Most countries recommend only a small amount of vitamin D But recent studies and random controlled trials show that much more is needed

300 IU Finland RDA – 2011 includes differences for age, pregnancy, UL, 800 IU Germany increased from 200 IU - Jan 2012 no indication of upper limit 800 IU European Menopause Group – Jan 2012 800 IU: Cochrane – decreased mortality by 6 percent – July 2011 1340 IU avg daily vitamin D during pregnancy helped some – Jan 2012 1600 IU daily Vitamin D raised adult blood levels above 20 ng – RCT Nov 2011 1650 IU avg daily helped those lacking sun – Jan 2012 2000 IU Linus Pauling Institute – 2011 2000 IU improved telomeres for obese blacks – Oct 2011 2000+ IU needed by people with no UV for 6 months in the winter – April 2011 2000 IU resulted in 7X less diabetes in children 2400 IU of avg daily reduced systolic blood pressure – Jan 2012 4000 IU needed by obese teens - Nov 2011 5000 IU for patients older than 65 – May 2010 5000 IU raised young adult vitamin D levels by 10 ng – Nov 2011 5700 did not TREAT Diabetes – Sept 2011 6667 IU to prevent falls/fractures: given by Fraser Health in Canada – fall 2011 9600 IU needed to get most people to 40 ng – with graph Feb 2011 20000 IU => less MS fatigue and relapse Dec 2010

Vitamin D Recommendations in IU and ng has the preceding and following charts

Note that very few Americans ACTUALLY get the RDA (minimum) 600 or 800 IU (multiply ug by 40 to get IU)

Overview How Much vitamin D has the following graphic

Need to add vitamin D for at least each of the following reasons

Summary of Vitamin D trials - Grant Jan 2012 mentioned in previous blog post summarizes many Random Controlled trials

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VitaminDWiki has a lot more information

• Free, instant test to see if you are very vitamin D deficient - it is not quantitative
• All items in Vitamin D Blog
• Home Page
• List of categories of vitamin D information - with # of items in each
• Published Recommendations
• Reasons for Vit D deficiency
• Low cost and many forms of vitamin D
• Vitamin D 101