Vitamin D

[Fatih]

Doc, what is your view on taking Vitamin D supplement?
If you suggest taking it, what is your recommended dose, frequency, things to look for in a good VitD supplement?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I recommend taking it if you're low on vitamin D and depending how low one is will determine the dose and the type of Vitamin D I would recommend.

[Fatih]

What is the threshold to judge if one is low on Vit D?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

It's a lab test , 25 (OH) D, that needs to be performed. <30ng/mL is considered low by most and that's the cutoff I use as well.

[neandrewthal]

Anything wrong with just popping a couple thousand IU per day to be sure? The stuff is cheap as chips.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Anything wrong with just popping a couple thousand IU per day to be sure? The stuff is cheap as chips.

Potentially overdosing, though this is rare. Alternatively, without monitoring you could be under treating low vitamin D levels, which is common. It's about 50 bucks, which is about a few months worth of a good vitamin D supplement.

[craw405]

Sunshine is free!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Sunshine is free!

But not enough to take someone from hypovitaminosis to normal levels, usually- though there is some nuance there, e.g. are vitamin D levels a surrogate marker for inflammatory processes and thus, fixing the low vitamin D level doesn't really fix the problem?

[craw405]

So in short, it would be safe to say that if you are feeling well, eating well, training hard and don't see any signs of being unhealthy, then you probably arent low in Vitamin D and taking a supplement or getting tested to see if you're low in vitamin D is likely unnecessary.

Which brings me to my next question, is there a certain blood panel that kind of covers all of the markers for good health? Which type of blood work should I get other than the standard fasted lipid panel or Comprehensive Metabolic Panel.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

So in short, it would be safe to say that if you are feeling well, eating well, training hard and don't see any signs of being unhealthy, then you probably arent low in Vitamin D and taking a supplement or getting tested to see if you're low in vitamin D is likely unnecessary.

Which brings me to my next question, is there a certain blood panel that kind of covers all of the markers for good health? Which type of blood work should I get other than the standard fasted lipid panel or Comprehensive Metabolic Panel.

No, I wouldn't agree with the first sentence and I think it's reasonable to send a lab test on most patients.

And no, there is no preset panel of labs that covers everything. The appropriate labs depend entirely on your demographic and medical history.