The Importance of Vitamin D

I have been asked this week about Vitamin D following on from an elderly gentleman that passed away last week of a vitamin D overdose. What we don’t know are the details surrounding his death and his other health issues. We don’t know if he was getting confused and taking the wrong pills. However, vitamin D overdose is very rare. Just think about builders and roofers with their tops off in the sun all day. They are not dropping dead of an overdose!

Vitamin D is such an important hormone. It is responsible for over 300 processes in our body. It is best known for bone health and optimises calcium metabolism and assisting in reducing your risk of osteoporosis. However, it is also good for preventing cognitive decline, reduces joint pain, helps modulate the immune system, improves anxiety and depression and much more. It is therefore important for our Osteopathic patients who are suffering from joint pains but also menopausal women and people who are catching recurrent colds and illnesses. Another group of our patients who may be at risk of being deficient are breastfeeding mums who have to go dairy free for their baby, anyone who has gut absorption problems and people following a low-fat diet. This is because Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin.

The government advise a daily supplement of Vitamin D a day as deficiency is common especially as we get older. The increase in deficiency is because of using sun cream and avoiding sun exposure to prevent skin cancer. But good vitamin D levels are beneficial for protection against cancer as it inhibits cell proliferation and activates cell breakdown. It is important as we age that our body remains effective of cell clearance.

How do we know how much to take?

If you do not know what your blood level is, how can you start to understand how much to take? A finger prick blood test is an easy way to perform this. This is a link to the cheapest test kit (I know of) at £31 and it uses NHS laboratories click here.

Now is a great time of the year at the end of winter to test your blood. This is because from September to April the sun is not at the correct height in the sky for your skin to use UV B radiation to turn cholesterol through a chain of reactions into Vitamin D3. So potentially currently you should have the lowest amount of Vitamin D (if you haven’t been on a sun holiday).

Does it matter if you take supplements when performing the test? 

No. If you are supplementing already, it will show us if you are on the correct amount of Vitamin D for your body. Some people who are taking a Vitamin D supplements and who are still low or borderline may need some further questioning about how well your body is at absorbing nutrients. Also our genetics can play a part in how effective our body is at using the vitamin D. We have receptor sites on tissues for Vitamin D. Our genetics can make these sites inefficient so we absorb less therefore those people need more.

So, you can already see how personalised dosing becomes and there never is a one size fits all.

What is a good blood level of Vitamin D for adults?

You definitely should be above 50 nmol/L. The risk of toxicity is above 220nmol/L. As an optimal level aim for 80nmol/L

Do I get enough from food?

No. You have to consume a lot of dairy products, eggs, oily fish to get the right amount of Vitamin D.

Should I be taking Vitamin D on its own?      

Vitamin D helps absorb calcium in the small intestine. When we are deficient in Vitamin D the body only absorbs 10-15% of dietary calcium. With a healthy level of Vitamin D it helps absorb 30%-40% of the dietary calcium (PMID 18460265) .

What we want though is to get this calcium out of the blood and into the bones. Having too much calcium in our blood is called hypercalcaemia which causes heart disease.

Vitamin K2, another fat-soluble vitamin, is required to help get the calcium out of the blood stream and into the bones.

A 2022 meta-anaylsis of 16 studies in 6,425 postmenopausal women found that those taking vitamin K2 supplements had a positive effect on bone mineralization and increased bone strength (PMID 36033779).

So, ideally your Vitamin D3 supplement should contain Vitamin K2* and be based in oil to aid absorption.

*People on blood thinners cannot take K2 as a supplement and they should take Vitamin D on its own.

I’ve heard Magnesium is important too. Where does that fit in? 

Magnesium and Vitamin D are another great union. The clinical benefits of Vitamin D are significantly reduced with poor levels of magnesium. Magnesium is essential for vitamin D to be produced and activated in the liver. Therefore magnesium is hugely important for optimising Vitamin D levels.

If you decide to take a Vitamin D test and are unsure what to do after that then please contact me at the practice.

If you are interested in diving more deeply into your Nutritional health or have a chronic condition that you would like to improve by changing your diet and lifestyle then please contact me at info@notjustbacks.com