Testosterone and Vitamin D

I felt it may be interesting to share the following exchange between myself and a customer who contacted me.  First, Let me show you what he had to say.

From Customer:

“Thank you so much for your reply. I used to go to an internal medicine doctor that helped me with panic attacks and depression, he put me on effexor for years. I started thinking, what would happen if you gave your body all the vitamins and nutrients that it needed, then see what if any pharmaceutical drugs I may need.

My doctor thought this was a bad idea, so I switched to a doctor that also was a nutritionist and he ran blood test and said that I need to take Usana, and at least 2000-4000IU of Vitamin D3.

Well it has seemed to work, I have been off all meds for years. Now I have found out my current doctor is on the Scientific advisory council for Usana and his wife is a distributor.

Not saying this is bad, but make me wonder if he is promoting it just to increase his sales? He told me it was almost impossible to get too much of the Vitamin D3, also started me on testosterone injections because me testosterone was too low. Said there was no supplement out there that can increase this. I have placed my second order of Total Balance Men's and first order of Male Rejuvenator, so far so good!”

I responded as follows:

Be very wary of testosterone injections!  By taking testosterone directly it can potentially deactivate your own production of testosterone making you dependent on injections for the rest of your life.  Personally I would never have them as the risks are too high. 

I know that testosterone therapy is quite popular with many people and indeed with some Doctors because it can be a ‘quick fix’.  The key is to do everything that you can to support your own systems to produce adequate amounts, AND, to also keep in mind that most men still continue to produce adequate amounts of testosterone as they age, but they end up with low amounts in their systems because a lot of it is converted to estrogen as they get older. 

If you can reduce the conversion of testosterone to estrogen then you shouldn’t have a problem.  I will be 65 this year and my testosterone levels are still at that of a typical man several decades younger, and all I do is support my organs with adequate levels of nutrients including those such as Chrysin which help inhibit the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. 

We have this in Total Balance Men’s.  Bear in mind that I have been taking it for years and that unlike testosterone injections it is not a quick fix, but it is a permanent solution.

With regard to the Vitamin D.  I disagree with your Doctor if he is saying that you cannot get too much Vitamin D from supplements.  The fact is that you can, as Vitamin D taken orally is quite different from that manufactured by the body from the sun. 

Over the last couple of years, there has been a Vitamin D craze/fad with many people including physicians advocating ‘more is better’ when they are referring to Vitamin D supplements.  They think that this will fix just about everything that ‘ails’ you.  This I believe is a dangerous position as you can get toxicity from high doses of Vitamin D and it may upset other balances in your body which many forms of vitamins can do if taken in isolation and in excessive doses. 

However, you can’t get too much Vitamin D when it is produced by your own body from exposure to sunlight.  If this is what your Doctor is referring to then I agree with him 100%. 

Vitamin D obtained from sunlight is able to be stored by the body in fatty tissues and any excess released during the winter time or other periods when it is needed.  If you tried to get as much Vitamin D from supplements as you can get from regular exposure to the sun you would actually get quite ill. 

So, try to get as much exposure to the sun, all over if you can as it will give you a lot of health benefits.

15 Responses

Some info on the safety of Vitamin D and in high doses:

VITAMIN D

Canadian researcher Reinhold Vieth, Ph.D., writes, "Published cases of vitamin D toxicity with hypercalcemia, for which the 25(OH)D concentration and vitamin D dose are known, all involve intake of greater than or equal to 1,000 micrograms (40,000 IU)/day. (T)he weight of evidence shows that the currently accepted, no observed adverse effect limit of 50 microg (2,000 IU)/d is too low by at least 5-fold." (Vieth R. Vitamin D supplementation, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, and safety. Am J Clin Nutr. May; 69(5):842-56. 1999.)

The Nutrition Desk Reference, Second Edition states that, for vitamin D, "The threshold for toxicity is 500 to 600 micrograms per kilogram body weight per day." (p 40) The US Environmental Protection Agency’s published oral LD50 for female rats of 619 mg/kg (Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) Chemical Profile 12/84. US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Chemical Fact Sheet Number 42. December 1, 1984.)


500 to 600 mcg is the equivalent of 20,000 to 24,000 IU, per kilogram body weight per day. By comparison, this would mean that for an average (70 kg) adult human, toxicity would occur at an astounding 1,400,000 to 1,680,000 IU/day.


