Should I be taking Vitamin D?

Do you live in the PNW? Then you’re probably deficient!

In Pacific Northwest, vitamin D deficiency is prolific. When we’re out in the summer with most of our skin exposed, our body can manufacture 20,000IU within 20 minutes. However, if you’re wearing SPF, and you only have your face & forearms exposed to the sun, that doesn’t make much vitamin D.

How much to take?
Canada recently changed its guidelines of daily consumption. It has increased to 2500IU/d from the previous 1000IU. Because of this change, you’ll see there are a few supplement companies that have this dosage per capsule/or per liquid drop. Which is great if you’re needing to do a loading dose.

Should I test?
Within BC, you’ll have to pay to have your vitamin D tested. It used to be covered, but oh so often patients came back deficient, and the cost to treat (by taking vitamin d) is so little $, so the province decided that if you want it tested, you’ll have to pay.

Cost to test?
It’s less than $100 via lifelabs. Once we test, and based on where your levels are at, we can best determine what loading dose is best for you, and for how long. Or if a maintenance dose if sufficient.

When should I test?
Once summer comes to an end, & we head into the fall, I suggest to start taking vitamin D. If you’ve never taken vitamin D before, chances are it’s low. So why test? Because depending on how low - will determine that loading dose. There is a large variance - mostly due to genetics - that can drastically decrease both vitamin D processing & the receptor sensitivity. Some people respond to small increases in vitamin D, while others have to take copious amounts to reach optimal levels.

What is the optimal range for vitamin D?
Ideally we want it to be above 100. Some conditions have shown in studies to benefit from levels of 120.

What about vitamin D toxicity?
Fat soluble vitamins can be stored in your body. This isn’t the case for water soluble vitamins - where your body will excrete excessive amounts via the stool or urine. So for vitamins - A, D, E, & K, we always have to be cautious with avoiding high dosages long term. A nice thing with fat soluble vitamins - is that you can do once or even twice weekly dosing. So forget to dose everyday? No problem!

Talk to your doctor!

Vancouver Naturopathic Doctor
drkristamoyer.com
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