To Todzo - No Link Between Vit D + Cognition/Brain Pathology

49er wrote:

icipher wrote:To hell with any and all information on supplemental vitamins/minerals/herbs etc.

I am beyond annoyed with the cycle these products run.

Here's how it ALWAYS works.

1. tell people that said vitamin/mineral supplements will help alleviate or prevent said illness or condition. show studies that confirm this.
2. years later, tell people "gee, maybe these won't actually help. more studies needed."
3. years later. "actually folks, these supplements not only WON'T benefit you at all, they're probably actually bad for you."



Part of me thinks i should just eat the same way my 97 year old grandmother ate and hope that I make it to 80.

I totally understand your frustration icipher.

By the way, how does your 97 year old grandmother eat? Curious minds want to know.

49er

.

Ha! I could bet big money his grandmother ate exactly what she wanted to eat...
lots of meat, rice, pasta, chips, and of course, SWEETS! My uncle passed away a few days before his 100th birthday! The story goes that he ate eggs and bacon every day his entire life - along with plenty of meat (his was a butcher) and anything else he felt like eating. He especially loved banana splits with so much ice cream you couldn't see the banana. I sure hope I have a few of his genes.

ems wrote:

49er wrote:

icipher wrote: Part of me thinks i should just eat the same way my 97 year old grandmother ate and hope that I make it to 80.

By the way, how does your 97 year old grandmother eat? Curious minds want to know.

49er

.

Ha! I could bet big money his grandmother ate exactly what she wanted to eat...
lots of meat, rice, pasta, chips, and of course, SWEETS! My uncle passed away a few days before his 100th birthday! The story goes that he ate eggs and bacon every day his entire life - along with plenty of meat (his was a butcher) and anything else he felt like eating. He especially loved banana splits with so much ice cream you couldn't see the banana. I sure hope I have a few of his genes.

ems wrote:

49er wrote:

icipher wrote:To hell with any and all information on supplemental vitamins/minerals/herbs etc.

I am beyond annoyed with the cycle these products run.

Here's how it ALWAYS works.

1. tell people that said vitamin/mineral supplements will help alleviate or prevent said illness or condition. show studies that confirm this.
2. years later, tell people "gee, maybe these won't actually help. more studies needed."
3. years later. "actually folks, these supplements not only WON'T benefit you at all, they're probably actually bad for you."



Part of me thinks i should just eat the same way my 97 year old grandmother ate and hope that I make it to 80.

I totally understand your frustration icipher.

By the way, how does your 97 year old grandmother eat? Curious minds want to know.

49er

.

Ha! I could bet big money his grandmother ate exactly what she wanted to eat...
lots of meat, rice, pasta, chips, and of course, SWEETS! My uncle passed away a few days before his 100th birthday! The story goes that he ate eggs and bacon every day his entire life - along with plenty of meat (his was a butcher) and anything else he felt like eating. He especially loved banana splits with so much ice cream you couldn't see the banana. I sure hope I have a few of his genes.

This is one study masquerading as 2 studies - it is a single participant pool. The authors have simply done two different data analyses with the same data so they could publish it twice. Most of the other studies relating vitamin D insufficiency to cognitive impairment are based on older populations than this study. One of the reasons for focusing on older populations is that the hypothesis that is being tested is the relationship between Vitamin D insufficiency and dementia. We do not know what the very early biological markers are for dementia (we know some of the later markers for dementia, but these are difficult to test for without examining microscopic slides of brain matter - this is typically done post mortem), so it is not surprising that the study of a younger population didn't find a marker. Keep in mind that the evaluation of the relationship between Vitamin D insufficiency and dementia is correlational in nature - that means that it is very difficult to establish a causal relationship. Other studies show relationships between lack exercise and cognitive impairment and poor nutrition and cognitive impairment - people with poor nutrition and less exercise may have lower levels of Vitamin D.

Key points: This study doesn't refute the other studies - they are based on very different populations. The author is correct that there are side effects from too high levels of Vitamin D. A major Scandinavian study with a huge participant pool (I can't remember if it is 10's of thousands or 100's of thousands) has shown that taking vitamin supplements is related to earlier death, so supplements should be avoided unless a medical professional specifically recommends them.