Check Your Vitamin D Levels

A public service announcement: Get your vitamin D levels checked.

I am sitting here enjoying the sunshine. It is a sunny and mild February day in Seattle. But as sunny as it is, my skin is not able to make vitamin D from the sun’s rays from late September to late March. And that’s a problem.

Plain and simple. The majority of us do not get enough vitamin D from our environment (sunshine or food). Vitamin D deficiency is endemic and research has linked this deficiency to many chronic degenerative diseases associated with industrialized cultures.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D blood test is one of the most important blood tests you can ever have. Yet health care providers are still slow to check their patients’ vitamin D levels.

Be your own best advocate and ask your doctor to order a serum 25(OH)D test to diagnose for vitamin D deficiency (there are home tests available as well). l While treatment of vitamin D deficiency needs to be individualized, it’s important to maintain an optimal serum 25(OH)D level greater than 40 ng/mL year round.

The Vitamin D Council is a great resource. Their goal is to educate the general public and health care professionals “about the extent and consequences of vitamin D deficiency and the simple steps that can be taken to void it.”

I’ve included an excerpt from their home page to encourage you to learn more:

Current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, and more”

Vitamin D’s influence on key biological functions vital to one’s health and well-being mandates that vitamin D no longer be ignored by the health care industry nor by individuals striving to achieve and maintain a greater state of health.”

If one regularly avoids sunlight exposure, research indicates a necessity to supplement with at least 5,000 units (IU) of vitamin D daily. To obtain this amount from milk one would need to consume 50 glasses. With a multivitamin more than 10 tablets would be necessary. Neither is advisable.

While the healthcare community regards exposure to sunshine or UVB rays as controversial, The Vitamin D Council offers the following options to ensure you get enough vitamin D:

There are 3 ways for adults to insure adequate levels of vitamin D:
•    regularly receive midday sun exposure in the late spring, summer, and early fall, exposing as much of the skin as possible. (The skin produces approximately 20,000 IU vitamin D in response 20–30 minutes summer sun exposure)
•    regularly use a sun bed (avoiding sunburn) during the colder months.
•    take 5,000 IU per day for three months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. Adjust your dosage so that blood levels are between 50–80 ng/mL (or 125–200 nM/L) year-round.

So love yourself up. Get your vitamin D levels checked.

Jess