Vitamin D

Recently, patients have presented to the office being told by their primary care physicians to reduce their vitamin D intake due to concern of vitamin D toxicity, despite their levels falling into the standard reference range, between 55 and 80 ng/mL. High dose vitamin D therapy has been used historically and in modern times to…

The last blog, “Vit D Reference Ranges and How They Were Determined,” reviewed how “normal” ranges of vitamin D were determined, the ranges reported to support basic human physiology, the upper limit of dosing and the call from experts to raise the upper limit. The initial idea to investigate vitamin D sounded straightforward and was…

The last blog, Vitamin D Levels: How Much Can We Get Naturally, reviewed natural synthesis of vitamin D through the skin, the many variables that affect this process, and ways to optimize vitamin D production via natural sunlight. The optimal daily dose of vitamin D varies by individual. This blog will review serum reference ranges…

Vitamin D Levels:  How Much Vitamin D Can We Get from Sun and Food.  What Is Optimal? The last two blogs reviewed the hormone we call vitamin D, its role in the treatment of a multitude of diseases including autoimmune diseases, cancer, bone diseases, and cardiovascular disease. In the last blog, we learned the origins…

It is always interesting to read about the origins of discoveries.  The history of the origins of Vitamin D deficiency and its relationship to sunlight dates back millennia. The discovery and role of vitamin D in medicine starts with the disease Rickets, a condition in children characterized by a defect in bone mineralization leading to…

Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem, for both developed and developing countries. Approximately 50% of the global population has vitamin D insufficiency and 1 billion people have vitamin D deficiency Approximately 29% of US adults >18 years have vitamin D deficiency and 41% insufficiency 36% of young adults between 18-29 years had vitamin…