New Vitamin D guidelines

Posted on Mon, 4 Jul 11

The Endocrine Society has released a new Clinical Practice Guideline on the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency. The guidelines should help health professionals and individuals better deal with vitamin D deficiency.

Key points from the report are:

• A minimum blood level of 30 ng/mL (obtained from a blood test for 25-hydroxy-vitamin D) is recommended and to guarantee sufficiency between 40 and 60 ng/mL for both children and adults.

• Supplementation at the suggested daily intake and upper tolerable level is recommended, considering that vitamin D deficiency is very common in all age groups and that few foods contain vitamin D.

• Obese children and adults need at least 2 to 3 times more vitamin D for their age group to satisfy their body's vitamin D requirement.

• Both vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 are equally effective in treating and preventing vitamin D deficiency.

*Minimum daily requirement.  **Amount of oral vitamin D that may be needed to raise the blood level of 25(OH)D consistently above 30 ng/mL. *** Maintenance tolerable upper limits (UL) of vitamin D not to be exceeded without medical supervision. **** Levels of daily supplemental vitamin D that may be needed to correct vitamin D deficiency.

Source:

Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Gordon CM, Hanley DA, Heaney RP, Murad MH, Weaver CM. Evaluation, Treatment, and Prevention of Vitamin D Deficiency: an Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Jun 6. [Epub ahead of print]