Should I supplement with Vitamin D?

I wrote my first article on Vitamin D supplementation back in 2009, kinda crazy it’s still a headline topic!

I just wanted to pen a few short notes to act as a little resource that people could send to friends and family to raise awareness and help them.

I get as much sun as I can. Wear just enough suncream not to burn. Supplement with a low dose of Vitamin D3 and was still deficient at the end of the summer!

I used THRIVA to get my levels tested along with some other health markers I was interested in.

Without getting your levels tested, you can’t be super specific with your supplementation. I can’t recommend more than 4000IU/day longterm as this is the safe upper limit put out by the IOM.

However, I would often suggest taking at least this dose during winter months when sun exposure is low!

Have a look at this study that used doses of 1677IU/day to 4167IU/day. After 12 weeks only 57% of subjects had good levels…

It’s so easy to forget that even in direct sunlight at certain times of day we can’t make much if any Vitamin D due to the angle of the Earth relative to the sun.

This is one reason we see high levels of deficiency and insufficiency even in places that get loads of sun like Australia!

This is why I encourage people to use the DMinder app. It is so useful for helping to understand how different exposures will affect your levels.

Those with darker skin need to be especially vigilant of Vitamin D deficiency.

Breastfeeding mothers can either supplement baby with 400IU/day but taking a consistently high supplemental dose of 6400IU/day might be a better alternative. Yup, I was surprised by the dose too! Supplementation of the child should continue until 1 year at least.

If you have any questions about Vitamin D please do feel free to reach out to me by commenting on my most recent post on Instagram, even if it is not related to Vitamin D! 🙂

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinnutrition/