Anyone who really wants to reduce Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple System Atrophy, dementia with Lewy bodies and other forms of dementia would sooner or later think of nutrition and vitamin D and do a quick Google Scholar search on "vitamin D" and "dementia", "Alzheimer's disease" or whatever.
Here https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#3.3 are a few of the many articles they would find, which show that most, and perhaps all forms of age-related neurodegeneration generally only occur in people with even lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels than the lousy levels of the general population, who have only 1/4 to 1/2 of the 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D their immune system needs to function properly, including reducing the risk of excessive inflammatory responses.
His recommended vitamin D3 daily average supplemental intake quantities, as ranges of ratios of body weight:
70 to 90 IU / kg BW for those not suffering from obesity (BMI < 30).
100 to 130 IU / kg BW for obesity I & II (BMI 30 to 39).
140 to 180 IU / kg BW for obesity III (BMI > 39).
For 70 kg 154 lb without obesity, 0.125 mg (5000 IU) a day is a good amount. This is a gram every 22 years, and pharma-grade vitamin D3 costs about USD$2.50 a gram ex-factory. Higher ratios of body weight are required for those suffering from obesity, since this reduces the ability of the liver to hydroxylate vitamin D3 to 25-hydroxyvitamin D and because excess adipose tissue tends to absorb both vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#obesity-deficit .
If everyone followed Prof. Wimalawansa's recommendation, almost everyone's 25-hydroxyvitamin D would be at least the 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L their immune system needs to function properly. With no vitamin D3 supplementation, and no recent summertime UV-B skin exposure, most people have only 1/10 to 1/2 of the 25-hydroxyvitamin D they need to be healthy. Government recommended vitamin D3 daily supplemental intake quantities, such as 0.02 mg (800 IU), help somewhat, but are a fraction of what people need for proper immune system function.
Hi Bob, I am glad your supplementation is working so well. I refer to this as "vitamin D3 supplemental intake" rather than "dose". This is nutrition, and I think of "dose" as referring to medical treatment. This is just what I think - and I am an electronic technician and computer programmer.
I am ~70 kg 154 lb and for the last few years have been taking 50,000 IU vitamin D3 a week, plus (since earlier this year) 1000 IU vitamin D3 in a vitamin K2 (200 ug MK-7) capsule, plus a small amount in a vitamin capsule. This is about 8500 IU a day on average, or ~121 IU / day per kg body weight. I expected this to put my 25(OH)D level well above 50 ng/mL, which is fine. I did not bother to get it tested. The only 25(OH)D test I have had was years ago before I knew what I now know.
I recently had it tested and the level was 94 ng/mL, which is about what I would expect. There is considerable variation between individuals, even for vitamin D3 supplemental intakes which are a particular ratio of body weight, and with people with the same body morphology. I guess that 94 ng/mL would be in the top few percent of the distribution of 25(OH)D levels for people who are not obese and who were taking Prof. Wimalawansa's recommended 70 to 90 IU / day per kg body weight.
Maybe it would make no appreciable difference to my health if I had 60 ng/mL like you. I don't suffer from auto-immune disorders, such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis, cluster headaches, migraine, asthma, psoriasis. If I did, then higher levels are likely to be helpful, with very high levels according to the Coimbra, (Patrick) McCullough and Batcheller protocols to be done with medical monitoring: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/06-adv/#01-higher .
However, maybe it does provide some benefit, such as in cognition. I am 67 and am doing very well. A friend of mine, a few years younger, is dying from Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). He had never supplemented vitamin D3. I had never heard of this disease. I later learned that it is the same as Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies in that all three involve the misfolding of the same alpha-synuclein protein, with three slightly different patterns of misfolding. The misfolded form catalyses the misfolding of other molecules of alpha-synuclein and the resulting mass harms cells in various ways. This is driven in part by excessive inflammatory responses and, as you can read at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#chauss it is now known that Th1 lymphocytes remain stuck in their pro-inflammatory program indefinitely if they do not have sufficient 25(OH)D to run their intracrine signaling system.
It only took me a few minutes with Google Scholar to find that, in one survey, the average 25(OH)D level of MSA sufferers was 10.5 ng/mL, while those who suffered from PD averaged 13.4 ng/mL and those without dementia averaged 26.8 ng/mL. Another article reports that 25(OH)D levels do not alter appreciably when people develop PD, so their current 25(OH)D level is a good indication of what their level has been for the last few decades.
I am keen to have my 25(OH)D level far, far, away from those terribly common, very low, sometimes deadly, always harmful, levels which obviously strongly contribute to the risk of neurodegeneration.