Yet misconceptions and misinformation about vitamins persist. Vitamin-scare articles are unduly popular with the media, sometimes even making it into the pages of the Wall Street Journal. On April 30, 1992, David Stipp reported that between 1990 and 1992, "a series of patients with vitamin D overdoses began turning up at Boston hospitals." Due to problems at one large dairy, some of the milk sold in Boston contained over 230,000 units of vitamin D per quart instead of the usual 400 units per quart.


One person subsequently died from drug complications, and the case went to court. (Tarpey v. Crescent Ridge Dairy, Inc., 47 Mass. App. Ct. 380.) "Essentially, this was a product liability action against the producer of dairy products, specifically milk which contained excessive amounts of Vitamin D. The plaintiff’s decedent purportedly suffered from elevated levels of Vitamin D in her bloodstream which required medication which in turn allegedly compromised her immune system, leading to her death." (http://www.dwpm.com/content/main/litigation00_news.php3)


This is the one and the only vitamin D-related death I could find confirmation of, ever, anywhere. And even this one was not directly due to the vitamin, but rather to side effects of medication.


The incident might well be taken as an unintentional proof of vitamin safety, even in ridiculously high overdosage situations. It is certainly noteworthy that 580 times the normal amount of vitamin D produced, at most, one alleged fatality. This borders on the extraordinary. Events such as this demonstrate that the margin for error with vitamins is very large indeed.


As a former university nutrition instructor, the classroom textbooks I taught with considered vitamin D to be perhaps the most potentially dangerous vitamin to chronically overdose on. If that is true, and there has been not even one confirmed vitamin-D fatality in the USA in over forty years, then all other vitamins are safer still. (Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 2003; Vol. 18, Numbers 3 and 4, p. 194-204.)

Rich Evans February 03 2012

Re: ‘Natural HGH;
gh raises an interesting question about the adverts for ’Natural HGH’.
I guess the first point is that there is no such thing as ‘natural HGH’.  HGH used to be ‘harvested’ from cadavers, but that practice was discontinued many years ago and HGH has been synthesied ever since.  However, it is molecuarly identical so it could be considered ‘natural’.

However, I assume that the adverts that are being referred to are those promoting HGH ‘releasers’ or ‘enhancers’.  These have been around for a long time and they are generally high dose amino acids.  They are quite effective until age 40.  After that they have very little effect on HGH.  The ironic thing is that up until the age of 40 most people don’t need an HGH enhancer.

If you are taking a product like that you should give it regular breaks.  Under no circumstances should you take HGH injections for anti-aging purposes as you will pay a high price with your health when you stop them.

Warren Matthews February 07 2012

@Mike:

Why would I be worried about an advocate against the FDA in Dr. Mercola? His supplements are certainly not cheap but Xtend Life products are even higher priced. I tried the Total Balance Men’s Premium along with the Fish Oil & Male Rejuvenator. They made me feel sick after taking them for about 2 months. My body just didn’t handle them well at all. I don’t think it was the Fish Oil at all but I do think the Premium Men’s Multi along with the Male Rejuvenator was the problem.


Dr. Mercola was on Dr. Oz show a few days ago. While Dr. Oz doesn’t fully support Dr. Mercola on all of his views he believes in a lot of his findings. I’m sure Warren here at XTend Life doesn’t like how the FDA regulates everything either. I think it’s pretty obvious what he thinks going by his articles. What he’s doing here with XTend Life products is no different than what Dr/ Mercola is doing. Making a line of supplements to try & benefit people & make people understand that what the FDA tells us is junk! Thanks!

Tony Bowen February 03 2012

Hello.
This is just a comment on the website.
I like the viewpoint espoused here,
 and much of the information appears to be valuable,
 but I have a complaint.
I’ve seen this too many times;
 I want to check out a site’s blogs,
 but I have to click thru page after page after page,
 when what I want and need is a clickable LIST of the topics covered,
 all on ONE page.
I’m nearly 60 years old,
 so I don’t have ‘years’ to spend,
 on trying to ‘sort’ thru who knows how many pages,
 trying to find the information that I need.
I hope you can see the utter futility of forcing potential customers to waste hour on hour trying to find information.
I would compare it to the way the FDA & USDA deliberately try to keep people from finding out about their own nutritional requirements,
 all the while pretending to be ‘serving the people’s interests’.
Its also unlikely to lead to new sales, either.

