#226 Dr James DiNicolantonio Q&A - Melatonin as an Antioxidant, How to Make Animal Foods Safer, etc.

Siim Land (0:00)

So yeah, we will start, like, how have we been? How's the winter going?

James DiNicolantonio (0:05)

Yeah, not too bad. We actually almost had a full thaw a couple of days ago. So I was outside, like, it was 32 degrees, but I was like, no shirt, just getting sun, like crushing the Wim Hof method, so to speak.

Siim Land (0:17)

Yeah, that's for sure. Like, we also have a pretty lot of snow at the moment, so full down winter.

James DiNicolantonio (0:23)

Yeah, we actually did just get hit with some more snow too.

Siim Land (0:27)

That's good.

Yeah, let's maybe start covering a bit about what are you doing for the immune system for the winter then at the moment? Like, have you changed anything in regards to your diet or supplementation?

James DiNicolantonio (0:41)

Yeah, so I definitely increased my cod liver oil consumption. I think so, I think there's a lot of confusion even among a lot of functional MDs on like, what's the best way to get vitamin D when you can't get it through sunlight?

And I always just keep coming back to what's the most sort of natural whole food way to do it. So I think supplementation...

Siim Land (1:10)

Sorry, your audio is cutting off at the moment. I'm not getting any audio at the moment from you.

James DiNicolantonio (1:23)

Weird.

Siim Land (1:24)

Okay, now it's back.

James DiNicolantonio (1:29)

So essentially, I think in the winter, I try to do both D as a supplement, like your typical D3 supplement, but also cod liver oil to bring the vitamin A as well, because you don't just want to take vitamin D in fairly high doses. If you don't have vitamin A optimized, K2 and Magnesium, because if you think about it, vitamin D is going to increase the absorption of calcium in your diet. If you don't have the K2 to pull it back into the bone, and then fat size, you don't just want to take for each other for absorption too. So the more D you take, the more vitamin A you need. So I think cod liver oil is a great way to balance the both out, and it's a very bioavailable form of vitamin D. So when you think about D, a lot of them just come as a powder.

But the cod liver oil, it's already in a fat soluble form.

So it's probably a more bioavailable form as well.

Siim Land (2:29)

Right, right. It is one of the richest sources of vitamin D from food.

You also get the healthy omega-3 from that as well, so a good balance. What about the source of your cod liver? I would imagine most of the supplements tend to be like that, or not in the best form.

James DiNicolantonio (2:53)

Yeah, I use Rosita cod liver oil. I don't have any affiliation with them, but I know their processing methods. They test for oxidation products, and it's extremely low oxidation products. I think it's a CO2 extraction, but don't quote me on that. But I know the extraction process is very light compared to a lot of other extraction processes.

Siim Land (3:13)

What are some other good vitamin D foods that you could?

James DiNicolantonio (3:17)

So, well, that's the thing. I mean, D is so low in almost every food, unless you're sourcing things like wild salmon is a fairly decent source of vitamin D.

You do get some from pastured eggs, but you'd have to sort of consume a fair amount to get into the thousand or 2,000 IU dosing, which is why almost everybody essentially needs to be sourcing an additional, quote unquote, supplement of vitamin D in the winter, whether it be through an actual capsule or like something like cod liver oil.

Siim Land (3:49)

Right. And egg yolks are also one of the good ones for that.

What is like the difference between vitamin D2 you get from mushrooms and cod liver oil?

James DiNicolantonio (4:03)

Yeah, so the D3 is in animal foods, and then D2 you can get, like you said, through if the mushrooms are actually being irradiated, I think through UV is how they actually make it. But D3 converts better to the active form than D2. It also raises your blood levels about twice as good as D2 as well. And it has less risk for toxicity as well.

So animal form D3 is definitely better than D2.

Siim Land (4:31)

Gotcha, gotcha. And I also got one question from Instagram that is there like any intolerance to vitamin D supplementation if you take it or either? Like if there's some that get some maybe upset stomach or something from that.