Thank you for your email and comment regarding  Vitamin D2 and D3.

Before I continue I would like to share this quote from The Science and Practice of Pharmacy:

“Both Vitamin D2 and D3 are precursors (pro-vitamins) and are converted to THE SAME active metabolites, which are responsible for the absorption of calcium.”
- Kemington; The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 19th Edition ,1995 pg. 1111 (emphasis added)

As far as your body is concerned the two different forms of Vitamin D are identical.

Now I will address your comments.

The most “natural” form is the vitamin D is the one your body creates when your skin is exposed to sunlight.

It has been a family tradition to create formulas that are suitable for vegetarians.  We also make formulas that are suitable for vegans.  Until recently the most common source of Vitamin D3 has been fish oil which is unsuitable for vegetarians.  This is the reason we selected vitamin D2.

Our ALL ONE Rice Base, ALL ONE Fruit Antioxidant, ALL ONE Green Phyto Base formulas are all “certified vegan.”  Therefore, Ergocalciferol (D2) is the ONLY suitable vegan form of vitamin D available to us as a manufacturer.

Our ALL ONE Original and ALL ONE for Active Senior formulas, while suitable for vegetarians are not “certified vegan” because they contain (dairy) milk proteins.  Lactose and fat free casein in the Original and Whey protein in the Active Senior formula.

There is now available a Vitamin D3 which is synthesized from lanolin (lambs wool).  This lambs wool source of vitamin D is fine for vegetarians.

Therefore, in a few months, our ALL ONE Active Senior and ALL ONE Original formulas will contain vitamin D3.

Also, at that time we are switching to vitamin D3 in these two formulas, we will also be increasing the amount of vitamin D in ALL our formulas from 500 IU to 800 IU.  ALL ONE for Active Seniors will be increased to 1,000 International Units.

As a side note we will also be changing the source of our vitamin B12 from Cyanocobaliamin to Methylcobalamin in all of our formulas.

Hope this addresses your question.

I have been reading about the value of alpha lipoic acid. Is there a reason that your Senior powder does not contain it? Also, new research seems to show that we need more Vitamin D – 4-5,000IU/day. Do you agree with this? Why is there not a higher % of Vitamin D in your Senior formula?

The Vitamin Professor Responds:

Dear Dan,

Thank you for your questions and your interest in ALL ONE.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is plentiful in foods and also produces by the human body. Therefore, we do not feel it is nessesary for a supplement like ALL ONE which is designed to be taken on a daily basis. While additional ALA supplementation is sometimes warranted it is usually when during acute situations like treating liver damage.

There are no toxic aspects to ALA to speak of, so if you wish to add it to your daily regime there is certainly not a problem there.

Vitamin D is fast becoming the most popular Vitamin out there … in fact I believe this year it overtook Vitamin C for the # 1 position … ;o)

Vitamin D is produced naturally by the body when your skin (derma) is exposed to natural sunlight. Vitamin D deficiencies have increased of late because of a number of factors and lifestyle changes. Children (and adults) are spending much more time indoors these days. Kids come home from school and head for the computer or gaming console in the darkened room instead of outdoors into the sunshine to play with their bike etc. Also, the fear of skin cancer has motivated folks to cover their skin with sun blocks before going outside. Sunblocks while protecting from skin cancer interfere dramatically with the natural production of Vitamin D.

For many years we, as a supplement manufacturer, were warned to keep the levels of Vitamin D low because it is a fat soluble vitamin that is stored by the body and amounts more than 500 IU can be toxic.

As more and more research comes out supporting the need for increased Vitamin D supplementation, and higher levels have been deemed safe we here at ALL ONE are responding accordingly. In the next few months you will notice that we are increasing the Vitamin D in our multiple powders to 800 International Units from the current 500 IU and to 1,000 IU in our ALL ONE for Active Seniors.

Tweaking our formulas is something we do from time to time as research warrants a change.

In the meantime make sure to spend time outdoors each day in shirtsleeves. The natural Vitamin D your body makes when the skin is exposed to the sun is the BEST form of Vitamin D available!