You Value Is Higher Than 150 Ng/ml
These values could harm your health. You should therefore take steps to reduce your 25D value to below 100 ng/ml. To achieve this, simply stop taking vitamin D dietary supplements and avoid sunbathing. After roughly 3 months, have your 25D levels retested. After your Vitamin D value is back in the normal range, adjust your vitamin D intake accordingly.
Preferred Forms Of Vitamin D
Colecalciferol and ergocalciferol are the preferred forms of vitamin D to treat deficiency.
The Electronic Medicines Compendium provides a list of UK products and prescribing information, including vitamin D products that are licensed for treatment of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy. Note that some manufacturers of colecalciferol preparations state they can be taken during pregnancy when strictly indicated to correct vitamin D deficiency.
Combined calcium and vitamin D products are not routinely used to correct vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy but may have a role in women at high risk of pre-eclampsia.
So How Much Vitamin D Should You Take Daily
The amount of vitamin D you need depends on a few factors, including your age, health status, and whether youâre exposed to sunlight.
So whatâs the best way to get enough vitamin D?
There are a few ways. You can get vitamin D through sunlight exposure, food, and supplements.
Letâs take a closer look at each of these:
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People With Medical Conditions That Reduce Fat Absorption
Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, it relies on the guts ability to absorb fat from the diet.
Thus, people who have medical conditions that reduce fat absorption are prone to vitamin D deficiencies. These include inflammatory bowel disease , liver disease and also people who have had bariatric surgery (
Summary: Those who need the most vitamin D are older people, people with darker skin, those who live farther from the equator and people who cant absorb fat properly.
Can Vitamin D3 Cause Hair Loss
There is some evidence that vitamin D deficiency may be a contributing factor to hair loss. One study found that women with hair loss had significantly lower levels of vitamin D than women without hair loss.
While more research is needed to determine whether vitamin D supplementation can help with hair loss, it may be worth taking a supplement if you’re deficient in this nutrient. Aim for 600 IU of vitamin D per day. You can also get your vitamin D levels checked by a doctor to see if you need to supplement.
If you’re concerned about hair loss, be sure to talk to your doctor. While vitamin D deficiency may be a factor in hair loss, there are many other potential causes. Only a medical professional can diagnose the cause of your hair loss and recommend treatment options.
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How Do I Know If I Have Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency is measured with a blood test that measures 25D. This is the form of D3 that has undergone conversion by the liver although it is still inactive and requires further conversion by the kidneys to active vitamin D3, 1,25D.
The reason 25D is measured is because it is the most stable form of D3. It is also the most abundant form and lasts several weeks in the body. It is a good representation of how much vitamin D has been obtained from both diet and sun exposure.
Conversely, 1,25D only lasts for a few hours in the body and levels are a thousand-fold less than those of 25D. Our body also has a way of increasing the production of active D3 by the kidneys during times of deficiency and insufficiency, so a blood test for 1,25D may appear normal or elevated even when your actual levels of vitamin D are low. However, in some disorders of calcium metabolism, the 1,25D test may be used.
25D levels will tell your doctor if you are deficient in vitamin D, borderline, sufficient, or vitamin D toxic.
See the flow chart above for an overview of the different forms of vitamin d.
Vitamin D Supplementation On The Rise
Between 2006 and 2014, the number of people taking over 4,000 IUs daily rose from less than 0.5% to over 3%. That was according to a 2017 study in the Journal of American Medicine, which pulled data from 39,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The study also found that over the same period, those taking more than 1,000 IUs per day jumped from less than 1% to over 18%. This amount is not known to cause immediate health problems, but the findings indicate that more people than ever are seeking out extra vitamin D and may be at risk of overdoing it.
This doesnt mean that no one should take a vitamin D supplement. Other than infants and those over 70 who likely require supplements, people should get their blood levels checked routinely to determine if supplements are advised.
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Strengthens Teeth And Bones
Vitamin D3 is a fat-soluble vitamin that aids in the management and absorption of calcium as well as being essential to your bones and teeth.
Calcium is the most prevalent mineral in humans. The bulk of this element is found in our bones and teeth. Calcium intake should be enough to keep your bones and teeth healthy. Inadequate calcium intake can lead to joint pain, early-onset osteoarthritis, and tooth loss.
What Are The Benefits Of Vitamin D
Vitamin D plays an important role in bone health. It helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus, two minerals that are essential for bone development and maintenance. Vitamin D also helps to prevent osteoporosis, a condition characterized by weak and fragile bones.
In addition to its role in bone health, vitamin D is also thought to have other health benefits, such as reducing the risk of some cancers, heart disease, and type II diabetes.
