I take 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily. 5,000 in the morning and 5,000 at night. The reason is that when I took only 5,000 IU daily, my tested vitamin D levels were still only barely above deficient. I would like to get into the middle of the average range.
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NO’s relation to UV radiation and skin pigmentation
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I believe in the power of sunshine. Whenever possible I get sunshine on my body (expose a lot of skin). But this time of year I don’t get very much. I haven’t been able to look into it yet but Dr Cohen mentioned in my last interview that heavy vitamin D supplementation contributes to iron overload.
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I have my 25OHD values pretty well every week. I also have iron and ferritin. My ferritin has gradually come down (which IMO is good news). Iron is not high (or low - apart from once when I did a blood test after a couple of pints of beer).
I think there is an argument for sunshine more generally, however.
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Right. Stay tuned on this question. Dr Cohen was describing non-standard metrics for iron overload identification. I’ll followup with Dr Cohen for more details.
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That would be interesting. As I keep records for pretty well every week I can check the mainstream blood markers (Iron, Ferritin) against supplementation with cholecalciferol and 25 OHD. I keep the cholecalciferol essentially constant at 3000iu (now, I did some experiments varying it) and vary the 25OHD.
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@John_Hemming Here is some information from Dr Cohen. He’s listed a few resources to check into. He say it’s complicated so no simple description but these resources will provide a lot of information to chew on. The tag line is measure iron better than the normal panel, and be careful of vitamin D supplementation. That’s all I can say at this time.
—- from Dr Cohen:
The vitamin D3 issue is something that took me 6 months to read, study and wrap my head around that we are missing key pieces and the strategy to take oral D is most cases incorrect.
Morley does a nice synopsis here and in his book and there are hours of interviews available with him and JIm;
Ideally, we want to reduce iron stores in the liver and spleen as determined by a special MRI as blood doesn’t correlate in many people.
However, when combining strategies that support iron regulation and support copper function and monitoring key levels over time it is possible to feel confident that levels have been significantly reduced.
Here is an nice review
https://strengthofsaad.medium.com/your-blood-test-is-not-normal-part-1-iron-how-you-could-be-anemic-not-know-it-f83b82371e21
Goal markers 2 months after last blood donation are:;
Iron saturation FE/TIBC 20%
Ferritin 25 ng/dl
Hgb 14g/dl
Ceruloplasmin 30 mg/dl
However, if somebody is using intermittent hypoxic training then you can see higher hgb with low saturation or rapamycin the hgb indices may vary a bit.
The point is this is a dynamic process but starting with blood donations for somebody who is healthy and then tracking over time is key.
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As a comparison my figures are (from the last three tests - weekly)
TIBC 53.7, 48.9, 51
Ferritin 11, 9.6, 9.9 (I think I have converted the units correctly, but I may not have)
Hgb 14.2,14.8, 14.8
I have not read up on TIBC.
My Ferritin in February 2022 was 42
The weekly blood tests take perhaps 15ml of blood on average (some take 9 some take about 20).
Otherwise I am not aware of any material blood loss.
On the units issue I have converted my figures which are ng/mL or mcg/L to mcg/dL which given the normal range looks to be correct.
I have not studied this, but I think there is an argument to get Ferritin to a low normal level. I have not been concentrating on it, but as it often comes as part of the blood panel I have quite a few tests with Ferritin results.
I have made a two part Nitric Oxide ‘sunscreen’ with one part being water and vinegar to bring the PH to about 4. The second part water and a teaspoon or two of sodium nitrate. I spray both on my skin (especially oif it is clean) before going in the sun at midday, sometimes for up to an hour but most days around 30 minutes. I start in spring and stop in late autumn. I have always got regular sun exposure like this as long as the sun is out, but not if it is cloudy. Since using my NO homemade ‘sunscreen’ my skin has never looked better. A test I did a year or so ago says the evenness of my skin tone is equivalent to a 12 year old. I am 57.
I know this is not real sunscreen but am taking my chances on the evidence I have presented above and that I have followed over the years. I have never used sunscreen so anyone who feels they must lecture me is probably wasting their breath 
The biggest danger in my books is believing that you can replace sun exposure with synthetic or even natural oral vitamin D. Lack of sun exposure all cause mortality has been found to be equivalent to smoking. I hope this gives some readers here pause.
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RapAdmin
split this topic
#153
Thanks for moving that all somewhere else! While you all worry about iron levels and colonoscopies I hope you are reconsidering getting out in the sun every day!
scta123
#172
What is this good for? I understand that combining acid and sodium nitrate produces NO, but what would NO on surface of the skin do?
So many things that it would be difficult to summarise. The above research study is worth the read. Towards the end relates especially to skin NO and sun exposure. They are looking to make something they can patent - but I just made my own
For one thing it helps you tan which is protective.
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scta123
#174
Yes, I remember Nathan Bryan has a company selling a similar skin serum (just using vitamin C as an activator) and sells it for 180 USD. I think I had a discussion about it with @zazim who purchased it and I was arguing that you can make it cheaply at home with same benefits. @zazim what is your experience with it?
Maybe I will try the DIY method you proposed.
Ha ha ha! Yes I saw that too and figured out that I could make something dirt cheap that would probably do the same thing. I have been using it for about a month or two now and honestly have just about stopped using anything else on my skin. My tan is amazing and my skin has honestly never looked better.
I just watched a movie Desert Shores posted about methylene Blue and how it works synergistically in NO production (even though many people say the opposite) I am going to try adding a tiny bit of MB to the mix - but not enough to turn my skin blue!
I also want to start adding Sodium Nitrite to the water I grow my micro greens in but haven’t been able to find information on the concentration.
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Here is a followup article on iron from Healthspan co-written by Dr Cohen.
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I had lost track of this info from Dr Cohen from last year. Now that I’ve looked into iron more I can see he is being very aggressive about lowering iron. My numbers are much higher.
I already decided to donate whole blood more often so I’ll see where this goes.
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