My Vitamin D Recommendations

Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin. When the sun hits your skin, vitamin D is produced. Amongst many things, vitamin D has been shown to:

• Maintain bone strength
• Modulate the immune system
• Have anti-infectious properties
• Decrease the risk of cancer
• Lower the risk of heart disease

I have been checking levels of vitamin D and supplementing with vitamin D for almost 20 years. There are two sources of vitamin D available for supplementation: D2 and D3. D2, known as ergocalciferol is a plant-based vitamin D that has to be converted to D3. Vitamin D2 is not the natural form of vitamin D produced in humans. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the form of vitamin D produced in the body when sunlight hits the skin.

I have always recommended vitamin D supplements to be D3 since vitamin D3 is naturally produced in the human body. I have never understood why anyone would use vitamin D2 when vitamin D3 was available.
A recent study looked at which form of vitamin D (D2 or D3) was better absorbed. Researchers studied 33 adults and gave them 50,000U of either vitamin D2 or D3 for 12 weeks. At the end of 12 weeks, Vitamin D levels were measured in the blood. The results showed that, as compared to vitamin D2, vitamin D3 was much more effective at raising serum vitamin D levels. In fact, the researchers wrote, “…D3 was from 56-87 percent more potent than D2 in raising {vitamin D levels}.”

Vitamin D3 is more potent and less expensive than vitamin D2. This study provides further validation that there is no reason to use vitamin D2. Unfortunately, the prescription form of vitamin D is in the form of D2. As previously stated, I only recommend vitamin D3 when supplementing with vitamin D. My usual recommendations are from 2,000-6,000IU of vitamin D3 per day. It is important to periodically check your vitamin D levels.

A well-absorbed form of vitamin D3 is Bio D Forte from Biotics Research Company. This product can be found at my office: www.centerforholisticmedicine.com.