ASK IT
Go on the offence, and get your Vitamin D
September 17, 2009
The You Docs
QHow important is a vitamin D test? I take 2,000 IU of D per day. I'm a redhead, have fair skin and always wear sunscreen, hat and shades outside.
AThe vitamin D test (officially known as the "25-hydroxy vitamin D test") is the "it" screening these days and, given your (smart!) penchant for covering up in the sun, you should insist on it.
About three-quarters of all adults and children are deficient in "the sunshine vitamin" – so called because your body can make D when exposed to enough of the sun's ultraviolet rays.
If you run chronically low on this vitamin, your risk goes up for several forms of cancer (including breast, colon and ovarian), as well as for heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and high blood pressure.
Being sun-smart can make you low on D, as can being dark-skinned, obese (D is stored in fat, where it's less bioavailable) or elderly (older bodies don't synthesize vitamin D as well).
You also can be low if you have trouble digesting fats or live north of 35 degrees latitude (anything above Atlanta) in winter, where the sun's rays aren't strong enough for you to create D.
We prefer that you get vitamins from food, but in D's case, that's tough. Good sources are egg yolks and fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), but you'd have to eat 6 ounces of salmon or 47 egg yolks a day to get the 1,000 IU we recommend daily.
Even fortified milk, orange juice or cereal supplies only 100 IU per serving. That means you have to supplement. Aim for 1,000 IU daily; 1,200 if you're over 60.
Ask your doctor for the test – some people need more than 2,000 IU a day to get enough.
For more advice, read the YouDocs
tomorrow in Living.
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