Health

Decoding Vitamin D — Why I Don’t Believe it ‘Cures’ Autoimmune Disease

People tout high-dose vitamin D as catch-all cure. Is it?

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

The science on vitamin D is clear — it’s essential for good health and most of us are deficient, even in countries with abundant sunlight. Here in the UK, for example, the official guidance is that everyone takes a vitamin D supplement between October and March.

This is even more important for people with autoimmune diseases like lupus and MS. Our conditions cause us to be naturally deficient in vitamin D, and some treatments, like steroids, exacerbate the problem.

Furthermore, among lupus patients, there is a roughly 70% prevalence of sun sensitivity, leading to them spending less time outdoors and metabolising even less vitamin D through natural sources like the sun.

I know that vitamin D supplements are must for me — but when someone left a comment on one of my articles this morning claiming taking high-dose vitamin D was all I needed to “fix” my autoimmune disease, I lost it.

Why I don’t believe vitamin D will cure my disease

The flippant answer would be “I trust my highly qualified consultant rheumatologist more than I trust Ian…