Vitamin D Testing And Treatment – What You Need To Know
What’s more, our inborn ability to manufacture vitamin D from sun exposure tends to decrease as we age, too, and it’s been found that many elderly folks do not manufacture vitamin D at all well. This is because as we age, the thickness of our skin decreases linearly, along with the amount in the skin of the cholesterol-related precursor to the vitamin D molecule. Recently it has also been found that people who are obese do not as readily generate vitamin D in the skin.
Oral vitamin D supplements. Luckily, almost anyone in these groups can benefit from taking oral vitamin D3. If you are among those at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency and you decide not to have testing, we suggest you take 2000 IU oral vitamin D3 supplementation daily. If after 6 weeks you’re not feeling better, you may very well need more to achieve optimal levels. In this case you will need testing and follow-up with a qualified healthcare practitioner to safely achieve optimal levels.
Women to Women has formulated our own high-quality vitamin D supplement enhance your health – click here to find out more.
Here is a list of certain populations who are at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency:
- Those who live above 35–40° latitude — you may only get enough radiation from the sun between May and October in the Northern Hemisphere, and between October and May in the Southern Hemisphere. (Visit the World Atlas website to check out your latitude!)
- Those who do not get out in the sun regularly, those who avoid it altogether, and those who use SPF 15 or higher sunblock
- Dark-skinned people
- Elderly people
- Overweight/obese people
- Teens
What specific test should I request from my healthcare provider?
You want to ask for the test that measures the circulating form of vitamin D – this is referred to as 25[OH]D, or 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
Do I need to schedule my vitamin D test at a certain time, or together with other tests?
Vitamin D testing is best done:
- At any time when you have not been exposed to UVB light for ~6 weeks, as in late fall through late spring or summer
- After discontinuing vitamin D supplement use for at least 3 days
- When you are at least 4 hours fasting
- Together with a test for serum calcium levels (an indicator for toxicity)
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What levels are optimal when I get my vitamin D tested?
Most labs here in the US currently have a reference range of 20–100 ng/mL. As you can see from the list below, we use a much narrower range at Women to Women!
Vitamin D levels — what’s really optimal?
>100 ng/mL Excessive vitamin D (see note on toxicity)
50–70 ng/mL Proposed optimal range
30–50 ng/mL Suboptimal
<30 ng/mL Deficient
<20 ng/mL Overt vitamin D deficiency
<10 ng/mL Seriously deficient
Many testing labs are currently reporting a twofold to threefold increase in the number of vitamin D tests being ordered.
The reality is that you will not be deriving all the benefits of vitamin D unless your levels are quite a bit higher than the norm. You may want to explain to your practitioner, when talking about your blood test, that your goal is to reach into the higher end of the conventional reference range. The mean value in the US is between 25 and 30 ng/mL, so most people here have values that are well below optimal.