Hi all! Dr. Hassid here. Hope you all had a wonderful, yet not overindulging thanksgiving.
This morning, I woke up, got showered, had my breakfast and read parts of the Sacramento Bee as I usually do. What do I
see on the front page of the main section…an article reviewing a concensus report on vitamin D and calcium as put out by
the “esteemed” Institute of Medicine. Mind you, these guys get a lot of weight and credibility because of their title, not necessarily because they
are truly experts in any particular field, in my opinion. Anyway, they talk about how we are over talking vitamin D and that pushing doses higher than RDA can be dangerous
and that we are essentially doing the public no good. However, what they fail to tell you (at least from the Bee interpretation) is that they are talking
about vitamin D and bone health studies. We know that vitamin D levels necessary for bone health are much lower than that that may be necessary
for all other presumed effects of this versatile hormone that are only now being realized. They claim that vitamin D’s effects on other systems have not been conclusively proven, therefore,
we should do nothing (I am paraphrasing). They also claim that doses above RDA can be dangerous! Sure, anything has potential of danger in the wrong patient at the wrong dose. But,
with this statement, they better show the data before making that broad stroke claim.
We have to be very cautious about these so-called consensus statements because they base their conclusions on very strict high end conclusive data. The rest of the supportive
data (albeit not conclusive) is thrown out. Although, they have the responsibility to protect the claim from frivilous claims of benefit or potentially harmful products, they also have
the responsibility to introduce data that may support a beneficial role but state that it is not conclusive. That is the definition of fair and balanced. I believe that withholding
potentially valuable information is just as dangerous as making a false and misleading statement.
Please beware and keep your mind open minded and keep thinking out of the box!
Thanks for tuning in!
Eric Hassid, M.D.
