Does your non-dairy milk have an additive that could make you crazy? If you drink non-dairy milk such as almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk, or flax milk, you should know about a toxic ingredient that is being added to most non-dairy milks. An ingredient that can literally make you psychotic.

Does Your Non-Dairy Milk Have an Additive That Could Make You Psychotic?

If you drink non-dairy milk such as almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, or flax milk, you need to know about an additive that may cause psychosis and even schizophrenia.

According to researchers in England and Australia in a  high levels of the synthetic vitamin D2 in the blood may cause the development of psychosis.

According to the 2012 study, Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 and D2 and Non-Clinical Psychotic Experiences in Childhood:

“In conclusion, our findings provide some support for an inverse association of total 25(OH)D and 25(OH)D3 concentrations with psychotic experiences, which if psychotic experiences are related to development of schizophrenia, also support a possible protective association of higher 25(OH)D3 concentrations with schizophrenia. The positive association of 25(OH)D2 concentrations with psychotic experiences was unexpected and is currently unexplained.“

Vitamin D2 or Ergocalciferol vs. Vitamin D3 or Cholecalciferol

Most non-dairy milks contain the additive, vitamin D2. D2, also known as ergocalciferol, is derived from irradiated mushrooms. This process began in the early 1920s, and was then patented and licensed to pharmaceutical companies. The earlier tests done were rat assays, and rats absorb vitamin D2 differently than humans do. According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vitamin D2 as ergocalciferol is not well-absorbed by humans and “vitamin D2 should no longer be regarded as a nutrient appropriate for supplementation or fortification of foods.”

Most dairy milks contain vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol, which is derived from sheep’s wool (lanolin).  Vitamin D3 is found naturally in fish and other animal foods, and is the version of vitamin D that is made when our skin is exposed to UV rays from the sun. Vitamin D3 as cholecalciferol has been shown to be safe for human consumption.

Does Your Non-Dairy Milk Contain the Additive Vitamin D2?

Most likely, your non-dairy milk does contain vitamin D2 as ergocalciferol. Some brands don’t, but most do. It is critical to read the back of the label of your non-dairy milk and look for D2 on the ingredients list. If you see D2 on the list, I would stop buying that brand of non-dairy milk.

The FDA recently approved an increase in vitamin D3 and D2 in milk and non-dairy milk, so you should expect to see more vitamin D2 in non-dairy milks in the future.

I personally buy milk that does not contain vitamin D2 or D3. Organic Pastures Dairy raw milk does not add any vitamin D to their milk.

There are other ways to make sure you are getting enough vitamin D3, which I will cover below.

Which Brands of Non-Dairy Milk Are Safe to Buy?

You need to always read the label to make sure there is no D2 added. As of this writing, here are some brands of non-dairy milk I have found that do not contain D2:

Thai Kitchen Coconut MilkNative Forest Coconut Milk
Natural Value Coconut Milk

I do not recommend the following brands of non-dairy milks:

Pacific
So Delicious
Almond Breeze
Silk

Vitamin D Deficiency Causes Psychosis

While they are not sure whether vitamin D2 as ergocalciferol causes psychosis, they do know for a fact that vitamin D deficiency causes psychosis and depression and schizophrenia.

Multiple studies show that vitamin D deficiency causes psychosis and schizophrenia:

• The Effect of Vitamin D on Psychosis and Schizophrenia
• Vitamin D deficiency in first episode psychosis: a case-control study
• Correlation between total vitamin D levels and psychotic psychopathology in patients with schizophrenia: therapeutic implications for add-on vitamin D augmentation

One study showed that teens who were low in vitamin D were 3-4 times likely to be psychotic.

How to Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Vitamin D3

Vitamin D3 deficiency causes depression and psychosis, as I covered above. This is why I personally think we have so many teens on psychotropic drugs and so many school shooters. When I was a kid in the 1970s, we used to lay out in the sun all summer long and spend every day at the pool. These days, children are slathered with so much sunscreen, it’s no wonder that 75% of American kids are vitamin D deficient.

Here’s how to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D…

1. Get Tested for Vitamin D

The easiest way to get your vitamin D levels tested is to order a vitamin D blood test online. Optimum vitamin D range is 40-60 ng. If you find that you are low in vitamin D, you can get vitamin D from multiple sources.

2. Get As Much Sun As Possible During Summer Months

The very best way to get vitamin D is from the sun. However, it’s not so easy to get adequate vitamin D from sunshine, especially in winter, and if you live at a latitude north of 37. Here’s a list of cities by latitude. If you live north of 37, it’s literally impossible to make vitamin D3 from the sun during the winter months.

It’s also not so easy to get vitamin D from the sun if you are wearing clothes, using sunscreen. People who have darker skin and those who are overweight and/or older also need more time in sun to make vitamin D. For these reasons, I recommend tracking your vitamin D habits and levels.

3. Get the DMinder Vitamin D App

I highly recommend downloading this free app for your smart phone called DMinder. You enter your age, weight, location, skin type, and you enter the times you go in the sun and when you take a vitamin D supplement, DMinder will estimate your vitamin D level. You can also enter the results from a vitamin D blood test to make DMinder even more accurate. And you can upgrade for a few bucks to get more detailed reports. It’s amazingly easy and actually quite fun.

We have been doing “sun time” in the backyard (in bathing suits — you can’t make vitamin D3 from the sun if you’re wearing clothes or sunscreen) during our lunch hour for the past couple months and I have been able to achieve the optimum level of vitamin D (40-60). Granted, we live in Los Angeles, and we can make D3 from the sun for a few hours at midday throughout the winter months.

4. Supplement with Vitamin D3

For those of us who can’t get enough vitamin D from the sun, I recommend taking a supplement. Many animal foods have contain vitamin D3 but not huge amounts. Other than taking a D3 supplement, you can get enough sun from seafood, but you’d have to eat it every day, and ideally at every meal (like the Eskimos).

In addition to doing sun time as often as possible (we don’t get out there every weekday but we try), I’ve also been taking Rosita EVCLO (cod liver oil) and vitamin D3 drops available on Amazon.

You can buy vitamin D3 drops  that will give you anywhere from 1,000-5,000 IU vitamin D3 in a single drop. This is such an easy way to supplement and it literally costs just pennies a day. I normally catch a cold every winter but I’m betting this year I don’t. I’ll keep you posted!

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