Vitamin D is involved in regulating and facilitating some of the most important functions in your body. Vitamin D reduces inflammation, regulates cell growth and the immune system and helps your body use calcium to build strong bones. Medicine for low vitamin D is not necessary. You can get the vitamin from certain foods, and your body can make it from sunlight. Because vitamin D deficiency can cause many health issues, talk to your doctor about a supplement if your vitamin D blood levels are low.
What Vitamin D Does for You
Vitamin D prevents bone-softening diseases such as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. By increasing muscle and bone strength, vitamin D can also reduce falls and decrease the incidence of hip and spine fractures in the elderly. Vitamin D helps prevent osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. Osteoporosis is a condition where bones become honeycombed and break easily. Vitamin D maintains the function of the parathyroid gland, which controls how your body uses calcium and phosphorus.
Other Health Conditions That May Be Linked to Low Vitamin D
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health, preliminary studies indicate that low vitamin D levels may be linked to other health issues, including increased risk for hypertension, heart disease, stroke, sudden death, high cholesterol, obesity, some cancers, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, seasonal affective disorder, tuberculosis and types 1 and 2 diabetes. Studies under way in many of these areas will determine if increasing vitamin D levels can treat or prevent these conditions.
Determining Your Vitamin D Level
Your doctor will perform a blood test to determine your serum vitamin D level. Vitamin D is found in two forms in your body -- 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or calcidiol, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, or calcitriol. Calcidiol is the best measure of your blood serum levels of vitamin D, says the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. If your vitamin D levels are low, your doctor will probably want you to take a supplement at a specific dose.
Vitamin D Supplements
Vitamin D supplements are available in pill form and come in several doses. There are two equivalent types of vitamin D supplements, D-2, or ergocalciferol, and D-3, or cholecalciferol. Check with your doctor before you take a vitamin D supplement because it is possible to overdose if you take extremely large doses. Remember to include or increase vitamin D-containing foods in your diet. Food sources of vitamin D include cod liver oil, salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, herring and eggs as well as vitamin D fortified milk, yogurt, cheese, orange juice and cereal.
Member Comments