June 2, 2017
1.0 out of 5 stars Do not Follow the Recommendations in this Book! Bad resultsBy Stargazer1111 on May 21, 2017
I am a biochemistry graduate student and someone who has experimented with high-dose vitamin D before. This book is full of pseudoscience and is irresponsibly written. One of the most important topics left out by Bowles is your calcium intake. How much calcium do you get? If you take very large doses of vitamin D and are someone who consumes a lot of dairy regularly, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
I had been taking 15,000 IU of D daily for a few months and felt fine. I also was eating a Ray Peat-inspired diet that contained a lot of milk which led to a daily calcium intake of between 1500 and 2000 mg. Before anyone tries to claim that the D led to a deficiency in magnesium or K2, I was taking both. About 1000 mg of magnesium and several mg of K2 daily.
I finally decided to up the dose to 30,000 IU daily on the advice of this book. Within in two days, I developed a serious tachycardia. My heart was beating about 190 beats per minute. I landed in the hospital where it was discovered that I had hypercalcemia (high blood calcium) and hypokalemia (low blood potassium). .
Vitamin D induces potassium wasting by the kidneys. Several studies have been done documenting this fact. Look it up.
I discontinued the D, stopped consuming the dairy, and am taking large doses of potassium citrate. Within 10 minutes of being given both potassium and magnesium, my heart rate went back to about 95 beats per minute.
Although this may not happen for everyone that consumes the amounts recommended in Bowles’s book, I recommend not risking it. You don’t know what might happen. I was lucky because I live across the street from a hospital.
Hi Jeff. I was wondering how long it would take you to post.
First of all, some of the healthiest cultures in the world have a high calcium intake and are in the sun a lot. The Maasai tribe and their large intake of milk comes to mind.
Second of all, vitamin D has been shown to induce potassium wasting irrespective of the blood calcium level.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC291035/
http://180radio.com/180degreehealth-8-dont-supplement-vitamin-d-youre-heard/
Also, what little science you do cite, you have cherry picked. You ignore the science showing that a lower vitamin D level correlates to a greater longevity.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121105130355.htm
Well this reviewer better stay out of the sun because your body can make almost 30,000 IU’s of d3 just by sunbathing 1/2 hour… I believe the book suggests that people NOT take any extra calcium with high dose D3…And suggests one should test one’s D3 and blood calcium from time to time. Any rudimentary search of the web these days will quickly bring up advice NOT to take extra calcium with high dose D3 AND there are many sites where they tell you to avoid calcium and drink extra water. when taking d3 Likely it was taking that extra calcium that caused the problems, and it was likely a lot more that 1 to 2 grams of extra calcium per day.