What are the Optimal Levels of Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a substance your body produces from being in the sun. It’s fat-soluble, and a deficiency of this vitamin is an epidemic in many countries.
Bluefish, eggs, and dairy products are great ways to give your body enough vitamin D. In fact, it’s closely related to bone health. Additionally, it influences the immune system and helps prevent certain types of cancer and chronic fatigue.
Blood tests measure how much of this vitamin is in your body, and sometimes you might need a supplement to reach optimal levels. However, some people disagree on the best levels: there are experts who recommend between 20 and 40 ng/ml of blood, and others say between 30 and 50 ng/ml.
Importance of vitamin D in muscle performance
The latest scientific studies link vitamin D supplementation with increased muscle strength. For a while, we have known that without it, you could suffer from chronic fatigue. However, its positive performance effects are somewhat new. Therefore, it’s common for athletes to take these supplements.
Vitamin D and cancer
Scientific journals relate vitamin D deficiency with lots of complex diseases. For example, studies show a connection between deficiency and colon, breast and prostate cancer.
To make sure you’re getting enough of this vitamin, it’s a good idea to eat bluefish at least twice a week. Also, regular sun exposure helps your body to make vitamin D. However, this isn’t possible year-round in many countries.
Additionally, this is a fat-soluble nutrient. Therefore, you need fat to dissolve and absorb it. For milk, this substance is in whole milk, but not skim.
An important nutrient in women
In women, due to the loss of calcium after menopause and their risk of osteoporosis, vitamin D becomes an essential nutrient. In fact, it helps to regulate calcium absorption, which preserves bone health.
On the other hand, not getting enough of this vitamin in the early stages of life increases the risk of bone fractures in adulthood. This can be a major health problem for women.
Another risky situation is for patients with chronic kidney disease. In fact, these people are more likely to be vitamin D deficient and have problems absorbing calcium.
Therefore, it’s important to monitor the amount of vitamin D you’re getting. That way, you can make sure you’re getting enough and prevent complications.
Different dosage forms
With supplements, there are different forms. There are pills or drops you can take every day or vials that you can take once every two weeks or each month.
In any case, it’s important to talk to a doctor or nutritionist before starting supplements. Vitamin D poisoning is rare but could lead to calcium buildup in the blood.
Therefore, vomiting, weakness and frequent urination are common adverse effects. In fact, there are even cases where calcium kidney stones formed.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that experts have different ideas on optimal vitamin D levels, what’s clear is that it’s very important for your health. Deficiency increases your risk of complex diseases. In many cases, people don’t get enough of this vitamin.
To prevent this, it’s important to eat more bluefish and whole dairy products. Remember, it’s a fat-soluble vitamin, so not eating enough dietary fat can make it hard to absorb.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Bischoff-Ferrari HA., Willett WC., Wong JB., Giovannucci E., Dietrich T., Dawson-Hughes B., Fracture prevention with vitamin D supplementation: a meta analysis of randomized controlled trials. JAMA, 2005. 193 (18): 2257-64.
- Chau YY., Kumar J., Vitamin D in chronic kidney disease. Indian J Pediatr, 2012. 79 (8): 1062-8.
- De la Puente-Yague M., Cuadrado Cenzual MA., Ciudad Cabañas MJ., Hernández Cabria M., Collado Yurrita L., Vitamin D: and its role in breast cáncer. Koahsiung J Med Sci, 2018. 34 (8): 423-427.