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What Is The Difference Between Vitamin D And Vitamin D3
Vitamin D is a vitamin that humans require to survive. Vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 are the two forms of the vitamin in the human body. There isn’t much of a difference between vitamin D3 and simply vitamin D, since they’re all referred to as “vitamin D.”
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is stored in the liver and released into the bloodstream when needed. Vitamin D can also be obtained from food or supplements. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus, two minerals that are essential for bone health.
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis, rickets, and other health problems. Most people get enough vitamin D from exposure to sunlight and from their diet. However, some groups of people are at risk for vitamin D deficiency and may need to take supplements.
Good Sources Of Vitamin D
From about late March/early April to the end of September, most people should be able to make all the vitamin D they need from sunlight.
The body creates vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when outdoors.
But between October and early March we do not make enough vitamin D from sunlight. Read more about vitamin D and sunlight.
Vitamin D is also found in a small number of foods.
- fortified foods such as some fat spreads and breakfast cereals
Another source of vitamin D is dietary supplements.
In the UK, cows’ milk is generally not a good source of vitamin D because it is not fortified, as it is in some other countries.
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How Much Vitamin D Does The Average Person Need
In November 2010, the Institute of Medicine’s expert panel established a new “dietary reference intake” for vitamin D.
Assuming a person receives virtually no vitamin D from the sun and that they consume enough calcium, the IOM committee recommends consuming these amounts of vitamin D from food or supplements:
· 400 IU/day for infants age 0 to 6 months the maximum safe upper level of intake is 1,000 IU/day for children aged 0 to 6 months
· 400 IU/day for 6- to 12-month-olds maximum safe upper level of intake, 1,500 IU/day
· Adequate intake, 600 IU/day maximum safe upper level of intake, 2,500 IU/day
· Adequate intake, 600 IU/day maximum tolerable upper level of consumption, 3,000 IU/day for ages 4-8 years.
· Adequate intake, 600 IU/day maximum tolerable upper level of intake, 4000 IU/day Adolescents and adults may use up to 4,000 IU per day. Children 9 through 70 months require only 600 IU each day.
· Adequate intake: 800 IU/day maximum safe upper level of intake, 4,000 IU/day for persons over 71 years old.
Note: You should never give infants or children supplemental vitamin D without talking to your doctor first.
The Vitamin D Council recommends that healthy adults consume 2,000 IU of vitamin D each day — more if they don’t get enough sun.
How Can I Know If I Am Vitamin D3 Deficient
Since there are two kinds of vitamin D, you need to have a blood test for both to know what dosage of vitamin D3 is appropriate for you. If you have low levels of vitamin D3, the storage form of the vitamin, then you definitely need to take more vitamin D3, up to 5,000 IU per day for up to two weeks, and then 1,000 to 2,000 IU per day as a maintenance dose thereafter. This is what is needed if the problem is not getting enough sun.
If you body has a problem converting vitamin D3 to D2, however, and your levels of D3 are high but your levels of D2 are low, then you need to speak with a nutritionally oriented doctor or a nutrition specialist about the full range of supplements that will help your body use its daily dosage of vitamin D3 effectively in making the active form of the vitamin, D2. Be sure you have both tests to make sure you are getting all the vitamin D you really need.
Selected Sources:
Laaksi I, Ruohola JP, Mattila V, Auvinen A, Ylikomi T, Pihlajamäki H. Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of acute respiratory tract infection: a randomized, double-blinded trial among young Finnish men. J. Infect Dis. 2010 Sep 1 202:809-14.
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Why Wearing Sunscreen Can Affect Vitamin D Absorption
While wearing sunscreen daily is key to help prevent sunburns, premature aging, and skin cancer, this healthy habit can also affect how much vitamin D your skin synthesizes from the sun.
To get your fix, aim to spend 10 to 15 minutes outdoors without sunscreen, Foroutan says. It can help get your levels where they need to be, she says, echoing information from Harvard Health Publishing.
How Much Vitamin D Do You Need
Despite widespread assertions in the popular and scientific press that many Americans have a vitamin D deficiency, the term “deficiency” isn’t strictly accurate. The official definition of a vitamin deficiency means that specific health problems stem solely from the lack of a specific nutrient. An actual vitamin D deficiency results in bone disease, such as rickets, which is rare in the United States.
On the other hand, lower-than-optimal levels of specific vitamins, including vitamin D, may increase your risk of numerous health problems, even though they are not solely responsible for these problems. “Insufficiency” may be a better term for these lower levels than “vitamin D deficiency”.
