Vitamin D Supplements
Hi, thank you for coming back for the latest edition of Beyond Primary Care’s blog- Vitamin D Supplements. In Beyond Primary Care blogs we highlight healthcare news, advice for medical conditions, and how membership for care works! Beyond Primary Care is an insurance free, membership based family medicine clinic. Beyond Primary Care is the highest rated Direct Primary Care clinic serving patients in Ann Arbor and throughout Washtenaw, Livingston, and Wayne counties giving families and employers peace of mind about healthcare costs by providing affordable and accessible primary care services.
In this blog post, we wanted to give our patients and prospective patients updates on effective and affordable Vitamin D Supplements.
What is Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is one of the micronutrients essential for human survival. Centuries ago, sailors and pirates learned that living for months on their ships on the open ocean without fresh fruits or vegetables- a primary source of Vitamin C- caused bleeding gums and weakness. Today, while an outright lack of any single nutrient may be rare in the United States, vitamin insufficiency may still exist and monitoring intake is important.
A person can get Vitamin D in three ways:
Through the skin through sun exposure
From their diet
From medically prescribed supplements.
Some time in the sun is recommended. However, some people may live in areas with long periods of low sun exposure (such as winter months). Additionally, people with darker skin may need to regularly supplement with Vitamin D, as the skin pigment melanin reduces the production of Vitamin D.
Given that too much sun exposure can lead to skin cancer and Beyond Primary Care always recommends sun safety, food and supplements may be a better choice.
Role of Vitamin D
Vitamin D has numerous roles and range of benefits in the body. These include:
Helps promote calcium absorption- allowing for normal bone mineralization and modeling.
Helps prevents Rickets in children (a deforming bone disorder) and osteomalacia (soft bones) in adults.
Reduction of inflammation
Neuro-protective for immune health
Testing for Vitamin D and How Much We Need
25-hydroxyVitamin D (25-OH Vit D) is what laboratory tests measure and is the main indicator of Vitamin D status. In our blood, 25-OH Vit D has a long half-life of fifteen (15) days. It was determined people at at risk of Vitamin D defienciy at concentrations less than 30 ng/mL. Levels of 50 ngl/mL are more sufficient for most people.
However, it is worth noting that too much Vitamin D is a negative thing as blood concentrations greater than 125 nmol/L may be associated with adverse effects. Over time, excessive Vitamin D can cause calcium to accumulate in soft tissues (eg- blood vessels, organs) that can lead to heart and kidney damage.
Recommended Intake of Vitamin D
Most people in the United States consume less than the recommended amounts of Vitamin D. A survey from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found the average Vitamin D intake was 205 international units (IU) in males and 168 IU in females.
How much Vitamin D you need per day changes in relation to your age, gender, and life-stage. According to the National Institutes of Health, the daily recommended amount of vitamin D is:
Infants up to 12 months old who are breastfed and partially breastfed should be supplemented with 400 IU beginning in the first few days of life. Breastfeeding mothers can also purchase Vitamin D drops, which are available at nearly any grocery store, to be given to breastfed babies on a daily basis.
Children 1 year and older require at least 600 IU per day to maximize bone health, but may require levels at least 1,000 IU per day to have consistent Vitamin D levels.
Adults aged 19-70 years old require at least 600 IU per day to maximize bone health and function, but may require levels at least 1,500-2,000 IU per day to have consistent Vitamin D levels.
For adults aged 71 and older require at least 800 IU per day to provide potential nonskefetal health benefits and bone health, but may require 1,500-2,000 IU per day to have consistent Vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D in Foods
There are only a small number of foods that naturally contain Vitamin D. The flesh of fatty fish (eg Trout, Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel) and fish liver oils are the best sources. An animals diet affects the amount of Vitamin D in its tissues. Beef liver, egg yolks, and cheese each have small amounts of Vitamin D. We simply do not consume enough of these foods to get sufficient Vitamin D. That is why we fortified foods, which provides most of the Vitamin D in our diets. As example, milk is fortified with about 120 IU of Vitamin D per cup.
Vitamin D Supplements
Vitamin D has two main forms, D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). Both forms are well absorbed in the small intestine, yet most studies indicate that Vitamin D3 increases vitamin D levels to a greater extent and maintains these higher levels longer than Vitamin D2.
When looking for supplements, look for Vitamin D in your age bracket for recommended allowance (RDA). For most healthy people, it’s 600 IU per day. For older individuals, it is a little more, about 800 IU per day. In contrast, babies should be getter smaller amounts in their first year of life, between 200 and 400 IU per day.
For moderate adult supplementation, a 1,000-2,000 IU dose of Vitamin D3 is sufficient to meet the needs of most people. For adults who are vitamin D deficient, a treatment of 2,000 IU daily for at least eight weeks or with 50,000 IU once weekly for at least eight weeks should be sufficient to achieve a blood level above 30 ng/mL.
Thank you for reading
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