Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it can be stored in your fatty tissues for later use. It's still important to get vitamin D daily, which you can do through diet. Also called the "sunshine vitamin," your skin makes it when it's exposed to sunlight. Not everyone gets much sunshine, or enough vitamin D through their diet. Sometimes taking supplements may be the way to go.
Function and Deficiency
Vitamin D plays a variety of crucial roles for your health, including supporting your immune system and maintaining muscle health. One of its primary jobs is helping your body take in and absorb calcium, needed for healthy growth and strength of bones and teeth. Lack of vitamin D can lead to health problems, including the bone disease osteoporosis. If don't get enough vitamin D daily, you may have a higher chance of weak bones.
When to Take Supplements
Some reasons you might want to take vitamin D supplements include inadequate amount of vitamin D through diet, not enough daily exposure to sunlight and conditions that prevent or impair your absorption of vitamin D. People who may need to increase their vitamin D intake include infants who are breast-feeding, seniors, people with dark skin, people with liver diseases or Crohn's disease, obese people or those who have just gone through gastric bypass surgery. If you don't eat enough foods with vitamin D -- particularly fortified foods, such as cereal and milk -- ask your doctor if you should take a supplement.
Recommendations
The AI or Adequate Intake from the U.S. Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences advises 200 IU for children, men, women -- including pregnant women -- all under 50 years of age, and 400 IU for those over 50. People who are over 70 should take 600 IU daily.
Dosages for Supplements
Because vitamin D supplement dosages are different than one another and vitamin D deficiencies vary, speak to your doctor for advice about the right dosage for you. MayoClinic.com explains that most multivitamins often contain vitamin D, typically 50 to 1,000 IU. Some vitamin D supplements, like Ergocalciferol, are taken to prevent osteoporosis, usually at 400 to 800 IU or more daily for adults. Other supplements are meant to help treat rickets in children or osteomalacia in adults. In this case, the problem may be solved in adults in one day -- 600,000 IU -- or over an extended period with daily supplement dosages of 5,000 to 10,000 IU. These dosages are taken for two or three months or until the problem is resolved.
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