Reported by GrassrootsHealth January 21, 2015

Institute of Medicine
Updated RDA for Vitamin D
600 IU/day vitamin D should get 97.5% of the population to 20 ng/ml

The IOM got it wrong!

Quite simply, the IOM got it wrong.  We have posted comments and information since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) said that the new Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of 600 IU/day was adequate to achieve their recommended level of 20 ng/ml.  Our focus has always been that 20 ng/ml was not sufficient.  It turns out that there’s an even more serious problem: a review of their statistical methods shows that they were not correct – 600 IU/day will not get 97.5% of the population to 20 ng/ml. Instead it will only get 50% of the population to that level.

Based on GrassrootsHealth data–YOUR data, it will take approximately 7,000 IU/day for 97.5% of the population to achieve 20 ng/ml.  An analysis from Dr. Paul Veuglers of the University of Alberta on the data used by the IOM concluded that it would take approximately 8,895 IU/day to achieve the 97.5% level.

A key feature of the GrassrootsHealth data set is that we actually have data from participants that are taking 7,000 IU/day or more.  Our calculations are based on actual things people are doing.  The IOM’s panel reviewed data sets where the highest level reported was 2,400 IU/day. Dr. Veuglers used statistical analysis and extrapolation to get to the 8,895 IU/day value.

References

A Statistical Error in the Estimation of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Vitamin D
Paul J. Veugelers, MD
John Paul Ekwaru
Oct. 2014
View Here 

How Much Does it Take?
GrassrootsHealth poster
December 2014
View Here

GrassrootsHealth Research Paper 
This paper shows that a supplemental dose of 9,600 IU/day will ensure that 97.5% of the population will achieve a serum 25(OH)D of at least 40 ng/ml.
View Here