Restoring vitamin D - ways to encourage

Created September 2013

Ways to encourage restoring vitamin D levels to that of 100 years ago

Forms of communication

  • Printed material

  • Video

  • Audio

  • Person to person discussion

  • Presentation

  • Workshop = presentation with lots of interaction

  • Social networking: e.g.. Twitter, Google+,

  • Forums (both existing forums at vitamin D and disease websites as well as new forums)

  • Provide both private and public places where questions can be asked

    • By the public, by health professionals

  • Webinars - i.e. Grassroots (basically a lecture and answering previously sent-in questions)

  • Website with lots of information - e.g. VitaminDWik, Vitamin D Council

  • On-line education (Google setup a partnership in Sept 2013, to be up and running sometime in 2014) www.Mooc.org

Communications must be available in many languages

  • Especially for (dark skinned) immigrants

Layered communication

  • Start with simple (escalator talk)

    • Follow up with details on how much, cofactors, contraindications, other forms of vitamin D, etc.

  • Provide opportunity for in-depth learning/discussion - over and extended period of time

Lower the barriers to try vitamin D (from list of barriers reduced due to video)

1) No barrier of cost ( hope to have a low cost vitamin D sample - to try the benefits for <$4)

2) No barrier of the hassle of having to go out and get/buy the product (easily ordered on internet anywhere on the planet)

3) No barrier about having to get a doctor's approval

4) No barrier about having to get a vitamin D test (hassle and cost)

5) No barrier about fear of toxicity (that vitamin D is less toxic than water needs to be explained)

6) No barrier about fear of long term consequences

(The only long term consequence of many children in Finland taking lots of vitamin D was a huge reduction in Diabetes)

7) No barrier of inability to swallow a pill (This assumes that it is OK for the person to break open the capsule - no taste, etc,)

8) No barrier due to worrying that he might forget to take a pill (on the calendar, and ok to miss by even a week)

9) No barrier of worrying that the pill case may be made of pigs (Vegans, Muslims)

10) No barrier of having to modify their current pills (at least during a vitamin D trial - they may be taking too much Calcium)

11) No barrier of having to know enough so as to be able to justify the trial to family/friends (not have to justify for a short term trial)

12) No barrier of worrying about what others are doing concerning vitamin D

13) No barrier of having to take the pill at a particular time of day ( can take any time of the day: before, during, or after meals: better with evening meal)

Top down encouragement thru channels which will benefit from increased vitamin D

  • Health Maintenance Organizations: Save $$

  • Workplace Wellness (United States): Save $$

  • Trusted health advisors: e.g. Natural News, Dr. Oz, (Get more traffic to their website and advertisers)

From the side encouragement via standard social channels, such as

  • Churches (healthy parishioners may give more money)

  • Mid-wives (who will gain money by being able to handle more pregnancies concurrently)

  • Senior centers (which will gain money by keeping their people longer)

  • Immigrant groups

  • Dark skin groups (e.g. African Americans in the US)

Bottom up encouragement - direct to individuals

Improve Vitamin D information accuracy elsewhere

  • Wikipedia, WebMD, Mayoclinic, MedLine, etc.

  • Newspaper - perhaps have several go-to experts who can be consulted

Some channels require teaching the teacher

  • The teachers can use a variety of forms: printed handout, video, etc.

Need methods to encourage compliance

  • Reminders via humans, email, cellphone text messaging

  • Note: Some organizations will gain money by increased compliance (e.g. HMO) might offer rewards based on vitamin D test levels

Find Famous people who have been, or could be, helped by vitamin D

Further reduce the cost of taking vitamin D

  • Investigate the concept of a vitamin D (salt) shaker

  • Have a vitamin D sampler ($3?), sold at or below cost by a single supplier - who will benefit from follow-on sales

    • Note: In Aug 2013 one supplier sold 100 capsules of 5,000 IU for $1 including shipping! (we bought 10 bottles)

Work with Biotech Pharmacal on producing a single capsule: Vitamin D + Magnesium

  • This includes the primary cofactor needed with vitamin D. (By the way: most people are Mg AND vitamin D deficient)

Other Methods (too slow?)

  • Encourage standards groups to change
    • National govt, International (WHO), Medical Organizations

See also Vitamin D Life

See also web

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Related - how can we change behavior to increase health

  • Esther Dyson: We Need to Fix Health Behavior Fast Company, Sept 2013

  • In March, Dyson(a health investment angel) released a manifesto describing new idea:

    • create a challenge among small U.S. cities to see which can most improve its health, measured by factors like weight, blood pressure, and sick days.
    • First paragraph in manifesto: It is hard to find anyone in health care who does not believe that spending $100 now on healthy behavior – exercise and proper nutrition, counseling for pre-diabetics, risk monitoring, and so on – could yield more than $200 in reduced costs and improved outcomes later.
Tags: Optimum