The Big Kahuna – Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat soluble, steroid vitamin, that is best known for the role it plays in supporting bone health and aiding in the absorption of calcium and phosphate from the gastrointestinal tract. However, a growing body of research highlights its important role in supporting other body systems, including cardiovascular and blood sugar balance as well as increasing musculoskeletal strength, neurological and immune function. Vitamin D enables all of this by its ability to influence the activity of over 200 different genes throughout the body.

At the same time, deficiency and insufficiency of this important nutrient has reached epidemic proportions around the world, making the achievement of optimal levels extremely important to overall health. Even emerging disease like COVID-19 are impacted. Optimal levels of Vitamin D have been show to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 hospitalization and death!

Known as the sunshine vitamin, the body makes vitamin D by converting vitamin D2 to D3 (cholecalciferol) when exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D3 is also the form which the body derives from dietary cholesterol. Think about how many people out there are taking medications designed to lower cholesterol levels. Because of their effect on cholesterol fats, statins prevent the formation of vitamin D which causes side effects such as muscle pain and even brain function. The brain also needs cholesterol to function properly and therefore some people who are on cholesterol lowering meds find themselves forgetting things more easily.

Vitamin D is fat soluble so unlike water-soluble vitamins like Vitamins B and C, excess amounts of Vitamin D are stored in fat cells and not readily excreted. This means Vitamin D levels can get too high and cause just as many problems, if not more, than low vitamin D levels. Elevated levels of Vitamin D most often occur from well intentioned over supplementation. If you are taking a Vitamin D supplement it is extremely important to monitor your Vitamin D levels at least 2 times per year. Ask to have the vitamin D level measured during any routine blood test you may have or use the very convenient home test kit available from our office.

There is a wide range of “normal” accepted by most labs, usually between 30ng/mL and 110 ng/mL. There’s still some controversy around this, but the weight of the research points to a minimum of 30 ng/mL and a possible maximum of 60 ng/mL.

With this in mind, here’s what I recommend for maintaining adequate vitamin D levels:

Get your Vitamin D levels tested. If they are between 40 and 60 ng/mL, continue doing what you’ve been doing. Please note, that if you are now moving into fall/winter in the Northern Hemisphere, you may need to increase your supplementation to maintain the same levels.

Supplement if your levels are low. The exact dose needed will vary depending on:

• How far below 30 ng/mL are your levels?
• Your body weight and health status.
• Status of nutritional cofactors like magnesium, calcium, vitamin K2, vitamin C, etc.
• Ethnicity and skin color.
• Gut health/nutrient absorption, and more.

Since many of these factors are not easily knowable, most people can target a dose of ~4,000 to 8,000 IU/day. If your D3 levels are well below 30 ng/mL, and/or you are overweight or have other health conditions, aim for the higher end. If your levels are close to 30 ng/mL already, and/or you are lean and healthy, aim for the lower end. The overwhelming majority of studies have shown that there is no risk of taking up to 8,000 IU of vitamin D per day. Make sure to monitor your levels with quality lab testing twice per year if you regularly supplement vitamin D.

Ensure adequate levels of cofactors like magnesium, vitamin C, calcium, and vitamin K2. Magnesium is especially important, and most people should aim for between 250 and 500 mg/d.

Remember, the power of the sun wants to work for you. Make sure you have the right amount of this critical vitamin.