It is not out of the question that there might be some long-term ill-effects from higher levels of 25(OH)D such as ca. 100 ng/mL. So maybe I would be better off with a lower level. However, as best I understand it, the vitamin K2 works against the most likely ill-effects: excessive circulating calcium levels and depletion of calcium from the bone. I take supplemental magnesium, boron, potassium, zinc, fish oil and a multivitamin. Nutrition is a vast field. I have some not very well organised or presented notes on boron at: https://aminotheory.com/cv19/#08-boron and on the potassium / sodium ratio (high reduced risk of hypertension and stroke) at: https://aminotheory.com/cv19/kna/ .
No-one knows, at a molecular level, what boron - the borate ion - does in the body. Potassium supplementation is potentially dangerous. I don't know any doctor who would recommend what I do.
A quick Google scholar search indicates that this is disputed, with some or many research articles indicating statins reduce the risk of dementia. Can you site any research or meta-analyses which support what you wrote?
One thing true about AD is that AD drugs don't work (some research says they accelerate progression to dementia). The beta-amyloid hypothesis was recently shown to be fraudulent and most drugs target this protein. Presently we really don't know if this plaque is a cause, effect, or merely an association with AD.
I've been calling for the County of Santa Cruz in CA, which is seriously ground zero for the Agenda 21 smart city dystopia, to call a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the era of covid. I do not actually expect that it will happen, although it could be done without hiring any expensive consulting firms cause there are tons of smart people here and stories that need to be heard. But it is a way to continually speak some truth in a way that ideally is oriented toward creating MORE PUBLIC SPACE. I think of it as consistent with creating a local space that empowers local medical professionals and people with an interest in genuine justice and democracy. The young person in my life who is tech savy is preoccupied with legal matters right now. If anyone might help me with this it would be much appreciated. My two minute bit begins about minute 20:36 http://santacruzcountyca.iqm2.com/Citizens/SplitView.aspx?Mode=Video&MeetingID=1988&Format=Agenda
Alzheimer's (AD) has a very strong link to aluminum in the brain. This can be "chelated" using high-silica water - such as Fiji. Dr Chris Exley has studied aluminum's effect on the human brain extensively and has determined that AD brains have higher levels of aluminum that non-AD brains. The same is true for autism. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin. Dr Dennis Crouse has a protocol using high-silica water and a modest set of supplements that has improved cognition (reversed MCI) in many people who have tried it. I would consider his approach before trying Bredesen's expensive treatment. I would use Bredesen to get the extra improvement only after doing the basics.
I agree with much of this. I suggest you also consider aluminum's effect on the brain. Dr Dennis Crouse has compiled extensive research on this and used Fiji water with his mother to reverse her MCI. This has also been used with autism showing significant improvements.
Nicotinamide Restores Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease Transgenic Mice via a Mechanism Involving Sirtuin Inhibition and Selective Reduction of Thr231-Phosphotau
The reason I'm so supportive: there was a "war on Niacinamide" - although it was a covert war, unlike with ivermectin. NIH funded a pair of tiny 5-year trials-designed-to-fail as follow-ups to the successful mouse trial. This tells me they were terrified it might work. Here's the second trial - 47 people. Must have been hard to find alzheimer patients to recruit. Or something. Note that in spite of the setup, the (niacinamide) treatment group still showed some benefit. "If only they'd recruited more people."
Yes I use the flush version myself. For me the flush is no big deal. Its actually fun. I think that's the serotonin release, but its hard to be sure.
But that niacinamide mouse study was quite something, and I do like my studies. Note: the non-alzheimers mice learned the maze faster after being fed niacinamide. Could this be a secret weapon for students? It might!
Of course they'll never fund a trial using (flush) niacin, especially given how microscopic doses "were associated with" huge reductions in the number of alzheimers cases. But who would have thought niacin would do this? Especially since the 4 signs of Pellagra are: diarrhea, dermatitis, DEMENTIA, and then death. Addressed by niacin. Or niacinamide. And they've known this for 100 years.
But who would have thought?
Unrelated: they're selling lecanamab for $50,000/year, paid for by medicare.
Any conversation of Alzheimer’s should involve Dale Bredesen.
He’s the guy who actually SOLVED the problem.
Anyone who really wants to reduce Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple System Atrophy, dementia with Lewy bodies and other forms of dementia would sooner or later think of nutrition and vitamin D and do a quick Google Scholar search on "vitamin D" and "dementia", "Alzheimer's disease" or whatever.
Here https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#3.3 are a few of the many articles they would find, which show that most, and perhaps all forms of age-related neurodegeneration generally only occur in people with even lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels than the lousy levels of the general population, who have only 1/4 to 1/2 of the 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D their immune system needs to function properly, including reducing the risk of excessive inflammatory responses.
I have not yet updated the section https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#sjw-updated-ratios on how much vitamin D to take to accord with Prof. Wimalawansa's recently simplified ranges of ratios, which he presented in a recent FLCCC webinar 56:26 at: https://covid19criticalcare.com/understanding-vitamin-d/ . This is a simplification of the ranges of ratios he recommended in: "Rapidly Increasing Serum 25(OH)D Boosts the Immune System, against Infections - Sepsis and COVID-19" Nutrients 2022-07-21: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2997.
