You’ve probably read articles in the mainstream press or maybe in health-related publications touting the importance of Vitamin D supplementation. I have attended dozens of medical meetings over the last thirty years in which someone touted the significance of Vitamin D blood levels (including their own), making recommendations for widespread testing and supplementation.
I’ve had Vitamin D levels checked several times over the least the last twenty years. Mine are always in the range from LOW to UNDETECTABLE. Yes, I have taken 2000 IU or more of Vitamin D daily, and I can report no significant change in my subjective wellbeing or daily performance. That said, a personal story is just an anecdote – not medical evidence. Recently, there have been a flurry of articles examining claims of Vitamin D’s importance in conditions such as falls, fractures and cancer.
Severe Vitamin D deficiency can affect bone health by causing osteomalacia – a condition often associated with nutritional deprivation in the third world. It causes the deposition of a bone matrix that has neither the strength nor resilience of normal bone matrix – think bone deformities and fractures especially among the young. It isn’t clear how relevant this is to abnormal blood tests of Vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D deficiency seems to have some relevance to the treatment of patients who have or are undergoing treatment for breast cancer. So, there is that. As for other claims regarding the importance of Vitamin D levels, the jury is still out on most of those.
This afternoon, I had a follow-up with my PCP who is managing my dyslipidemia and high blood pressure. He had asked that I have labs drawn last week, and I had dutifully complied. “Everything looks fine except for your Vitamin D level which is low,” he announced.
“I stopped the Vitamin D six months ago,” I said. I had previously told him that I was going to do that; my Vit D supplement is an OTC covered by my health plan. I still have a couple of bottles on hand.
“You should probably start it up again,” he said. “I can write you a script, if you like, or you can just buy it OTC,” he added.
“I still have a couple of bottles,” I answered.
“Then take it,” he said. “It will be good for your complexion, you cell walls, and bones,” he said. He’s a believer, I suppose. I, on the other hand, am a cynical skeptic.
“Will it improve my sex life,” I asked?
“I had not considered that possibility,” he answered. “But yes, maybe.”
Tomorrow, I am going to resume my daily consumption of 2000 IU of Vitamin D3. Another goddamn pill.