Maintaining Vitamin D May Not Be As Easy As You Think

With all the good peer reviewed medical studies out there regarding the efficacy of vitamin D on chronic disease, cardiovascular disease, depression, asthma, autism, eczema, immunmity, etc., I am amazed how many people still have inadequate levels of vitamin D.  I ask each and every one of my patients to have their vitamin D levels checked, and have found (normal is 32ng/ml) an organic farmer, well tanned and outside three seasons a year, with a D level of 8, my behavioral kids consistently scoring in the teens, and my first "0" in a diabetic routinely prescribed cholesterol lowering medications preventitively.  It may be harder than you think to maintain a healthy vitamin D level.

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and as such is found in fatty foods which Americans are constantly being told to eat less of.  Additionally, if that animal was raised inside a barn, it will not have adequate vitamin D levels to contibute to your meal.  This is the reason milk is now fortified with vitamin D.  This is also why millions of Americans are spending extra dollars to buy products from organic pasture raised animals.  If the animal gets better nutrition, you get better nutrition, and that animal leads a better life.  Pay for good food, pay for supplements, or pay for medication.

Highest levels of vitamin D are obtained by living closest to the equator and/or at altitude, tanning closest to noon, in summer vs. winter, by those with fairer skin and no sunscreen.  Longer exposure times are required for the elderly and children, as well as those who are ill.  

Tanning salons are viable means of increasing levels of D for those in northern climates or during the winter months.  Congress has recently begun taxing tanning salons, making it harder for folks to increase their D levels.

Vitamin D is dependent on the amount of cholesterol (7-dehydrocholesterol) circulating in the skin.  Those with low levels can be outside year round and well tanned and still have shockingly low levels of D.  Many of my patients are currently being prescribed D2 or synthetic D3 by well meaning physicians.  Synthetic D3 has a different mechanism of action than D3 made by the body, and the body can never overdose on D3 made through the skin.  D2 (ergocalciferol) is plant based D and conversion to D3 is difficult in the best of situations, and improbable in the elderly, children and in many of those in ill health.

Know where your food is coming from.  Buy your meat, milk and eggs from farmers that pasture raise their animals.  Buy your fish wild-caught.  Take a good quality vitamin D3 supplement.  Get as much sun as you can without burning, either outside or in a tanning salon, and have your vitamin D and cholesterol tested yearly.

For more information on vitamin D, see www.vitamindcouncil.org