What should your vitamin d level be

Variability in vitamin D assays impairs clinical assessment of vitamin D status. Intern Med J ;— Br J Cancer ;— Prospective study of serum vitamin D and cancer mortality in the United States. J Natl Cancer Inst ;— J Clin Endocrinol Metab ;— Association between vitamin D and risk of colorectal cancer: a systematic review of prospective studies.

J Clin Oncol ;— Search PubMed Peterlik M. Vitamin D insufficiency and chronic diseases: hype and reality. Food Funct ;— Search PubMed Institute of Medicine. Common misconceptions about vitamin D-implications for clinicians. Nat Rev Endocrinol ;— Both high and low levels of blood vitamin D are associated with a higher prostate cancer risk: a longitudinal, nested case-control study in the Nordic countries. Int J Cancer ;— Sun exposure may increase risk of prostate cancer in the high UV environment of New South Wales, Australia: a case-control study.

Both high and low serum vitamin D concentrations are associated with tuberculosis: a case-control study in Greenland. Vitamin D, nervous system and aging. Psychoneuroendocrinology ;34 Suppl 1 :S— Neonatal vitamin D status and risk of schizophrenia: a population-based case-control study. Arch Gen Psychiatry ;— Maternal serum hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are associated with small-for-gestational age births in white women.

J Nutr ;— Vitamin D levels for preventing acute coronary syndrome and mortality: evidence of a nonlinear association. Cancer Res ;— Arch Intern Med ;— Risk factors, confounding, and the illusion of statistical control.

Psychosom Med ;— Higher blood 25 OH D level may reduce the breast cancer risk: evidence from a Chinese population based case-control study and meta-analysis of the observational studies. PLoS One ;8:e Vitamin D provision and supplementation standards. Search PubMed. Back to search results. Also in this issue: Neurology March Focus Stroke.

Updated guidelines for the management of sports-related concussion in general practice. Epilepsy in adults. Management of chronic headache. Epilepsy in pregnancy. A collaborative team effort of obstetricians, neurologists and primary care physicians for a successful outcome.

Up front Regeneration. Letters to the editor. Clinical Approach to low back pain. What is the optimal level of vitamin D?. Diagnosis and management of zoonoses. A tool for general practice. Necrobiosis lipoidica. Research Quality of care measures in multimorbidity.

An audit of chronic hepatitis B contact tracing in metropolitan Western Australia. Many older people who are diagnosed with bone loss believe they need to take more calcium. However, they may be deficient in vitamin D as well. Low bone mineral density is an indication that your bones have lost calcium and other minerals.

This places older adults, especially women, at an increased risk of fractures. In a large observational study in more than 1, middle-age menopausal or postmenopausal women, researchers found a strong link between low vitamin D levels and low bone mineral density However, a controlled study found that women who were deficient in vitamin D experienced no improvement in bone mineral density when they took high-dose supplements, even if their blood levels improved Regardless of these findings, getting adequate vitamin D intake and maintaining blood levels within the optimal range may be a good strategy for protecting your bone mass and reducing your fracture risk.

A diagnosis of low bone mineral density may be a sign of vitamin D deficiency. Getting enough of this vitamin is important for preserving bone mass as you get older. Hair loss is often attributed to stress , which is certainly a common cause. However, when hair loss is severe, it may be the result of a disease or nutrient deficiency.

Hair loss in women has been linked to low vitamin D levels, though there is very little research on this to date In particular, research suggests that low vitamin D levels are linked to alopecia areata and may be a risk factor for developing the disease 33 , Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease characterized by severe hair loss from the head and other parts of the body.

One study among people with alopecia areata showed that lower vitamin D blood levels tended to be associated with more severe hair loss In another study, applying a synthetic form of the vitamin topically for 12 weeks was found to significantly increase hair regrowth in 48 people with alopecia areata Many other foods and nutrients may affect the health of your hair.

If you experience hair loss, you may be interested in the 14 best foods for hair growth. Hair loss may be a sign of vitamin D deficiency in female pattern hair loss or the autoimmune condition alopecia areata. A few studies have found that taking high-dose vitamin D supplements may reduce various types of pain in people who are deficient 42 , It may have to do with the interaction between the vitamin and pain-sensing nerve cells.

Obesity is one risk factor for vitamin D deficiency One longitudinal study including men and women found a possible link between low vitamin D status and both abdominal fat and increased weight.

However, this study found that such effects were more prominent in men Another review confirms that while vitamin D deficiency may be seen in cases of obesity, further studies are needed to determine whether vitamin D could help prevent weight gain According to one review, levels of calcidiol, a form of vitamin D, was found to be lower in people with anxiety, as well as those with depression A separate study in pregnant women found that vitamin D levels could help reduce anxiety, improve sleep quality, and possibly help prevent postpartum depression Treatment for vitamin D deficiency primarily consists of supplementation.

If your doctor determines that you are indeed lacking this nutrient, they may recommend the following options. A vitamin D deficiency may be treated with vitamin D supplementation. You may find these easily over the counter, but you should ask your doctor for specific recommendations to ensure the right dosage. These come in much stronger doses of up to 50, IU Another potential option your doctor may consider is vitamin D injections Aside from vitamin D supplementation, your doctor may recommend adding more vitamin-D-rich foods to your daily diet.

Options may include 52 :. Vitamin D3 is involved in numerous biological processes such as immune system modulation, insulin sensitivity, hormone and neurotransmitter homeostasis, and is essential for ensuring calcium absorption in the bones. Sunlight exposure and supplements are two other main sources of vitamin D that will contribute to reaching an optimal vitamin D status for health. Those of you who are not living in a sunny climate year-round will be hard-pressed to maintain a healthy level of vitamin D by relying on sunlight alone.

Reference Range. The reference range, a term often used in conjunction with laboratory testing, is a set of values that include the upper and lower limits of a lab test based on a group of otherwise healthy individuals.

For a laboratory to determine the appropriate reference range for their testing population, often hundreds to thousands of normal, healthy patients are tested.

To date, ZRT has tested over 60, patients to assess their vitamin D levels. This raises the issue: is normal the same thing as optimal? Not necessarily. The Endocrine Society has a Clinical Practice Guideline on the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency. So, while they are not harmful levels, they are instead reflective of supplementation and therefore not what would be detected in a "normal" patient population.

It means that your result is normal within the testing population, but if you are at the lower end of the range it may not be sufficient for optimal vitamin D status. Whatever your number and health status, work with your provider to achieve the optimal level for you, through supplementation, nutrition, or getting more sun exposure.