His recommended vitamin D3 daily average supplemental intake quantities, as ranges of ratios of body weight:
70 to 90 IU / kg BW for those not suffering from obesity (BMI < 30).
100 to 130 IU / kg BW for obesity I & II (BMI 30 to 39).
140 to 180 IU / kg BW for obesity III (BMI > 39).
For 70 kg 154 lb without obesity, 0.125 mg (5000 IU) a day is a good amount. This is a gram every 22 years, and pharma-grade vitamin D3 costs about USD$2.50 a gram ex-factory. Higher ratios of body weight are required for those suffering from obesity, since this reduces the ability of the liver to hydroxylate vitamin D3 to 25-hydroxyvitamin D and because excess adipose tissue tends to absorb both vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#obesity-deficit .
If everyone followed Prof. Wimalawansa's recommendation, almost everyone's 25-hydroxyvitamin D would be at least the 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L their immune system needs to function properly. With no vitamin D3 supplementation, and no recent summertime UV-B skin exposure, most people have only 1/10 to 1/2 of the 25-hydroxyvitamin D they need to be healthy. Government recommended vitamin D3 daily supplemental intake quantities, such as 0.02 mg (800 IU), help somewhat, but are a fraction of what people need for proper immune system function.
If everyone did this, there would be no pandemic influenza or COVID-19 - and sepsis (11 million deaths worldwide in 2017, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32989-7/) would be rare. Likewise dementia, Kawasaki disease and MIS-C.
Thanks for the good info. I target 60 ng/mL which I achieve with 5000 IU D3 plus my multi. I think your dosing recommendations are "on target."
Hi Bob, I am glad your supplementation is working so well. I refer to this as "vitamin D3 supplemental intake" rather than "dose". This is nutrition, and I think of "dose" as referring to medical treatment. This is just what I think - and I am an electronic technician and computer programmer.
I am ~70 kg 154 lb and for the last few years have been taking 50,000 IU vitamin D3 a week, plus (since earlier this year) 1000 IU vitamin D3 in a vitamin K2 (200 ug MK-7) capsule, plus a small amount in a vitamin capsule. This is about 8500 IU a day on average, or ~121 IU / day per kg body weight. I expected this to put my 25(OH)D level well above 50 ng/mL, which is fine. I did not bother to get it tested. The only 25(OH)D test I have had was years ago before I knew what I now know.
I recently had it tested and the level was 94 ng/mL, which is about what I would expect. There is considerable variation between individuals, even for vitamin D3 supplemental intakes which are a particular ratio of body weight, and with people with the same body morphology. I guess that 94 ng/mL would be in the top few percent of the distribution of 25(OH)D levels for people who are not obese and who were taking Prof. Wimalawansa's recommended 70 to 90 IU / day per kg body weight.
Maybe it would make no appreciable difference to my health if I had 60 ng/mL like you. I don't suffer from auto-immune disorders, such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis, cluster headaches, migraine, asthma, psoriasis. If I did, then higher levels are likely to be helpful, with very high levels according to the Coimbra, (Patrick) McCullough and Batcheller protocols to be done with medical monitoring: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/06-adv/#01-higher .
However, maybe it does provide some benefit, such as in cognition. I am 67 and am doing very well. A friend of mine, a few years younger, is dying from Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). He had never supplemented vitamin D3. I had never heard of this disease. I later learned that it is the same as Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies in that all three involve the misfolding of the same alpha-synuclein protein, with three slightly different patterns of misfolding. The misfolded form catalyses the misfolding of other molecules of alpha-synuclein and the resulting mass harms cells in various ways. This is driven in part by excessive inflammatory responses and, as you can read at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#chauss it is now known that Th1 lymphocytes remain stuck in their pro-inflammatory program indefinitely if they do not have sufficient 25(OH)D to run their intracrine signaling system.
It only took me a few minutes with Google Scholar to find that, in one survey, the average 25(OH)D level of MSA sufferers was 10.5 ng/mL, while those who suffered from PD averaged 13.4 ng/mL and those without dementia averaged 26.8 ng/mL. Another article reports that 25(OH)D levels do not alter appreciably when people develop PD, so their current 25(OH)D level is a good indication of what their level has been for the last few decades.
Please see: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/#3.3 for the research articles on age-related neurodegeneration.
I am keen to have my 25(OH)D level far, far, away from those terribly common, very low, sometimes deadly, always harmful, levels which obviously strongly contribute to the risk of neurodegeneration.
