Nutrition Videos

One of the most common questions I hear in the two medical nutrition centers that I lead is "Doctor, why, although I take vitamin D, doesn't it increase in my blood? What's wrong?" As I've repeatedly said in the videos and through the comments, many factors may contribute to this, such as increased weight, dark complexion, etc. A factor that we haven't analyzed extensively is that there are some common drugs that block vitamin D. These drugs affect the metabolism of vitamin D, each one in a different way, but they all result in vitamin D reducing in the blood or not increasing sufficiently after the administration of vitamin D in a dietary supplement. Let's start with stomach drugs. Both the latest and more effective drugs, such as omeprazole and esomeprazole, and, in general, the group of drugs called proton pump inhibitors, and older drugs, such as ranitidine, reduce vitamin-D levels in the blood. These drugs are administered very often in a lot of diseases, especially in diseases of the stomach and the duodenum, such as ulcer and gastritis, and other indigestion problems. But unfortunately, they're also administered to a lot of patients that take drugs in order to protect their stomach, which is scientifically called gastroprotection, which means a drug that protects the stomach and is administered to someone not because they have a stomach problem, but in order to protect them so that they don't suffer from any problem due to the drugs they need to take. The second group of drugs that are used extensively after 50 years old and reduce vitamin-D levels in the blood is drugs for hypertension. Most anti-hypertensive drugs that are administered today reduce vitamin-D levels in the blood, and if you take some drug for hypertension, it likely belongs to one of the three groups that affect vitamin D. Although it's very likely that you take drugs belonging to all three groups. These groups are the diuretics, which you know that you take because a while after taking them, you have to go to the toilet, the calcium channel blockers, which is maybe the most effective drug for the treatment of hypertension, of which amlodipine is the most common, which is sold under the name Norvasc, and as a generic drug under many names, and finally, the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, which is one of the latest groups of antihypertensive drugs that are sold under a lot of names. Many of the drugs that are available in the market for the treatment of hypertension are a combination of these substances, such as Norvasc combined with a diuretic. If you take drugs for hypertension, it's very likely that you take one or more of these groups of drugs that block the increase of vitamin D in the body. Few people over 60 don't take at least one antihypertensive drug, and similarly, a lot of people over 60 take drugs for cholesterol. These drugs too, which are known as statins, reduce vitamin-D levels in the blood. To cap off the drugs related to the heart's health, after the hypertensive drugs and the drugs that reduce cholesterol, the drugs that affect the coagulation reduce vitamin-D levels too. The pοpular baby aspirin that is used extensively by people suffering from heart diseases, as well as the latest drugs that do this job, such as clopidogrel, reduce vitamin-D levels. The same happens with anticoagulants, the most famous representative of which is Sintrom. The other group of drugs that is never absent from such lists is drugs administered for mental and neurological diseases. A lot of the drugs used for the treatment of epilepsy, depression and stress lead to vitamin-D reduction too. A lot of drugs administered for the treatment of infections lead to the reduction of vitamin D in the blood too. But as these drugs are rarely used in the long term, they usually don't cause any problems. However, there are some drugs for chronic infections that are used in the long term, and these may cause a problem to vitamin D in the blood. These are the drugs used for HIV control. The same applies to drugs that are used in the long term for the treatment of hepatitis B. Among its many side-effects, cortisol reduces vitamin-D levels in the blood. The same happens with hydroxychloroquine, which is used very often in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. It is sold under the name Plaquenil. Finally, I'd like to conclude with a drug that is used more and more often nowadays, because it offers many benefits to metabolism. This is Glucophage. And its generic drugs, which are now too many. Moreover, cathartics, the drugs for the treatment of constipation, which are unfortunately used regularly by a lot of people. They both significantly reduce vitamin-D levels in the blood. I'm sure that if you take drugs, you're very likely to be taking one of the drugs belonging to the groups I mentioned. If this is true, you have to have your vitamin D checked regularly, and if it's not at the level that your doctor has defined, you should fix it with increased exposure to the sun, through your diet, or through dietary supplements, if the above do not suffice. In the video description, you'll find the link to the study, in case you'd like to print it and discuss it with your doctor. Thank you!