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How much vitamin d should I take?
Vitamin D is becoming more and more important as more people are learning about its value and benefits to the human health. Vitamin D supplement quantities are measured in IU (international units), so the question of how much vitamin d should I take? Is going to be answered with 200 IU, 400 IU, 1,000 IU and so forth. The answers will always be across the board, leaving the individual baffled.
While 1,000 IU of vitamin D seems like a big number, when converted to milligrams, 1,000 IU of vitamin d equals to only .02499 milligrams. Not even one tenth of a milligram.
It is also important to know what your vitamin d levels are and a simple blood test by your physician can determine if you are deficient or not.
Vitamin D levels are measured via the test called 25(OH)D – Also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D which return a result in ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) of blood.
The basic levels are:
< 50 ng/ml = Deficient
50-70 ng/ml = Normal
>100 ng/ml = Excess
source: mercola.com
This will allow your doctor to instruct you on how much to supplement with.
So What Are Vitamin D Recommendations?
The RDA (Recommended dietary allowance) of vitamin d are as follows:
| Age | Male | Female | Pregnancy | Lactation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–12 months* | 400 IU (10 mcg) | 400 IU (10 mcg) | ||
| 1–13 years | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) | ||
| 14–18 years | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) |
| 19–50 years | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) |
| 51–70 years | 600 IU (15 mcg) | 600 IU (15 mcg) | ||
| >70 years | 800 IU (20 mcg) | 800 IU (20 mcg) |
* Adequate Intake (AI) Source: National Institute Of Health
Recent Vitamin D Research:
A recent research at UCSD, University of California San Diego, showed that 4,000 to 8,000 IU of vitamin D are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin d.
"We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4,000 to 8,000 IU [international units] are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases -- breast cancer, colon ancer, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes," said Dr. Cedric Garland. (http://health.ucsd.edu/news...)
Summary:
Since IU recommendations for vitamin d seem to fluctuate, a good rule of thumb and plan of action could be.
1- Know what your vitamin d blood level is.
2- Consult your physician
3- Be sure that your daily intake of vitamin d matches at least the RDA or a recommended dosage by your physician.
Stay updated on all the new vitamin d findings and news.
Related Pages: Vitamin D deficiency
Sources for this article:
National Institute Of Health
UCSD
Mercola
Natural News
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