Vitamin D toxicity with Coconut Oil


#1

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2010.12.776

Tried to find additional info on what levels of Vitamin D combined with what amount of coconut oil could cause this. Has anyone else ever heard of this happening? I actually found this article after feeling really badly after taking high dose of Vitamin D and consuming more than 2tbspns of coconut oil…thought it was just too much oil, but wondering now :face_with_monocle:


#2


(Full Metal KETO AF) #3

I haven’t heard of it but drug interactions with certain foods increase the effects of some drugs. It makes sense because vitamin D is fat soluble so maybe it absorbs better because of something special in the coconut oil. :cowboy_hat_face:


(Parker the crazy crone lady) #4

Exactly what I was thinking. Could this pertain to your situation?


#5

This ^^. I always take fat soluble vitamins like D3 with a meal containing fat for better absorption. Whether coconut oil is more effective for this than other fats, I can’t find anything convincing*. Yet. :woman_shrugging:
Notice the treatment was to discontinue the D3 and calcium supplements, not the coconut oil.

She also consumed 13 grams of saturated fat everyday from the use
of coconut oil alone when cooking meals.

This sounds strange to me. She wasn’t eating any other fat? OK, if she was extra, super, lowfat then maybe she wasn’t absorbing the vitamins she took until she added the fat? They don’t really say why she was taking the supplements in the first place or what her beginning levels were, or the order in which she went from normal to toxic.

*Only difference I can think of is that the MCT fraction of coconut oil is absorbed directly into the portal vein rather than through the lymphatic system like longer chain fats.


(Karen ) #6

@ Be Still

I take Vitamin D3 daily (2000 IU per doctor’s order) and use coconut oil with my coffee daily…so, should i stop using coconut oil?? hmmmm…


(Edith) #7

That was one anecdote. I guess you could have your vitamin D levels measured if you are worried.


#8

Super absorption actually would theoretically be beneficial for my low levels, however, like any deficiencies that aren’t chronic - one would want to scale back once levels were normal. I’ve been waiting for my 6 mo ketoversary to have labs done again, for now, just precautionary I won’t combine coconut oil with my vitamin D doses :slightly_smiling_face:


#9

I had the same question when I read this single account/article…made me curious if there was anything more on it out there.


(Joey) #10

I’m dumbstruck by the “Conclusion” in this Abstract. Huh? Where’s the science?

The write-up is actually kind of amusing (if it weren’t a story of a woman who was apparently suffering). It’s an anecdote of one individual … cooking with 13 grams of saturated fat from coconut oil (1 tbls) and taking slightly-more-than-recommended upper doses of Vit D3.

The first symptom reported in the list of complaints is patient “irritability” and she stopped attending church and gym. But after cutting out these “supplements” she felt less irritable with a full “resolution” of her symptoms (presumably back in church and praying? probably renewed her gym membership?) Outcome: Cured! No need to measure her Irritability on the Irrit-ometer? :wink:

Seriously, this report sounds more like a satire than a real work of science worthy of reporting.

At best, it’s a single data point worthy of filing away in the bottom drawer until an RCTrial can be constructed to assess whether the combination of minimal amounts of coconut oil and barely over-the-recommended-daily requirement for Vit D3 for older women - in combination - might lead to unpleasant outcomes.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

I wanted to look up the case report, just to find out more about it. Unfortunately, however, PubMed doesn’t index it. Google Scholar does, but the link is to the Elsevier site, so no way to see the full text. The only information about the authors is that they are somehow associated with the Glendale campus of Midwestern University, but the university’s Web site has no information about them or this case report.


(Todd Allen) #12

The paper said she was taking 1300 IU of D3 daily. I wonder if that’s a typo as most supplements are in multiples of 1000. Considering it is estimated one can produce 1000 IU D3 per minute of intense sun exposure 1300 IU daily is not very much.


(Joey) #13

At the risk of sounding dismissive, I consider most of that “abstract” (of a single patient observation of dubious value) to be equivalent to a scientific typo :wink:


(Todd Allen) #14

Calling that typo scientific speaks highly of your generosity. :smile:


(Joey) #15

Sweet! (… but in a non-gluconeogenic way) :wink:


(KCKO, KCFO) #16

So one woman makes D3 supplementation bad. But hundreds of thousands of keto/LCHF eaters does not show benefits of eating this way?

:exploding_head:


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #17

Surely we have to acknowledge that there is a risk of Vitamin D toxicity at some level. It is fat soluble, and the fat-soluble vitamins tend to build up when we consume them in excess of need. I realise that just what constitutes “too much Vitamin D” is not clear right now, but I would be willing to wager that we need less on a well-formulated ketogenic or ZC/carnivore diet, just from the very nature of things. So I have no problem with the notion that a woman might have accidentally gotten too much Vitamin D.

There are so many variables in the case that it is impossible to assess what really happened without reading the full text of the case report. We don’t know why she was supplementing, how much she really needed, how much she was actually absorbing of what she ingested, what her sun exposure was . . . need I go on?

It seens to me that the two conclusions we must not draw from this case report are: (a) that supplementing is always bad, and (b) that adivsing the patient to stop supplementing with Vitamin D and calcium shows that the doctors on the case were idiots.

Did they reach the right conclusions from that lady’s experience? That is a whole different question, and I don’t know the answer to that, without more information.


(Teb Tengri) #19

My guess is she’s got some “disorder” that either greatly enhances absorption, conversion to 25OHD, storage of D or reduced clearance of D. Maybe some or all of them.

Or she lied or mispoke 13000IU


(Prancing Pony) #20

I took 10,000 IU of D3 a day for a month while eating coconut oil to try and combat a bout of depression. I did not die, have high blood pressure or suffer any allergic reactions. I only stopped because the doctor freaked at my blood test results and it was clear the depression was thyroid related.

Not recommending what I did or saying it is an average result but hey their study was only 1 person


(Teb Tengri) #21

I always get high calcium on more than 4000-5000IU a day. Not insanely high but a bit out of the normal values. I could maybe up sodium, potassium and magnesium and drink more water to flush it out but I just dropped to 2400IU a day.

@Prancing Pony what numbers on your blood made doc freak? 25OH-D? Calcium? Something else?