Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin

Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin. It’s more than just a bone health vitamin. It is safe to say we have all some knowledge that Vitamin D is beneficial for bone strength and health. Women have been told for years to take vitamin D along with calcium to help prevent osteoporosis, but vitamin D has so many other potential benefits for all of us. In recent years vitamin D has been shown to affect almost every cell in our body by acting as a pro-hormone. Vitamin D has been shown to be generally helpful for musculoskeletal support, cardiovascular health, glucose (blood sugar) lowering effects, reducing cancer-related mortality and improving immune function.

Our body can produce vitamin D with the help of direct sunlight on our skin. We need about 20 to 30 minutes per day of full sun exposure in the middle of the day without sunscreen to produce enough vitamin D for our bodies. In Wisconsin, we are in the northern hemisphere where we do not have strong enough sunlight from late fall to early spring to make enough vitamin D on our own. In our climate, we must rely on eating foods with vitamin D or taking a supplement. One may ask what foods I can eat that contain vitamin D. We can drink milk that is fortified with Vitamin D, but that only has about 100 IU (international units) per cup. We can also eat S.M.A.S.H. fish which stands for salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. Sorry Wisconsinites, but the “Friday night fish fry” does not count. Taking a vitamin D3 supplement may be required for most of us in Wisconsin, especially during the winter months.

Vitamin D supplements comes in two forms vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. The D3 form is the preferred form because it has a longer duration of action and is more potent. Having a vitamin D level (25 (OH) D) taken is a way to determine the exact dose of vitamin D you need. This is a blood test your doctor can order and some pharmacies have a blood spot test that you can perform at home. We want a level greater than 25ng/ml (nanograms per ml) and some studies suggest optimal levels are 25 to 80ng/ml 25 (OH) D. If you do not know your vitamin D level, dosing can safely range between 1,000 to 4,000 IU per day for most individuals according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). It is best to take your vitamin D supplement with a meal containing dietary fat. Dietary fat has been shown to significantly increase vitamin D absorption by 20 to 30% versus taking on an empty stomach or with a meal without fat.

Recently, vitamin D has been in the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic since it can be supportive to our immune system. There are several studies showing vitamin D has some promising potential to help with Covid-19 including one study that was conducted in Iran with hospitalized Covid-19 patients. According to the study, many elderly patients have a vitamin D deficiency even in this sunny country. The conclusion of that study was “It is recommended that improving vitamin D status in the general population (and in particular hospitalized patients) has a potential benefit in reducing the severity of morbidities and mortality associated with acquiring COVID-19.”

The other study to note was here in the United States and was conducted by Dr. Holick and his team at Boston University with 190,000 people. The findings of this study showed that people in the US that had sufficient vitamin D levels had a 54% reduced risk of being infected by Covid-19.

Certainly, many more studies need to be done regarding Covid-19 and vitamin D, but for now supplementing with vitamin D3 may be prudent to make sure your level is enough during this pandemic.

Your local, independent pharmacist is an excellent source for you to get guidance with dosing and provide you a quality vitamin D3 supplement. Hometown Pharmacy carries many options. We are happy to help you get healthy and stay healthy!