Thinking about it, it is a sort of interesting idea: that perhaps people who are very fat for awhile actually become so over-depleted in various nutrients that perhaps at some amount of weight lost, the body perceives the combination of that loss AND the depleted status(es) as a threat, and ceases its loss in a protective bid.

It is possible that chronic or severe deficiences if corrected could contribute to weight loss -- it's fair to think it would if nothing else contribute to better health.

Not until someone got scurvy did folks realize there was a real problem. But there were probably problems way before the full blown scurvy point. (Same could be said for gluten [lectin] intolerance.) Sure, giving them some vitamin C -- or at least, something including that -- appeared to resolve the scurvy. But who is to say it was 'enough' to actually bring health. Maybe that just resolved the worst-case 'presented problem'. And since it appears (given Taubes's notes) that the scurvy was brought on by an overconsumption of refined carbs causing a much great depletion of vitamin C in the body, then it's possible they were deficient in many vitamins and minerals and trace elements and C was just the only one deficient ENOUGH to give a major red flag that was finally recognized.

That vitamin D chart makes it look like the symptoms of D deficiency (even though I understand that it is a concomitant and not necessarily original cause) are vast. But who is to say what other deficiencies people in today's world might have? We've learned that even light and air and motion can have an effect on people's nutrient levels; how does sitting sedentary in a school classroom with artificial light affect children's health? Especially boys who seem more in need of motion in particular?

It seems to me that about the only way this could be layman-experimented with is by people upping their intake of vitamins to whatever max is not expected to hurt them, over a period of time. I think the problem is that the levels of alleged 'desireability' and 'safety' are themselves a contention point, there is insufficient research on many points, there is much confusion such as between D2 and D3 but many similar examples, and there's the issue of (a) how any given thing(s) affect other thing(s) in the body, and (b) how to properly test for levels in the body to begin with.

I have a problem with eating lots of veggies, most of which I don't care for, not to mention that modern veggies in the stores are verging on cardboard compared to their potential. This makes quality supplements taken with food seem a much better approach. But that brings me back to where I began: what source is quality, how much one truly should have, how to tell my own level or what I might be deficient in, etc. is just... complicated!

I was skimming through a German book called "Fett!" (guess what that is in English), which is a pro-fat book and came across a part in it that said one of the reasons we put on weight in winter is because we are deficient in serotonin, which is another sunlight thing (correct me if I'm wrong).

Because we are depressed because of the lack of sunlight, we turn to comfort foods containing grains and sugars (i.e. nasty carbs), and pack on pounds of blubber. That got me to thinking that if you supplemented with Vit D, hence cutting out the winter blues, would you be better able to resist the temptation to snack on those Christmas cookies and sup the ale???

Last year, in early October, my husband smashed his kneecap after having been thrown off his bicycle by a man mis-using a remote-controlled car. This was the second nasty bike accident he had in the space of 2 years (the first one had him in hospital over Christmas for two weeks, finally being operated on by neurosurgeons to remove a haematoma and piece together skull fragments).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was totally traumatised by this second visitation of fate to my family, and my low-carb WOL went out the window for a few months. I couldn't resist the marzipan "Stollen" cake in the shops and, feeling stressed out in the evenings, beer consumption went up. Beer is just grain-and-sugar water, so, looking back, I think I was kind of self-medicating with grain and sugar to cope with stress, depression, and maybe also the winter blues. I put on about 6lbs in just a couple of months, too.

Just a thought...

amanda

We found a strong inverse correlation between weight and body mass and circulating vitamin D, and that young women with vitamin D insufficiency were significantly heavier and had greater body mass than women with normal levels. Additionally, the results of this study showed significant reciprocal relations between 250HD and CT measures for subcutaneous and visceral fat and DXA measures of adiposity for the whole body, trunk and extremities.

From the paper you linked:

So we become short and fat. It's just more supporting evidence. Thanks Hutchinson.

Hey Martin,

I may have to revise my earlier statement. I have been unable to sunbathe for the last week and started taking supplements again (10,000 IU D3). My weight just dropped 2 lbs. Don't know if it is a coincidence or what, but I'm not complaining.

The research above was conducted on women ages 16-22.
Some of whom would still be growing taller.
While I do think there will probably be a impact of vitamin d3 on insulin resistance as Vitamin D deficiency has been linked with impaired glucose metabolsim and predicts/precedes insulin resistance so while I think raising Vitamin d status to 60-70ng may affect fat levels I hope you don't think any amount of vitamin d at your age will now make you grow taller.

I am already 6' tall. I don't need to be any taller at this point

i have been taking about 3000-5000iu of vitamin D3 for about 3 months now to replenish my reserves. this month when I went to my dentist, he noticed a lot of calcification on my teeth and sugested that vitamin D is the cause of it and he sees many cases like this. I have never had calcification before this.

I have discontinued using it for now until i get a test done to find out what my levels are.

i just feel everyone should check their levels before starting more than the FDA recommendation for vitamin D3.

Also I dint see any difference in my health concrens with vitamin D3 in the same period.


i have a rather brown skin and live in the worst place to get sunlight the new england area so I just assumed I need more vitamin D.
By the way I dont supplement calcium and do take 200% dv of magnesium taurinate everyday.

Hmmm... I'm confused. Generally we want teeth to be nicely calcified. When the body starts to take calcium out of teeth that's a big problem. Do you think maybe he was talking about tartar build up?

Also, when you don't have enough Vit. D calcium goes out of the bones and gets deposited in bad places, like coronary arteries, perhaps teeth or gums?

You should get your levels tested, I can't believe a dark skinned person living in NE could on the amounts you take could possibly be getting too much.

according to the dentist he said it was clacification from the saliva having too much calcium secreted by the salivary gland. tartar would come out easily right? this had problem coming out...

i am going to get tested from that life extension wesite soon.

Good! They use the good lab for D3 tests there!

Tartar turns into a cement like material if you don't get it off before it sets up.

And I am going to go the other way. I ran out of Vit D a couple of weeks ago, and while I take the blame for going overboard with the cheese this past weekend, I stopped 'losing' that same week.

IMO, the calcification is caused by not supplementing calcium when taking vitamin D. Taking vitamin D without calcium, for women especially, leads to impaired calcium homeostatis.

Taking the magnesium with the D and both without calcium would just aggrevate the problem. Vitamin D, manesium, and calcium work together. Calcium and magnesium regulate the uptake of calcium by the body and put it into the bones and teeth. Vitamin D, in the absence of enough calcium, will take calcium from calcium dense parts of the body...teeth are calcium dense. Taking vitamin D without calcium can cause blood calcium levels to rise as well.

I always recommend taking calcium with vitamin D; more for women, less for men.

Re you not feeling a difference during the time you were taking vitamin D...I don't think you were taking enough to do any good never mind filling a deficiency. It takes 4,000-7,000 IU/day of vitamin D just to maintain health.

Do get tested as soon as you can. And if your levels are low please do not take vitamin D without taking calcium.

According to Eades and others, cheese is known to cause fat loss stall so I couldn't conclude that it was the lack of vitamin D during that week that caused your stall. Who knows, maybe you ate more cheese, or were somehow pushed to eat more because you weren't taking in as much vitamin D during that period.

World's Healthiest foods Calcium

Dietary Calcium Superior to Supplements for Protecting Bones

I don't take a calcium supplement but I do eat yoghurt/kefir and leafy greens daily. I'm a big fan of spinach/chard, always have a row in the garden and can't understand why people buy it in bags it's so easy to grow.