Update to Vitamin D Guidelines Leads to Confusion and an Urgent Call to Action

The Endocrine Society’s latest guideline update sparks disagreement among top vitamin D experts leading to confusion and potential harm to public health.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, July 2, 2024 (Encinitas, CA – GrassrootsHealth) – An update to Vitamin D Guidelines recently issued by the Endocrine Society (June 2024), titled “Vitamin D for the Prevention of Disease: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline,” is a step backward and requires urgent and necessary action from all researchers, educators, healthcare workers, and advocates in the vitamin D scientific community.

These updated guidelines suggest that most adults should take no more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) as set by the outdated (2011) Institute of Medicine (IOM) document. This suggests vitamin D intakes of 400 IU per day for infants, 600 IU/day for all non-pregnant and pregnant adults, and 800 IU/day for adults above 70 years of age. However, this recommendation has led to high rates of deficiency and associated diseases, harming the population worldwide.

In addition, the new guidelines do not advise testing 25(OH)D levels among any population, even for the vulnerable, nor do they define a sufficiency level. This recommendation is short-sighted, dangerous, and confusing. It is a significant step backward from what the Endocrine Society previously recommended for vitamin D in 2011, with a daily allowance of 1500-2000 IU vitamin D per day, an upper intake of 10,000 IU/day, and a recommended minimum 25(OH)D level of 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L).

The matter of defining a 25(OH)D level of sufficiency for overall health should be a key consideration when formulating vitamin D guidelines. The IOM’s suggested 20 ng/ml minimum level for sufficiency was determined based only on data for bone health, specifically for the prevention of rickets and osteomalacia – a fact that is not well-known even among healthcare providers. This definition of sufficiency does not include years of additional data from published research showing a physiological need for vitamin D within other body systems and highlighting newly appreciated, vital associations between vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency and extra-skeletal diseases. Examples of these include breast cancer, intestinal and other cancers, multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, hypertension, increased risk of heart failure, prenatal and neonatal complications, autoimmune diseases, and acute infections. The latter includes beneficial impact on survival and hospitalization in viral infections like influenza and SARS-CoV-2, and a favorable role in treating chronic infections such as tuberculosis and inflammatory bowel disease.

Over fifteen years ago, GrassrootsHealth founder Carole Baggerly took action to define a scientific consensus, through the agreement of 40 leading vitamin D scientists and researchers, that the vitamin D level necessary for optimal health in the general population should be 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L). Back then, it was already well known among vitamin D experts that the recommendations made by the IOM were inadequate to support these levels and were part of the driving force behind the ongoing worldwide vitamin D deficiency epidemic.

Ms. Baggerly met with vitamin D researchers and scientists across the US and Canada to create the first Scientists’ Call to D*action to solve the deficiency epidemic and improve public health. This was primarily via promoting vitamin D inputs necessary to achieve and maintain a target 25(OH) vitamin D serum level of 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L). Since then, 48 senior vitamin D researchers have signed this Call to Action, becoming part of the GrassrootsHealth consortium of scientists, institutions, and individuals committed to solving the worldwide vitamin D deficiency epidemic – a project called D*action.

We have since gained more than 15 years of additional research and findings from peer-reviewed publications to support and validate this recommended target vitamin D level of 40-60 ng/ml, the vitamin D doses necessary to achieve it safely and effectively, and the newly updated (2024) Scientists’ Call to D*action.

Read the Updated Call to Action Here

It is time to collaborate to counter these erroneous public health recommendations before additional harm is done to the health of individuals.

GrassrootsHealth and leading vitamin D experts are now asking for support from others, especially asking those in the vitamin D scientific field to acknowledge this Call to Action and join the effort to counter the information set in these outdated guidelines for vitamin D.

Ways vitamin D scientists and experts can support this initiative include:

1) Adding your acknowledgment of this updated Scientists Call to D*action

• Indicate if you would like to add your signature of acknowledgment and support of this Scientists Call to D*action by completing the form at https://www.grassrootshealth.net/support-scientists-call-daction/
• Comment on the justification for maintaining the consensus mentioned in the updated Scientists Call to D*action over those of the IOM and the recently released Endocrine Society recommendations
  • Short comments can be added to the form; email longer comments or documents to [email protected]

2) Showcase yourself as a vitamin D expert to the public by sending the following information to Jen Aliano, [email protected] to be posted on grassrootshealth.net

• Send your current (or most recent if retired) one-page bio with related publications (up to 20 most recent ones, on page 2, related to vitamin D), your affiliations, as well as what dose of vitamin D you take, and how long you have been taking that dose (optional)
• Additional information may be requested

3) If you are interested in being interviewed about the advancements in vitamin D research along with your contributions to the research, email [email protected] with your preferred interview type

• To schedule a video interview, please let us know your availability over the next few months
• To complete a written interview, send a request to [email protected] to receive a list of interview questions to choose from or add other questions you would like to include
• To offer your information in a short 5 to 10 minute video for us to share with the public, discussing your knowledge about vitamin D and/or why this new recommendation by the Endocrine Society is damaging to public health and why the recommendations of this Scientists Call to D*action are necessary, please email it to [email protected] or let us know when would be a good time to record your video over zoom

For additional questions or comments, contact Jen Aliano at [email protected].

The public needs to hear from vitamin D experts on this important health matter.

Anyone can help support this initiative by:

1) Following updates and news about this and other vitamin D research by joining the GrassrootsHealth newsletter at https://www.grassrootshealth.net/project/newsletter-sign-up/

2) Download, read, and share the free, IRB approved “Patient and Provider Guide to Understanding Vitamin D, Testing & Results” from GrassrootsHealth at https://www.grassrootshealth.net/document/know-d-number-patient-provider-guide-understanding-vitamin-d-testing-results-booklet/ or any of the other free resources found on grassrootshealth.net

3) Following and sharing information about this initiative posted on GrassrootsHealth social media accounts

• https://www.facebook.com/GrassrootsHealth
• https://twitter.com/Grassroots4VitD
• https://www.instagram.com/grassrootshealth/
• https://www.youtube.com/@vitaminDaction

4) Donating to support the efforts of GrassrootsHealth at https://www.grassrootshealth.net/donate-to-grassrootshealth/

About GrassrootsHealth

GrassrootsHealth is a nonprofit public health research organization dedicated to promoting optimal health worldwide through research, education, and advocacy, with a primary focus on the role of vitamin D. Through evidence-based education, resources, and our citizen-science approach to research, we empower individuals to make informed decisions about their health and healthcare providers to move research into practice.

With a panel of international vitamin D researchers and other experts contributing to its operations, GrassrootsHealth has been running the world’s largest public health intervention study – the D*action field trial – to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic worldwide since 2007. Learn more at grassrootshealth.net.

References Here

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