Overweight or Obese People
University of California, Berkeley 2222 Bancroft Way Berkeley, CA 94720
Vitamin D can be locked up in fat stores in obese people, who have been found to have lower levels of 25- hydroxyvitamin D and are at risk of deficiency.
Breast-fed Infants and Children with Limited Sunlight Exposure
All children require adequate circulating vitamin D to prevent rickets. Dark-skinned children and those who spend much of the day in indoor daycare centers are at risk of deficiency. Breast-fed children often receive inadequate amounts of vitamin D, particularly when their mothers are deficient. For people at risk of vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D screening has been recommended as a routine part of the annual physical examination.
The Elderly
Amounts of the vitamin D precursor in the skin decrease with age, therefore elderly people are particularly prone to deficiency. And living in rest homes or becoming home-bound can limit exposure to sunshine. Muscle weakness and osteoporosis associated with vitamin D deficiency make the elderly more susceptible to falling and fracture risk, and research indicates that vitamin D supplementation may decrease the risk of fractures.
Deficiency does not have obvious symptoms, but increases your risk for more serious diseases.
Should I have my vitamin D tested?
Testing for 25-hydroxyvitamin D can help your doctor:
Identify vitamin D deficiency as a potential cause of health problems – levels below 20 ng/mL indicate severe deficiency, while levels below 30 ng/mL are “low”; optimal levels are 30-60 ng/mL (research is ongoing to establish definitive recommendations). Also keep in mind that Vitamin D levels fluctuate with the seasons as the vast majority of people are exposed to less sun light in the winter than in the summer. So a borderline level at the end of summer will likely become lower over the winter so may require supplementation.
Recommend the right dose of vitamin D as a supplement and monitor your 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels
during supplementation
Recommend appropriate ways to safely increase sunlight exposure and modify your diet to include more
vitamin D-containing foods
Track your progress with follow-up testing