Vitamin D Deficiency

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

It's the latest thing in medicine. My physician is checking everyone's vitamin D. He has a friend who's been doing studies and treating my physician's mother with vitamin D and C (C helps the body absorb D). She has diabetes and high blood pressure and both are better with this treatment. He found I had a deficiency and put me on high dosages of D and C for three months.

Multi-vitamin pills will soon have 1,000 mg D instead of the current 400 mg.

There's more, but others have posted some of the articles on the topic.

[Ann-Marie Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ann-Marie]

I'm not trying to be personal, but I did not know that a doctor would do blood tests for Vitamin deficiency unless someone was having blatent symptoms of that vitamin deficiency. Was this a rountine blood test? How many other vitamins did they test for?

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

No problem, Ann-Marie. Based on his friend's research, my physician has started testing every patient for Vitamin D deficiency. A growing number of physicians, not a majority but certainly a large minority, believe Vitamin D is more important than conventional medical wisdom suggests. There is quite a bit of research to support this belief.

It was part of a routine blood test. I believe he asked specifically for Vitamin D in addition to my usual cholesterol, etc..

[longtimer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close longtimer]

I just got a call from my Dr and said that my bloodwork showed I was very deficient in Vit D. Huh? Didn't know there was such a thing. He gave me a prescription 1 pill twice a week. I tried to read up on it and it said that sunshine is a primary source. Hello? I'm as brown as a berry. What's up? shaggy

Hi Shaggy, I'm a health and science reporter. I am currently involved in a huge project on vitamin D needs. It turns out that vitamin D is a VERY valuable for the body. And researchers are now linking low levels to a risk for just about everything from heart disease to cancer. I happen to take scientific studies with a grain of salt. There are so many contradictory studies out there. But this topic really does seem to have some merit. Some experts say we should be getting 2000 units of vitamin D a day. And they add, it's impossible to get all of it through our food. Sunshine helps. Our bodies convert sunshine into vitamin D. But during the winter, and especially in the northern latitudes, there isn't enough sunlight for the body to use this as a resource. Researchers have also found that some people don't absorb vitamin D3 very well, and that could lead to abnormally low levels. If you continue to have problems with low levels of vitamin D, I suggest you see a nutritionist or dietitian for some specific ways to get more of it through your food.
I wish you all the best. There are many more out there who are unaware they are "D" deficient.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Great topic with interesting responses.

I am just getting up to speed on this myself and the info here has been very helpful.

Thanks, BM3,N.P.

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

This is definitely a "hot" area of research. Unfortunately, much of it hasn't been as clinically-based as I would like. Also, it's not easy to find funding for this research because no one's going to get rich off manufacturing vitamin D. I guess the lab companies might for doing the tests. I certainly haven't been checking ALL my patients, but when they have symptoms that could be consistent with mild vitamin D deficiency (Rickets and osteomalacia are all but nonexistent in today's society with fortified cereals, milk, etc.), then I'll check a level. I have yet to find someone with a normal level of Vitamin D. But I'm not yet convinced that replacing the Vitamin D has a huge impact clinically. A few physicians around me are, but I'm not sure they're approaching this objectively enough. Time will tell, but we may find that there's more to Vitamin D than we thought. Thanks for all your input. Most of what's written above seems to be reasonable and representative of the data that's out there.

idahodude, MD