Cholecalciferol - 'vitamin' D3 - yes, it can kill rats, dogs, and people.
Dose makes the poison or the medicine - but certain individual health differences can make even small amounts a risk
I have been asked a couple of times about a Substacker, Agent131711’s Substack, who has been writing about synthetic vitamins in ‘an inflammatory’ way → that means writing in a fear inducing, or rage inducing way — an emotionally triggering style of word choices and imagery.
The author has a paywall for comments, so, I wrote a note that got long, so I am sharing it here too. “Dr. Lee Merritt is LYING About Me. Vitamin D IS RAT POISON. It's HAZARDOUS. Let Me Show You AGAIN.” « my take, yes, Dr. Merritt is wrong in her response about the ‘rat poison’. Cholecalciferol really is dangerous and caution should be used with very large doses or pay attention and stop use if anything seems to be worsening. I would not disagree though that Agent131711's writing tone is ‘inflammatory’ - upsetting emotionally. We are in upsetting times though.
The note about Agent131711’s post follows this section on Why is it important for us to know more about ‘vitamin’ seco-steroid hormone D? *Because it hugely impacts our immune system, and some pathogens can take advantage of that.
**I forgot to mention - if you don’t need vitamin D supplements, then the body just breaks it down into cholesterol, and you are basically paying for a cholesterol supplement - eat organically raised egg yolk instead and you would get more health benefits overall.
Our resident Substacker Rat Says that humans would need a lot of D3 to reach a lethal dose, more than is likely possible to consume. Chronic excess is the more likely risk. Sodium chloride, table salt, is more likely to consume in a toxic dose.
Polar Bear liver made some non-native explorers sick. Liver is high in vitamin A and D in active forms.
What symptoms to watch out for with use of vitamin D3 (or other forms of vitamin/secosteroid D)?
Hypercalcemia and anger can be symptoms of excess vitamin D if the person is activating too much of it to the hormone form or lacks the enzyme to breakdown the hormone form. A somewhat comparable example I share is “Roid Rage” → a weight-lifter or athlete who takes steroids to ‘bulk up muscle’ can also be causing themselves anger issues. So, the quick way to think about seco-steroid D3, is as an anger risk in excess. The hypercalcemia causes a lot of other damage though too, besides causing anger.
What’s to Know About Hypervitaminosis D? (medicalnewstoday.com)
People are more at risk from vitamin D supplements if they have these conditions: kidney disease, liver disease, tuberculosis, hyperparathyroidism,
sarcoidosis, and histoplasmosis.
Symptoms of excess D can include symptoms of hypercalcemia: fatigue;
loss of appetite; weight loss; excessive thirst; excessive urination; dehydration; constipation; irritability; nervousness; ringing in the ear (tinnitus); muscle weakness; nausea; vomiting; dizziness; confusion, disorientation; high blood pressure; heart arrhythmias; abnormal heart rhythms. ****Magnesium is needed to help the kidneys dump the excess calcium; however the excess D signals the intestines to absorb calcium instead of magnesium….so, topical magnesium sources are really important when there is a tendency towards over converting 25-D into 1, 25-D.
Long term risks of elevated D and hypercalcemia can include: kidney stones;
kidney damage; kidney failure; excess bone loss; calcification (hardening) or arteries and soft tissues.
The Marshall Protocol for sarcoidosis is where I learned more about risks of vitamin D and I tried the protocol myself for autoimmune symptoms and it helped immensely. It is controversial with Western medicine largely because it is effective and not that expensive compared to much of Western medicine. I bought Olmesartan out of pocket for a year and a half, which did cost me some money (~$300/month), but it worked. My severe weekly migraine problem mostly went away - with a year and a half of dedicated effort and discomfort as toxins cleared out. When we get rid of a bunch of infection, the dead cells cause a toxin overload, so going slowly is recommended to give the body enough time to detox, before killing more of the infection. (Herxheimer reactions)
I haven’t found the list of hormone D excess symptoms yet, but here is a link to the vitamin D overview page (mpkb.org).
