Are You Sufficient in Vitamin D?

by Dr. Andrew T. Brady, Chiropractic Physician

With summer right around the corner, the importance of exposing your body to sunlight in order to get sufficient Vitamin D is a timely topic. Vitamin D (actually a hormone) is produced from cholesterol in our body when our skin is exposed to Ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) from the sun. This has been one of humans’ primary sources of Vitamin D since the beginning of time, which is essential for optimal health, function, and the prevention of many acute and chronic illnesses.

Vitamin D is essential for health. If you are deficient, your body cannot function optimally and eventually, disease will occur. Many people supplement Vitamin D but still fall short of achieving the blood levels required to gain the preventative and optimal function benefits. What should your blood levels be? How much Vitamin D should you take to achieve the optimal level? Where can you get natural Vitamin D in the winter? These are questions I get in my office often, and I’ll answer all of them, but first I’ll share some amazing preventative benefits and statistics of being sufficient in Vitamin D.

The Benefits of Vitamin D Sufficiency

Overwhelming evidence suggests being sufficient in Vitamin D helps prevent cancer, autoimmune disorders, endocrine disorders, mental health disorders, neurological diseases, skin problems, respiratory disease, and women’s health diseases. The American Cancer Society Journal stated that Vitamin D-sensitive cancers were responsible for 46% of all cancer deaths in the U.S. in 2007. The journal Nutrition Review states that maintaining a blood level of 52 ng/ml reduces your chances of colon cancer and breast cancer by 50%. A clinical trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that children given Vitamin D3 in the winter were 67% less likely to get the flu. In a three-year study, children who were given 2000 IUs per day dropped their incidence of colds and flu by 99%. Vitamin D is also a potent regulator in inflammation and plays a major role in shutting off chronic inflammatory responses. Lastly, being deficient in Vitamin D causes accelerated aging due to its effects on telomeric length.

So, what level is optimal? In order to get all the preventative benefits of Vitamin D3, it’s important to maintain a blood level between 52-70 ng/ml which usually requires adults to supplement 4,000-5,000 IUs of D3 per day in the winter months, ac-cording to the Vitamin D Council. The rule of thumb is 1,000 IUs per 40 lbs of body weight. Exposing your skin to sunlight without sunscreen for 20 minutes/day in the summer will provide roughly 15,000 IUs and is a great way to get sufficient quickly. I recommend that everyone get their Vitamin D levels tested regularly to ensure you are maintaining optimal levels.

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