It’s the time of year when we often look to vitamin D levels in our patients, and for good reason–low levels of the “sunshine vitamin” have been linked to a host of conditions, including seasonal affective disorder and osteoporosis.
We wrote about the interesting history and importance of vitamin D before, but new research is showing vitamin D matters for more than just building strong bones and keeping your winter blues away.
- A 20-year follow-up of more than 78,000 adults found that those with low vitamin D levels in their blood were nearly three times more likely to die during the study period than those with adequate levels.
- Other research has shown the first definitive evidence that vitamin D really does protect against respiratory infections.
Why should you care?
Because you’re Canadian! And as awesome as you are, the dark northern days and indoor lifestyle can mess with your D levels.
According to Stats Canada, only 65% of Canadians have vitamin D levels that are likely sufficient to fulfill the body’s requirements for optimal bone health. Not to mention all that other stuff like infections and depression and thyroid conditions and fatigue and more.
The strategy in conventional medicine to deal with this has been to supplement everyone with vitamin D–the recommendation is 2000 IU/day.
The challenge is that for some people, that’s enough, for others it isn’t. Taking too much vitamin D for too long is not a good thing either. The best solution is to test your levels so that you know exactly what steps, if any, to take.
The good news is that it’s easy to test your vitamin D levels. Better yet, we have a new Vitamin D shot that can make a big difference to your levels.
To test your vitamin D levels and find the optimal approach for you, just contact us, or book online.