Adults may need up to twice the amount of vitamin D than is typically recommended
FDA warns against giving infants more than 400 IU of vitamin D
June 25, 2010How much vitamin D is too much?
June 25, 2010Here’s news about a new guideline that will change something I do in practice.
The Los Angeles Times “Booster Shots” blog reported, “Older adults need up to twice the amount of vitamin D than is typically recommended, according to guidelines released Monday by the International Osteoporosis Foundation.”
The guidelines “urged adults, defined by this group as 65 and older, to aim for a 25-OHD blood level – the primary marker for vitamin D in the blood – of 75 nanomoles per liter.
In our community, physicians have been aiming for a vitamin D level of 50.
So, the new guideline will be a new practice for me.
To reach that level, one would need an intake of 20 to 25 micrograms per day (or 800 to 1,000 international units) of vitamin D,” as opposed to the amounts suggested by the current US Recommended Daily Allowance of “10 micrograms (400 IU) for people ages 51 to 70, and 15 micrograms (600 IU) for people 71 and older.”
However, in our practice, most of the docs are recommending either tablets with 50,000 IU once a month or 2000 IU per day.
Either way, you have to check a blood level to see if what you’re taking is adequate or not.