So far, the most clearly established benefit of vitamin D is that it helps the body absorb calcium and therefore promotes healthy bones. However, a steady drumbeat of studies beginning in the 1980s started to build a case that low blood levels of D were connected with a variety of chronic health problems, leading to claims by a number of researchers that the RDA for D was way too low. The confusion and controversy surrounding optimal vitamin D intake and blood values prompted the U.S. and Canadian governments to request that the Institute of Medicine review the evidence on vitamin D and calcium and update the DRIs.
To learn more about the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy, read , a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.
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What Is The Difference Between Vitamin D
There are two forms of vitamin D. Vitamin D-2 or ergocalciferol and vitamin D-3, cholecalciferol. Both forms are biologically inert and must undergo two hydroxylations in the body for activation. The first occurs in the liver which converts vitamin D to 25-hydroxyvitamin D , also known as calcidiol. The second occurs primarily in the kidney and forms the physiologically active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D , also known as calcitriol.
There are a limited number of foods that are sources of these compounds. Vitamin D-2 is found mostly in mushrooms and fortified foods such as cereal. Vitamin D-3 is found primarily in animal-based foods such as fish, liver, eggs and America’s old favorite, cod-liver oil.
While both versions are effective in increasing vitamin D concentration in the body, vitamin D-3 is thought by many to be more effective in raising vitamin D levels. It is widely available as an inexpensive over-the-counter supplement in a variety of dosage forms and dosages.
Should Elderly Persons Take A Vitamin D Supplement
To answer this question, we need to reflect on what is probably the most important principal of drug therapy which is, the possible risks of therapy must outweigh its possible benefits.
In the case of vitamin D this risk/benefit ratio is skewed far in favor of benefits. Vitamin D has many therapeutic benefits ranging from maintaining bone metabolism and strength to reducing the prevalence of colon cancer.
Toxicity can include non-specific symptoms such as anorexia, weight loss, polyuria and heart arrhythmias. The primary toxicity concern is elevated serum calcium concentration which can lead to vascular and tissue calcification with subsequent damage to kidneys, blood vessels and the heart. Risks are minimal, especially at recommended doses and most reports suggest a toxicity threshold for vitamin D of 10,000 to 40,000 International Units per day and serum concentrations of 200-240 ng/mL. for that severe toxicity to occur. Those doses and concentrations are not recommended but highlight the fact that at more reasonable doses and concentrations discussed below toxicity is not a big concern for most patients.
So, with possible benefits being great, and possible risk minimal, many elderly people are appropriate candidates for vitamin D supplementation.
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Are Sprays Better Than Tablets
There’s no evidence to suggest this is a more effective way to absorb vitamin D, despite what some companies’ marketing implies.
A randomised, controlled trial , concluded that sprays are just as effective as tablets, but not better.
Many of the volunteers did say that they preferred the spray to taking a tablet, which is understandable – supplement fatigue can kick in if you’re having to to take other medicines in tablet form daily.
If you’re more likely to stick to taking vitamin D regularly if it’s in spray or gummy form it might be worth forking out the extra cost – you can shop around for the cheapest deals using our pricing tips above.
What Is Vitamin D3 And Why Is It Important
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin in the same family as vitamins A, D, E, and K. Fat absorbs these nutrients well and retains them in the liver and fatty tissues.
There are two main forms of vitamin D: D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 comes from plant sources, while vitamin D3 is derived from animal sources.
Both forms of vitamin D are important for your health, but vitamin D3 is the more active form. It’s also the form that your body naturally produces when your skin is exposed to sunlight.
However, sunlight is the greatest natural source of vitamin D3. The UV radiation in sunlight converts cholesterol in your skin to vitamin D3.
Vitamin D must be “activated” in your body before it can be utilized, which involves a series of procedures.
Vitamin D is made in the body by two processes. The first step involves changing food vitamin D into a storage variety. This form, which can be measured in blood tests, is known as Vitamin D3. The kidneys go on to convert the stored version to the active form of vitamin D that is utilized by the body.
Vitamin D3 is more than twice as effective as vitamin D2 at increasing blood levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D is required in tiny amounts to help the body maintain proper calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood. These minerals are essential for healthy bones.
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How Quickly Can You Make Vitamin D From The Sun
Production of vitamin D via our skin is efficient and represents an easy, reliable way for most people to get enough vitamin D.
Of course, how long you need to stay in the sun for depends on your age, skin type and color, the season, and the time of the day but for most people, 10 minutes of summer skin on exposed skin, without sunblock, is considered sufficient.
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How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much The Surprising Truth
Vitamin D toxicity is rare, but it does occur with extremely high doses.
It usually develops over time, since extra vitamin D can build up in the body.
Nearly all vitamin D overdoses result from taking high amounts of vitamin D supplements.
Its almost impossible to get too much vitamin D from sunlight or food.
This is a detailed article about vitamin D toxicity and how much of it is considered to be too much.
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