Are you Wasting Money on a Vitamin D Supplement?
Here’s the thing, vitamin D has all of a sudden become so popular because of this new found illness and attack on the immune system called COVID. Reality- vitamin D should have already been a part of our daily lives. Whether you have been taking vitamin D for years or need to start incorporating it, how do you know if what you’re taking is working? How can you make sure you aren’t wasting your money every month?
Why do we need vitamin D?
Vitamin D fuels our hormones, is essential for bone health, and necessary for immune function in order to modulate innate and adaptive responses. AKA When sickness breaks out, our bodies are built to fight it off, ONLY if you had been taking care of yourself and fueling it well with the vitamins and minerals it needs to function and fight. Deficiency is very common due to the inability to obtain it from many food sources therefore supplementation is strongly encouraged (needed!). Vitamin D deficiency is linked to many illnesses including asthma, psoriasis, RA, rickets, etc. not to mention, from a functional medicine standpoint, can contribute to chronic illness/autoimmune disease in the long run. We have to stay proactive and on top of our health if we want to avoid acute care in the near future.
Quality Supplements
As I mentioned, vitamin D is hard to get through food alone. The RDI of vitamin D is 600 IU according to the National Institute of Health (NIH). However, a study done in 2019 supports vitamin D supplementation ranging from 5,000 IU-10,000 IU deeming it a safe amount for individuals based on the trials and continuous declining levels in humans. This is huge. Every single person should be supplementing with a vitamin D supplement at least 5,000 IU. So should we just go grab one at our local Walgreens/CVS? Not necessarily. Drug store supplements have a lot less regulations when it comes to throwing products on a shelf. Majority of the time you may not even know what you’re getting in terms of actual fat-soluble D3. Because vitamin D is so crucial, you want to make sure that what you are taking is not only effective but of the highest quality.
Another thing to keep in mind is the way vitamin D is absorbed into the body. Vitamins K1 and K2 activate what’s called osteocalcin, a protein that binds calcium and directs it into the bones, along with matrix-GLA protein which averts calcium deposition into arteries and other tissues. This is important to take alongside vitamin D to avoid toxicity, since it is fat soluble. A vitamin combination of A, D, and K is IDEAL and you can purchase the pharmaceutical grade brand I take here using code: STEPHANIEPATTISON.
Lab Testing (see if its working!)
Tracking your health via lab work will help you to reach optimum wellness and retesting is a good indication if your supplements are actually working! During my time working in a functional medicine clinic, I got to see what supplement brands worked and which ones didn’t via lab work, as well as which patients followed their personalized protocol and who didn’t 😜 I love the idea of utilizing intuition and mind-body connection in true wellness but I do stand by lab work and believe it is important to see it on paper. I do not “treat” the paper (I don’t “treat” at all), but instead use it as a guide to piece together what’s really going on inside the body.
Recap: To avoid vitamin D deficiency and wasting your money, purchase a pharmaceutical grade brand of vitamin D. Preferably an ADK supplement that will also aid in proper vitamin absorption and delivery throughout the body.
DON’T GUESS, TEST! But seriously, vitamin D is so important for immunity, hormones, protein synthesis, gut health, etc! You want to know where your body is at every 6 months. Get with a Practitioner you trust to run functional lab work to help you reach your health goals!
xx, Steph