Trevor Marshall was given a ‘death sentence diagnosis’ when he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. He figured out how to get better instead and I highly recommend the approach for mystery autoimmune type of conditions. The protocol works for conditions with an imbalance in the ratio of Th1/Th2 immune cells. An underlying EBV, Epstein-Barr Virus infection, may not be helped by taking vitamin D supplements. Some pathogens learned how to manipulate vitamin D metabolism because it is how our body fights infection. With a pathogen causing lack of breakdown of active D, then the inactive 25-D blood test will look really low, but the active form might be within the normal range or elevated. Taking more of the inactive form will just lead to even more of the active form collecting, and that can lead to hypercalcemia. (mpkb.org)
The 1, 25 D form can become elevated in sarcoidosis - avoiding D sources and sun would be the Marshall Protocol recommendation, but standard Western medical approach seems to be to just observe things as biomarkers of worsening health… “particularly >51 pg/ml.” (Kavathia, et al., 2010) A level of 1, 25-D level that is greater than or equal to 51 pg/ml is generally considered to be within the normal range. Sarcoidosis is more common in people of black ancestry and that may be because their kidneys are better at holding onto calcium at the expense of magnesium. Magnesium is anti-inflammatory in general while calcium is inflammatory. The Western diet and supplement recommendations are very high in calcium and tend to be low in magnesium. People with darker skin might have lower D levels in northern areas and higher D in more Equitorial areas.
In the excerpt below, note that 25-D is calcidiol/calcifediol and it is formed from vitamin D3, cholecalciferol, within the liver. (Wikipedia) I did wear dark sunglasses, long sleeves, and avoided sunlight and vitamin D rich foods while I was taking the Olmesartan (a medicine used for blood pressure, but taking more of it doesn’t cause more of a reduction in BP - see this post about Covid: ACE2, Diarrhea, & COVID19 - it gets complicated, *33 references complicated, (Substack) Olmesartan and other ARBs would have helped treat Covid probably, if treating it effectively had been a goal.
“The vitamin D derived from supplements is converted into 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-D), the form of vitamin D which dysregulates the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR), to prevent the innate immune system from functioning properly. Olmesartan (Benicar) can only restore the function of the innate immune system when it does not have to compete with 25-D at the VDR binding sites. A 25-D level of under 12 ng/ml provides the opportunity for olmesartan to work, and allows the immune system to return to proper function.
Patients on the Marshall Protocol (MP) are required to avoid all ingested forms of vitamin D. When the innate immune system returns to proper function, symptoms (immunopathy, or IP) may increase, but without this return to function, there cannot be cure.
A number of foods contain vitamin D, either naturally or because it has been added during processing. It is important to read labels. However, sometimes a label will not state that a food is supplemented with vitamin D.
The only objective way for a MP patient to determine if they have been successful at avoiding ingesting an excess of vitamin D is to periodically retest their serum 25-D to determine if the target of less than 12 ng/ml has been reached and maintained.” (mpkb.org/home/patients/protocol_overview)
**There is no charge for the Marshall Protocol information, he just wanted to help people who may also have disliked hearing a “death sentence diagnosis”. The site has patient and physician sections. Don’t accept voodoo nocebo diagnoses from your healthcare team. Western medicine is based on fraud and culling policies. Why ask for help from a system that wants you dead, but at a profit to their system?
Th1/Th2 imbalance - Bing AI
Th1 and Th2 cells are two components of the immune system that function in a delicately balanced relationship. When one is overactive, it can suppress the activity of the other, leading to an imbalance called Th1-Th2 polarization1 2. This can be problematic because these systems must be balanced for a healthy immune response to occur2. In the case of autoimmune disease, imbalance can further the attack on healthy tissue, thereby worsening symptoms1.
Learn more:
My note
I have been asked about this author who has a number of posts about how synthetic vitamins are made and how bad they are. He is not completely wrong, but the implications are not completely right.
Yes, vit D3 is close to the active hormone form of vitamin D which is a seco-steroid hormone and not a true vitamin. Taking it in moderate amounts may be critically important for health at this time because of glyphosate inhibiting CYP enzymes which are needed to help us make vitamin D from sunshine and cholesterol.
Anyone taking statin drugs may be sickly with low vitamin D because of statins causing low cholesterol. STATINS ARE REALLY BAD, PLEASE STOP TAKING THEM.
