prendergast had a hand in Cardio Cocktail, an L-Arginine supplement for reversing heart disease and generally improving health.
People mentioned in the talk
- Dr. Victor J Dzau, MD, Chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke Medicine
- Dr. John P. Cooke, MD, PhD, whose book, The Cardiovascular Cure talks about the use of L-Arginine to reverse artery disease.
- Robert F Furchgott, Louis J Ignarro and Ferid Murad for the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning "the nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system"
Vitamin D
| Update from Dr. Joe, 2007-09-20
Slowly all labs are to have this value (100ng/mL) be a long term target, and I now say the range should be 100–200 ng/mL. Times they are a changing. I now talk about 50,000 IU daily for 2 – 3 months then 50,000 weekly keeps people at a slightly higher lever than prior. I arrived at this through discussions with European and Asian researchers. They had boosted the dose after about 20 years of experience. |
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50,000 IU loading dose
Dr. Prendergast also spoke about the use of an initial loading dose of 50,000 IU per day of Vitamin D3 in treating disease. Speaking as an endocrinologist, he points out that Vitamin D is a hormone, not a vitamin, and that it makes all the other hormones work better and has other fundamental, far-reaching good effects when we get enough. He says recent research indicates that previous beliefs about how much we need were far too low, as were beliefs about dangers of taking too much (a toxic amount would be at least several times higher than 50,000 IU per day).
For someone not yet taking taking any D3 supplementation and not getting lots of sun, he says to start with 50,000 IU per day until your blood level rises into the range given below, which typically takes 3 months but can take longer. Then it's time to drop down to 10,000 IU per day, which should be continued indefinitely. See below for information on blood testing for Vitamin D.
Buying vitamin D3
Never take Vitamin D2. Dr. Joe recommends a 50,000 IU Vitamin D3 capsule (100 small capsules for $30) made by Bio-Tech Pharmaceuticals available from
- Bio-Tech Pharmaceuticals by phone (online soon)
- Apple Health Foods in Redwood City, CA.
- VitaLady.com online
- Amazon (fairly expensive shipping)
- Lifespan Nutrition online - Cheapest as of 2008-08
To get an idea of scale, 50,000 IU of Vitamin D3 is 1.25 mg.
10,000 IU maintenance dose
Bio-Tech also makes a 5,000 IU Vitamin D3 capsule that would be appropriate for long-term maintenance. 5,000 IU capsules are also available through Life Extension Foundation and Pure Encapsulations (see Amazon search summary).
Vitamin D blood test
Dr. Prendergast uses Hunter Labs (800 762 9722) for a blood test to measure D,25OH, also known as calcidiol, also known as 25(OH)D or "Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy". The diagnosis code is "268.2" (Vitamin D deficiency). There are two ranges, depending on how the level is measured:
- 100-200 ng/mL (updated 2007-09-20; was 60-80 in the talk) nanograms per milliliter
- 250-500 nm/L (updated 2007-09-20; was 150-200 in the talk) nanomoles per liter
Life Extension Foundation offers blood tests that members can order online with the help of one of their staff physicians. You can order the vitamin D test separately, or you can save money by ordering it as part of a comprehensive panel.
Take D3 morning to midday
Steve Fowkes observes that for circadian rhythm reasons, Vitamin D3 should be taken morning through midday.
Other D topics
Dr. Prendergast talked about Dr. John Cannell, who is a principal of The Vitamin D Council. Their web site has a lot of good information.
In the online video of the talk at 17:15 Dr. Joe holds up a copy of the January, 2007 issue of his newsletter. In that issue, Dr. Joe links to this Vitamin D Council article which supports his recommendation that the daily maintenance dose of D3 should be 10,000 IU.
Byetta (Lizard spit)
This new drug is useful for regenerating tissue in Diabetes Type 2. Some younger people who have had Type 1 for not too long have some success with this drug.
