How much Vitamin D3 do you need? - Weekly Q&A

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This weeks Q & A with Dr. Darrell, we look at Vitamin D3 supplementation! Acquiring Vitamin D3 from the sun is a process that requires Vitamin D2, heat and magnesium.  

Q:  How much Vitamin D3 you need to supplement will depend on…

A) your amount of fat
B) your skin tone
C) what latitude you live
D) your diet
E) all of the above.

Our diet will typically have vitamin D2 but the vitamin D3 is more difficult to get from diet alone.  The northern aboriginal people got around this innately because the ingested organ meats like liver which are rich in D3.  Not sure if you’ve been to a truck stop lately for liver and onions but in my humble opinion, it ain’t that good!

One more problem, the wavelength of light this far north is less than ideal for the conversion of D2 to D3.  Thats why I recommend supplementing D3 to pretty much everybody during the re-exam and review of health visit.  Another thing I just started recommending lately based on some new research is magnesium.  It’s important for muscle activity but also essential for the synthesis of Vitamin D2 to vitamin D3.  You can look for foods rich in magnesium or supplement it.

Fortunately Vitamin D3 supplementation is quite inexpensive.  We carry it in a liquid form here at the office for those who prefer that but the tablet form from the drug store is just fine too if you don’t mind juggling those little pills.

How much?  It depends on a few factors.  Darker skinned people need more that fair skinned folks.  Also, if you’re carrying extra fat you will also need more as the fat sequesters Vitamin D.   I’m a  "burn then tan" skin tone (type 2) with not much fat so I take about 4000IU/day.  Thats way above the minimum (RDA) but I don’t want the minimum, I want the optimum.  Yes, you can take too much but that doesn’t happen until over 10,000 IU for most people.  If you’re heavier and/or darker skinned you’ll probably want more.  Type one skin and lean, 1000IU will be lots.  

Yours in Health,  Dr. Darrell Morin

Posted In: Health Tips Dr. Darrell's Blog Weekly Q & A with Dr. Darrell