In 2010/2011 I kind of went viral because of my own takedown video regarding high dose vitamin D supplements or fortification of random foods as a click bait ad tactic.
I had seen oat bran get trendy and show up in waffles and donuts as if that would make them a health food. I thought that was funny. I did not think putting a cholesterol based seco-steroid in random foods was healthy or funny. It was dangerous. Too much vitamin D in the active form can kill humans, or rats or dogs. Digs are somewhat regularly harmed because of mistakes in dig food fortification.
Putting calcium with the D3 in a rat poison would make it more effective because the hormone D causes increased calcium intake, and it is the calcium excess doing the actual killing.
Take home points - AVOID GLYPHOSATE — *Agent131711 didn’t mention this major point about the current vitamin D controversy. MANY people in the US are low in vitamin D, possibly because of not getting outside, but more likely because of the glyphosate in our food supply inhibiting vitamin D creation if they were in the sun or inhibiting activation of vitamin D2, the form more typically used in milk and supplements. My archives have a lot of posts on ‘glyphosate’, or see page Membranes on jenniferdepew.com.
Get sunshine in the early morning and later day hours, 15-30 minutes with face and arm exposure can be enough in summer sun.
If supplements of vitamin D are desired, then the D3 form bypasses some of the glyphosate effects, but is a more active form, meaning excess might be reached more easily. Most people are not at risk because the active form is readily deactivated, BUT, people with sarcoidosis, parathyroid cancer, and a few other infection types, CAN’T break down active D and they could get the hypercalcemia and maybe die from taking vitamins D supplements BUT they would be at risk to even lower duse amounts and really need to not use any extra vitamin D and avoid rich food sources too.
The standard medical world is not talking about this at all. Dr. Merritt is correct about that.
Agent131711 Is correct that D3 is used as a rat poison and he is also correct that the example product of Dr. Merritt’s is not great, I would recommend NOT buying it.
It has Folic Acid = avoid
Cyanocobalamin = avoid
I do not know that the B6 or vitamin C synthesis methods are dangerous - just because something is “grown in mold” does not mean it is dangerous. But I have not dug into that topic so don't have a referenced response
The other main BIG reason to not buy an overpriced drink for “fucoidan” is that 50 mg of fucoidan is a tiny speck. Fucoidan is a monosaccharide which is a sugar and it has significant health benefits BUT a tiny speck of a macronutrient is fairly useless. Please use your money to go buy some Wakame or Kombu seaweeds and eat them as a real food, not as a tiny speck. 50 mg is ~ smaller than a grain of rice.
Search my archives for Wakame and a couple recipes turn up or Seaweed or Kombu might get some posts. It protects against breast cancer and other issues of current importance.
Fucoidan and a few other monosaccharides like mannose are very health protective because they are used in a language of immunity - they form branching complex patterns in the shrub or tree like surface proteins that mark cells to be identifiable as self of other, or to serve other functions. When our diet is too limited to junky glucose and fructose then our surface glycoproteins won't be fully lush vibrant informative shrubs and trees, they will be incomplete, wrong information, stunted shrubs or tree shapes.
Eat some cranberries for mannose. Again, tiny capsule products, or a smidge in a drink, are not going to help health much if a ¼-1/2 cup portion is needed.
I would agree that @Agent131711 writes in an “inflammatory” style which means, emotionally triggering - Fear! Danger! But we are living in dangerous times, my biggest point -
Dose makes the poison, dose makes the medicine. Cholecalciferol can be dangerous.
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.
(Kavathia, et al., 2010) Kavathia D, Buckley JD, Rao D, Rybicki B, Burke R. Elevated 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels are associated with protracted treatment in sarcoidosis. Respir Med. 2010 Apr;104(4):564-70. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2009.12.004. Epub 2010 Jan 13. PMID: 20071158; PMCID: PMC4778713. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4778713/
So the upshot is…are D3 supplements safe or not let’s say in 5,000 iu per day?
Thank you.
Thank you for addressing this issue, Jennifer... I saw the posting you reference and was truly hoping to see someone be able to adequately discuss the issue. Your post makes so much sense and is a balance approach to the matter.