What should your vitamin D level be for optimal health?

There is a lot of confusion these days about vitamin D. Some advice on extreme levels while others advice just a pinch more than where we see bones falling apart. As with most things the real answer is found in the middle - oh man, no not the middle - the middle is so boring, you might say, but hey, that is only cos you are a dopamine addict like the rest of us hanging on to our phones like heroin addicts. Yeah enough of that. Sustainability is often found in the middle ground and so it is here as well.

On one side we have the totally outdated advice of just making sure we are over approximately 50 nmol/L (20 ng/mL).  

This advice is setting the bar so low that we are just not developing obvious symptoms of vitamin D deficiency like osteoporosis.

There is quite a way to go from optimal health to having our bones fall apart, and obviously we don't want to be merely on the brink of falling apart, that makes little sense. We want to be at the peak of our game at all times, so we are ready for the curveballs that life will throw at us.

We now have sufficient research showing that for optimal health, immune boosting and bone strength we need higher levels: Studies show a preferred range of 100–150 nmol/L.

Now why not higher you ask? Because we ALSO have sufficient evidence showing that when d-vitamin levels go too high, our blood calcium goes up. This is not good. Decalcification of the bones happens both when vitamin D is too low, but also when it is too high - and I have been seeing this a lot recently on some of the clients coming in following pseudo scientific advice online on using absurd high dosages of vitamin D.

We do not want our levels to be higher than 150 nmol/L.

At any point, if blood calcium goes up too high on your labs, you need to step it down regardless, cos that is an indicator that calcium is not being absorbed properly - either cos a imbalance between D3 and K2, or simply cos your vitamin D levels are way too high - that is over 150 nmol/L.

Vitamin D must always be taken together with K2 for optimal absorption when we are doing high dosages, otherwise we still risk elevated blood calcium.

Vitamin D3 and K2 work together to direct calcium to our bones and to enhance calcium absorption.

We are not what we eat, but what we absorb - thus it becomes essential to understand how things work together in the absorption game.

References: 

Dermatoendocrinol. 2017; 9(1): e1300213.

Mayo Clin Proc. 2010 Aug; 85(8): 752–758.

Int J Endocrinol. 2017; 2017: 7454376.

Hypertension. 2017 Jun;69(6):1165-1172.