The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problems

After periodically researching the list of things I was suffering from for a few years with no joy - I eventually stumbled upon a recommendation for this book. I got hold of a copy and read through it. Intrigued by the information within the book which appeared to explain exactly what was wrong with me I then booked an appointment with the doctor to see what my Vit D levels were and to order the correct test. Turns out I was very deficient in Vit D - just over half the amount considered to be the minimum! - You should be at 30 MINIMUM -- I as at 17. I am now on prescription Vit D for 4-5 months and have been ordered to get sun exposure also during the year by the Doctor. It will be a few months before levels will be back to normal amounts and I assume that it will also take a while to notice any effects that may be beneficial as a result. The doctor has only got me on 800 units - that way the build up can be gradual and he won't have to monitor my Calcium levels as a result of having a higher dose. To anyone else taking or needing to take Vit D - it's very important that you get your daily amount of Calcium alongside it. Fortunately Calcium is readily available in the typical British diet so you may only need a small calcium supplement of say 600mg or so to make sure your daily amount is kept up. Bear in mind also that if your taking any kind of antacid in the UK you're essentially supplementing Calcium so bear that in mind ;) Also you need to note that you will need to ensure that you're getting adequate Magnesium at the same time. Magnesium assists Vit D in the bowels for correct absorption of Calcium and so in a treatment protocol like this it gets very easily and quickly depleted in your system and the symptoms of magnesium deficiency can be quite annoying - look them up - so also ensure that you get adequate Magnesium levels daily and supplement if necessary. for example if your diet rarely involves things like dark leafy vegetables and the like you may well need to get hold of a supplement to cater for your needs .. I'm pretty convinced nowadays that Vitamin D - which is actually a precursor to a Hormone and not actually a true vitamin - is one of the most crucial nutrients to human health and happiness and is massively overlooked by the average person. Even after just 1.5 weeks of prescription D I have noticed a much better mood elevation - not that I was depressed before - but these days I just seem to be a lot happier and stress free - a beneficial side effect of Vit D that would be welcome by everyone I suspect. I really think that this book should be standard reading by every single person in the country and possibly go so far as to state it should even be part of the curriculum!. You should get it - read it and pass it on. I will revisit this review at intervals in time to update my progress if any during the treatment protocol.. ** UPDATE: March 2017 ** Well after a year nearly what's happened? Well I managed to get back to a respectable level fairly quickly with the docs supplements - getting back up to a level of 65 in the blood after 6 months. Which was surprising but also seems to indicate that my body not only stores VitD quickly but gobbles it up quickly too. And then I admit I was a bit slack with the supplements - Humans are like that we get better but then simply forget to maintain - I suppose it's because the goal has been achieved. Everything was fine and hunky dory until the winter. Come about Nov/Dec I noticed the effects. And for more information see my review on SAD Lamps to see all about that. After the SAD lamp treatment and enough time to deduce that the light's effects were positive - I started re taking my D supplements again (SAD lamps don't affect Vit D they just address special light sensors in your retina) but this time on a maintenance dose rather than a build it back up again dose and the effects were amplified. If like me your ancestry stems from the Med' - then this regimen is highly recommended for you!

