WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ALL THESE VITAMINS I AM TAKING?

It may seem to you that we are asking you to take more of certain vitamins lately. And some of you have been a bit worried that these bigger doses may not be safe!

The fact is that we are constantly learning more about the role of vitamins in Cystic Fibrosis and about the ideal blood levels to maintain in the body to help optimize your health.

In November we attended the National Cystic Fibrosis meetings, where we learned more from recent studies about the importance of maintaining adequate levels of vitamins A,D,E,K, and Zinc, and just how much of these Vitamins may be needed to achieve goal blood levels.

While some people with CF can maintain normal(optimal) blood levels of these vitamins with the standard dose for age of the CF vitamins (ADEK or Vitamax or SourceCF)--taken with food and enzymes for best absorption, many others may need more of one or two vitamins. It is not clear why only one or 2 vitamin levels may be problematic, but we know that these vitamins all play important roles for: bone health, lung tissue maintenance, immune function, etc. For this reason, once we check your annual nutrition labs, we may contact you to recommend additional vitamins be taken. Usually you will be asked to take these extra, higher doses of vitamins for one month. Then we need to recheck your level to be sure that your body has responded and now has a normal blood level. At that point we may have you simply return to your usual vitamin regimen, or continue to take an additional dose, but less than you took for the one month "repletion" period (this is especially true for Vitamin D because most of this vitamin comes from the sun, not food, and since we live in an area with low amounts of Vitamin D forming sunshine these higher amounts may be needed all the time!).

Although the doses we are recommending might be too much for a person without CF, studies show that these are very safe and beneficial doses for people with CF, as long as they are only taken in the dose and for the number of days/months that we have recommended.

Recipes

Heavenly Hashbrowns—compliments of “Kids Crave the Darndest Things” cookbook.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time:  45 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

-1 big bag frozen, shredded hashbrowns
-12 ounces sour cream
-12 ounces shredded cheddar cheese (save ½ for topping)
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-¼ c. butter
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

-Mix all ingredients (using ½ of the cheese).
-Bake in 12”x9” baking dish for 45 min. at 350 degrees.
-During the last 10 minutes, sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- Calories per serving: 520
- Protein per serving: 15 gm. 

Please give me a call if you have any questions or concerns about your vitamin levels or prescriptions, or any other nutrition questions for that matter!

Carlie Geer, CF dietitian
802-847-0683