It is not out of the question that there might be some long-term ill-effects from higher levels of 25(OH)D such as ca. 100 ng/mL. So maybe I would be better off with a lower level. However, as best I understand it, the vitamin K2 works against the most likely ill-effects: excessive circulating calcium levels and depletion of calcium from the bone. I take supplemental magnesium, boron, potassium, zinc, fish oil and a multivitamin. Nutrition is a vast field. I have some not very well organised or presented notes on boron at: https://aminotheory.com/cv19/#08-boron and on the potassium / sodium ratio (high reduced risk of hypertension and stroke) at: https://aminotheory.com/cv19/kna/ .
A comprehensive, up to date (to last year) roundup of boron research is at: https://examine.com/supplements/boron/research/ . Some individual reports on boron, including on disturbances perhaps due to reduced Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, are at: https://reviews.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientreview-894-boron .
No-one knows, at a molecular level, what boron - the borate ion - does in the body. Potassium supplementation is potentially dangerous. I don't know any doctor who would recommend what I do.
Thanks - I had an errant 'f' in the URL, now fixed. The Global Burden of Disease project article on sepsis is: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32989-7/ .
And so many have fallen for the cholesterol myth and are on statins. They hugely increase your risk of dementia.
A quick Google scholar search indicates that this is disputed, with some or many research articles indicating statins reduce the risk of dementia. Can you site any research or meta-analyses which support what you wrote?
One thing true about AD is that AD drugs don't work (some research says they accelerate progression to dementia). The beta-amyloid hypothesis was recently shown to be fraudulent and most drugs target this protein. Presently we really don't know if this plaque is a cause, effect, or merely an association with AD.
Thank you for these great podcasts every week! I look forward to the many insights and education!
I've been calling for the County of Santa Cruz in CA, which is seriously ground zero for the Agenda 21 smart city dystopia, to call a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the era of covid. I do not actually expect that it will happen, although it could be done without hiring any expensive consulting firms cause there are tons of smart people here and stories that need to be heard. But it is a way to continually speak some truth in a way that ideally is oriented toward creating MORE PUBLIC SPACE. I think of it as consistent with creating a local space that empowers local medical professionals and people with an interest in genuine justice and democracy. The young person in my life who is tech savy is preoccupied with legal matters right now. If anyone might help me with this it would be much appreciated. My two minute bit begins about minute 20:36 http://santacruzcountyca.iqm2.com/Citizens/SplitView.aspx?Mode=Video&MeetingID=1988&Format=Agenda
Alzheimer's (AD) has a very strong link to aluminum in the brain. This can be "chelated" using high-silica water - such as Fiji. Dr Chris Exley has studied aluminum's effect on the human brain extensively and has determined that AD brains have higher levels of aluminum that non-AD brains. The same is true for autism. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin. Dr Dennis Crouse has a protocol using high-silica water and a modest set of supplements that has improved cognition (reversed MCI) in many people who have tried it. I would consider his approach before trying Bredesen's expensive treatment. I would use Bredesen to get the extra improvement only after doing the basics.
I agree with much of this. I suggest you also consider aluminum's effect on the brain. Dr Dennis Crouse has compiled extensive research on this and used Fiji water with his mother to reverse her MCI. This has also been used with autism showing significant improvements.
They've even proven this in mice. Although with niacinamide, not flush niacin.
https://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/45/11500
Nicotinamide Restores Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease Transgenic Mice via a Mechanism Involving Sirtuin Inhibition and Selective Reduction of Thr231-Phosphotau
The reason I'm so supportive: there was a "war on Niacinamide" - although it was a covert war, unlike with ivermectin. NIH funded a pair of tiny 5-year trials-designed-to-fail as follow-ups to the successful mouse trial. This tells me they were terrified it might work. Here's the second trial - 47 people. Must have been hard to find alzheimer patients to recruit. Or something. Note that in spite of the setup, the (niacinamide) treatment group still showed some benefit. "If only they'd recruited more people."
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03061474
https://www.neurologylive.com/view/potential-benefit-nicotinamide-observed-in-proof-of-concept-trial-alzheimers
As for niacin - there is this, just more niacin from diet as prevention - see Figure 1:
https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/75/8/1093
Dietary niacin and the risk of incident Alzheimer’s disease and of cognitive decline
Yes I use the flush version myself. For me the flush is no big deal. Its actually fun. I think that's the serotonin release, but its hard to be sure.
But that niacinamide mouse study was quite something, and I do like my studies. Note: the non-alzheimers mice learned the maze faster after being fed niacinamide. Could this be a secret weapon for students? It might!
Of course they'll never fund a trial using (flush) niacin, especially given how microscopic doses "were associated with" huge reductions in the number of alzheimers cases. But who would have thought niacin would do this? Especially since the 4 signs of Pellagra are: diarrhea, dermatitis, DEMENTIA, and then death. Addressed by niacin. Or niacinamide. And they've known this for 100 years.
But who would have thought?
Unrelated: they're selling lecanamab for $50,000/year, paid for by medicare.