If you were to read one book with the aim of improving your health then this should be the one. Originally I purchased this book because I was investigating the possible reasons for a recurring back problem that I had suddenly developed. For 47 years I had never suffered back problems and then developed problems with painful muscles and bones. The book outlines the effect of vitamin D in the body and informs the reader on what the suggested daily intake should be. It also fully explains how this can be obtained from food, sunlight exposure and supplements. I now realise that approximately 90% of your suggested intake should be from sunlight exposure, if you do not take high level Vitamin D3 supplements. However this exposure can only be approximately 12-3pm each day May to October. Otherwise you run the risk of being Vitamin D deficient. Sun exposure must be without sunscreen as this blocks Vitamin D. If you are light skinned this can be for as little as 10 minutes a time. However if you are naturally dark skinned you may need hours of exposure to get the same effect. Some of the earliest signs of Vitamin D deficiency are lack of energy and painful muscles and bones. Upon reading about Vitamin D obtained from sun exposure I realised that I was likely to be deficient, despite eating vitamin D enriched food and taking a UK multivitamin and mineral supplement. The UK RDA ( recommended daily allowance) is 400 IU a day. Dr Horlick suggests a intake closer to 2000 IU a day. So food alone will never get you a good intake of Vitamin D. So I embarked on a course of high level supplements at 2000 IU a day. Within 2 days I felt the effect on my energy levels, which improved significantly. My painful muscles have gone and my bone pain has reduced by 90% within 5 weeks. So I am now sticking with the higher level supplements as UK weather makes it very difficult to get good sun exposure. USA standards of Vitamin D intake and standards for adequate levels of Vitamin D in the blood are different and higher than the UK. So what is classed as adequate in the UK is in the deficient range in the USA. Lack of vitamin D is linked to many illnesses such as MS, Cancer, Arthritis, Lupus, ME, Fibromyalgia and Asthma. The danger is in the UK that you may get a Vitamin D test which shows adequate and so you dismiss the Vitamin D link to your illness. Get the exact reading for your Vitamin D test and then cross check with other countries standards. If you are suffering from any illness which causes extreme tiredness, painful muscles and bones or you suffer from repeated ill health or being "run down" then I urge you to check this book out. Lack of vitamin D can also cause depression. This is a common UK illness and is often treated with antidepressents. If you suffer from this problem then ask for a Vitamin D test, I am extremely grateful to have read this book, as I feel the information I have gained will improve my health in the long run. I would also like to point out that when I suffered my back problems not one member of medical staff ever mentioned a link to Vitamin D, so knowledge of its effects are not as widespread as you may suppose.

Taking Vitamin D as a result of reading this book is the single most important / valuable thing I have done in the last 5 years. A relative with multiple health problems - some severe - was referred to an NHS consultant endocinologist who ask her to bring all her prescription medicines with her to the consultation. The consultant then took every medicine but one she was being prescribed and threw them all in the wastepaper bin. He instructed her to take Vitamin D and to come back to him in two months time with a suntan. This transformed matters for my relative and I therefore started looking into Vitamin D myself. I found I was seriously deficient in Vitamin D (as a result of an allergy to dairy and keeping out of the sun) and taking 5000iU a day has transformed my life (though I'm not suggesting this much is the right level for others). However, many people now seem to agree it is important to increase one's Vitamin D levels, as Michael Holick suggests. I found his analysis of the relative risks from too little and too much sun particularly interesting. Michael seems to have devoted his working life to research on Vitamin D and this must be one of the key books - probably THE key book - on Vitamin D for the general public. I thoroughly recommend it.

Educational, interesting and if everything that it talks about is true, this book is a gem. It makes sense to me that the lack of Vit D can cause autoimmune problems and I am glad I read it. I had my vitamin D levels low I live en England and there isn't much sun over here most of the year. I started taking high doses of vitamin D and my aches and pain are virtually gone.

I never realised how important to health Vit D is and found this book very interesting and informative. A must read for everyone interested in improving their level of health easily by increasing their Vit D levels through sunshine and/or supplements. Written by an expert in the field, this book has changed my attitude towards the sun and sunbathing in particular. The biggest revelation was that Vit D is in fact a Hormone, the regulation of which can affect your well-being for the better. Highly recommended!

Read this book. Everyone should. We haven’t been told the truth about vitamin d. For example there are vitamin d receptors in every cell in our body including our brain. We are being told a lie about the sun, yes getting burned is very bad as the author says. But there is a collective notion that we must protect ourselves from all sun. ( who benefits from this ??? ). Most of us even in counties with a lot of sun are either low in vitamin d or chronically deficient in this essential vitamin. Learn everything you need to know about vitamin d and start benefiting from it. Google this amazing man to learn about his credentials and how he was the first to identify the major circulating form of vitamin d3.

I am only half way through this book but I have to say it is the most interesting and informative book that I have ever read. This book should be made available at all chemists and GP sugeries. Thank you Mr Holick for opening my eyes.