Thank you for taking the time to read my complaint.
I sincerely hope that it aids you in producing a better website,
 and increases sales.

Jon Steedley May 16 2012

Tony Bowen,

Dr. Oz ?? While i believe he is a good person with good intentions, he never saw a diet or supplement he didn’t like. As far as Mercola, i’ll stick by my comment. Go to his blog, try to present a different view reather than his meat/dairy ideas (raw and grass fed—to his credit)or oppose his views, you’ll get close to being banned. You’ll get some feedback here about his krill claims—pure marketing b/s with no credible studies.

My last story (and i have plenty) he was promoting—er selling a set of cast iron pots (wwaaay overpriced) and in one of his "ads" said there are only a few left so don’t miss out.

He was still selling them 3 months later. I am certainly not saying he doesn’t have good intentions, with patients best interest in mind, what i am is he is a businessman that overhypes and over charges for his products. Why ??? are they so expensive ?? And please, do not compare them to Warrens products—which are also expensive -imo-but here you get some customer service and health opinions that do not always push their products, just good solid opinion, and someone has to pay for that.

mike April 01 2012

I’d be very wary of Dr. Mercola. Also of his overpriced supplements.

Mike February 02 2012

@Warren:

How much do you consider too much Vit D taken in supplement form? I take a multi vit with 5000IU daily. I get mine from an advocate against the FDA & a former practicing doctor in the USA. I’m sure you’ve heard of Dr. Mercola here in the USA.


He believes a person should get 8000IU total daily now instead of 5000IU. That’s what I’ve been taking in supplement form for about 3 months now. I do get sun exposure but not that much. Is it your opinion that 8000IU is too much daily for Vit D3? What are the signs & symptoms of Vit D toxicity?

I have developed a feeling on something stuck in my throat in the past few days. I’ve never had this feeling before & hope it’s not related to any Vit D toxicity. Thanks! 

Tony Bowen February 02 2012

@Chris

There are many online sources of available scientific study.
One of them being the National Library of Medicine Institutes of Health NCBI or PubMed.

One only needs to spend about 3 minutes to discover that Chrysin has several beneficial effects with very few adverse ones.

for example:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21486424

CharlieM February 03 2012

Having read these and other comments from various online supplement retailers I am quite concerned about understanding the "real" facts about:

1. Keeping Testosterone and Estrogen at the proper levels at age 45 (and beyond) for men and women. 2. What about all the new ads about natural HGH? Is it something that should be considered as part of a total package to stay in good health?
I have been taking Total Mens premium for about 2 years but I wonder if it is not keeping up with the most recent information.
I would appreciate a response.
Thanks

gh February 06 2012

Is it better to wear shorts to get vitamin D distributed more evenly throughout my body when I am outdoors? In the cold winter months I usually wear pants and a shirt so only my forearms soak in the sun’s rays.

Osvaldo Castellanos February 21 2012

It is good getting the feedback which we have here.  The reality is that there is no one single answer or product that works well for everyone.  For example, it seems that our Total Balance Men’s didn’t work well for Chris and Tony.  Just wondered Chris, did you discontinue your Thyroxine at the same time as starting the Total Balance?  If so that could explain why you felt like you did.  In 10 years of producing Total Balance we have not had any cause to believe that it affects thyroid function.  Chris, if you would like us to look into this further please email me privately with more info and we will do so.

With regard to the Chrysin.  Yes, we were aware of some negative studies, but then there are negative studies for almost every ingredient.  Depends who did them and what their desired outcome was.  There are also many different standards of every ingredient which can have quite an impact on the end result.  Whereas I am not privvy to the medical records of our customers I do know it has worked for me.  Whether it is directly the Chrysin that has helped my testosterone levels or something else in the formula or a general combination of multiple ingredients I cannot be sure.

