The best source for vitamin D is sunshine.  The vitamin D you get from sunlight stays in our body longer than vitamin D from food or supplements.  Supplements can help you maintain healthy vitamin D levels year round, but getting some sunshine is a key component to obtaining healthy vitamin D levels.

Taking a walk or sitting outside for your lunch break will help you raise your vitamin D levels since your body can manufacture the most vitamin D between noon and 2:00pm based on the sun’s angle.  Exposing your arms and legs to the sun will expose enough skin to get a healthy dose of vitamin D in about 15 minutes, two to three times a week.  There are many factors that will influence how long you need to be in the sun, such as, your skin type and your geographic location.  You can use an online Vitamin D Sunlight Calculator which will  analyze your location, skin type, age, height and weight and recommend your sun exposure time.

We have been told for years to stay of of the sun or cover up with clothing or sunscreen when we are in the sun.  Our fears of skin cancer have overtaken our basic need for sunshine.  Sunlight is not unhealthy and like most things in life is beneficial if used in moderation.  Actually sunlight is necessary for optimal health – so step outside and visit the free vitamin D clinic.

While medical studies continue to tout the health benefits of vitamin D, experts do not agree on the vitamin D level we should maintain for optimal health.  Dr. John Cannell, the Vitamin D Council Director explains why this is a difficult number to recommend for all people:

How much vitamin D you need varies with age, body weight, percent of body fat, latitude, skin coloration, season of the year, use of sunblock, individual variation in sun exposure, and—probably—how ill you are. As a general rule, old people need more than young people, big people need more that little people, heavier people need more than skinny people, northern people need more than southern people, dark-skinned people need more than fair-skinned people, winter people need more than summer people, sunblock lovers need more than sunblock haters, sun-phobes need more than sun worshipers, and ill people may need more than well people.

All the experts agree that your goal should be to get an average vitamin D level year round.  Typically our vitamin D levels are at their highest at the end of the summer and lowest at the end of the winter.  After reading several books that have recently been published on vitamin D, here is a roundup of the recommended vitamin D levels for optimal health.

The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problem by  Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D., recommends a range of 40 – 60 ng/ml as a healthy vitamin D level.

The Sunlight Solution: Why More Sun Exposure and Vitamin D Are Essential to Your Health by Laurie Winn Carlson recommends an ideal vitamin D level of 45 – 50 ng/ml.

The Vitamin D Cure by James Dowd, M.D. and Diane Stafford recommends an ideal vitamin D level between 50 – 70 ng/ml.

Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin by Zoltan Rona, MD, MSc states that optimal levels should be between 100 – 250 ng/ml.

The Vitamin D Council recommends a range between 50 – 80 ng/ml.

To find out your vitamin D level which is measured in your blood with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test, also called a 25(OH)D, you can take a home vitamin D test and get the results by mail which will provide the amount of circulating vitamin D in your blood in the ng/ml measurement or nanograms per milliliter.

While the experts may disagree on the optimal vitamin D level, they do agree that we need to check our vitamin D and make sure that we are at least above the insufficient level of 29 ng/ml.

People who live in the gray northerly areas are at relatively greater risk for vitamin D deficiency.

According to a 2009 study by Harvard and University of Colorado most of us do not have sufficient levels of vitamin D. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and cited:

• 70% of whites are vitamin D insufficient
• 90% of Hispanics are vitamin D insufficient
• 97% of blacks are vitamin D insufficient

Vitamin D is not your average vitamain, but is actually a hormone from the steriod hormone family which includes cortisol, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.  The hormone, vitamin D, is crucial to optimal health since vitamin D receptors have been found in almost every type of human cell.

If any of the following apply to you , there is a high chance you are vitamin D deficient:

• rarely go out in the sun
• always wear sunblock when outside
• rarely expose arms and legs to the sun
• live above 37 degrees latitude or north of Los Angeles or Atlanta
• do not take a multivitamin or a vitamin D supplement
• rarely eat fish celebrexhome like salmon or mackerel
• have dark skin tone
• older than 60
• overweight

The highest rates of deficiency occurs in communities with darker skin colors which makes it harder to make vitamin D from the sun, therefore, African Americans have the highest rates of deficiency.  Another high risk group is the elderly because it becomes harder to synthesize vitamin D as we age.  Also the obese are at risk since vitamin D is stored in fat cells and it can get trapped in those cells if you are overweight.

A vitamin D deficiency is defined as have 25-vitamin D levels below 20ng/ml.  You are vitamin D insufficient at levels between 21 and 29 ng/ml.  The sufficient level of vitamin d begins at 30ng/ml.  Research is now showing that the ideal level of vitamin D for optimal health is between 40 – 60 ng/ml.

To find your vitamin D level you can take a vitamin D test.  In later posts we will cover the health benefits of vitamin D as reported in some recent studies.