Don't take vitamin d supplements without having your blood levels of vitamin d checked first. It's toxic in overdose so proceed with caution

Si traggono molte informazioni utili da un luminare della vitamina D

Ich muss zugeben, dass ich schon ein wenig gezweifelt habe, ob ich mit meinen Schulenglisch-Kenntnissen mit einem Fachbuch zurecht kommen würde. Nach der sehr kenntnisreichen, äußerst informativen Lektüre kann ich sagen, dass es sehr wohl möglich ist. Dank des lockeren Schreibstils, gepaart mit den wichtigen Forschungsergebnissen, die einen immer zum Weiterlesen animieren, fiel es wirklich leicht, dieses Buch zu studieren. Ich habe mittlerweile einige deutsche Bücher zu dem Thema gelesen. Alle waren informativ, aber erst bei diesem Buch hatte ich das Gefühl, dass mein Wissensdurst gestillt werden konnte. Die weitgreifenden Auswirkungen des Vitamin-D-Mangels sind hier auf das Beste erläutert. Gleichzeitig plädiert der Autor ausdrücklich dafür, nicht jeden Mangel durch Pillen zu ersetzen, sondern er weist immer wieder darauf hin, dass der beste Weg immer noch die direkte Sonnennutzung ist. Ausführlich beschreibt er den sinnvollen Umgang mit direkter Sonnenstrahlung. Auch bei der Einnahme von Ergänzungsmitteln beschreibt er deren Nutzen und Risiken ausführlich und mit viel Fachwissen aus jahrzehntelanger Forschung. Aus meiner Sicht gibt es derzeit kein fundierteres Buch zu diesem Thema. Also: unbedingt lesenswert!

Learning about vitamin D from Michael Holick is like learning the art of magic from Harry Houdini. Greatly reducing the likelihood chronic degenerative disease such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes (and many more) is easier than you think once you know the secret. Although no supplement, diet, exercise, or lifestyle change can completely eliminate risk, The Vitamin D Solution will give you incredibly powerful, life-altering information that's as easy as getting some sensible sun exposure or popping a safe, inexpensive pill. Michael Holick, the world's leading expert on vitamin D, is your guide on this journey of discovery. His pioneering efforts in that field go back to his days as a graduate student when he synthesized the active form of vitamin D, finding it to have extraordinarily powerful therapeutic effects. His contributions as both a scientist and practitioner have made profound advances in every aspect of vitamin D research. Dr. Holick has been a tireless researcher, advocate, author, educator, and legendary lecturer for over 30 years. He stands as the most prolific author of articles published in peer-reviewed medical journals including the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. I have a few predictions. The latter 2/3 of the 20th century will become known as the dark ages, when they demonized the sun, a situation that led to untold suffering and literally millions of largely preventable deaths. Dr. Holick will emerge as a central figure ushering in a new age where sunlight and vitamin D (along with other well-known lifestyle changes) eradicate millions of needless cases of chronic disease. Mainstream medicine will embrace the preventive and therapeutic power of vitamin D, and for his pivotal role bringing about the sea change in the practice of medicine, Dr. Holick will earn a well-deserved Nobel Prize. You heard it here first. Dr. Holick contends that vitamin D deficiency is the most common medical condition in the world. Being both a researcher and clinician gives him tremendous insights to fortunate readers of this excellent reference. The book opens with two hypothetical pre-teen girls, one living in poverty near the equator and the other living a typical middle class American lifestyle. The list of diseases and medical conditions that are far more common for the middle class girl is shocking. It is no longer debatable that sunlight and vitamin D play major role in preventing a long list of serious chronic diseases, a reality that is becoming more and more accepted by the medical community. Ideally you should read the entire book in linear fashion, but even if you open the book to random pages you'll find useful information everywhere, such as a new model of cancer that can't grow in a vitamin D-rich environment (page 87); the role of vitamin D in preventing Parkinson's and Alzheimer's (page 140); how vitamin D repairs pancreatic beta cells and thus is an important tool in the fight against diabetes (page 97); the only accurate way to test for vitamin D deficiency (page 147); and a new perspective on what killed the dinosaurs (page 28). I can't go over all 300 pages in this review but I hope you get the idea there is a lot of important information we all need to learn. The book is easy to read, devoid of oppressive jargon, easily accessible to the curious layman, covers the subject reasonably well, and would make an extremely good addition to the library of anyone who understands that good health comes from wise lifestyle choices. For these reasons, I am D-lighted to give the book a solid 5-star rating and the heartiest possible endorsement. One of my favorite anecdotes involves a baby gorilla on the brink of death when Dr. Holick was called in to help. Classic symptoms of rickets led to an infusion of 5000 IU of vitamin D per day. The patient staged a remarkable recovery and Dr. Holick was the guest of honor at Kirmani's first birthday when she was clearly a happy, healthy, active gorilla. When Dr. Holick presented this story at a vitamin D conference in San Diego (complete with before and after photos) the audience burst into applause. I was there and can attest it was a magic moment. Read about it on page xxiv. Another amazing story involves a lawyer who supplemented with vitamin D, developed symptoms of overdose, and called Holick to state he was planning to file a malpractice lawsuit. Dr. Holick had the lawyer send him the bottle of capsules which he thoroughly tested, only to find that due to a horrific manufacturing error the lawyer was actually taking over 1,000,000 IU a day. So instead of facing a grueling lawsuit, Dr. Holick acquired an important body of data since vitamin D overdoses are exceedingly rare. (Read about it on page 47.) The lawsuit was dropped, the lawyer quickly recovered, and we have valuable information about diagnosing and treating vitamin D overdose. Everyone wins. Are there any negatives or downsides to this book? All my comments speak to the controversial nature of vitamin D where experts disagree in many areas. For instance, Holick states that D2 is equally as effective as D3 (page 217), yet the vast majority of researchers state that D3 is more bioavailable and stays in the system longer. On page 251 Holick states magnesium is unrelated to the uptake of vitamin D, which directly contradicts other experts. Holick generally avoids the details of studies that lead to various conclusions, which could be viewed either as a plus (easier to read) or a minus (lack of supporting evidence). There are more like this but I don't want to dwell on minutae. No two vitamin D experts see eye-to-eye on all aspects of this complex, confusing, confrontational subject. But this book contains so much solid, essential information it would be recommended reading for anyone even if they have minor disagreements here and there. On page 214 Dr. Holick touches on a subject of utmost importance: Why can't the Institute of Medicine get it right when determining recommended vitamin D supplementation levels? The problem lies primarily in the guidelines of evidence-based medicine that only allows input from research reported in peer reviewed medical journals. Because pharmaceutical companies have no incentive to support research costing tens of millions of dollars to prove the value of an extremely inexpensive supplement, vitamin D studies tend to be of the lower-credibility observational type. Because medical science views this as a lack of compelling evidence the industry is hesitant to actively endorse vitamin D, and we all suffer as a result. I wish this flaw was exposed in a more forceful way but I'm glad at least was mentioned to give readers of this book some valuable insights. As a side note, The Institute for Functional Medicine promotes a system that sidesteps the flaws inherent in evidence-based medicine, and Dr. Mark Hyman, their most visible spokesman, provided a strongly supportive testimonial appearing on the back cover. Here's the good news: You don't have to wait for the Institute of Medicine, the medical profession, or even your family doctor to jump onboard in order to benefit from the magic of vitamin D. However, you need to do your homework and that's where The Vitamin D Solution comes in. Dr. Michael Holick has done a superb job presenting information that will help you achieve optimal health. Read, it, study it, think about it, understand it, and most importantly, put it into action to get your 25(OH)D level above 50 ng/mL. (For most people that requires daily regimen of about 5000 IU.) The life you save may be your own.