Re: Vitamin D.  I know that I am the odd one out here but my position is not swayed by the ‘experts’ advocating mega doses of Vitamin D.  I take this position that Vitamin D unlike some other vitamins or nutrients cannot be ingested at some of the levels suggested through a normal diet, or even a fairly abnormal diet.  With this being the case I would argue that the body is not ‘geared’ up to accept these mega doses from oral sources.  On the other hand it can handle all it can get from the sun.  I totally agree that Vitamin D is critical and most of us don’t get enough…but, I personally would not go down the mega-dose route.  Whereas the safety can be easily established on a short term trial, what about the effects of taking high doses for months or even years on end?   I have not seen a study that covers that period.

I take the point that Rich makes above and I respect it, but, this high dose Vitamin D craze has only just begun, so it is still early days!

Warren Matthews February 07 2012

david wolfe just today released a lecture addressing these exact issues. it is the latest science and its good news for naturally increasing test as well as stopping its xform to estrogen

wolf February 03 2012

A few years ago I found a few medicos in the USA who provided interesting health advice and on occasion recommended a health product. Now I get nearly an email a day from the same people. (Michael Cutler being the worst) who have been intoxicated by internet marketers who now produce ridiculously long high pressure squeeze pages with many , many fake references (they have to be fake because in the squeeze page, they claim the product has just been found and produced yet the referees have been taking the same product for a long time).
So now I don’t believe any of them (even if they have received a Nobel prize)
I don’t have a great deal of faith in my GP because they learn the latest from the corrupt big Pharma. Every health adviser is saying how his competitor’s product is no good, so how do I know that I am not taking a tablet or capsule with nothing in it of any value.
So, I don’t know what to do or what to take, and I think everyone is in the same sinking boat.
Is there one honest competent medical adviser that a human being can rely on?
Maybe there may be some more reliable health care providers. Vets who seem to be able to do marvelous things with sick animals. Aren’t I a sick animal too?
Help!! Help!!

geoffrey Fulton February 04 2012

Just a couple of comments regarding VITAMIN ? D which is not a vitamin at all, but a hormone. Why will the medical field not recognize this? Until they do, they will I’m afraid, continue to make recommendations about the proper dose, when in reality, unless they know the level of a person’s D Hormone to start with, any dosage could be off. Having either too much or too little D Hormone will give you the same effects, feeling poorly.

I agree with the above comments that getting your D source from the sun is best, since our body makes it on it’s own. If we do take a D supplement we should first have our levels measured through a blood test, and a doctor who it familiar with how the D hormone works should monitor how much and how long we should take it.
As for the sun, as much skin as we can expose to the sun is best, yes harder in cold weather for sure. The sun hits our skin and turns the cholesterol into the D hormone.

Pamela January 26 2013

Warren, I’m not sure about the role of Chrysin in blocking the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. Wiki states with references to support findings


‘Chrysin was once believed to be an effective aromatase inhibitor, decreasing the levels of estrogen in the body. However, there is growing consensus that chrysin has no effect on estrogen levels in either animals or humans. Early evidence was reported in the early 1980s through in vitro studies (in the laboratory, as opposed to in the body). Unfortunately, follow-up studies determined that cell membranes effectively block chrysin from entering the cells and having any effect at all on estrogen levels in biological organisms.In vivo (in the body) studies involving biological organisms lend support to the observation that chrysin has no effect on estrogen levels, but may have other detrimental effects to the body, particularly to thyroid function. For instance, a 30 day study administered chrysin to four groups of mice both orally and via injection to examine chrysin’s effect on serum estrogen levels. The results showed that chrysin had no effect on estrogen levels. Further, the mice treated with chrysin became considerably fatter, possibly due to chrysin’s ability to disrupt thyroid function. Another study on rats administered 50 mg of chrysin per kg body weight, considerably more than found in dietary supplements. Chrysin was found to have no ability to inhibit aromatase, possibly due to poor absorption or bioavailability.

From my own experience there is something in your TB Mens Premium product that lessens my thyroid hormone production. I have a thyroid issue ( hypothyroid ) and after taking TB Mens Premium for a couple of weeks started to feel really tired and lethargic by mid-day ( the same feelings as before my thyroid levels were balanced using thyroxine ). Whilst it is impossible to say for sure, I speculate it may be the higher level of Chrysin that caused me the problem which went away once I stopped taking the multi.

Chris February 02 2012

Leave a comment (all fields required)

Search