Parkinson patient surveys: 40% to 70 % are taking Vitamin D
40% to 70% of patients are taking vitamin D - Oct 2026
Claude AI
Recent surveys suggest that roughly 40–70% of people with Parkinson's in Western countries take vitamin D. Applied to the roughly 1 million Americans with Parkinson's [Parkinson's Foundation], that is very roughly **400,000–700,000 people in the US. That figure is my extrapolation. It probably runs high, because the survey samples lean toward educated, health-engaged patients.
| Survey | Setting | n | Taking vitamin D | Didn't discuss with doctor | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MVP study | US online cohort, 2021 | 1,084 | 71% | Not reported | [Mischley 2023] |
| DISH study | US survey | 205 | ≈62% (74% of supplement users) | 29% of supplement users | [South Med J] |
| Vilnius PD center | Lithuania, 2022 | 169 | ≈38% (60% of supplement users) | 53% of supplement users | [Guk 2025] |
| Denver clinics | US, 2012–13 | 207 | 66% "vitamins" (D not separated) | Not reported | [Finseth 2015] |
| NET-PD LS-1 | US early-PD cohort, older | 1,741 | ≈12% at ≥400 IU/day | Not reported | [NET-PD] |
| General US population ≥60 | NHANES 2017–18 | National | 36.9% | — | [NCHS 399] |
The ≈62% and ≈38% figures are my calculations from each paper's numbers: share of patients using any supplement × share of those users taking vitamin D.
Trend: Use appears to have risen a lot. In the older NET-PD cohort, about 5% took vitamin D alone, 7% took it with a multivitamin, 34% took a multivitamin alone, and 54% took no supplement. The authors judged that ≥400 IU/day was uncommon and similar to the general US population. By 2021, vitamin D was the most-used supplement in the MVP cohort, at 71%. The two cohorts differ, though. MVP recruited through social media and other channels, and 47% of its participants had graduate or professional degrees.
"Without the doctor's recommendation": I found no survey that asked who recommended vitamin D specifically. The nearest proxy is whether patients told their doctor about their supplements in general:
- In the US DISH survey, 29.2% of supplement users had not discussed their supplements with a healthcare practitioner [South Med J].
- In Lithuania, only 47.1% of supplement users discussed it with their neurologist or treating physician [Guk 2025].
So somewhere between about a quarter and a half of these patients are self-directing without telling their doctor.
A point relevant to VitaminDWiki: In MVP, vitamin D use showed no significant association with symptom scores (β = −26.5, p = 0.5). The survey collected only yes/no use, not dose or 25(OH)D levels. My interpretation is that when most patients take unknown, probably modest doses, observational comparisons of users versus non-users can't detect much.
References
- [Mischley 2023 – MVP nutraceuticals]
- [DISH – Southern Medical Journal]
- [Guk 2025 – Lithuania]
- [Finseth 2015 – Colorado CAM]
- [NET-PD LS-1 vitamin D]
- [NCHS Data Brief 399]
- [Parkinson's Foundation statistics]
Note by the founder of VitaminDWiki
- A friend of mine got Parkinson's Disease
He started taking my recommendation of 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily
- 4,000 IU seemed like a big dose back in 2012
- His symptoms almost went away
- He got back to working in his machine shop. playing his guitar, and singing
Unfortunately, his doctor thought it was too much
- My friend reduced his dose to 2,000 IU daily - Dr. orders
- His symptoms came back and have gotten much worse.
- No longer any guitar, no singing, no driving, very weak voice,
Increased use of D category
- 93 pcnt of these Lupus patients supplemented with Vitamin D - Nov 2020
- The use of Vitamin D to prevent prostate cancer doubled in a decade – May 2019
- Vitamin D very popular with Canadian seniors having complex medical problems – Jan 2019
- Vitamin D levels at Mayo Clinic increased over a decade – June 2018
- Vitamin D was the most supplemented vitamin or mineral in the US - 2017
60% in one survey in 2019
Dietary Supplement Use is High among Individuals with Parkinson Disease.
South Med J. 2019 Dec;112(12):621-625. doi: 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001041
Ferguson CC1, Knol LL1, Halli-Tierney A1, Ellis AC1. OBJECTIVES:
To assess the present use of dietary supplements among the Parkinson disease (PD) population and to determine which dietary supplements are most commonly taken.
METHODS:
This cross-sectional study used an online questionnaire that was administered to individuals with PD via support group Web sites. Dietary supplement users also were asked whether they spoke with a healthcare professional about their supplement use.
RESULTS:
Of the 205 respondents, 83.4% reported taking at least 1 dietary supplement. Although 94 different types of dietary supplements were identified, >50% of participants taking dietary supplements took multivitamins, vitamin D, and vitamin B12 (52.6%, 74.3%, and 56.1%, respectively). Respondents reported taking coenzyme Q10, Mucuna pruriens, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, melatonin, and N-acetylcysteine most commonly for PD. Among supplement users, 29.2% did not discuss their supplement use with a healthcare practitioner.
CONCLUSIONS:
The results of this study demonstrate a high prevalence of dietary supplement use among individuals with PD, in addition to a wide variety of supplements being taken. This study's findings also indicate the need for better dialog between patients and healthcare practitioners regarding the use of dietary supplements.