The book has valuable information, although some are pretty outdated and biased. It is tiring to read, since he’s not straight to the point and repeats a lot the same things. The author recommends fortified orange juice from Minute Maid, making obviously that his research on vitamin D was sponsored by the company. Also, blames saturated fat as a cause of skin cancer (??). We all know now that saturated fat is not the problem. Claims that magnesium isn’t important in vitamin D metabolism. Which we also know isn’t true. Suggests to consume calcium and nothing about magnesium. I was expecting to read anything related to magnesium in the topic of Osteoporosis. But it wasn’t mentioned, giving all the credits to calcium and vitamin d (which are also important, but not all you need). It’s difficult to check the references he cites since they’re not marked on every page. This book is more about effects of light, calcium, and vitamin D in the body. I was expecting more of it. If an author recommends you to buy something from a specific company beware. You don’t know if there’s money involved or not.

An IMPRESSIVE read, i thoroughly enjoyed absorbing this book! incredible how most of north america and anyone living in a northern or cloudy climate is very likely deficient in VitD3, which is an incredibly all around vitamin, for a huge amt of ailments including autoimmune conditions, ccr and plenty of other big name mysterious ailments. You WONT be disappointed in this book, its awesome!! VitD3 and organic castor oil are both INCREDIBLE combo of MAJOR proportions.