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# Are the new vitamin D recommendations good enough?
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vitamin_d_0612100908/
- Published: 2010-12-06T10:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T13:04:47.000Z
- Description: The Institute of Medicine panel now advises 600 IU of vitamin D daily up to age 70 and 800 IU after 71, saying most Americans and Canadians already get enough. Critics dispute the deficiency figures and note few of the dozen-plus panelists research vitamin D.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, Vitamin D, #vivvo-import

The Institute of Medicine Food and Nutrition Board issued a report on Nov 30 saying it has revised its recommendations made 13 years ago on dietary reference intakes for vitamin D and calcium for Americans and Canadians.

The committee consisting of more than a dozen panelists recommends that "most Americans and Canadians up to age 70 need no more than 600 international Units of vitamin D per day to maintain HEALTH, and those 71 and older may need as much as 800 IUs."

The organization claims in its news release that it reviewed nearly 1,000 published studies and testimony from scientists and shareholders. It says many studies yielded conflicting and mixed results on the effects of vitamin D on many important health conditions including cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases and diabetes among others and no solid evidence suggests that higher than the recommended dietary reference intakes are needed.

The IOM further claims that "The majority of Americans and Canadians are getting enough vitamin D and calcium."

Naturalnews.com has recently responded to the new recommendations saying in an article that "According to scientific studies, right now 70 percent of whites are deficient in vitamin D, and 97 percent of African Americans are deficient, resulting in outrageously higher rates of cancer among blacks compared to whites."

Critics pointed out that of more than a dozen panelists, only a few have some experience in vitamin D research.

The world's most prominent vitamin D scientists such as Bess Dawson-Hudhes M.D., Cedric F. Garland Ph.D. Edward Giowannucci M.D., Robert P. Heaney M.D., Michael Holick Ph.D. and M.D.Bruce W. Hollis Ph.D. Reinhold Vieth Ph.D., carol L. Wagner M.D., William B. Grant, Ph.D., Christel Lamberg-Allardt Ph.D., Anthony W. Norman, PhD. and Edward Gorham, Ph.D. among others are excluded from the committee.

Dr. John Cannell, M.D., a vitamin D expert and director of vitamin D Council suggested that the vitamin D recommendation that a baby and a pregnant woman should use the same amount of vitamin D does not make any sense. HE said his organization pressed the IOM to release the comments on vitamin D and health from 14 vitamin D experts, which have not been released.

The Food and Nutrition Board suggests that without "solid" evidence, it is risky to recommend high intake of vitamin D. It cited vitamin E as an example to suggest that high intake of vitamin D could lead to some toxicity issue.

That may not sound convincing to many people. At the hottest time of a summer day, exposure of the face and hands to the sun for 15 to 20 minutes are known to make a person more than 10,000 vitamin D. There is no toxicity issue on such a dose.

Linus Pauling Institute says on its website "Overall, research suggests that vitamin D toxicity is very unlikely in healthy people at intake levels lower than 10,000 IU/day. However, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine conservatively set a tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 4,000 IU/day (100 mcg/day) for all adults."

Dr. Cannell suggested that pregnant women should take about 5000 IUs of vitamin D per day as it is evident that vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy leads to some abnormalities of brain development in the fetus. He said the recommended dose is not sufficient to elicit a desirable effect.

Dr. Mitsuyoshi Urashima and colleagues at Division of Molecular Epidemiology Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku in Tokyo Japan gave school children 1,200 IUs of vitamin (3) daily for a year and found the vitamin D supplemented children were 43 percent less likely to suffer flu.

The trial results were published in the March 10, 2010 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Jimmy Downs